THINK WIN WIN

Leader in Me

This week the kids learned all about Habit #4. "Think Win-Win" is about thinking about another as well as yourself. Everyone can win! It is one of the great mental habits we can teach the kids! How can we both get what we want? The corresponding story for Habit #4 is "Lily Plants a Garden." Ask your child if they can tell you what happens!

Flying Bats STEM Challenge

For this activity the kids designed their own bat and a system engineered to make it fly! To begin, the kids were first instructed to cut out a bat traced on black card-stock. We then encouraged the children to find a way to make it fly using a straw, tape, scissors and ribbon. We observed the children problem solve as they figured out how to get their bat to take flight! After some trial and error the kids realized that to make the bat fly they needed to attach the straw to their bat, insert the ribbon into the straw and tape one side of the ribbon to a tall object and then lift the ribbon to make the bat "fly."

Spiderweb Directed Drawing

These cheerful displays are perfect for the month of October. Not only is this guided art project lots of fun, but it's a great way to work on visual discrimination skills, as well as listening skills.

Journals

This week we read the story, "Crankenstein" by Samantha Berger. Crankenstein is a little monster of crankiness that no one can destroy! MEHHRRRR!!! He may look like any ordinary boy, but when faced with a rainy day, a melting popsicle, or an early bedtime, one little boy transforms into a mumbling, grumbling Crankenstein. After reading the story the children were asked, What makes you cranky? During journals the kids were instructed to draw a detailed picture answering the prompt, using at least 5 colors. To begin the writing process we encourage the kids to label their picture and try their best to stretch out and sound out the words.

Corn Sensory Bins

Mrs. Dinelli (Pre-K teacher) surprised the Kindergarten kids with a huge bag of corn cobs! The corn cobs provided the children with endless exploratory play and learning about fall. The children removed every last kernel from every last cob of corn! They fully enjoyed touching, feeling, plucking and picking. They used tweezers and magnifying glasses to get an even closer look at the kernels. I have more plans in store for the corn kernels, so stay tuned to see what we’ll do next with our stash!

Math

This we our math focus was exploring partners of numbers 2 through 6. The kids learned that partners join to show another number. For example, 2 and 3 are partners of 5.

Fundations

Recess

PE

Another busy week in PE! Coach Long kept the kids busy and engaged with multiple activities. To begin the week the kids participated in a nature scavenger hunt that encouraged the kids to work as a team to find various items around Alexander Park. The kids also enjoyed "musical buckets" with pool noodles and were challenged to move in a variety of ways.

French

Madame introduced the names of various land and sea animals. The kids learned a song about animals and then took turns sorting the animals!

Art

How many different objects can you trace? The kindergarten artists explored shapes and colors by tracing materials found around the classroom and in their caddy. They layered and created abstract pictures. Once they completed tracing a variety of found objects, they practiced filling in all their new shapes to create a bright and colorful drawing!

Halloween Party Info:

Next Friday (the 30th) we will have a Halloween party in class! The kids are encouraged to come to school wearing costumes. The teachers will be dressed up too! In the next few days, you will receive a party sign up sheet. There are no obligations to sign up, but it is appreciated. I would also like each child to decorate a pumpkin that day, so please bring in a small to medium sized pumpkin for your child if you would like them to participate. As always please reach out with any questions or concerns!

Put First Things First

Habit #3: Put First Things First

This week the kids began to understand that Habit #3 is all about doing the things they have to do before doing the things they want to do. Work first, then play! In the book, "The 7 Habits of Happy Kids" by Sean Covey, we read the story, Pokey and the Spelling Test. In this story, we learned how awful it can feel when you procrastinate and put things off, like when Pokey crammed the night before the test. We contrasted that feeling with how good it feels when you are prepared.

3D Scavenger Hunt

The kids participated in a 3D scavenger hunt! The kids used their "owl eyes" to search for things in the classroom that were a cube, rectangular prism, sphere, cylinder, and cone! We then discussed how many faces, vertices, and edges each shape has.

STEM: Design a Musical Instrument out of Recyclables

To begin the activity the kids sketched and labeled their own design in their journals. The children thought about what materials they wanted to use. Then they got to go "shopping" at Ms. Wise's store and pick out what they needed. Some of the choices included: cardboard rolls, dried beans, plastic bottles, rubber bands, small boxes, pipe cleaners, and tape. The children then built their instruments and tested their designs! Did it make the sound you were trying for? Which materials make the best sounds? What improvements did you need to make?

