A Blizzard of Learning!

While the weather was warming up outside, we were learning about chilly winters in the classroom. On Monday we talked about our favorite winter activities like snowman building, sledding, and ice skating. We also went into a small science lesson with what type of clothes is worn in different seasons. One very brave volunteer modeled some appropriate winter clothes (though they may have been a little big!).

On Tuesday we talked about snowmen! The students completed a creative writing assignment about writing about why their snowmen melted. Some imaginative answers were that they drank hot chocolate and came inside!

On Thursday we worked together to take care of winter birds (or really any birds!) by making some bird feeders. They are super simple to make! Just take bird seed and mix in melted lard until they are squishy. They place them in any mold and freeze! I hope you birds enjoy it!

In phonics we have learned more long vowel word families like oat, oad, ow, and o. The student are getting quicker at recognizing these in their reading! It's so amazing to see their progress.

In math we started talking about measuring with centimeters and counting/recognizing 120. We have also finished up memorizing our phone numbers! So be sure to ask your child to give you a call!

Just "Leaf" it to Kindergartners!

This week we've continued learning about the four seasons by talking about fall. On Monday we made a list of our favorite fall activities. Some things that were included were going to school (that was mine!), playing outside, building forts, picking apples, and of course... jumping in leaves! Then, using construction paper we made our own autumn leaves and wrote about them. Some leaves were being jumped in, blowing around, and falling from trees!

On Tuesday we learned about how animals prepare for the cold. I introduced words like migration, hibernation, and adapt. The students had fun acting like they were the animals preparing for the cold. Also, one student had a birthday this week! So, we ate some delicious cupcakes she brought in to celebrate.

On Thursday we learned about another fun fall activity, picking apples! We read about Johnny Appleseed and how he traveled around planting apple trees to feed hungry settlers. Did you know that he also shared the Bible with settlers along with apple trees! We then tasted different types of apples, and shared our favorites. Green was the clear favorite!

In phonics we have begun to learn about the rule, "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking". Be sure to ask your Kinder about the song!

In math we have been continuing to learn about coins and their values. We have just begun to count a variety of coins. So, next time you need to buy something, get your Kinder involved in counting out the change!

For a craft this week, we've made our own fall trees using our fingerprints! The colors are gorgeous!

Sunny Days!

While it may have been windy outside, it was sunny in KA Kindergarten! This week we learned about the season summer. It was fun on Monday to dream of what we want to do this summer. We wrote about what we want to do, and drew pictures. Most of the students can't wait to swim, while one student wants to golf and another wants to go fishing.

On Tuesday we learned more about the heat in summer. We did an experiment using our class gecko;s heat lamp as our pretend sun. We observed a thermometer and how it tells the temperature. Then, we got two bowls of ice cream and placed one under the "sun". Throughout the day we made observations about the melting ice cream progress.

Thursday was the anticipated beach day! We had fun pretending to spend the day in the sun on our beach towels. We played beach games and made sand castles. And of course we had to enjoy our favorite sunny day treat, ice cream! It's amazing how everything is instantly more fun when done on a beach towel.

Fishing for words

Perfect end to a fun day!

In phonics this week we have learned about silent "e" and long vowel sounds. We learned word families like "ire", "ine", "ike", "une", "one", and "ose". We will continue to learn more about vowels and other grammar rules.

In math we talked about symmetry and reviewed solid shapes and patterns. We also began to learn about nickels, and counting them by five.

For a craft this week we made our own "ice cream" paint using shaving cream and glue. The paint puffed up on our paper when we painted ice cream cones with them! They were very fun to decorate.

4 Seasons

Last week was a short week, and we spent all of it focused on random acts of kindness. We made cards for the elderly, and then visited Christian Care. We also made cookies of our RAK buddy. At the end of the week we also shared who we had, and said thanks for the kindness!

This week we have been talking about the four seasons and lots of other fun science activities! On Monday we discussed night and day. Most of the students agreed that they like night better because they enjoy camping and movies! We used a globe and flashlight to show exactly why our day goes from light to dark.

On Tuesday we learned about the weather and wrote about our dream weather day. We then went to the studio to give a weather forecast for the school!

On Thursday we had to take advantage of the snow to make some snow ice cream! Not only was it fun (except for when we locked ourselves outside!), it was also very tasty!

Getting the snow

In math we have finished up learning about subtraction. We then started to learn solid shapes like sphere's and cylinders. We had fun making these shapes out of Play-dough, and finding them around the room.

For a craft this week we drew different shapes and used marker and water to make beautiful colors!

Just a reminder that progress reports were emailed out this week, so please check your email! 

6 Little Valentines!

This was a LOVEly week celebrating Valentines day. We did multiple activities that had to do with Valentines Day and loving others.

During Bible time we discussed loving others, and just how much Jesus loves us! We also read a wonderful children's book by The Voice of the Martyrs about the history of Valentine's Day during our Valentine's day party. It really gave a lot of meaning to the holiday!

For writing we worked on writing about those we love in our special love books! The students worked really hard to write the pages and illustrate the pictures!

In phonics we have learned the letter blend "th", with help from our friend Dr. Flemmingway. We also talked about "wh", and learned to read many words starting with these.

In math we have started a new concept with subtraction. The students have picked up really quick on it, and enjoy telling subtraction story problems. We'll go more in depth with this next week.

We did some science this week with a candy heart experiment. What happens when candy hearts are put in different liquids, was our question. We predicted what would happen with candy hearts in water, vinegar, and sprite. We then observed them throughout the day, and discussed the results while drawing pictures!

Of course at the end of the week we had our Valentine's Day party! It was fun to see all the mailboxes and cards! Thank you for all the parents who came, and for all those who helped. It was a lot of fun!

Diving in Deep!

This week has been all about oceans and the many animals that live in them!

On Monday we talked about the wonderful way that God made an octopus. They can squirt ink, camouflage, and squeeze into small crevices. We did a little writing assignment and craft about the octopus.  I think they turned out super cute!

On Tuesday we studied shells and sorted them each in our own special way. Some students sorted by shape, size, color, and one even sorted by texture! The student enjoyed observing the shells similarities and differences from each other.

On Thursday we learned about God's incredible creation of whales! An average blue whale can be 100 feet long! We went out to the hallway and measured just what 100 feet would look like! We then learned about how God made animals that swim in cold water to have extra fat, or blubber. We experienced how this worked by feeling ice cold water with our hand, then feeling it with a fat around out hands.

In phonics we have begun the tricky letter blends of "sh" and "ch". We have a professor straight from Harvard coming in to help teach this. He name is Dr. Flemmingway, and she happens to look a lot like me with glasses on! We also have been reviewing hearing the ending sound in words, which are a lot harder to hear than the beginning!

In math we are going over some big numbers! Like 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. On Thursday we learned about the exciting number 100! We showed our understanding of 100 by making 100 dots on a paper.

Next week is the Valentine's day party! Can't wait for a week filled with thinking about those we love!