Table Choice Time

There are times that we are so excited and ready to get to work, we forget to take care of a few things! Way too cute!

Bucket of Frogs

We opened a new math workplace today called "Bucket of Frogs" It is just what it sounds like, a bucket of of frogs of all sorts of colors and sizes. Upon  first glance it looks like students working at this workplace are playing with a bunch of frogs. Closer listening and watching, however, will soon reveal the math happening. While playing students are counting (by ones and tens when using the counting mats) sorting, classifying, patterning,  and practicing one-to-one correspondence. There is nothing like hands-on learning and having fun combined in one activity!

Bugs, Tallies & Numbers Bingo

In today's math session we matched the ten-frame bug cards, number cards and tally cards in the pocket chart and explored ways to count and compare before playing a bingo game. This game challenged us to count the bugs or sticks we see on the calling card, find the matching numbers and cover them up. We found out there a lot of ways to show numbers! Skills involved in this activity include counting, instant recognition of quantities to 5 and recognizing numerals.

Go-Shapes!

During free choice these students turned a shape and color memory game into a go-fish game, all on their own!

Partner Reading

Fire Station Field Trip

Thanks to Kim Julow and her helpers, Patrick and Andrew! They taught us about fire safety and what they do for our community. Andrew and Patrick dressed up in their protective gear so we could see what they would like if they ever had to come into our homes to help us. It was not scary at all! We were then able to check out the fire trucks and station house. I was a little worried in the morning because I did not know if we had any chaperones to help us walk there safely. After a quick email 4 people volunteered making our trip possible. Thanks!

Our Sense of Taste

We experimented with our sense of taste today. We read the book Tasting by Sharon Gordon and learned that the taste buds on our tongue help us taste foods that are sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Then we tasted different foods to determine if they were sweet, salty, sour and bitter. I wish I had taken some pictures because their little faces were priceless! Our next activity is a popcorn party which will wrap up our unit on the 5 senses.

Hanging Out Together

Library on Wednesdays

The kindergartners have been visiting sections of the library. Today they discovered the 300s, which contains fairytales. So far, we have visited the 500s (natural sciences), 600s (technology), and 700s (the arts) as well as picture books and Everybody books (our first readers and first chapter books).

Please remember to help your child return library books on Wednesdays so they can check out new books. Thank you, Mrs. Hayes

PBIS

We had our school wide kick off for our new PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions & Support) program. Students in K-8 met in the gym and then broke into groups to record what it would look like, sound like, and feel like in different areas of the school if we are following our school rules of Be Kind, Be Safe & Be Responsible. Each group then worked on a way to illustrate our rules with posters, still pictures or videos. The afternoon ended with the band and all of us singing our Folsom Hero song.

Some kindergarten students were a little nervous before the activities began. We talked a lot about how when things are unknown or different we may get butterflies. I think they all did great and are proud of themselves!

Kindness

We read Nico & Lola by Meggan Hill. In this book Nico is asked by his Aunt to care for her dog Lola for the weekend. He asks himself in the beginning "How will I be so Kind?" This is a heartwarming story that we used to remind ourselves of how we can be just a little bit kinder in everything we do.

Science Explorations

Mystery Bags

Mystery Bags

We had a great time exploring our sense of touch in science today. We began with a group discussion with some focus questions.

 "What happens when you close your eyes?"

 "How can you tell who is sitting next to you?"

" How could you get to the door?"

"How would you know when you got to the door?"

"How can you move about with your eyes closed?"

We then used some mystery bags to talk about objects without looking at them and asked more questions.

"What does your sense of touch tell you?"

"What does the object feel like?"

"Can you tell what something is without looking?"

We ended using a different set of mystery bags. Each bag had a matching bag. Students described what they were feeling in each bag to match the objects. No one peeked, everyone cooperated and we did it! The vocabulary during this activity was astounding! I have tried to upload a video but am not sure if I can make it work or not. I am having some technical difficulties :)

Pattern Blocks

How many pattern blocks tall do you think this tower is?!

Free Choice

We have free choice time each day. During that time students choose from a variety of learning centers and play stations. Our choices include ABC center, math work places, listening center, blocks, puzzles, legos, art, rice table and classroom library. This week we are opening the dramatic play corner.