Math:

Our math focus this week was seeing changes in numbers 1-10. During this lesson, we used 5-counter strips and counters. We used the 5-strip wherever we had a five. After we made the numbers 1-10 we discussed the changes in numbers. How many more does each new column have? How is the 8 column the same as the 3 column? How is it different? We discussed how each number increases by one. We also discussed the 5-groups. The students also practiced writing addition equations using the +1 equation. The kids listened to a story and then wrote the equation that goes with it.

Fundations:

The kids really enjoy Fundations! I often hear kids asking "When we are going to do Fundations?" Fundations is great for letter-sound practice, story retelling, correct letter formation, and learning sentence structure.

Recess:

Free Choice:

Art with Mr. Matt:

In Mexico, few holidays go by that do not feature colorful paper banners strung along the streets, decorating the fronts of houses or embellishing schools and classrooms. These cut paper flags are called "papel picado," which literally translates to "perforated paper." In art class this week the kids created their own papel picado banners using construction paper, paint, scissors, glue, and markers! This activity was an artsy introduction to a fun Mexican custom!

PE with Coach Long:

Coach Long always comes up with the most engaging games! This week the kids had a great time working in teams trying to launch their noodle into the opposing sides bucket! This posed a great challenge but the kids were determined to succeed! The kids also competed in noodle tag and participated in mindfulness activities.

Reminders:

-Please bring a water bottle at the beginning of each week.

-Please make sure your child is prepared for the cooler weather.

Begin With the End in Mind

Leader in Me

This week we introduced Habit #2 – Begin with the End in Mind. Habit #2 is “the habit of having a plan.” In the second story from the book, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, students learned about Goob the Bear in a story called “Goob and the Bug-Collecting Kit.” Goob passes a toy store, sees a bug-collecting kit, decides he has to have it and makes a plan to earn the $4 it costs to buy the kit. He then spends his time putting his plan into action with the help of his buddy, Jumper Rabbit. They set up a lemonade stand, split the $20 profit, and each makes choices about how they will spend their money. Goob makes smart choices with his money and is able to buy the bug-collecting kit plus additional items. Jumper makes impulsive choices and finds that his money “just kind of disappeared.” In the end, Goob helps his buddy figure out that he needed to plan ahead, to begin with the end in mind, in order to get what he really wanted. After reading the story we had a discussion and talked about different examples. For young children, a good example is that of a jigsaw puzzle. Before doing a puzzle, they look at the cover of the box. They start with the end in mind. Below are the kid's journal entries for Habit #2.

Freeze Dance Self-Portraits

Self-portraits are always a fun activity but this week we took it to a whole new level by adding in a game of freeze dance! If you haven’t played freeze dance before it’s a fun stop and go dance game. When the music plays you dance and when the music stops you freeze in place. In this case, when the music stopped the kids drew a part of their self-portrait. We started with their head, hair, eyes, etc, and worked our way down!

Math:

For math this week the kiddos practiced listening to stories for addition, subtraction, and partners and drawing out the word problem. We practiced writing the equation to summarize the whole story. I varied the language to expose the children to various math vocabulary. I used words such as now, in total, left, and all together. We practiced writing numbers 1-9 using correct formation. We also used the math symbols = and not equal and the children showed two numbers or two groups as equal or not equal.

Teddy Bear Bridge STEM Challenge:

For this activity, each student received 4 small plastic cups, 4 craft sticks, and 10 teddy bear counters. The children's goal was to build a bridge that would hold ALL 10 bears at the same time! I loved seeing the students work to design their bridges. They did such a great job! The best part was that all the bridges looked different. They were so creative! As students finished Round 1 and needed another challenge, I changed the number of craft sticks and cups to make it harder. It was fun to watch them try our activity again! That is one of the things I like about this project: there are lots of ways to extend it and change it. Towards the end the children started getting even more creative and built a variety of structures!

Recess:

PE:

In PE Coach Long emphasized teamwork and what it means to be a teammate. What does it mean to be part of a team? What does it mean to be your best self? What does it mean to contribute? Not only are the kids learning new games and having fun but they are taking part in meaningful conversations.

Art:

In art, the kiddos continued to explore symmetry and created symmetrical collages using leaf stencils and construction paper.

French:

In French class, the children are learning animal names. The kids completed matching activities and even played charades!

Library:

Storytime with Ms. Hilda is so much fun! The kids love the books she reads and they feel such pride when they get to check out a library book with their own library card!