Bears in Workstations

We all throughly enjoyed our stuffed animal day during Bear Week. We measured the length, circumference and weight of our fictional friends as well as wrote a non-fiction or fictional piece about how we acquired them. Sara and Alexa were very persistent, counting 196 and 364 tiles in order to weigh the heaviest stuffed friends in class. Weighing was the favorite center of the day. We could not have included it without Julie Blodgett's help. Thank you for volunteering and helping us count Julie!



Bears popped up in all our content areas. The class received their first word puzzle. Caitlin aided in the quest for missing letters in our class poem during workstations.



In workstations students had the choice of building a den for their bears. Johnmorgan was reminded about the purpose of the assignment when he placed wheels on what looked like a car. He immediately replied, "I am building a den, a den on wheels." I was beaten, and I knew it.

Venn Diagrams

This week we are focusing on our collective interest in bears. In math, we are sorting them by literary genre. Pictures from books we have read are sorted into three groups within hula-hoops: non-fiction/ animal fiction / realistic fiction. After a small group has discussed each image, the pictures are placed in the corresponding section of the diagram and each child gets to draw one or two of the images on their own Venn diagram.

Thank You Thanksgiving

A week of thanksgiving came and went quickly in Room Thirty-One. We celebrated by authoring our first Kindergarten text, Thank You Thanksgiving. On Friday we began the morning sharing Thanksgiving songs with Sra. Watkin's class, teaching English songs and learning Spanish songs as well. By ten in the morning our Thanksgiving Feast was simmering in the classroom crock pot. Each kindergartner had the responsibility for preparing and adding the vegetable of their choice to our class soup. Each student was astonished with the great responsibility of wielding the dull kitchen knife while Mrs. Kurkinen stood inches away. We learned to peel vegetables, wash them clean and cut them into barely manageable pieces. Our boys took it upon themselves to write "Kindergarten Kitchen Show". Each standing by narrating every step taken and filling in dead time with veggie humor.





After the kindergarten wing joined together to sing we lined the hallway to feast together. Before serving each other, everyone got the chance to create a table of thanksgiving, drawing what they were thankful for most.



We shared our meal with family and friends and had just enough time to read through our Thanksgiving book before we said our goodbyes.

The Art of Story Telling

Today most of the gentlemen in our class decided to build a story out of plastic chain links, Kinects and colored tiles. The chain reached around a table, including the six chairs that surrounded it and began to grow to envelop more or our tables. Tristan took the initiative to write their story down...

"It Ws in th PAST AND frozen. iCE COLD WATR the ChAin WAS icE colD water. You know iT WAS in The FUTUre AND! POWEr! CAMe! to! The! ChAin!"
(It was in the past and frozen. An ice cold water chain was ice cold water. You know, it was in the future and power came to the chain!"


The seven boys worked hard, so hard the volume of the room reached relative silence, until they were unfortunately halted by the bell tolling the end of the day.

Growth Patterns

We have now begun our road to mastering growth patterning. Kindergarten will soon bridge the gap between building patterns and writing them in numerical form. Some of us have already connected the concept with 'skip counting' by twos, fives and tens.

Dia de los Muertos

On November 2, 2007 we celebrated those we have loved and lost. For some, it was their first encounter with death, for others it was a yearly celebration we all learned to join. Everyone got a turn to stand next to our 'alter' and tell the class who they were celebrating, what their favorite thing about that person or pet was, and answer questions their peers asked.

When one of our classmates began to cry, the class showed their support and understanding with the sign for 'love'. Discussion began to get very personal when some students asked where their loved ones had gone and why. Mrs. Kurkinen allowed the students who were presenting to answer these questions even though their answers were not what some expected.

One of the questions asked was, "can you call some one who has gone away?" The class said no, but that you can write them a letter and either "burry it next to their stone" or "send it to God so He can read it to them".

Kindergarten has since written about their loved ones (people, pets or toys) and asked them one question they want to know. These are now on our bulletin board but will soon be coming home for family discussion.

Another Graph Challenge

This by far is the most difficult puzzle kindergarten has thought up. We are very excited to help if you have trouble. If your student needs a hint to remember, just tell them to, "clap it out".

The End of the Pumpkin

After much study and contemplation, Room Thirty-One has finished off our pumpkin unit. Contrary to belief, five and six-year olds will try new things. Every kindergartener tried our cooked pumpkin on Thursday, November 1. Some were pleasantly surprised that all the hard work of preparation paid off with a delicious treat, others were not as convinced. Nevertheless, Room Thirty-One invited other kindergartners to join in the investigation. All in all most every student in the wing got at least a bite. Lehna and Jordan finished off the rest without much help. All of us would like to thank Tiffini Howard for supplying the cooking pumpkin.

Cooking instructions: Cut off top, scoop out seeds, replace top, bake ot 350 degrees for fifty minutes.

Halloween Harvest

October 31, 2007 was a busy day in Room Thirty-One. We made Jack-O-Lantern Lanterns, we grow a stained glass garden for harvest, we paraded through the community and finished the day off in celebration. Kindergarten thanks all the families who took their time and resources to help us survive the day intact. We were very happy to welcome all our loved ones in the classroom as well. Special thanks to Courtney, Pam and Shashi for organizing the festivities, we could not have done it without you as usual.

PatternsPatternsPatterns

Kindergarten has been investigating many types of patterning this fall. We have discovered simple patterning with color and shape. We have also been working on directional and growth patterning. Soon we will explore numerical and musical patterning as well. Ask your student to show you all the ways they can pattern.

Class Meetings

Kindergarten has begun working through our mistakes in "Class Meetings". Once or twice a week we circle up and each take a turn to discuss any problems we have come up against.

In the beginning of the year we use our "talking rock" to mediate these discussions. The rock is passed from kindergartener to kindergartener who takes their turn on the topic.