In the Winter Time...

This week has gone by so fast!  (Don't they all?)

The friends worked on being reflective and thoughtful for this this week, it being the Great Kindness Challenge.  We often appreciate friends who help us throughout the week, so it made great sense to write thank you notes to someone special in our lives who have touched us and lent a helping hand.  Our 8th Grade Buddies came in to help us get the task done!

We have also been evaluating some of our songs and poems this month, particularly, Steve Miller Bands' Winter Time.

In the winter time, when all the leaves are brown,

and the wind blows, so chill,

and the birds have all flown for the summer.

I'm callin', hear me callin', hear me callin',

In the winter time.

This made many friends wonder about migration. Not everyone knew what this meant, so we looked up the term in the dictionary and found that migration means to move from one country or region to another and to pass from one region to another on a regular schedule (birds migrating south for the winter).  After finding this, here were some of the students burning questions about migration?

Where do birds fly for the summer? 

How do they know where to go?  

What happens to their homes?  

What about their babies?  

What do birds do during the winter time?

Check out the video we watched to further peak our curiosity: 

Pretty neat, right?  Come in and check out our Discussion Notes Binder and their journals to see what their preliminary theories about what birds do in the winter time!

In other news, we have also been getting really excited about our Equation Stories.  What's that you ask?  Well, first let's break it down to what the students understand to be an equation:

Gaby- What is an equation?

Ashley- An equation is when you put one number first and then a plus and then another number and then an equal and you see what it equals.

I asked the class to help me create an equation using the model Ashley provided us with and we came up with 1+2= 3

Gaby- Alright, how do we know that?

Jack- Because we're smart.

Kai- I know!  Because (uses fingers) one and two, makes 1,2,3!

That prompted us to create a list of tips on how to check your work!

 Some examples:

 If you have one block...

 and you add two more... you have a total of three blocks.

To check on a ruler...

Start at one and jump two more... you land on three. 

Now that friends have the tools that they need to help write equations and check their work, they have started their Equation Stories:  Students will be making up their own equation and illustrate their justification by telling a story.  Here is the example I gave the students:

I had a garden with one beautiful flower that I watered everyday.  It was so beautiful, I decided to plant another flower, which I also watered everyday.  Now, I have two beautiful flowers in my garden.

At the end of the week, we met up with our 8th Grade Buddies and watched their History Reenactment performance.  The kindergartners were practicing being active listeners, respectful, as well as noticing how brave their Buddies were being to be up in front of so many friends!

We then gave them a Sneak Peek of what we were going to perform for the All School Assembly "Sing Along."  Both Jennifer's class and our class stood up in front of Tony and Lisa's class to recite our poem, January, by Maurice Sendak.  We heard Jennifer's class do Rap on Garbage and they listened to us do Months of the Year.  

We checked in afterwards to see how it felt to be up in front of a large group and here are some of their comments:

Jack- I felt really nice cuz everyone got to see us.

Vikas- I feeled very nice because my partner was waving at me.

Ivanna- I didn't like it because I missed my mommy and daddy.

Michael- I liked it because William, my 8th Grade Buddy got to see me.

Kai- I liked it because I was really shy but I wanted to be brave.

Ashley- I didn't like it because I was too shy.

Avani- I felt good cuz I got to see my 8th Grade Buddies

Gaby- Well, I want to appreciate you guys for being so brave and giving in a practice try, even if your were feeling shy and nervous!

And if you weren't able to come to the All School Assembly, don't worry, I am trying to get the footage from Steve, our Media Arts teacher, who recorded it all! (He's the man setting up the camera right behind us!)

Have a lovely weekend!
Love, Gaby