We had some fun measuring each other in Math this week. What they really liked though was when they got to measure me! I think it's the first time in my life anyone has ever told me I was tall. We've been using different tools for non standard measurement. This is a valuable skill to learn - just think how often people use things other than rulers to measure. (We often use our own feet, arm lengths or hand spans when we need to measure something). Next week I will introduce standard forms of measurement and how to use them. This can be tricky. Encourage your child to help you measure things at home.
Everyone in Kindergarten loves Literacy time! One of the students even said to me last week, "Ms. Copen, it's so peaceful in here!" During our Literacy time the students get to experience many different learning activities such as: reading with our amazing parent volunteers, listening and reading books online through Raz-Kids (do you know you can access this at home?), working in a small guided reading group, playing literacy games and activities that help children explore words and phonics and so much more! Here's just a small peek at what we're up to.
Hooray for these amazing authors! On Friday we joined Mrs. Remick's class to celebrate and share our hard work in learning to write narratives. The Kindergartners worked really hard to tell a story of a time when they got hurt. Once their writing was finished they used band aids to make their picture match their writing. After we shared our stories with each other we celebrated with cupcakes that had a "lifesaver and a kiss" on them. I am so proud of their writing! These amazing stories and illustrations are currently on display in our hallway - check them out if you get a chance. We've started a new unit in Math - Data and Measurement. On Friday we learned about collecting data and representing it with numerals, tally marks and bar graphs. First we collected individual data to see which flavors we had the the most of and the least of. After we collected our individual data it was time for a taste test! We each tasted the five different flavors and collected data to represent which flavor students chose as their favorite.
One of my most favorite times is our explore time. During this time students can choose to do just about any activity in our classroom. The things they choose to do always amaze me. They're busy writing stories, building ramps, creating with various things, playing with new friends, practicing their social skills, and so much more!
One of the things we wondered about ice was - what makes it melt? When we have questions in Science we know an experiment can help us answer them. So, that's just what we did! We took 5 ice cubes and put equal amounts of a substance on them to see which one would melt the fastest. We used: sugar, salt, cold water, hot water, and nothing. Everyone made their own hypothesis and they were beyond excited to see which ice cube would disappear first. As they observed the ice I heard things like, "holy camoli!" "I didn't know that!" "Wow, look at that one!" There's nothing better than excited Kindergartners!!!!! We learned a little bit about the Arctic this week-fitting since it felt like we were living there! We did some reading, watched some videos and looked at some diagrams of how animals in the Arctic use their bodies to help them keep warm. We conducted our own experiment to see how blubber acts as an insulator to help these animals stay warm. We put one hand in a bucket of icy cold water and our other hand in a "blubber glove" (just some Crisco in between two plastic baggies). We were all amazed to feel the difference in temperature on our hands! They even conducted their own experiment at recess to see if huddling together would make them warmer. I LOVE how curious and engaged they all are! |
upcoming eventsFriday, May 22nd -
Community Meeting @1:55 Theme: Spirit Day Monday, May 25th - Memorial Day - No School Friday, June 12th - Kindergarten End of Year Celebration Tuesday, June 16th - Last Day of School (1/2 day) Archives
May 2015
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