The PLAY!

Well, we read the book.  We read it again.  And again.  And one more time for good measure.  Then we wrote, and wrote and wrote.  Finally a script was ready.  Then we picked roles, and practiced, practiced, practiced!  The kids practiced during choice time, they practiced at home.   We made costumes, props, backdrops.

We invited EVERYONE in the school, and practically EVERYONE came.  The kids performed their play over and over and over.  Then the families came.  Moms and dads and grandparents, aunts and uncles....  We celebrated with party mix, owl cupcakes, cookies, and cheese and crackers.

This was a wonderful day to be a kindergarten teacher.  I am so proud of these kids!

Experiments

We took mystery materials today and used them to work more with push and pull.  The kids each took a straw and a cotton ball.  They practiced pulling up the cotton ball by inhaling through the straw.  Then they had loads of fun pushing the cotton ball on different surfaces and blowing the cotton ball from different directions.  We would experiment, gather and discuss our findings, then experiment some more.  Our work ended with the students making observations in their experiment notebooks.

We also sorted words by syllables.  Mrs. Keach gave us a graph to create with 1,2,3, and 4 syllable words.  The kids are able to see how many syllables a word has by putting their hand under their chin and then saying the word.  Each time their chin hits their hand is a syllable.  Try it at home with the names of people in your family.

Folks from The First National bank came in to chat with us about money today.  The kids read a poem about change, and then discussed how four pennies is worth less than one nickel, even though there are more coins.  We also were reminded to be safe with money by washing our hands after touching it.  Everyone was excited to receive a change purse and pencil (coming home tomorrow).

Remember tomorrow is Tropical Dress day.  The kids are encouraged to wear tropical clothes and bring in a beach towel for a lunch time picnic.

Potluck!

Our class read the book Potluck last week.  This was a book about children with names from A-Z bringing food to a potluck that began with the same letter as their name.  Then the kids paired up and made an A-Z list of fruits and vegetables, with some help from Lois Ehlert's book, Eating the Alphabet.

We each picked a letter to find a fruit or vegetable for and brought everything in today!

The kids were introduced to ugli fruit and figs, dates and nectarines.  We focused a great deal on all the sounds each item began with and then settled into a wonderful feast. We wrapped up our potluck by having each student write about a fruit or vegetable he or she liked to eat.  Even with so many new foods introduced, most kids stuck with their comfort foods, like carrots and grapes.  Thanks so much to all you parents who helped us pull off a fun and educational experience!

Nickels for Chickens

Today was COUNTING day! We lugged out the four HUGE bags of water bottles that have been collected so far.  Before we started counting I explained to the kids that each bottle was worth one nickel.  One nickel is worth five cents.  We talked about how one dollar equals one hundred cents. Then it was time to count by fives (each bottle is worth a nickel) to see how many bottles we would need to make a dollar. Just like the election, there were several recounts to be sure that we really needed 20 bottles to make one dollar.  For every twenty bottles, we put a tally mark on a poster written by the kids.  We need 20 dollars to buy a flock of chicks for Heifer International.  I am pleased to announce that we already have enough to buy ONE flock of chicks, and now the kids are setting their sights on a second flock.

For those of you familiar with the Common Core Standards, we were learning to
*say numbers as we count
* count to one hundred in different ways
*count starting with any number
*understand the last number said is the total number of objects.

We then worked on writing a thank you card to the generous co-worker of Camden's mom who donated three of the large bags.  Everyone took turns writing words and sounds in words.  Then we each added a chicken to the card.  The Common Core Standards we covered in making this card are as follows:
*Write upper and lower case letters.
*Add words to a sentence to make it clearer.
*Write the sounds I hear in words.
*Spell words.
*Add /s/ to show more than one.
*Say the sounds in words.
*Count, make, blend, and segment sounds of words.

The kids were so jazzed about counting the bottles and making the thank you card they forgot they were in school.  This service project we are working on is covering the standards, and hopefully changing the lives of people we will never even meet.