Bats and Pumpkins!

Now that we are in our second week of October we definitely felt it with our pumpkin and bat crafts this week. They turned out so wonderful! 

Bat Directed Drawing

Every other week or so we do a directed drawing as a whole class. What that means is I sit at the front and using basic shapes I show them exactly how to draw a picture and they copy it down. So for example the bat one started with circle in the middle of the page, then 2 triangles coming out of the circle for ears and 2 rainbows one on each side for wings. It is a lengthy process where students really have to listen and follow directions! They have definitely improved on this as we have done more! Finally after we drew them, we colored them in with colored pencil and watercolored the background!

Check out how great these are!

A student watercolors his picture.

A student water colors his picture.

Bumpy Pumpkins

As we prepare to go to the pumpkin patch we discussed how different pumpkins can look from each other and created our own unique pumpkins! We started with an art activity where we painted papers orange and green. Then when they dried we used them to construct our pumpkins! Students loved getting to make them silly or scary or just happy! They really did amazing work and I love showing off their work in the hallway for the whole school to see :)

A student paints her paper green.

A student paints his paper orange.

A finished bumpy pumpkin!

A finished bumpy pumpkin!

Our Kinder patch of bumpy pumpkins!

This week we will be looking more scientifically at how pumpkins grow, their parts and of course learn a fun new poem about pumpkins!

Stay tuned for more fun next week!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Apples and Shaving Cream! What a week!

This week we finished up our apple unit with not one, not two but three apple activities! Plus we also worked very hard on writing our numbers from 0-10 from memory! It was a fun filled week!

Apples, Apples and more Apples!

To start off our apple week fun we began with an apple torn paper craft. Students tore out small pieces of green, red and yellow paper to make an apple craft. The kids really took their time and they turned out so nice!

A student tears his red paper.

A student tears his green paper.

A few of the finished apple projects.

Then we moved on to our apple printing. Students got to use apple halves to paint a fall tree. It was a great chance for them to get messy while also looking at the veins that the apple left in the paint when it dried. The students really enjoyed it!

Finally we ended our apple week with an apple tasting! The students got to try a red, yellow and green apple and we graphed which type of apple students liked best. Spoiler alert: red won! This was a great chance for students to use some math skills, graphing which apple flavor won, and also writing (we came up with describing words for how our apples tasted!) All in all it was a fun week filled with apples :)

Number Writing

We have been working really hard on being able to write numbers 0-10 from memory. It really helps students when we move on to addition and teen numbers when students don't have to spend lots of time figuring out how to write a 5 or a 6f or example. To help with that we did a fun activity where we wrote our numbers in shaving cream! The students loved getting messy and it also allowed them to use their whole arm/hand to practice writing those numbers! It was so much fun and I saw lots of improvement in their numbers afterward!

This week we are moving on to our pumpkin unit as we lead up to our pumpkin patch field trip. I can't believe we are moving into week 6 of Kindergarten but I am enjoying every minute and I hope your students are too :)

Smiles,

Miss Adams

All about Math

This week we have been focusing on our math centers. We have 3 basic rules: use a quiet voice, keep working until the timer goes off, and put things back where they go when it is time to clean up. Next week we will start earning group points. As a table group they will be working to help each other remember the 3 rules to earn points. When a group gets to 10 points they earn a prize :)

Here are a few of the math centers we have been working on:

Partner Games

One of the students favorite parts of math centers is partner math games. This weeks game was 5 in a row. Students roll a dice and cover up the number they rolled on the board with their colored cube. Partners take turns and the first person to get five cubes in a row wins! This week we worked on being a good sport if you don't win and ending each game with a handshake :)

Number Writing

Another area we are working on is our math number writing. We have been learning our number writing rhymes and practicing in lots of different ways. This week we will practice with shaving cream (I promise to take pictures!) If you are making a list or counting any items at your house you can help your child by having them practice writing that number!

Write the Room

A new activity we did this week was write the room math. Around the room I posted cards with a different number of objects on them. Students then walk around, count the objects and write the number on their recording sheet. Everyone loved it! When I changed the cards on the second day they asked me all day "when are we doing write the room!" 

This week we are finishing up our apple study so expect lots of photos of our apple projects :)

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Centers, Free Choice and a Parade!

Learning Centers

As a part of our day we do both Literacy (reading and writing) and Math Centers as a chance for students to explore different concepts while I pull small groups of students for a mini lesson. While we have been working on using a quiet voice to be respectful of everyone trying to learn, we have also been working on our stamina (working on an activity for the designated time). We have gone from spending 3 minutes on an activity to 7 minutes on an activity and are getting better every day! Below you will see a few of the centers that children engage in during our centers times.

A student using a writing card to make a list of things in our classroom at the writing center.

A student works on a rhyming puzzle during Literacy Centers.

Two students explore how to use an iPad during Math Centers.

Free Choice

One of the students favorite parts of our day is our Free Choice time. This is basically our play time. Students play with everything from Kinetic sand, to playdoh to our kitchen set. This is a wonderful chance for students to use their imagination, work on their problem solving skills and learn to cooperate with peers on a game. Here is a photo of the students putting together a puppet show for their peers. So darling!

