It's Summer!

Maybe everyone forgets this blog once it's summer, and that's ok you are allowed to just relax this summer! But, I absolutely have grown to love the process of organizing what I've been doing in the classroom onto this blog, so I may still post periodically through the summer. After all, a teacher's job doesn't just stop in the summer! You can get some ideas on what to do with your children this summer, or for upcoming parents, get a sneak peak at what's going on in the classroom preparation!

The last week of school went down in a whirlwind! It was crazy, busy, and just a ton of fun! On Monday we went to a farm with sheep, dogs, and ginnies (kind of reminds me of a quail). The children got to lend a hand on the farm by feeding sheep, filling water buckets, and hauling hay. It was a fun little trip!

Throughout the rest of the week we did very typical last week of school activities; clean out lockers, shaving cream desk clean, and a year review writing project. Of course we kept practicing for the Kindergarten Graduation!

The student's did a great job Thursday night at their graduation. It was so sweet to watch them walk in their graduation hats and sing their songs. They did a great job memorizing their verses and saying them clearing, even though we never practiced with the mic. (EEK!). I was so proud of them when they did their skit. They had worked so hard to get it, and did a wonderful job!

ahh so adorable!

I am truly going to miss having this class! They were such an independent, hardworking class, but were also a lot of fun! While I'll miss them in kindergarten, I know that they are ready to tackle first grade! So to my students, have a super duper summer!

100 Days Brighter!

Can you believe that there is only one week left of school! I know that lately I've been starting every post like this, but this year has gone crazy fast! I'm going to miss these little kindergartners, but absolutely love the feeling of knowing that they are ready to take on 1st grade!

This week in phonics we have been doing a lot of review of vowels and letter blends. We have also been working on sounding out sounds in writing. I think that this is a fun way to go over handwriting AND phonic sounds. Plus, this class just loves making their own stories!  In reading we have begun reading through some poems.

In math we have been going over very early concepts of fractions (so fun!) and reviewing some major ideas this year. An update for anyone wondering how I like this new math curriculum, I LOVE it! It's so hand on, slowly introduces concepts, yet the children get a really good grasp on a lot of early foundations. Plus it's Bob Jones like my phonics, so the timings correspond!

Thursday was out official 100th day of school! I am so unbelievably proud of my students (can you tell I get sentimental at the end of the year!) so I thought the they enjoys a really fun rewarding day! In the morning we made 100 day crown with 100 items on them. We put 10 different things on ten different strips. They are hilarious!

We then made 100 shaped pretzels. The dough was a mess to deal with! But ,the ending was some cute and tasty pretzels!

 The students really enjoyed a 100's game where they flipped a coin 100 times and kept track if it was heads or tails. We also wrote about what we would buy with $100. A few hopeful items are a dirt bike, Legos, and a Hot Rod! Most of the students agreed that they would save their money first. Good job teaching finance skills parents!

In the afternoon the students showed what set of 100 things they brought in. I was so impressed by their creativity!

100 rocks

99 army men and 1 remote control car to destroy them

100 pieces of candy (yum!)

100 Legos

100 pieces of paper (and creativity!)

May 19th is the Kindergarten graduation at 7:00. Can't wait to see everyone there! As a side note, I am in need to some stick horses for the skit that night! If anyone has any, I would love to borrow them!

Wilaby Walaby Woo, I Went to the Animal Zoo

If you are confused by the title of this post, ask one of the six kindergartners in my class...but prepared to be sat on by an elephant ;)

So, I school is winding down incredibly fast! Only two more weeks till Kindergarten Graduation! On Monday and Tuesday the students have been making crafts. singing songs, planning a skit all in preparation for the big night! The theme is officially Love Your Neighbor! So I hope to see lots of family there!

The last few weeks of phonics and math is reviewing important concepts. In phonics we are reviewing common grammar rules and practicing recognizing them in reading. We have also been focusing on silently reading to ourselves, and some students are really becoming little book worms! In math we are expanding a bit in fractions, while going over addition and subtraction.

On Thursday was Zoo day! We were blessed with a dry beautiful day! It was a blast!

Around the World

Whew! The two weeks of IOWA testing are over! It's nice not pushing the kids by only doing one test a day...but it makes for two chaotic weeks for me!

Besides testing we have been learning about cultures all around the world. Everyday we hop in our "airplane" and fly to our new destination. Last week we wrote about differences in living in Africa, learned about differences in flags in Canada, and talked about making a difference on Earth Day! This week we traveled to England to learn about the differences between Kings and Presidents, China to learn about difference in writings, and Australia to learn about differences in art. Through all the differences around the world, we most importantly learned about how we are all God's children and made just right in his eyes!

Our Plane!

We've been learning some first grade reading rules in phonics! While introducing new sounds like aw, oo, and ou; we also have been reviewing old rules and practicing using them in our reading. The students have been enjoying early reader books and discovering what all they can read!

In math we talked about the calendar. We reviewed days, months, and years! It was a lot of fun talking about when our birthdays are and what year we were born in. 1994 sounded ancient to most of the students!

