100 Days of School

We celebrated our 100th day of school on Wednesday, February 5^th, 2020.  The kindergartners have learned so much since that first day of school.  I am so proud of them!  Today we did many activities revolving around the number 100.  Hopefully it gave them a better sense of how much 100 is. Here are some of the activities we to celebrate 100 days of school.  It was a fun day!

1.     They assembled a 100-piece puzzle.

2.     They illustrated pages for the 100 booklet.

3.     They rolled the dice and colored in a penny for each dot trying to be the first to color in 100.

4.     They designed their own 100 headband. 

5.     We counted out 100 pennies on the 100 chart.

6.     They counted by 1s, 5s and 10s to 100.

7.     They were quiet for 100 seconds.

8.     They did 100 exercises.

9.     We wrote a list of 100 things they learned in kindergarten.

10. I read books about the number 100 and 100 days of school. 

11. They identified 100 birds. 

12. Then we ate a part of a giant, chocolate chip cookie!    It was a fun day!

Winter Birds in Our Area

I created a chart of birds that may be seen here in the winter.  When any student in our school has a bird sighting, they come and tell me and I mark one tally mark per sighting.  In this way, children start to become more observant and aware of their natural environment.

Little Learners

Oh my!  I do love this photo.  This is during the end of journal time when the kids need me for "grown-up" writing.  They gather at my desk and wait in line.  When they are there waiting, I ask them to listen as I help and also to help their friend.  I've noticed that this is a really good strategy for helping them edit and write.  Look at how intent they are.

Potato Print Snow Scene Gallery

January Journal Pages

The kindergartners are doing a good job of writing the sounds, using a capital letter, remembering punctuation and spacing, but it is hard to get them to write more than one sentence.  I know they could tell me more.  Our next goals will be to write more and work on sounding out words to write them.  This journal writing will give them a big head start for when they are in first grade and have to write more often for their assignments.

Flapjack Cooking Lesson

We had such a great time this morning!  I love teaching lots of different skills through one project.  First, I read The Little Red Hen book to the kids.  We discussed the seasons and cooperation.  I taught them how wheat seeds grow and when harvested they can be ground into flour.  I made a poster showing many of the foods that can be made with flour.  They got to see real wheat seeds and touch flour.  Then I discussed what a recipe was and the importance of measuring.  They noticed that many of the foods in the recipe come from animals or nature.  We talked about how bees make honey, cow make milk and hens lay eggs.  Each child measured the ingredients into their own cup with a little help from me.  After they mixed it, I poured it on the griddle.  When it was time to flip it, they said, "Flap, Jack, flap!"  Then I let them put their own butter and syrup on.  I taught them about how the griddle needed electricity to work, about how they needed to be very careful not to touch it and if they did they needed to get cold water on it right away. I told them that the griddle got to 340 degrees for a flap jack.  That would be much hotter than what they predicted their Thanksgiving turkey to cook at. Ha-ha.  Later, they wrote about it in their journal..There were a lot of lessons that came from that pancake.  

New Bird Field Guides

In the above photo the students are opening a box filled with books.  Not only do I feel it is important for young children to learn about birds and nature, I also feel that it is very important that they have the "tools" they need to explore.  Earlier in the year they received their very on South Dakota Backyard Birds field guide that features mostly birds seen in yards, but today they received Birds of the Dakotas, which shows many birds from different habitats.  This book was made available to the through a generous donor that I've never even met.  He gives me money every two years, so that I can purchase enough field guides for two years of students.  I'm very thankful for that donation!  

These bird field guides will stay in school until the last day of kindergarten.  The children will use them to practice their identification, to draw birds in their journal and for the bird riddle game that they love to play.  I hope when they bring them home, you will please keep these two books out, so that they can use them through the years.  They are not meant to be packed away as a keepsake, but rather to use.  This last book has color-coded tabs, so that if they see a red bird, they can go to the red section and look through the options.