A couple of the kiddos wanted to take silly photos during our Friday afternoon center time a few weeks back & this is the result. They each got to pick their own effect & decide how they wanted us to pose. This crew is SO much fun!
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They just grow up so fast... so fast... These expressions are on par! Jeremy was loving his costume!
My father came to surprise the class with a special edition of the mystery reader. Music has always been a huge part of my life growing up & I always try to implement it in the classroom whenever I can. As you can tell, it is a huge part of my Dad's life as well. The man has more guitars than any one human knows what to do with! Mr. Little brought in several different types of instruments (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, & a dobro). We pulled out our map that we've become so fond of & discussed where each instrument originated from & how long ago it was invented. We got to enjoy what each instrument sounded like (including with the amplifier!) & even watched a BrainPopJr video on what exactly sound and pitch are. This lead to some pretty fun experiments on vibration & pitch using stuff found around the classroom. We even read a book about how certain animals use sound (echolocation) to navigate & hunt for food. I think our new favorite animal might be a bat! Experimenting with vibrations using different types of string and rubber bands!
Timmy Howard has had quite the experience so far in Kindergarten! T.H. has been to the movies, seen the Golden Gate bridge, walked through the Joshua Tree desert, & even had books read to him! Jaime received T.H. before we let out for Christmas break. They traveled all the way to the West Coast together! Over the past five months I have been introducing bits and pieces of the map & globe to the class. Whenever one of our read-alouds has a specific location in it we make sure to look up where exactly that place can be found on the map. We've even learned where our aunts, uncles, grandmas, & and grandpas live! Well, after Jaime returned with T.H. the class was eager to learn where the Golden Gate bridge was located. We got online & used our SmartBoard to find it. We typed our school's address into the directions as well as The Golden Gate bridge. The kids couldn't believe how far away it was! We discussed distance, miles, flying vs. driving vs. walking, & how many hours each process would take. I can't wait to see where T.H. goes next!! Then we watched a BrainPopJR video on countries & continents to further explain the location. We learned how many continents there are & what exactly a continent is. BrainPop even showed us what it was like to live in each continent. Some of us even remembered that the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower from England which is in Europe! It's so neat to see their little worlds expand day after day.
The kids made New Year's resolutions last Tuesday. We discussed what the word resolution meant & how we could improve on ourselves over the next year. Their resolutions were so great that we had to hang them all up on the bulletin board outside of our classroom for others to see! Then we played musical chairs to go along with our new math unit of comparing sets of numbers. What better way to learn math than to get up & move while doing so! The class learned how to use phrases like 'more than', 'less than', & 'equal to' when discussing groups of numbers. To start off our math unit we watched a read aloud on youtube of The Three Little Pigs. The kids got to use the SmartBoard after & illustrate how there were more pigs than there were wolves. We then discussed how to figure out how many more pigs than wolves there were. Our new Writer's Workshop unit is writing How To books. I introduced the lesson by bringing in supplies to make a yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. What kid doesn't love a good pb&j?? I mentioned to the class that I hadn't made or eaten a pb&j in probably over 15 years. I told them I really needed some help in doing so since it had been so long. They all thought this was hilarious. "Ms. Little!! WHY haven't you eaten one lately?? They are SO good!"
They began by giving instructions one at a time. "Take out the bread." I looked at the bag confused and tried to rip it open. "NO! NO! Ms. Little! You have to OPEN the bag!!" Well... I told them they didn't say the word OPEN. After I opened the bread I asked for the next instructions. "Get out two pieces." "Now put the peanut butter on top of the bread." As you can see, I put the peanut butter jar directly on top of the bread. The kids burst into laughter. "NOOOOO!!! Not the JAR!" I explained to them that those were the directions they gave me. They then realized they needed to change their word choice. "Twist off the peanut butter top." I did as they said. "Now, take out a scoop & put it into the middle of the bread." As you can see, I mushed the peanut butter into the middle of the bread. They thought I was crazy at this point. After a few more instructions they started to realize how important it was to be very specific with your instructions. Afterwards, I got to enjoy a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the kiddos were happy about that! These ladies had the opportunity to share their seed about what they did over Christmas break.
WOW! We had a PACKED first week back to school after the Christmas holidays. The kiddos didn't miss a beat & were anxious to learn! We started a brand new reading unit called 'We Can Be Reading Teachers: Teach Yourself & Your Partners to Use All You Know to Read.' This is always a favorite of the kids because they get the opportunity to become 'teachers' to others. They love the chance to show off their skills & all that they have learned over the past 5 months. It is really cute to watch them be role models to each other. This year I had Ms. Minor's Young 5s class come in to help us out with the start of our unit. We discussed how our 5th grade Book Buddies are role models to us in all different kinds of areas of life and that now it was OUR turn to be the role models to another class. You should have seen the look on all of their faces. Their eyes LIT up! We got out a leveled book from our reading baskets & looked at the cover & title of the book (Curly Tails, Feathers, & Spots). It had a picture of 2 pigs on the front. We had a discussion about all that we know about reading so far and how we can use what we know to help us become even better. The kids explained how there is a cover, author, & a title. I referenced our earlier units of study (We Can Be Reading Superheroes, etc) & how the picture can be our reading SIDEKICK. We came up with some great super hero sidekicks (The Robin to our Batman) & how they help each other out. The picture is our sidekick to the words in the story. We then discussed how the story must be about pigs because it has two pigs on the cover. WELL.... we then looked at the title and realized it said more than just curly tails like the pigs have. It also mentioned spots and feathers. We then realized it had to be about MORE than just pigs. The kiddos listed off some animals that had spots and feathers. We then took a picture walk (this is another 'warm up' we do before reading new books) & discussed what we saw in the pictures of the book. After we did that, we then made a chart of other strategies/skills we had already learned in Reader's Workshop. Now it was time to teach all of this to the Young 5s crew. My class got to pick a partner from the Young 5s class & show them their book bin in the classroom. We then gave them some time to read from their book bins & show the younger kids some strategies we have learned. My class was on fire. They were showing off treasures they had found, words they know, ways to solve words they didn't know, & they even showed the Young 5s how we discuss what the characters must be feeling or what they would be saying in the story. This inspired the Young 5s crew to go back into their classroom & try it for themselves!! A success all around! ![]() Alice is teaching Ansley all about how to read with expression based on what punctuation the author uses. This is one of Alice's FAVORITE books. It has periods, question marks, & exclamation points throughout the whole book that help foster reading with expression. She even taught Ansley how to look at the character's facial expressions to help show you how your voice should sound when you read.
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AuthorKindergarten teacher to 12 incredible students. I love photography, traveling, coffee, & board games. Archives
February 2016
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