Centers, writing, and a full week of learning!

Welcome to K-209

We had a great first full week of school. During the past few days students have begun to become comfortable with classroom routines, rules, and have learned their classmates names as well as explore different materials that we will use this year. Students are really excited about the new play ground and each day they have been observing the changes that have been happening, and are excited to find out what else the playground will have in the next weeks ahead.

I works on his selfportrait

M works on his portrait and has a snack

J and E work on their portraits

J works on his portrait

Students have had the chance this week to explore different math tools we will be using this school year, seashells, and puzzles that will be a part of choice time and also have had the chance to meet all of the different teachers they will be working with throughout the school year.

As class discussions have started to emerge students are really into discussing the hurricane that has happened and are really kind students with big hearts. As the donations come in to help support the K class we have adopted in Texas, conversations have emerged about what we can do to help and I feel that through these conversations it has helped them to be kind with their classmates.

Another topic that has come up daily is about games on the playgrounds and possibly creating and building our own games in the classrooms. Even though we have only been in school for 7 days, I have really started to learn so much about each and every student and am looking forward to a wonderful school year. Even though we are starting slow it is important to teach routines and create a class community to create a wonderful school year.

This year we have implemented a buddy bench, so when students are sitting there others will know they need a buddy to play with or just need a friend. This will help students on the playground and it is a tool they can use to help with communication and socialization

J sits on the buddy bench to model what it is used for

Students used the new sand box to explore and learn

R and her classmates use the blocks to think about what they will create

In math we introduced different tools. Below are some photos of students exploring with math tools

students use pattern blocks to create and explore

using pattern blocks to create 

S uses cubes 

M uses cubes

Another important part of the day is being able to pack up and do things on our own. Below we can see C showing the class how to pack up and get her things to get ready to go home. 

H and J playing a game

more fun on the playground

Students also explored with different writing tools. They used markers, crayons, and colored pencils. They also worked on learning about what a library is and how we use the library so that they will be able to shop from our classroom library. They had a wonderful first full week and I can't wait to see what the week ahead brings.
As a reminder there is no school on Thursday and Friday for the Jewish holiday.

June

As the year is coming to an end it has been a great year. This past month we have been working on new and exciting learning. We have been working on a take a part center, sewing, and starting how to's and even poetry writing. Students are doing so many great things. We even are finishing up are game study too.

C teaching us a how to flip

We also finished up our studio in the school and finished up with making stamps with wood. 

V.L and J work on using different colors in art

We also have been watching different cultural shows from a bollywood dance to a ensamble flute performance that Ms. Nesser played in. 

Tomorrow is our trip for bowling!

Nonfiction, Fire Safety and Painting.

I can't believe we only have 34 days left of school. Over the past few weeks we have been working on new learning, and we have started our non fiction unit, where students are becoming experts on their animals. They are learning all about how non fiction books differ from fiction books and they also have been using the features of nonfiction books in their own writing.

J observes a dinosaur non fiction book

W and A observe a book

P observes non fiction book

We also have been working on exploring different things in choice time and students have been using animals to create different habitats and also thanks to our studio teacher Mr. Danny we have been working on adding in different lines and strokes and using one or two color paints to really focus on lines and strokes.

J makes a zoo

J and J work on making a zoo

As we continue to work on sharing our work in choice time, students are working on adding in more details and with the empahsis on game making in one of our choice time areas, the students are really writing more and more. 

J shares her choice time work

Students have also been working on finishing up their study of board games and they have even made their own games by adding in directions and details.

P makes her game

More writing in choice time

In math we are working on problem solving, starting with listening to a story, retelling it, acting it out, and then using manipulatives to show how we get an answer followed by using a recckon wrack and finally sharing our thoughts with our partners.

V uses the cubes to show how to share 5 cookies in two jars

We had a firefighter visit our classroom to teach us about fire safety and prevention. He showed the students materials that they should not use and what to do in case of an emergency at home.

talking about how not to play with fire

stop drop and roll when you see smoke and call 911

new toys for the playground working with pre k

we also have been using different play ground toys and as we are nearing the end of the year students have been doing different things and with this they are able to write it in choice time to teach each other how to do things.

C teaches others how to flip on the jungle gym outside

Overall students have been doing excellent and they are growing so much. They are now mixing colors in art and having so much fun!

Have a wonderful week and Happy early Mothers Day to all the moms , grandmas and aunts! Don't forget Pete the Cat is May 15, 2017

New learning, book reviews, caterpillars and more.

Last week we took a trip to Pizzeria Unos. Students had the chance to make their own pizzas as a segway into new learning with non fiction and how to do things. They were able to write about it when they returned to class and we made a class book to share how to make a pizza. We also finished up our writing unit by sharing with our partners our personal narratives.

A and S share their work 

J and A share their writing 

M and Vincent C share their writing 

Now that we are finished with personal narratives we worked on author studies and to complete this study we did book reviews about our favorite authors. We now are moving into non fiction writing and reading with a focus on questioning and details.

book review of david shannon

A's book review

In choice time students have gone back to working on playing games and making a game book to share what board games they know how to play. They have also been working on sharing their thinking. This week we opened up the smart board as a center to let the class use technology as a way to write.

M works on the smarboard

We also received new animals in the classroom to help us with our non fiction study of animals and to help students learn about life cycle stages and how animals grow and change. We are now observing caterpillars waiting to see how they go through the lifecycle process.

V uses a book to help him learn more

V, V.C, and N observe and study the caterpillars

We also have started to observe and zoom in on details like scientists as a way to learn about and explore more details and to help us understand what we learn as well as work on asking questions as readers when we want to learn something new.

Students observe a tulip 

Below are pages from our game book that we have been working on to share with the school how we play board games, what you need to play and even shared some of our own games we made as a class.

With the poetry that we continue to work on and use daily, we have started to work on creating illustrations to go along with the poems and to help us with the work of visualization.