Ducklings and Measurement

Hello Parents! Sorry for the huge gap between blog posts. This spring has been busier than I anticipated! This blog post has lots about our ducks, who will be moving to their new home this next week, as well as a fun activity that students did surrounding our last math topic for the year: measurement.

Duck Fun

Over the past 2 weeks our class has been thoroughly enjoying our 3 ducklings! We have done many activities including comparing ducks to chicks, testing to see what foods ducklings prefer to eat and of course taken pictures with our favorite ducks and writing about our favorite ducks. The kids are constantly sitting by the duck pen reading to them, singing to them and noticing all the sweet features of all the ducks. I have loved watching them being so caring and responsible toward the ducklings these past weeks. It will be sad when they go to their new home on Wednesday.

Students draw a duck and a chick.

Students compare a duck and a chick.

The ducklings sleeping in their cuddle puddle!

Students observing whether students prefer their duck food or lettuce. 

Measurement

This week, while reviewing other math topics, we have launched into our final math unit of Kindergarten: measurement! To start this unit we have been looking at different tools that we can use to measure things. We estimated how tall students in our class were and looked at who was taller/shorter. Then we measured each other with cubes to see if we got the same results. Well surprisingly we found that perhaps some kids counted inaccurately or didn't quite measure each other accurately because kids reported back that our shortest student and tallest student were the same amount of cubes tall! Needless to say we will be revisiting measuring this week to see how we can measure in an accurate way!

These last 19 days of school are going to fly by. But they are also going to be jam packed with learning and fun. Cheers to a great week!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Beginning our Plants Unit and Careers on Wheels Day

This first week back from spring break we started new units of study as well as reviewed procedures and general school expectations. Our room got a bit of a makeover, ask your child about our new tables and shelf for supplies, and the students have been loving it so far. It makes our room feel more like a community which I love. This blog will show you all about the start to our plants unit as well as some pictures form our careers on wheels day! Enjoy!

Plants Unit

This week we started learning about plants and to start off we brainstormed some plants that we see in our everyday lives, and then went for a nature walk to observe some around our neighborhood. The kids found so many amazing flowers and plants and they documented them all in their science journals.

We also did a plant art project this week inspired by Eric Carle's "The Tiny Seed." We used painted paper that we tore up to create our art, and then we labeled the plant parts afterward. The students did such an amazing job and love seeing their art hanging in the hallway as we pass by.

               

              

              

Each student also got to plant a bean seed on Friday, so I will take pictures with updates as those grow!

Careers on Wheels

We also had the amazing opportunity to learn about a few different jobs in our community and see the vehicles that they use to complete those jobs. We saw everything from a recycling truck, a logging truck, a fire truck, PGE cranes and vans, as well as transport vehicles. The kids really enjoyed it and it was a fun way to connect back to our community unit that we completed in March.

 

  

This week we are continuing on with plants as well as getting ready for our student led conferences. So stay tuned for updates!

Cheers to a great week!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Making Cars and Working On Subtraction

This week was such a fun week filled with a review game of subtraction and we also made cars out of straws, popsicle sticks and wheels! It was so much fun and I took lots of pictures to share!

Snowball Subtraction

As we say goodbye to the cold weather, we played snowball subtraction as a review game. I wrote out subtraction problems on pieces of paper and crumpled them up. Then we had a "snowball fight" throwing the papers around the room, grabbing one and solving the problem on their individual white boards. The kids loved it and it was such a fun way to practice solving subtraction problems!

Students throwing their "snowballs"

A student write down her subtraction equation.

A student draws a picture to solve her subtraction problem.

A student solves his subtraction equation.

Independent work time

I am constantly blown away by your children during independent work time. Typically during our math or reading centers students have jobs that they complete independently so that I am able to meet with small groups of students. It never gets old when I can look up from my table and see every child working on their jobs, helping each other with their work, and being in charge of their own learning. This is something we will continue to work on as we move closer to first grade but I just wanted to share a few quick pictures of students as they were working this week.

Two students are working on a write the room where they count a set of objects
and write how many on their recording sheet.

Two students are working on matching ideas that start with the same beginning sounds.