Estacada High School Parade

Our week finished off with the High School Homecoming Parade. Students loved getting to see the different floats, the firetruck of course and they also got to see our High School helpers on the floats which was very exciting for them. It was definitely a great way to end our week :)

Students watch as the Estacada High School marching band goes by in the parade.

This week we will be working on our apple unit, continuing to grow our writing and have our first all school assembly of the year. It should be a wonderful week!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Welcome to the Blog!

Hello Everyone,

First I wanted to say thank you for popping by to read our classroom blog. Life can go by so fast that I wanted to provide you with just a brief summary of some things we are doing and learning at school. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me or send me a note. I want to make this for you! So I am always welcome to feedback :)

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

This week we focused on the story of Brown Bear. The students love the story and to discuss how to retell a story we made sequencing pieces to help us! Students colored in their bears, colored in the different animals that Brown Bear sees and then practiced telling the story using the sequencing strip. The students loved it and I loved seeing them practicing retelling their story and having fun at the same time :)

Students color in their brown bear animals.

A student practices retelling the story with their sequencing strip.

Learning about Centers

This week we have been learning about how to do math and literacy centers. We have mostly focused on keeping our voices quiet and staying on task, but while we have focused on those things, students have gotten the chance to explore lots of new stations. In math they have explored cubes, using play doh, and pattern blocks. In literacy they have learned the 3 ways to read a book, have done some weaving/lacing and started working on drawing/writing independently. We will continue this work this week as well.

A student builds the number 4 with play doh.

Two students share a book during literacy centers.

Directed Drawings

About once a week students participate in a directed drawing. Where I show them step by step how to draw a specific picture. It is a lot of focusing on directions and it can be challenging not to forget a step! Once we draw out the entire picture, students went through and outlined their pictures with black sharpie so that the outline stands out. Finally they were able to color in their picture, this week I let them pick how they wanted to color it in. Some chose markers, some crayons and some colored pencils. I save all of the students drawings in a portfolio to send home at the end of the year so that you can see their progress as the weeks go on!

A student draws his Hippo.

A student outlines her picture.

A student outlines her picture.

A students' finished hippo.

A students' finished hippo!

A students finished hippo!

That's all for this week. I can't believe we are moving into our third week of Kindergarten already but I am loving every minute :)

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Duck Writing Sharing, Fishing Field Trip and Zoo!

Well folks, here it is. Our last blog post of the year :( As sad as I am for this year to be over I am also so grateful that I was able to spend this year with your children. I grew as much as they did and I will never forget the wonderful memories we made together as a class!

Fishing Field Trip

We had an absolutely incredible time fishing at Timber Lake Job Corps this week. Students got to bounce in a bouncy house as well as go down a bouncy slide. Then we had a picnic barbeque lunch and finally got down to business... fishing! The students had so much fun catching and releasing fish! Here are a few photos of the many fun times we had throughout the day!

A few students and I jumping in the bounce house!

Students sitting and fishing.

I colored the students face to protect her identity, but I wanted to show you a huge trout that she caught!

Zoo Field Trip

As if our week wasn't exciting enough with the fishing field trip, we also got to go to the Zoo! The weather turned out perfect with a just a few glimpses of sunshine on a warm overcast day. Students had so much fun seeing all the animals and learning new facts about them! It was a wonderful celebration of all their hard work this year!

A student looks in on Nora the polar bear.

Duck Writing Sharing

As a culmination of all their hard work we ended our duck writing and publishing unit with a sharing. In the morning students practiced sharing their writing orally to a peer so they could practice before the parents came. It was so great to see students giving each other feedback and listening so intently. It really showed me how close this group has become this year :) Then students were thrilled to be able to share their writing with parents in the afternoon. If you weren't able to make it, I hope students came home and shared it with you! 

A student shares her writing with a peer.

Two students share their writing.

A student shares her writing with her father.

A students shares her writing with her mother.

Well it has come to that point where I sign off for the school year. I can't believe how fast it went by but you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun :) Thanks for joining us on our journey this year and enjoy your summer break!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Free Art, Root Beer Floats and Pajama Day!

What a crazy week we had filled with amazing rewards for your kiddos great behavior! While it may seem like we only had a week filled with free time, the rest of the time was spent on assessments! Your students worked so hard and were really trying their hardest! So they deserved some extra fun :)

Root Beer Float Party

First students won a root beer float party because as a class we were awarded 40 giant goldfish tickets. We earned these goldfish over the course of the year for being safe, respectful or responsible as a whole class! It is really an honor that we earned that many and the students were thrilled to have their floats! Plus the weather was nice enough that we got to eat them outside!

Free Art Time

Your students are truly talented artists. When they won free art time from their good behavior it looked like they had won the lottery! They were ecstatic! I put out watercolors, colored pencils, oil pastels and students simply had time to be creative and imaginative. They loved getting to make creations with all the varying art mediums and I loved getting to see what they came up with!

This week we have two fun filled field trips, we will be drawing our end of year self portraits and of course sharing our duck writing with you on Friday! Only 9 days of school left but boy are they filled with fun :)

Smiles,

Miss Adams