Apples and Our 5 Senses

 In this learning experience, the children were challenged to use their sense of sight to closely observe an object in order to distinguish it from similar objects. We discovered how carefully we must look and how accurately we must describe the object to distinguish it from the others. Since we are also learning about apples we chose an apple as our object. Partners looked closely at an apple and then had to find it again in a group of apples. The strategies students used to find their apples were amazing! The non-fiction book Seeing written by Sharon Gordon helped us understand how our eyes make it possible for us to see. We learned about the job of the pupil and iris and experimented with light to discover how our eye changes depending on the amount of light it is exposed to.

Library Class

Today in library, I read When the Library Lights Go Out by Megan McDonald and Katherine Tillotson to your children. We are practicing Common Core reading standard 3: Identifying characters, with prompting and support. Not only could the children define what a character is, but they could also give examples of character from Mem Fox's The Magic Hat, a book I read to them several weeks ago.

Here are some of the characters from this week's book: Rabbit, Lion, and Hermit Crab (who is lost in the library). Please remember that library day is Thursday. Kindergartners who forgot to bring their books back Thursday may bring them back Friday and take out two new books.

Your children are amazing!

Mrs. Hayes

Lock Down Drill

On Thursday we had our very first lock down practice. During a lock down teachers lock themselves, and their students, inside the classroom and stay as quiet as possible. The purpose of a lock down is to protect students and staff in the event of danger in or around our building. As with our first fire drill, kindergarten students did an amazing job. They were in P.E. class with Mr. Gove so their lock down location was his office. They thought that was pretty cool :) Mr. Gove reported that students followed directions quickly & safely and did not make a peep throughout the procedure. Great job kindergarten!

Camp Ingalls Field Trip

 The kindergarten, first and second grade had a fabulous field trip together at Camp Ingalls last week! We were lucky enough to have a beautiful day, fantastic chaperones, and 4 different hands-on learning opportunities.

Scavenger Hunt - Here students are recording what they found on a scavenger hunt. Before searching we talked about our 5 Senses and which ones we would be using to find the items on our lists. We found everything!

Arts & Crafts - This was our one and only inside activity. We made leaf and bark rubbings, learned about seeds, and then participated in an experiment about seeds. Ask your student to tell you about what we planted! :)

 Orienteering was another activity that involved an exploration of our senses, our location, how we move from place to place and how animals move from place to place. We helped a blindfolded friend get from one place to the other using directional terms (left, right, north, south, etc), discussed where we are (North Hero - Vermont - United States - North America - World), used compasses to find North, South, East and West ,and finally, followed directions to find a special snack!

Our final activity was a hike through the woods. We were lead by Chris from the Lake Champlain Land Trust. He taught us how to call chickadees, how to identify specific trees, and so much more! He brought us to a place in the woods that is underwater in the spring when the lake is high. It was strange to find shells in what appeared to be a regular spot in the woods.  

Happy Fall!

 We went outside today to discuss the beginning of the Fall season. We talked about signs of Fall and changes in the weather with the new season. Then we read When Autumn Comes by Robert Mass and opened a new book bin full of Autumn books. Our community garden was the perfect backdrop for our discussion.

Belonging

 This is our class puzzle we made to represent our sense of belonging within our class. Each piece of the puzzle is very different, but fits together in the puzzle, just like the individual students in our class! As the pieces came together, students started cheering, smiling and laughing. It was very exciting!

Here are some quotes from the activity:
"It is like we are all connected!"
"They all fit together!"
"We are like a family!"

Rhyming Monster

 We worked together today to complete this "Let's Build a Monster" activity. I told the students they were going to help me draw a monster. We talked about what our monster may look like and then I read a number of different rhymimg riddles with the last word left out. When we guessed the rhyming word we were able to add that part of the monster to the drawing. We each had a turn drawing a part of the monster. When we were done we gave our monster a variety of rhyming names!

 Here are some of the riddles:

When you draw a monster, it is said,
You always begin with his ______!

He'll be able to see when he flies,
If we draw two bright _______!

To tell which way the cold wind blows,
Our monster will need a great big ______!

A Message From Mrs. Hayes

Today in library Mrs. Hayes read Read It, Don't Eat It! by Ian Schoenherr, a book about how we should take care of our library books. Then with Miss Penny we drew pictures of characters -- the elephant, the bear -- or us turning pages carefully, using a bookmark, not eating with our library books, and keeping them in safe places like our desks and backpacks. Please help your child remember that Thursday is library day for kindergarten. When they return their books, they may borrow more! (Some children plan to bring back their books Friday so they can take out more books for the week.)

 

 

 

Fire Drill

We had our first fire drill today! The kindergarten did a great job lining up quietly, walking quickly, staying quiet, and listening to directions. When the drill was over we processed it together and then talked about what we do if there is a fire drill and one of us is in the bathroom or at a special. Our students did a great job!

Daily Schedule

Students use this visual to keep track of our activities throughout the day. The bus is moved with each transition until it goes from school (the beginning of our day) to the house (the end of our day).

Morning Message

Morning Message is daily part of our morning meeting. Each day I write the students a message, similar to the one shown here, highlighting the components of our day. Reading the message together in a shared reading provides us with the opportunity to practice reading from top to bottom and left to right, track print, practice word by word matching, know where to start when reading, recognize that print contains a message, and many other early reading and writing skills. There is usually an added piece on the bottom to practice and a previously taught skill or concept. When we are done with the message, a name is chosen to take the message home.

Guided Discovery

 After each guided discovery we explore the newly introduced materials, Here we are playing with pop-cubes. Pop-cubes are interlocking cubes that are be used to build. They will be used throughout the year during math and free choice time. We will use them to build, count, measure, pattern, and play! They are a popular manipulative on our math shelf.

Building Our Kindergarten Community

We have been very busy getting to know each other, building our classroom community, establishing our rules and expectations, exploring new materials and having fun! We have opened many learning centers including the ABC, math, books, puzzles, art and legos! We have also become familiar with our school rules (be safe, be kind, be responsible) and have made a chart with our ideas of what our classroom will look like, sound like and feel like if we are following the rules.

Here we go!