Car construction

As part of our science unit we have been looking at how things move. We started by brainstorming different vehicles that move and toy versions of those toys that we either push or pull to play with. From there students helped me come up with some toys that they could test using a ramp to see which toys travelled further, how they could make them go further, and which ones went in a straighter line. Students got to test various marbles, wooden spheres and toy cars. From there we discussed the parts that the toy cars had on them and why they were important before we started constructing our own cars.

A group tests a sphere on their ramp.

After testing out various objects that roll, we came up with a list of things that we would need in order to make our own toy cars. The next day we started construction! The students had so much fun putting the cars together and they cannot wait to test them out on different ramps this week!

Stay tuned for next weeks blog for pictures of us testing out or cars to see which ones go faster, slower and more!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Finishing up our Arctic Animals Research

Wow! I cannot believe how fast January is flying by! These last two weeks we have been finishing up our arctic animal units. This week was all about making and assembling the posters and books! I was so blown away by the work your children put into these projects!We were supposed to present them as well but we had so many kids absent that I decided to wait until this coming week to have them present to the class.

Creating their projects

When we last left off on the blog, see last post if you haven't, students had finished up their research about their arctic animals and were ready to start their final projects about their animal. Some groups chose to make a poster, while some groups chose to make a book. Either way I drew out a rubric of all the pieces that their project had to include. I drew out the rubric on the board and also printed out a version for kids to use like a checklist! That is when students set off to work! Some kids drew pictures, some wrote, some labeled but everyone chipped in to help their groups. I was so blown away by the work they did. 

The rubric that I drew on the board!

The orca group working on their poster.

The polar bear groups completed poster.

The front covers of the books from 3 groups!

Informative Writing

Once we finished their projects we were able to move on and have students write out their own informational writing page about their animal. I kid you not each student wrote anywhere from 3-5 sentences! It was amazing! They helped each other with sight words and I helped with the spelling. It was wonderful to see! Here is a students finished writing:

Arctic Animal Drawings

Finally to end our week of arctic animals we did a directed drawing of each of our animals. Then students colored them with colored pencils and water colored the background. They did such a great job!

A students drawing of a polar bear.

This next week I will have more pictures of how their work is hanging up and I will also have pictures of them presenting their work to each other! It is going to be so much fun!

Cheers,

Miss Adams

Arctic Animals Shared Research

This first full week back we launched our shared research project about Arctic Animals. The kids are having a great time and I am loving watching them learn from each other and teach each other! We also had some fun with a cardboard box during choice time this week! Love giving the kids opportunities to create their own fun and construct their own learning!

Arctic Animals Research

To start out arctic animals research I started by sharing with students a story of my neighbors dog who lives outside year round. I told them that seeing her outside in the cold made me think of other animals that live where it is snowy and cold all the time. Students then helped me come up with many animals that live where it's cold (a few said Santa so we drew Santa with his reindeer!) From there I made posters of 6 different animals for students to pick which animal they wanted to learn more about. Once they picked their groups they started sharing what they already knew about those animals and used books and videos to record new facts about their animal. Then we shared one or two facts they had learned with the class! It was so great to see students working together in their groups and being so eager to share with the whole class! This coming week we will be working on a writing component for students to write down what they have learned about their arctic animal. They will also be picking a final project to share everything they have learned with the class! It's a busy time in Kindergarten!

Students draw and write facts on their poster.

Students work together to draw a snowy owl.

The polar bear drew that their bear eats fish and has claws so it doesn't slip on the snow.

A student asked me for a post it note to help her write down a fact about Snowy Owls.

A group of students share using their poster and books with the class.

It's a bird, it's a plane, its a cardboard box!

The food pantry had extra large cardboard boxes left over and asked me if I had a use for it, and boy did I ever. Every week on Wednesday's we do a choice time where students from all 3 Kindergarten classes can choose to go to another classroom to play with a certain game. So I opened up the cardboard box and let students decide how to use it. At one point students said it was Santa's sleigh, then it became a hot tub and finally when they stood it up it was a magic portal! I loved seeing their imaginations coming out and them just having fun being kids!

That is all for this week! Next time I will have pictures from the final steps of our arctic animal research project as well as more about our math unit as we finish up addition! Have a wonderful week!

Smiles,

Miss Adams