Hello!
Our last week of November, together, has come and gone. What a whirlwind it has been! Someway, somehow, I managed to capture these shots of our kindergarten community hard at work. Enjoy going through the blog with your child and enjoy this week together!
There is a new provocation in our class: An Estimation Jar. You can find it at the Water Bottle table if you would like to see what your child thinks about how many seed pods are in the jar. Some friends have already jotted down their idea.
Open Choice Time
Our class has been working hard to keep up with their ongoing work. Our Story Board Committee found the pages from the book that they agreed would be the main parts of the story that could be acted out. Now, a new group of friends are working to write a brief caption under each image to give a reminder about what is happening in that part of the story. This is a big job and they can't wait to get themselves organized and try this new strategy of following through with the flow of the story in their re-enactments.
The Game Modification Committee has finally finished making the alternative styles of playing the Apple Pick board game.
This has helped us transition into a whole new level of game creation process for our Winter Season Celebration. By using what they learned from their first tries at making games, they are now thinking of new and improved games with a snowy theme! They will be presenting their process at Exhibition Night, so stay tuned for more info as the time comes nearer! Here friends are in the first phases of working in their different committees, illustrating the directions for their game.
Snowy Obstacle Course Committee (Not Pictured)
Catching Snowflakes Game Committee
Snowball Launch Game Committee
Snowball Grab Game Committee
Snowman Target Game Committee
Snowball Toss Game Committee
Snowman Stacking Activity Committee
Snowball Freeze Dance Committee
The next phase that some friends are entering is the feedback phase. During Revisiting Meeting, the class is helping to support different peers think about how to incorporate a point system in their games to add an extra challenge!
The Thank You Message Writing Area has been booming! This week, many friends put their final touches in their messages and delivered them to their friends to give to their moms and dads!
Our Passion Fruit Observation Area had many friends coming and discussing what they noticed about the slowly shriveling fruit.
After a Learning Extension about dried rose petals, it got the class thinking about other things that dry up, like our passion fruit. This prompted a final observation of the fruit and a taste test. Each friend was brave and took the opportunity to try something new. They whispered in my ear what they felt the fruit tasted like: sweet, sour or not good. Check out the results on our Information Table!
In Other News
Our school had their annual Book Fair this week. The Kindergartners had a Preview Day where they were provided Wish Lists to document which books they were most excited about and hoped to check in with their families about receiving them. In the Multi-Purpose Room, students browsed books, wrote their titles as well as their prices.
Thank you to all of the generous families and friends that gifted a book to our class from my Wish List. I can't wait to share these beautifully illustrated books with our friends!
Beth Foster, a valued member of our staff, came in to survey each class about what theme they wished for our school's Family Dance to have. The options were: Beach Luau, Mustaches and Polka Dots, Enchanted Forest, Fire and Ice Opposites, and Dr. Seaus. Most friends in our class chose Fire and Ice Opposites.
We also had another Earthquake and Fire Drill this week. Our class did a great job of moving quickly and quietly. You can check out their reflections about this experience in our Discussion Notes Binder.
Our class enjoyed their last session of Lego Physics for this school year. When we come back from this holiday break, they will be meeting with Nikki for an Art Exploration class!
We met with our 7th Grade Buddies this week to go over our initial drafts for our class story. Each group worked together to reread what they wrote last week to make sure it all flowed together, making any necessary changes.
Thank you to Bridget (Sienna's mom) for coming back this week to finish her book from last week!
This week, one of our friends shared his birthday with us. We sang him Happy Birthday and his favorite poem from this year, October, by Maurice Sendak.
Each friend got a chance to give him a Special Birthday Message in his ear.
And he asked him Grammy, Sandy, to read one of his favorite books from class, Stellaluna.
He passed out a Special Treat to each of the friends, to which they said 'thank you' or 'no thank you.' Happy Birthday!
This week, I asked the class what their thoughts about Thanksgiving were *Reflection Page Coming Soon* and many of them agreed that it was a time to say what you were thankful for. Each friend had something unique and special that they were thankful for, so they all journaled their response to the prompt : What Are You Thankful For? With the help of a list of keywords to reference and their inventive spelling strategies, each friend was able to complete their journal entry!
Home to School Learning Extension
This week was so full of exciting moments along with many friends bringing in their work from home. We did not get to EVERYONE, but we learned quite a bit from those who did get a chance to present this week. Some of the topics covered this week included cause and effect, equation writing and number sense, book making, identifying the difference between fiction and non-fiction books, a new style of writing, the properties of different natural materials and how light interacts differently with them, building fine motor skills, money concepts, and how time affects the physical appearance of once living things and the laws of gravity. Check out of Discussion Notes for more information.
Thank you for all that you do and your generosity with your time in supporting your child practice skills that they are most excited and curious about. The more practice that happens at home, the more amazing the work in class becomes.
Happy Holidays,
Love, gaby
