As we wrap up another incredible week in kindergarten, I'm reflecting on all the growth I've seen in just these first few weeks. The students are demonstrating what it means to be an Inquirer, and the questions they come up with are nothing short of phenomenal. Not only that, but they are also embracing the second part of being an Inquirer - finding good answers! We started the week with a discovery of a tree branch on the playground. The students hypothesized where it had come from, and much vigorous discussion ensued. They also discussed it's size, appearance, and what it could be used for in regards to play. This discovery sparked an interest in sticks this week, which resulted in many stick creations being gifted at recess. In addition, students were using sticks for drawing in the dirt and gravel, building structures, and pretend play. The outdoor adventures continued on the playground, as some students discovered that dirt, when thrown from a safe distance, turns into dust and seemingly disappears! Two students had great fun figuring out how the wind and amount of dirt affected the 'dusting.' Another student found an exceptionally tiny pebble amidst the gravel, and hypothesized that it must be 'the smallest rock on the playground.' Upon further inspection, he then discovered that there are many tiny rocks buried underneath the larger ones. Perhaps we'll spend some time researching how size affects how things fall and group themselves together! Still other students used playground cones to create a funnel system for rocks and mulch. They enjoyed seeing how the gravel and mulch traveled through the cones, and problem solved when it would get stuck. They demonstrated exceptional creativity, communication, and problem-solving to create their funnel system, and even delegated the labor by assigning each person a specific job. Back in the classroom, we updated our sensory table to include the makings for 'apple pie.' It's been a popular choice during centers, and the students have enjoyed having new materials in the dramatic play center. During Genius Hour this week, the students were given the following question: Which blocks will give us the tallest tower? Using their interest in the block center as inspiration, I decided to challenge them to create the tallest tower they could using the materials at hand. Each team had the opportunity to use each set of materials, and the creations were truly amazing! We also discovered some sticking points during this activity, including working together to build one tower (as opposed to each individual building their own), and trying someone else's idea before our own. As difficult as these skills may be, they are vitally important - and kindergarten is the place to learn them! After everyone finished building, we reflected on how it went. Although no one was able to give a definitive answer regarding the original prompt, their reflections demonstrated an increased understanding of balance, size, and weight. We cut and pasted shape people, pluralized words with both /s/ and /z/ endings, searched for circles, and dictated words using our letter of the day. After Assembly, we cleaned up the classroom so it was ready for the upcoming week. It's so important for the students to take responsibility and ownership of their space, and our weekly tidy is a great way to reinforce that concept. Life skills, such as folding and sweeping, were demonstrated and taught among friends. Everyone worked together to make sure our space was kept neat! Finally, in extremely exciting news... the students are reading! One of our reading groups mastered a decodable text, and even went so far as to add their own page to the story. Each student chose a short /a/ CVC word, drew a picture, and wrote the corresponding sentence all by themselves. It is so wonderful to see some of our students start their journey down the reading road, and I'm so excited to see what things we will read next. It was another incredible week, and I can't wait to see what next week brings. The students are truly exceptional!
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We had another great week in kindergarten! The students are already showing so much growth both academically and socially, and I couldn't be more proud. Some of our highlights this week included taking a trip to the woods to look for beetles, investigating triangles, and discovering new ways to practice our letters. The students continue to demonstrate the qualities of the learner profile, and I am continually impressed by their inquiries and discoveries! We kicked off the week with a trip to the woods. Currently, we're spending Genius Hour investigating beetles. We had a beetle make an unexpected visit in our classroom last week, and it sparked some amazing inquiries! Using this as inspiration, we started a KWL (Know, Want to know, Learned) chart to document our learning. Then, we read a book about beetles and created some beetle drawings of our own. Finally, we took a trip to the woods to see if we could find any beetles for our research. While we didn't find any beetles, we did make some amazing discoveries. The students found slugs, worms, spiders, and cool mushrooms. They even found animal bones! The students originally hypothesized that the bones were from a dinosaur, but eventually decided that it was probably a deer based on the skull and size. We used a strict 'look, not touch' policy for the bones, but the rest they explored freely. The excitement was palpable as they presented their discoveries and shared about what they had found. In addition to beetles and bones, we've been working hard on our letters and sounds. The students have worked together to dictate sentences, listen for the sounds in words, and match the sounds to their letters. The students also noticed that the letters we were learning could be found all over our classroom, which sparked an exciting 'letter hunt' for the letter E. We started in our classroom using whiteboards and markers, but eventually ended up outside making the letter with sticks! A 20-minute lesson turned into an hour-long adventure, and it was all based on the students' observations and ideas for learning. Finally, we spent some time investigating triangles. The students observed that triangles have 3 sides and 3 corners; that they slide, but do not roll; and that triangles can be different sizes and widths, but still be the same shape. We then practiced tracing and coloring triangles, which now makes up a display outside our classroom documenting our learning. It was another jam-packed week, and I can't wait to see what the students come up with next!
A significant part of learning in kindergarten involves experiences with daily life. We embrace that by involving the students with cleaning, tidying up, and communicating their needs to their peers. And the best part? They love it! Cleaning our classroom on Fridays has become a new favorite task for the majority of the students. They demonstrate responsibility and pride in their classroom by keeping it neat and tidy. We've also begun to encounter letters in our environment. Several of the students have made connections to letters we have learned - as well as some we haven't - in both the natural environment and through our open-ended materials. This week, we've been inquiring into how to find BALANCE. We read "A Bad Case of Stripes" and discussed how being out of balance affected the main character. We also discussed how she found balance again, and how it's important to listen to what our body needs. The students demonstrated their knowledge through a collaborative chart paper drawing. In the story, the main character loves lima beans, but is too embarrassed to eat them. Because she doesn't listen to what her body needs, it ends up all wacky and out of balance. In the end, she ate her lima beans and found balance - which inspired us to try lima beans as well! Although everyone was a RISK-TAKER, not everyone liked them. We graphed our responses and found that far more people did not like lima beans than those who did. We found balance in other ways, too. This week, we tried out the Retreat Room and practiced doing some meditation and simple yoga poses to help find balance in ourselves. We introduced the sensory table this week, and we connected our inner balance to outer balance by experimenting at the inquiry table. The shelf centers continue to be a hit, and the students demonstrate PRINCIPLED choices at every turn. Although we've had an incredible week overall, I have been most impressed with the students' reading skills. We introduced the glued sounds -am and -an this week, as well as the letters O and D. Not only that, but we're beginning to teach Heart Words (words that we must know by heart) as well. The students have continued to surprise me with how well they're blending and segmenting CVC words, and have even assisted in writing simple sentences using our Heart Words and CVC words that we can sound out. Today, we added the Heart Word 'and' and the students came up with the sentence 'The mom and dad in the cab,' which we scribed together. The students did all the spelling themselves! We love to learn in kindergarten!
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May 2024
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