It's SO FUN to be a scientist!

Today in class, I did a Mystery science lesson that went perfect with our pushes and pulls unit. This lesson learned how to change the strength and direction of their push to solve a tricky problem. They needed to figure out how to push their wrecking ball so the it would knock over the three cups (the wall) without hitting one of the houses. This was a great problem solving experiement that really encompassed all we have been learning in our pushes and pulls unit. The kids LOVED doing the experiment and seeing if they could accompish the tricky challenge of knocking down all the cups (the wall) without hitting the house. So fun! After the experiment, we had a great conversation as scientists discussing what they worked for them and why they believe that strategy worked.

After we met at our table spots and I asked them to draw a wrecking ball doing work to knock over a wall on a piece of paper and write about how they got the wrecking ball to hit harder.

In HMH, we read a biography today about Dr. Mae Jemison. It was an inspirational story about a young girl who loved science and dance. She had dreams to be a doctor or astronaut and a ballerina. As she grew older, people tried to deter her from following her dreams but she pursued them anyway to one day living out her childhood dream. She became the first black woman astronaut. Yay, Mae! It was such a wonderful biography that had a great message for my little ones to hear. With this activity they did a writing piece of something they love. Mae loved science and dance. It was fun to see what they drew and wrote about. I was so impressed with all their detailed drawings and how well they wrote their sentences about what they love and why. Great job, K-1!

\\ After I did a grammar lesson with the class where we are continuing to work on complete sentences and identifying conjunctions. They are doing a great job with both and are learing so much!

In math, we began a new chapter that focuses on learning all about numbers to 100. We are learning a lot about place value and when given a large number of objects on how to group them in groups of 10 to make counting faster and more accurate. They did great in math today and continue to surprise me everyday with how quick they are learning. We are also learning how to start at a number and practice counting on to 100. Way to go, K-1!

Happy "early" St. Patrick's Day!

With tomorrow being St. Patrick's Day, we attended an all school Irish Dancing Assembly this morning and this afternoon, we made paper leprechauns. This was a BIG project because it was a lot of listening and following directions to create the project. The class was SO excited to make them and they turned out so cute! They can't wait to bring them home today to hang them somewhere special. Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone and enjoy the day off tomorrow!

Fun Friday

Today in class, we made a cute St. Patrick's Day project and they turned out AMAZING! I was so excited to hang them in the hall for all of Olive to see! The kids did such a great job following my directions on how to color and put it together along with coming up with their own sentences on why they are so "lucky." I loved reading all their responses and how well they all sounded out the words they wanted to write on their own. I know that I am the luckiest kindergarten teacher to have all 17 of my little owls this year in my class! They are so much fun to be with each and every day!

In science today, I did a lesson with the class that focused on solving motion challenges. For this activity I put the class in 3 groups. On the floor I taped an arrow and I placed a plastic bottle somewhere on the carpet too. I gave them a ball and told them that the ball had to be rolled in the direction of the arrow. I asked them how they could get the ball to move to knock down the plastic bottle. They needed to work with their group to come up with a plan that would work, gather materials and try it out. Once they found something that worked, they drew their idea in their science notebooks. This was a challenging activity and the kids were so excited when they figured out something that worked! They were jumuping up and down and couldn't wait to share what their plan was and show me how it worked. Way to go, K-1 friends!

In math, we just finished Chapter 8 learning subtraction. I am sending home the extra practice pages in the event you'd like to do some of the pages at home for added practice. These packets I send home are completely optional but helpful to my little ones as it gives them more time to practice what we learned in class. They are all doing amazing and we have been having so much fun in HMH with reading and writing, learning subtraciton, learning "pushes and pulls" in science and growing as learners. Have a great weekend, everyone!