Pumpkin Research and Free Art

These last two weeks we have been really getting into our groove. We hit 35 days that we have been in school today and it is showing. Students are becoming very independent, are helping one another and are really taking pride in our classroom :) This week we finished up our research on pumpkins and are excited to do our pumpkin experiment on Halloween next week!

Pumpkin Research

This week we worked with partners on our pumpkin research. Students picked their partner that they wanted to work with and researched pumpkins using books. They had to work with their partner to decide what they wanted to draw about pumpkins and then on one piece of paper they together created a picture. We are still ironing out the kinks but overall it went pretty well. The students favorite part was getting to share their work with the class. Then after we had each group share we connected our ideas with ideas previously shared which the students loved helping me with. I often heard "well this connects to... so lets connect our card to theirs!" 

A student colors their pumpkin orange.

A student labels their picture with their partner.

Our finished chart with all the pieces that connect!

Free Art Time

This past wednesday we had a special treat when I introduced the class to free art time. During one of our stations students truly got to create whatever they wanted with almost any art form. I put out coloring sheets, blank paper, lined paper, scissors, glue, watercolors, markers and more for students to just have fun and create something wonderful! They loved getting to be in charge and decide for themselves what they wanted to create. I really enjoyed watching them be so creative and take ownership over the art they were creating.

Leaf Hunt

Another activity I love doing in the fall is going on a leaf hunt! We looked for different sizes and shapes of leaves as well as using our senses on our walk. The kids really enjoyed it and have bringing me leaves all week to show me cool ones they found! 

I promise I will take lots of pictures on Halloween and for our pumpkin experiment. Cheers to a wonderful week ahead!

Best,

Miss Adams

Centers, Pumpkins and Bats

This week we have been diving more deeply into our Pumpkin unit, getting to explore some new and exciting centers and did some fun new art projects! Check out all the details below:

Centers

As we move into the middle of October students are beginning to work almost entirely independently at their centers for both math and reading. During this time students work on quiet activities while I meet and read with small groups of students. One of those centers is "write the room" where students take their recording sheet around the room to different task cards posted on the walls and write down the word or number on their recording sheet. I have been so impressed with how quiet students are while doing this and how much they enjoy it as well! Another center is doing a quiet task like a writing sheet or stamping. The students love getting to use the stamps! On Wednesday's we have special iPad time that is designated for science. This week students got to explore kid friendly videos about pumpkins! There were videos about turning large pumpkins into boats, how to carve pumpkins and of course how pumpkins grow. The videos were a huge hit and I had students ask if they could watch them again!

A student counts out colored counters during math centers.

A student completes the write the room.

A student completes a stamping center.

A student watches a video about pumpkin boats!

Bat Directed Drawing

At least every other week we try to do a directed drawing in class where I take students step by step to draw a picture. This week we did a bat directed drawing. We start by going through all the steps in pencil. Then this week I introduced sharpies as a way to outline our pictures so we can see them better after we have colored them. Finally after outlining the pictures students were able to use oil pastels to color in their bats and watercolors to paint the background. We learned a great lesson about what happens when we use too much water in our watercolors as many students had part of their pictures tear! But I also learned that we should probably use a thicker paper when we do watercolors next time :) They still turned out great and the students had a great time making them!

A student traces their bat drawing.

A student traces their bat drawing.

A finished bat drawing.

A finished bat drawing.

A finished bat drawing.

A finished bat drawing.

We are in the countdown to Halloween. I can't believe we are almost 30 days into Kindergarten already but I am loving every minute with your wonderful kiddos!

Smiles,

Miss Adams