We're Seeing Shapes EVERYWHERE!

Students have been learning about 2-D and 3-D shapes. They have learned the names of them (including the triangular prism and rectangular prism) and also tried to identify objects in the real world that are similar shapes. Students worked in groups of threes or fours to make a list/draw objects that resembled a particular shape. Here's one example below of pictures and words that students thought resembled a triangular prism: a party hat, a Christmas tree, a pyramid, the point of a spear, and a beak! Shapes really are all around us! Students did a great job working together on this project and presenting their papers to the rest of the class.


Students also received a 2-D paper cut out and was challenged with the idea of making that shape become part of something else. For example, a circle is just a circle, but when I add a straight line below it, it becomes a lollipop. The pictures below show students thinking of a square as a "package," a "robot," and a "grandfather clock."

Happy Groundhog Day!

What's NEW with our class?

Catching up a little... my students are obsessed with origami, thanks to our art teacher! She taught them how to make origami puppies. At least two students are making origami at the end of each day for free choice. They are also obsessed with "mail call." Students can write notes or make crafts for one another and put it in our "class mailbox," as long as it is addressed correctly (who it is to and who it is from). Students have made origami, paper snowflakes, "you are my best friend" notes, and even wrote out numbers "counting by 5's" on a paper to give to another student who doesn't know how to count by 5's yet but wants to be in the "Counting by 5's Math Club." How cute and thoughtful is that?

Several students, myself, my family and other teachers and students from our school volunteered two weekends ago to clean up the school campus. We worked on the school garden. We spread mulch and coffee grounds, planted seeds, and pulled weeds. We saved the potatoes until Monday so that the whole class could have the experience of planting. We planted three different types of potatoes, including blue potatoes. We are going to be going out to check on them once a week and record our observations as scientists!





We learned all about the Chinese New Year from Mrs. Johnson (Andrew's mom). She showed the students traditional ceremonial clothing, taught them about the meaning of The Chinese New Year, allowed them to make a paper dragon, and gave them Chinese fortune cookies. The students really embraced learning about this Chinese tradition. Thank you Mrs. Johnson!!
We also have been having a great time with our weekly Spanish lessons with Mrs. Wilson (Zachary's mom). She has been coming every Wednesday and reading books, playing games, singing songs, and teaching simple words and conversation pieces. This has been a dream of mine for a long time, to be able to expose my students to other languages, and it's coming true!!!! I already have Mrs. Rushe (Patrick's mom) signed up to teach a few words and a song in Italian this month too! Thank you to Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Rushe.

Holiday Homework

To change things up for homework the last week of December, I created a different kind of homework sheet. Students were able to choose two or more activities from the list which included: 1)Make a wish card (cut out pictures from a magazine that you wish you could give to someone else for the holidays, glue them onto a card and write the person's name on the top)2)Do 3 Acts of Kindness (do three things for someone else. It can be anything from holding the door for someone else, to singing a song for someone, to giving a canned food to someone in need, etc.) 3) Holiday Search (look around your house and search for holiday decorations, count how many you can find) 4)Following Directions (make a baked good or craft, make sure that you follow each step or direction) 5) Favorite Toy Writing (if you could keep only ONE toy, which ONE would you keep and why)
I loved this homework assignment because it allowed kids to have fun and think of others! Several students made wish cards for kids in our class! Some of the acts of kindness that students did included: being a secret Santa for another family, reading a book to my brother, sharing candy with others, donating toys, opening the door for others, helping rock my baby brother to sleep, helping my teacher pass out papers, giving some of my money to someone in need, making my brother a snack, and taking a package to a neighbor. These sweet students have BIG, BIG hearts!

Jingle Pencils!

Kids get so excited about the little things!! I made "jingle" pencils by putting two small bells on a pipe cleaner and wrapping it around a pencil. I put one "jingle pencil" at each table and each day students would take a turn using the "jingle pencil." Kids were counting down the days until it would be their turn. They loved them so much that we decided to make one for everyone to take home. I would not be surprised if our class "jingle pencils" stuck around until the last day of Kindergarten!

Winter Wonderland

We had a blast the last week of school in December! We had so much fun making sock snowman, reindeer hats, glitter pinecones,reindeer cookies, and playing with peppermint, cinnamon, and clove playdoh. Students played catch the marshmallow in the cup, sight word bingo, toss the snowball, pin the ornament on the tree and a few other fun, winter games! We also had a visit by Auntie Clause and listened to her read us a story! What a great way to end the year!

Fun Winter Centers on PhotoPeach



Winter Games! on PhotoPeach

Children are a precious gift!