Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Pumpkin Harvest



Our pumpkin unit has taken us to the patch and back. Today we finished our data collection and research and tomorrow we will be coming our pumpkins in time for Halloween. To see more photos, please follow the link to Emma's photo gallery.


http://picasaweb.google.com/safe4tiff/AinsworthKindergartenPumpkinPatch2007?authkey=suy9IA0E3Ig



Sunday, October 21, 2007

Yet Another Kindergarten Challenge

Kindergarten had challenged parents once again to name the rule of our graph. Ask you child if they remember how we sorted these names. If you or your child needs a hint, look for 'i' and words that begin with ‘i’.



The name game is part of our daily curriculum in Room Thirty-One. Everyday we meet for our morning greeting, sing a few songs, are reminded of some of the procedures and routines in the classroom, and play "the name game". With name cards for everyone, we either use alliteration to ask a question, "Maria do you like mariposas?" or we share something we did over the weekend, and once a week we sort our names and create a graph. This is the most difficult and exciting facet of the name game because it is up to the class, or Mrs. Kurkinen to figure out how the names are being sorted. The sorter does not give any clues as to how they are sorting names other than “this name does/ does not have what I’m looking for”.

The Pumpkin Harvest Has Begun



Pumpkins now line the hallway outside Room Thirty-One and hang from the bulletin board in the main office. We have been hard at work reading, writing and learning about the life cycle of pumpkins and other harvested fruits and vegetables. This coming week we will continue our learning by visiting The Pumpkin Patch, baking a pumpkin and creating art out of pumpkins. Please remember to dress your kindergartener for variable weather on Wednesday October 24th, pack a lunch or let Mrs. Kurkinen know you will need a school lunch to be packed, and please be on time!!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Workstation in Room Thirty-One



This week Kindergarten began literacy workstations. Every afternoon for the rest of the year students will spend an hour working through one of five stations a day. The kids have named their work groups: the Strawberries, Apples, Halloween, Pumpkin and The Ghosts. Does your student remember which group they are in?



Students have five options at a single center. They are responsible for choosing what they will do first, next and last from a menu placed in their center bin. Children are grouped heterogeneously in order to help each other through the work and allow the teacher to meet with small reading groups at this time. Nevertheless, this is an excellent time to volunteer in class in order for all students to get a chance to read with the teacher.


Word Making, Reading, Writing, Math and Science—Art Centers allow students to learn at their own pace. Response and recording sheets are open-ended; this ensures differentiation throughout skill levels in the class. I do check work, however. Children are expected to do their best, whatever their best may be.


One of the greatest advantages to workstations is a social one. Students are learning the help one other as well as ask for help when the teacher is focusing on small group instruction. I have already seen many helping hands in Room Thirty-One.

Monday, October 15, 2007

The End of All Things Apple



With our work hang on display, our unit on apples has come to an end. We worked hard, played hard and tasted much, and in the end, most of us decided living in an orchard wouldn’t be the worst fate. Our work can be seen in the main office as well as outside our classroom; where pumpkins will soon take their place.

TREES!



As we begun our science unit on trees last week we welcomed a special visitor. "The Tree Lady" walked us through our campus pointing out specific attributes about the trees we love.



We even introduced her to "Fluffy Sweet Gum" our adopted tree outside our classroom. We learned why trees change the colors of their leaves and let them fall.



We learned why some trees die and why trees sometimes choose to grow leaves on only one side of their trunk.

Later in the week we went for another tree walk where we collected fallen leaves in order to graph their characteristics. Can you guess how we categorized them?



As we continue with our study of trees we will learn basic anatomy, function and type. We will also get the chance create various art pieces from their shed leaves.


Monday, October 8, 2007

Sort it! Graph it!



Kindergarten led the class today when they collectively came up with an interesting observation. We graphed our names to show what we noticed about our names. Can you tell how we sorted them?

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Meeting Reading Buddies



Friday, October 5th brought our third grade reading buddies once again. This time the third graders got a taste of kindergarten when they not only read "The Big Red Apple" with their five or six year old buddy but also got the chance to help us peel our ingredients for Kindergarten Applesauce.


Apple Extravaganza


During our three-week study of apples kindergarten explored the life cycle of the fruit, diagramed its parts, graphed our favorite varieties, wrote poems and, finally, put our new knowledge to the test on Friday October 5 making applesauce from scratch. This coming Monday look for the recipe in our home folders, kindergarten will take you step by step through the exciting process creating this healthy treat.


Some of our friends were unsure if they wanted to taste the mashed concoction. I assured them that if they tasted it once to see if their mouth liked it, once to see if their stomach liked it and once to see if they agreed, they would discover whether it tasted like the yellow store bought selection. Anderson exclaimed, “I don’t think I liked applesauce, but I like this!”