Last Thursday the students had their spring program! They did an amazing job singing and even dancing a little! I couldn't believe that they sang a song in Hebrew and Italian!

Just a few reminders...

*Graduation is May 19th at 7:00. There are still a few spots to be filled on the food sign up! The sign up is here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HL1t2nl9fabRz4L9HPp-mLxKi8BS67qMTEQBTipF7GA/edit

*The zoo is next Thursday! Please send the payment in if you haven't yet, and let me know if you would like to be a chaperon!

Taking Time to Smell the Flowers!

This week we learned all about flowers and plants! On Monday we planted our own seeds and discussed what all plants need to survive. The students had fun watering and caring for their seeds all throughout the week. We also learned to read some new words like sprout, sunshine, and shovel.

On Tuesday we learned more about the life cycle of a plant. We also tried an experiment where we placed white flowers into colorful water, and the petals are supposed to turn colors. TRIED and SUPPOSED are keys word here as the experiment kind of, erm...flopped. But hey a good lesson in the fact the experiment don't always work! So yeah, no picture needed here!

On Thursday we did some dissecting! Don't worry, no frogs in here! We dissected a flower and split it into different categories (seeds, petals, leaves, and stems). There are some early botanist in the making in KA Kindergarten! We also completed a plant book we had been working on throughout the week.

In phonics we were introduced to "bossy r" and learned a little rhyme...

Bossy r comes with a vowel,
But he takes control and starts to howl
When he is in a word,
He is the only one heard,
So be careful of the sound,
And decide which vowel is around.

This is a handy little poem to help us remember tricky letter blends  like "ar", "or", "er", "ir", and "ur". The students have been practicing these blends with lots of silent and guiding reading. I'm constantly amazed with their progress and joy for reading! I'm sure they will enjoy many library trips for early reader books this summer!

In math we are working on some pretty tricky subtraction, with lots of review of past concepts. We are also counting by 2's, 5's and 10's. And we're going all up to 140!

 Next week we will be starting the IOWA test. This is a standardized test that is NOT state issued. We complete this test to assure that our curriculum is “up to par”. There are 6 sections to the IOWA test (Vocabulary, Word Analysis (reading words), Listening, Language, Math, and Reading (sentences), and we will be doing one section a day for two weeks. This should assure that the test is not stressful for any of your children! I will send home the scores once the tests are complete! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Back to the Bible

This week has been all about what it was like to live in Bible times. On Monday we discussed the difference in houses. An overall conclusion is that we are glad to have homes with cozy beds and separate rooms! We are glad to live in a place with grass, and not a desert! At the end of the day we made Bible houses to complete our own Bible town!

 What a sweet class....

....and a little crazy

On Tuesday we discussed different types of transportation and the differences between how we travel now, and how people use to travel in the Bible. To enhance our science lesson on transportation, we put our engineering brains to work to make homemade speed ramps for toy cars. It was so fun to see all the different designs!

On Thursday we had Bible dress up day! The students could dress up as their favorite Bible character. We had Lot's Wife (I had fun freezing every time I looked back at my students!), David, Mary, Delilah, Moses, and the Princess who found Moses. 

In phonics we have learned about "bossy r". Bossy R likes to take over vowels in letter blends like "ar", "or", and "er". We have also been doing lots of review to help us learn how to sound out tricky words. A lot of words are ones that we can sound straight out like "can", "on", and other two and three letter words. Some however use grammar rules and other tricky letter blends. For these we pause, find the vowel, find the word family, find the beginning sound, and say the word. These skills will come in handy as they learn harder and harder words!

In math we have finished up a measuring section where we learned about scales, rulers, thermometers, and measuring cups. On Thursday we started a new section to expand our adding skills to add larger numbers. 

This week we also had a special guest come in for show and tell. Meet Rex, one of my student's bearded dragon! He was a lot of fun to observe and compare with Dude. Yay for impromptu science lessons!

With a "Spring" in Our Step!

Welcome back from spring break! We have enjoyed the warm spring weather this week, while learning about spring! This is the last section in our Season Unit. 

On Monday we learned about birds coming home and making nest in the springtime. Even though God didn't make us as nifty as birds at making nests, we decided to try! We scavenged outside to find some materials for our nest. With the help of paper bags, we used the materials to make our own nest!

On Tuesday we talked about the different weathers in spring. While the rain can be a bit sad, we decided that we love when a rainbow comes out! We explored rainbow colors by making a rainbow ring. 

On Thursday we learned about Benjamin Franklin and how he used the wind to discover electricity. We went outside to fly our own kite. Luckily, it wasn't stormy out. Sorry that I don't have any pictures, I was to busy running!

In phonics we have learned some tricky word families like unny, uddy, and usty. Dr. Flemmingway also came in all the way from Harvard to teach about the word family ight. I sadly missed her lesson, it's funny how we never end up in the same room together!

In math we have been telling time! We began to learn about minutes on a clock and reading digital clocks. We have also been reviewing counting money. 

For a craft this week we used our own wind to make wind streamers. We first blew paint around on a paper using a straw. Then we attached streamers and brought the ends together to make some great classroom decorations!