70% off sales at Joann's are the best! I bought a bunch of Halloween buttons and let the kiddos have at them. They were busy exploring the buttons showing off their patterning and sorting skills. I love when math comes into play-based situations. Thank you Joann's.
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Boy have we gotten our $.50 worth out of our Benson's pumpkins. We have measured our pumpkin's length and its stem using cubes and compared with others. We learned the meaning of the math word "circumference" and measured the distance around our pumpkin and compared with others. We observed our pumpkins and discussed what we noticed about their size, shape, color, texture and compared with others. Then we used our pumpkins as a still life model and used what we learned from studying Matisse and created a still life painting of our pumpkins. Just another wonderful day in kindergarten!!!
We studied the French Artist, Henri Matisse, who is known for his colorful paintings. We studied a few of his works of art to help us create still life apple paintings... a delicious "GO FOOD"! After studying Matisse's works of art we created our own model for our still life paintings. We took a picture of our apples and projected it on Mr. Smarty Pants. We studied the details of the apples, the plate, and the tablecloth. Then we went back to our tables and used plates and cups to plan our painting. Once planned, they used spoons to paint their apples. We let the apples dry over the weekend. Then we used crayons to add details to our plates and tablecloths. Then we used watercolors to finish off our works of art. They truly are masterpieces!
It is wonderful to see the relationships the kinder kiddos develop with their big buddies. On Mondays, we count the days until we get to see our big buddies on Fridays.
What a wonderful day at the farm. The weather was perfect! We each got a pumpkin we will keep at school until Tuesday. We love Benson's! Movement Club was a success this morning. We had so much fun! Look at the smiles on these faces. We will have the club every Thursday from 8:00-8:25. All are welcome!!!
This week begins our Morning Movement Clubs. This morning we had our first Running Club ran by Mrs. O'Connor. Tomorrow I will lead the Creative Movement Club in the gym and Friday Mrs. McAllister will lead Yoga Club. Each club begins at 8:00 and ends at 8:25. We had lots of fun this morning with a warm up run and then many fun tag games out in the field. We are lucky to have this opportunity to get our bodies and brains going in the morning with physical activity. Across the nation today many schools practiced what to do in case of an Earthquake. We watched a video today teaching us what to do if the earth chose to shake (Find the video here). Then our whole school practiced an earthquake drill. The kiddos did great! We have been studying healthy food choices and have categorized foods into three categories. Go Foods are healthy fresh foods that grow from the ground. These foods are healthy for us and help our bodies and brains go. They also help us grow. Stop Foods have no nutritional value. They are a treat we should have once in a great, great while. Stop foods are foods that we should stop and think about eating and decide if it is a good choice. Slow Foods are foods we should eat very little on a limited basis. These foods may have some nutrition but may be high in sugar or salt or processed chemicals. One of our kiddos asked the question yesterday, "Are hot dogs healthy for us?" Well... we did the research today and the results were scary. There was overwhelming research that suggests hot dogs can cause heart disease, cancer, and have been linked to diabetes. We also learned that hot dogs are full of nitrates which is a dangerous chemical that is put into processed foods that is directly linked to cancer. We were surprised by what we found out. We talked about how we like the taste of hot dogs but are they worth eating? We talked about how there are other foods out there that are an alternative to classic hot dogs. I told them about a brand we eat called, "Adele's". They are an all natural chicken with spices and some chopped up apple "hidden" inside. They are delicious and are reasonably priced at Costco. These are the "hot dogs" I feed my kiddos and they love them. There are no chemicals! Hooray! Boy are we going deep. I love the thoughtful questions and insights your kiddos are having about healthy choices. Gotta love kindergarteners! In kindergarten we focus on the Phonemic Awareness skill that involves deciphering the beginning sound of a word. During Learning Centers we got to use the touchy feely jar and some toys we were using as tools for learning. We got to put our hand in the feely jar, pull out a toy, say the name of the toy and tell the beginning sound of that word. Then to connect phonics to this skill they had to find the letter that matched the sound. These skills are very important in the beginning of the year. You can see how excited they are to be practicing these skills in such a fun and engaging way. We also had the wonderful opportunity to have one of our student's grandmothers come in and do an art project with us. She is a retired art teacher that we are so lucky to have visit our classroom. She led the group in making clothespin ghosts. They turned out adorable! Perfect for the season. |
by Mrs. WinterKindergarten is truly the BEST and that is why I want to share our world with you! Archives
September 2017
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