Blast Off!

As we blasted off into another week, we learned all about space. On Monday we discussed the difference between day and night, and how God made some animals special just for the nighttime. On Tuesday we looked up and studied the stars and the constellations that they make. We then made our own constellations by poking holes into a plastic cup, and then using a flashlight to shine them onto the ceiling. Thursday we talked about the moon and imagined where it goes during the day. Some creative answers were to the zoo, in the trash can, and to school! We then showed the moon phases in a delicious ways, with Oreos!

On Tuesday we also had firefighters come in to talk about fire safety. Sadly it was to cold out for them to bring their truck, but it was still fun to learn about what firemen do. 

 In math we are still working on adding, time, and money quantities. We are beginning to tell time to the half hour, and it is going great to far! Next week we are going to begin learning about the quarter, and that will be all our coins!

For our art craft this week we learned about Vincent Van Gogh and his painting Starry Night. We then made our own version of Starry Night using paint and crayons. We first swirled paint together. The next day we sprinkled different colors of crayons together and melted it in the oven. The result was a swirly starry painting!

Upcoming famous painters!

Next Week...

Next week is summer time! We will be learning all about temperature and summer activities. Thursday will be beach day, so bring a swimming towel! I'm sorry I haven't quite got the progress reports out yet. They're coming!

Land that I Love!

On Monday and Tuesday last week we learned about different places in America. Monday we learned about the Statue of Liberty and other monuments in our country. The students then made themselves look like the statue. 

Much cuter than the Statue of Liberty!

On Tuesday we learned about different land masses in America, like mountains, lakes, oceans, and caves. We discussed what all was in cave like stalactites, stalagmites, and bats (eek!). We worked on our sculpting skills then by making caves out of Playdough.  

Thursday was the day we celebrated Valentines day. We worked all week on cards to give to residents at our local nursing home. This led to a lot of discussion about loving those who need love the most. The trip to the nursing home was a such a blessing. The students were so caring when giving their cards to the residents, and we ended the visit with singing some Sunday School songs. 

We ended our Valentine's day by having a party! We played a few Valentine's themed games. My Valentine to the students was a big ice cream bar! It was delicious! 

You know it's good stuff when they're too busy eating to look at the camera!

Last week was also Random Acts of Kindness week. It was so much fun to sneak presents into other students lockers. It was also fun to receive presents too! On Thursday we shared who we were giving presents to all week. It is always fun to do things together as a whole school!

Coming up...

This week we started to learn more about science like day and night, seasons, and hot and cold. We have some fun experiments planned! Also, I plan on sending progress reports this week through email, so keep an eye out! 

"Wave"ing by Another Week

If you can tell by my cheesy title, we learned about oceans this week and all the impressive creators that live in them. Throughout the week in phonics we have learned the sounds that "sh" and "ch" make. To help us learn these brand new letter blends. We had a special guest professor named Dr. Flemmingway come into teach us these blends. The students may have caught on that Dr. Flemmingway and I look a little similar. 

 We had a short day on Monday with the two hour delay, but we still had time to learn about where oceans are and different animals that call oceans home. 

On Tuesday we talked about the biggest mammal, that's right a whale! Blue whales can get up to 100 feet. We measured in the hall the length of a whale, and it was huge! It was a unanimous decision that while whales are probably nice, we don't really want to go swimming with them! 

On Tuesday we also made a beautiful school of shimmering fish. To do this we cut out fish from paper, glued aluminum foil to them, then drew designs on them with sharpie. 

On Thursday we learned about one of the most unusual sea creatures, an octopus. Did you know that an octopus can spray ink, hid in a crevice the size of an apple, and change colors to blend in with it's environment. To practice our camouflage skills we played hide and seek. Each student also colored their own octopus to hang around the classroom. To end our ocean week we also made a little aquarium snack.

 Finger licking good!

  Look at the boy in background. Made me laugh!

We also had a busy week in math! Besides continuing to work with addition and number recognition, the student were also introduced to counting bu fives. To practice our new skill they had a teamwork game with building Legos while counting by fives.  

Faces of students who are hard at work!

The highschool students have been using the gym a few mornings a week to practice for their upcoming play. This means lots of in the classroom recess. So far the students have enjoyed playing blocks and board games. But, if your child wants to bring any toys in to play that's just fine with me!

A very impressive tower by some even more impressive boys!

Coming up...

Next week is missionary week as we'll learn about different places missionaries go and what they do. In phonics we will talk about the "th"sound. 

On Thursday a bird rescue center is going to come in and show the students some amazing birds!

First off thank you for everyone who came in for parent-teacher conferences. It was wonderful to speak with everyone!

These past few weeks we have continued our unit "From Sea to Shining Sea". A couple weeks ago we learned about the prairie, along with Pioneers and Native Americans who use to live on it. On Tuesday we talked about Native Americans and how they used to hunt, eat, and live. After discussing symbols that Native Americans used on their tee-pees, each student made their own miniature tee-pees.

We had a special guest from a "real" pioneer! She told us all about how different it was to live in pioneer days, but how pioneer children enjoyed a lot of the same things as them!  A big thanks goes to my wonderful friend who was willing to be a pioneer for a day!

 For snack time we made our very own butter by shaking cream. It was surprisingly very delicious!

This pass week's theme was rivers and lakes. We did lots of fun experiments that dealt with water. One Monday we learned about the water-cycle. To model the water-cycle we added cotton balls to one students hands to show water droplets being brought to the cloud. Once his hand got to full he had to drop them, which modeled how it rained. 

On Tuesday we were scientist as we experimented on what floats and what sinks!

The scientist with their observation sheets

Coming Up...

Next week is all about oceans and the amazing animals that live in them! We will also be continuing to combine more letters to make letter blends. 

Update!

It's been far to long since I've updated everyone on what's going in Kindergarten. So this is a catch up on everything post!

The week before break was filled with Christmas books, songs, crafts and games! On Thursday a few moms (who are seriously wonderful!) planned a Christmas party for the students. There were lots of games and an adorable craft.

 Christmas cake walk!

 Ornaments we made in class

After the party we had a gift exchange. We did the exchange a little different this year. The girls and boys each made a circle. I then read The Grinch that Stole Christmas.  Every time the word "Grinch" was said, everyone passed there present to the person next to them. It was fun to see what everyone got!

 Enjoying the new presents!

Can't have Christmas without a mess!

All the students were seemed excited to come back to school after break! It didn't take long to jump right back into our schedule. As part of our new "Sea to Shining Sea" unit, we learned about mountains and volcanoes. Some highlight were making our own mountain range out of Play-dough, having a model volcano explode, and imagining we were gold minors who just discovered some gold (aka Rollos). So confession time: I didn't take any pictures this week! I think the students got into "school mode" quicker than I did! I promise to be more diligent next week!

We also have started something new this week! Since we have learned every letter sound in the alphabet, we are now working on letter blend! This week we discussed "sl", "sp", "gr", and "cl". This adds and extra challenge in reading, but also so many new words we are able to sound out! 

We are also continuing with learning to add in math. The students are getting quicker and quicker with addition facts. The love playing a speed game with the facts, especially if it's boys versus girls!

Oh, we also had a new student on Thursday!

Meet Daisy! Daisy is a monster that helps us learn out letter sounds. When a student was absent on Thursday, Daisy graciously took her place for the day!

Coming up...
Next week we are learning about how Pioneers and Indians lived. We have a special guest coming in on Thursday,so be sure to ask your child about who visited out classroom!