It's hard to believe we're already at Spring Break - this year will be over before we know it! These past few weeks have been full of so much learning, and I am continually impressed by my students' incredible inquires into the world around us. While learning about the upcoming solar eclipse, we got to experiment with gravity, inertia, and how planets orbit in space - all entirely prompted by the students' own wonders! What an amazing thing as an educator to be able to stand back and watch your students take charge of their own learning. I am truly lucky! In math, we've been working hard on our 3D shapes. Students had the opportunity to take this learning into the kinesthetic space by building some 3D shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks! We created cubes, rectangular prisms, and pyramids. We also discussed why some of our round shapes wouldn't work very well for our toothpick activity. Nothing like some fun fine motor practice to bring some novelty into our math lessons! Reading has also seen more hands-on activities as of late, including a CVC word building center. At this station, students use the letter tiles to sound out and build the CVC word. The best part? The tiles and board are magnetic! Writing has also been a big part of our daily routine. Recently, we've been working on our color words. Students had the opportunity to write a sentence using the color word and an item of their choice, such as a crayon, flower, or cupcake. These picture cards will be used after spring break as a color sorting activity to help reinforce the color words that we worked so hard to learn! A big thank you to everyone that came out to our Intercultural Fair! There were so many different countries and cultures represented, and it was great to see the students' hard work on display. Our most exciting inquires, however, had to do with the upcoming solar eclipse. First, we watched a video explaining what the eclipse is and how it works. Then, we used our globe, a flashlight, and a ball to simulate the eclipse as a group. Students had so many great wonders during this portion of our lesson: Why doesn't it cover the whole earth? Could it just cover a part of it? These inquiries led into a whole host of other questions regarding the planets and how they orbit the sun. We talked about how the earth is spinning and orbiting the sun at the same time, which is why sometimes the moon passes in front of it. Then, the students began to wonder about the spinning: if the earth was really spinning, and we're on the earth, why don't we feel it? Some students even connected this idea to being in a car or on a bike, and how when the car or bike turns, we can feel it. This prompted the discovery of two new vocabulary words: gravity and inertia. I made sure to point out how smart they were for already discovering these incredible science words! Gravity became of particular interest, as students began to wonder why we weren't flattened to the ground like pancakes all the time. Could there be another type of gravity, one pulling us up instead of down? After all of this, we decided to take some action. Students set up four centers: one for exploring the eclipse, one for simulating an orbit, one for figuring out how gravity worked, and one for researching about the eclipse. Everyone rotated through our stations, and it was such fun to see the learning take place! We've clearly sparked an interested in outer space, so I hope to explore that further during our Genius Hour time after spring break. We're coming down the home stretch - everyone enjoy your time off, and I'll see you soon!
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We have officially started our final unit of inquiry for this year: exploring animal habitats and the environments they need to survive. We have an animal-loving group this year, so I get the feeling this one will be a hit! We recently wrapped up our unit on sound with the creation of musical instruments using nothing but recycled materials. First, the students planned out their design by drawing and labeling the different parts they would need. Then, they got to work assembling! It was great fun to see all of the creative instruments they made. Now that our sound unit is finished, we can start learning about animal habitats! The students were given several provocations this week: first, they were challenged to create animal habitats using some learning kits we recently acquired. As I circled around, I spoke with each student and had them explain why they built the habitat the way they did. Their answers were enlightening! They're already thinking about safety and shelter, and we can now reflect on our initial discoveries since the habitats they built were photographed and are now hanging in our classroom. We'll refer back to them as we go, and will continue to document our learning. Secondly, the students were given some 'Mix and Match' animals. With this kit, they could 'build' an animal using different animal parts (head of an elephant, body of a cheetah, etc.). The students created an animal, then drew it along with the habitat it might need. This created some interesting inquiries: if the animal has the head of a lion, what kind of food would it need? Since it has the feet of a crocodile, where might it live? Students defended their answers and created some very silly creatures! We've also been working hard on our CVC words, most recently through the use of word ladders. A word ladder is an activity where one word transforms into another by changing one letter for each rung of the ladder. For example, the word 'cat' could become the word 'dog' like this: cat, cot, dot, dog. The students enjoy sounding out each word, and the extra challenge of finding the letter that changed keeps things interesting. In addition to our musical instruments and word work, the students have been working hard in preparation for our Intercultural Fair. The country we're studying is South Africa (where I did my student teaching!), and the students are creating South African animals out of air dry clay and beans. These will be displayed on our table during the Fair, along with the board displaying all the fun facts we've learned! Learning about the animals in South Africa has also sparked in interest in conservation. When students learned that rhinos are an endangered species, they wanted to take ACTION! We started by making posters declaring the need to SAVE THE RHINOS!, which are now hanging prominently in the hallway for everyone to see. We have plans to create videos and write letters explaining why the rhinos need to be saved, and I can't wait to see just how big our rhino conservation project can get. Spring Break will be here before we know it, and the end of the school year will be here before too long as well. Our incredible students have shown so much growth and excitement for learning; I am thrilled to get to teach them each and every day!
As we get to experience the highs and lows of March in Ohio, we've been going back to the core of all learning: play! Through centers, activities, and special guests, we've been able to experience a lot of fun as of late. We've also had a lot of sickness going around, and it's even gotten me. We decided to mix things up by using some of my old teaching videos (from the days of e-learning!) to teach some short /e/ CVC words. The kids were incredibly impressed that their teacher 'was on YouTube!' It added an element of novelty for the students, and saved what little voice I had left for conferences! Last week was Right to Read week, and the whole school celebrated with 20 minutes of silent reading in the hallway. I'll be the first to admit that I was nervous - twenty minutes of sustained reading is a long time for a kindergartener! - but the students impressed me as usual. Everyone stayed focused, traded books quietly, and enjoyed their time bonding with the whole student body. Speaking of reading, we also celebrated Right to Read week with some very special guest readers! Both Mr. Simon and Teacher Jesse read to our combined kindergarten classes on Friday, and the students enjoyed it immensely. Centers have been a highlight of our learning recently. Here in kindergarten, we utilize open-ended materials to facilitate learning. Our box of fruits can be used for sorting, balancing, and estimating. Our letter cubes can be used for ABC order, making names, or building words. And the students always love PlayDoh and Big Books! Today, several students were reading a counting book and taking turns counting the number of objects on each page. It was great to see them put their learning into action! Finally, we got to celebrate filling up our marble jar for good behavior with a marble party! The students voted for snow cones as their reward, so after recess, we all sat down and ate some icy treats. It was a hit, and I can't wait to see what we earn at our next marble party!
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May 2024
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