This morning during centers we learned how to play a new math game called Sum Swamp.  We learned how to add sums together and began talking about even and odd numbers. We also worked on our Storybird stories during center time. So far we’ve had 10 Storybird stories published, which we shared with the whole class using the projector. During calendar today we discussed what it means to skip count. We used our 100 chart to skip count by 10s and 5s.  In Writers Workshop we are still working on making our writing easy to read by adding spaces and recording all the sounds we hear in each word. We also sat with our new writing partners. We practiced helping each other with our writing and making sure to say kind words about each other’s work. Our writing partnerships are very important.  Our partners help us plan our stories before writing time, help us during writing time, and listen to our stories at the end of Writers Workshop each day. During writing time if we get stuck on a word or a letter, we can always ask our partner for help! This afternoon we finished our Eric Carle art pieces in the atelier. We ended the day with a special snack that Brendan’s family brought in for us! 

We had a busy day in kinder today.  Several of us worked on adding pages to our collaborative Storybird stories. Thank you to all the parent and teacher volunteers who are helping with this literacy activity. During Writers Workshop we got new writing partners and new writing spots.  We talked about how good writing partners help us make our writing better and take care of our feelings.  We practiced offering writing suggestions to our partners using kind words. We read two more Eric Carle stories and watched a slideshow about how Eric Carle creates his illustrations.  In the atelier we created our own illustrations in a style similar to Eric Carle’s style.  We drew a picture, then cut out tissue paper to glue over our drawings. Tomorrow we will have the option of painting over our tissue paper art, just like Eric Carle.

View more photos from today in our January 19-22 Photo Gallery

Our class did a great job during reading time.  We have been reading everyday, and enjoying literature with our friends. All of the students are practicing reading is many different ways. Sometimes we are reading the pictures, or reading the sight words, or retelling the stories in our own ways. 

Today we continued to develop our math skills during center time.  We used the SmartBoard to complete patterns, and we manipulated different shapes to make them fit together.  Students were able to rotate the position of the shapes and change the colors.  These activities are also a great way for children to develop their computer skills as well as their fine motor skills. 

During music time, Ms. Shelley brought enough bells for everyone to play.  We sang “Tum Balalaika”, “I’m a Bell”, “Frère Jacques”, and “I’m Going to Boston”.  These songs incorporate movement, voice control, and using fun lyrics to sing and play. 

View more photos from today in our Jan 19-22 Photo Gallery

During centers today several of us worked on predicting and creating patterns on the SMARTboard. Others of us wrote Story Bird stories or created Bendaroo art with Joaquin!

We played ABC bingo today to help us work on sound recognition.

We spent time exercising our muscles and our problem-solving skills on the playground.

We continued our unit on engineering by designing foil boats today.  Before designing our boats we wrote down our predictions about how many marbles our individual boats would hold before sinking.  Then we set to work constructing our boats using foil, tape, and scissors.  We tested our boat designs in the sensory table that was filled with water.  We found that most of our boats sank after we placed only a few marbles in them. We had to do some problem-solving and modifications to our designs.  We discussed which boat designs held the most marbles and why.  We found that our boats could hold more marbles after each trial and reconstruction. One of our boats held 63 marbles! We are learning to think and problem-solve like scientists! 

This afternoon we had the pleasure of listening to delightful music from a talented violinist.

View more photos from today in our Jan 11-15 Photo Gallery