Growing Minds

This week in KA Kindergarten we began to learn about gardens and how plants grow. This is such a fun theme, that we're going to spend two weeks on it! On Monday we discussed different plants and flowers that are grown, and how God made them each unique! We then wrote about our own uniqueness in this cute flower assignment.

On Tuesday we learned about what plants need to grow, and did an experiment by watching colored water travel up a celery. By the end of the day, the tip of the celery was blue like the water! Below is the idea of the experiment, I forgot to take pictures though!

On Thursday we journeyed outside to draw some plants that we could observe. However, it was so rainy, that we're moving the activity to next week. 

In reading we are continuing to work with sight words and letter blends. This week we worked with "er", "ur", and "ir". A way to help us remember the sound of these letters is by this picture.

The story is that "er", "ir", and "ur" love to drive, but they are absolutely terrible at it! So, they have to constantly be hitting their brakes and making an errrrrr sound! 

In math the students are becoming quick at addition and subtraction facts! They also began to combine different types of coins to make different amounts. We might have some future bankers in the making!

This week we learned about another famous artist, Monet. We made our own water lily pictures. On Monday we painted the water, and used plastic wrap to make waves in the paint. 

Then on Tuesday we made the lily pads and lily flowers using tissue paper. The result was gorgeous Monet like pictures!

We also started the IOWA test this week. We will be working on the test a little bit everyday for the next few weeks. The first day the students thought it was pretty fun to fill in the bubbles! But the enthusiasm wore off by the next test. With just doing one test a day though, the test shouldn't be to bad! Plus, they get to read their favourite book, Tap the Magic Tree after every test as a little reward!

Back in Bible Times

This has been a fun week learning about what it would be like to live in the Bible times! On Monday we practiced our writing skills by writing about what we would do if we lived in Bible times. Some answers were "walk to church", "ride a camel", and "help the poor". On Tuesday we made our very own Bible town. Along with making the houses we talked about what the environment is like over in Israel.

On Thursday we dressed up as our favorite Bible characters. I was so impressed to see the kids creativity! We had two Esters, two Marys, a Samual, Paul, Lydia, Moses, and Jesus. For snack time we had food that were eaten in the Bible.

In reading we have been learning more exceptions to reading rules. Let's just say it's becoming clear to the class how strange English is! This week we worked on the sounds "or" and "ar". We've also been working on exploring books and comprehending them by drawing pictures of favorite parts of books.

In math we have been continuing to work on subtraction and skip counting. We did a fun game on Tuesday where we threw "donuts" into a donut box and subtracted one that didn't make it in the box.

In art class this week we learned about Michelangelo and about his paintings on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling. We pretended that we were Michelangelo and tried to draw pictures under the tables. They made some beautiful artwork!

Springing Into Another Week!

This week we finished off our seasons unit by learning about spring. The weather was so beautiful that we couldn't help but head outside for some activities!

 On Monday we discussed rain, and wrote about our favorite things to do in the rain. A lot of answers included jumping in puddles, but a few creative answers were collecting worms and cuddling by a fire (what I would like to do in the rain!).

On Tuesday we talked about different types of clouds and how we can tell them apart. I have to admit, I learned a lot with this! We also learned about rainbows and the different colors in them. We then did a little science experiment. We started with a bowl and milk, and then added food coloring around the edges. Then we put a drop of soap in it, which made the colors swirl together to make a rainbow!

On Thursday we talked about animals in the spring, and how birds all fly back from their warm winter homes and make nests. The students paired up to make their own nest! We went outside to collect things for our nest, then glued them together!

In phonics we have been learning to read more and more words! This week we worked on words that end with _unny, _uddy, and _usty. Our new sight word was "there". We are continuing to practice long vowel sounds and rules like silent "e" and two vowels in a row. In our reading centers we read a book about seasons, matched word families, and decoded sight words!

We started two new concepts in math this week! The first concept was subtraction. So far we are just taking one away from a group, but we will continue to do more subtraction throughout the year! We also started to practice skip counting, or counting by two's. To help us understand pairs we started a Pair Display. The students can add a pair of anything to the display for the next few weeks. So far we have a pair of bears, some socks, boots, and a pair of papers!

For our craft this week we made stain lass looking crosses for Easter. The student came up with some beautiful designs. They will be sent home this week. You might want to hang them by a window to watch the sun shine through!