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.

The Christmas Party

The kindergarten Christmas party was such a fun time!  The students enjoyed decorating gingerbread cookies and making a Christmas ornament.  I forgot to take a photo of the ornament, so if someone has a photo of it, please send it my way for the blog.  Then the kids played a game of musical chairs where they stood still and passed the gift and whoever was holding the gift got to open it.  Thank you to all of the families that helped with the fine and memorable party!

Snow Art

I cut potato halves into the four basic shapes and the kindergartners used them to stamp a snow scene with white paint.  After it dried, they added colorful details.  This is a way to combine both art and math together since noticing shapes in his or her environment is one of their standards to meet for the year.  I'll add a photo of their finished work next week after the last student finishes his.