Tracking The Weather

We have started science this week with a "new" unit called "Tracking The Weather." The class has LOVED being scientists and learning all about the weather. We have also loved tracking the weather each day by documenting the actual weather in our science journals. At the end of the month, we are going to take a look at our data and our bar graphs to see what kind of weather we had the most of and what kind we had the least of and talk about our ideas why. We will continue tracking the weather in the upcoming months so that they can see how the weather changes and how it effects what we wear each day and why it changes throughout the year. Today we talked about the Fall weather and they got to draw a fall scene that they would see if they walked outside right now. We talked about how we would see leaves on the ground, the leaves changing color, squirrels and bunnies looking for food, acorns on the ground, and maybe rain in the sky. We also talked about what sports are played during the fall that we may see if we walked by a park or a school stadium. They brought up football and soccer. They did such a great job drawing their fall scenes, coloring them with realistic colors and labeling them! When the class was done, we took turns sharing them. I projected each one on the Elmo so the class could see them blown up on the whiteboard to see all the detail their classmates put in their pictures. They were a great audience and did a great job sharing in front of the class. We have loved learning about weather!!!

 

In math, we have talking about adding numbers within 10 and learning about the concept of one more and one less. We have also been showing that math through a hands on experience using ten-frames. They LOVE math and are doing an excellent job! 

In literacy, we have been working hard learning new letters and sounds and have been putting those together learning to read and write on their own! I have been so impressed with how well my kinder friends are writing sentences on their own and reading too! WOW!!!!! We have also been learning a lot about the two different genres (fiction and non-fiction) and identifying the main characters, setting and main ideas of the story when we read books together out loud. We have also learned about what fables are and read some of those too. In the books we have read recently, we have learned about synonyms and antonyms. We have been finding them in books we have read as well! They are learning so much and I am so impressed! Way to go, K-1!

Oh my!! What fabulous drawing, coloring, labeling and writing! I am AMAZED!!

Today in class, we did a journal entry where we did a directed draw turkey. They did an excellent job following my step-by-step directions until the whole turkey was drawn. After we drew the turkey, we met on the big rug and we listened to a story about what we are thankful for. We then had a great discussion about the Thanksgiving holiday and we share some things that we are all individually thankful for. I told them that I would like them to draw something in the space with the turkey that they are thankful for. I wanted them to color and label it too. Then I wrote the prompt, "I am thankful for...." and they had to copy it from the board with writing it on the lines the correct way and finish it with something they were thankful for. I asked them to use their "brave spelling" where they write how the words sound to them. They did AMAZING!! I was blown away! Let's just say I walked around tearing up and tears fell down my cheeks because I was SO PROUD!! Wow!! They are all doing amazing! I was so proud of their beautiful drawing, neat coloring, labeling and how well they wrote their sentences. WOW!!!!

 

We are learning so much in kindergarten and I am so proud! Their other favorite part of our day was learning about synonyms and antonyms. Yes.... you read it right! They loved learning about what a synonym and antonym is and we practiced identifying both. We did a lesson on it yesterday and more about it today. We watched a video with a catchy song about synonyms and antonyms that have stuck in our heads helping us to remember it even more! I am so proud of how well my kinders have learned this challenging concept and how well they are doing identifying if a pair of words are synonyms or antonyms. They are also doing a great job of thinking of a pair of words for each kind too! Way to go, K-!

Happy November- What a great "Fun Friday!"

With today being November 1st, we made our November turkey calendars. I am so proud of how well they are listening and following directions after such a fun filled Halloween yesterday! Wow!!!! Way to go, K-1! When we make our monthly calendars, there are so many skills involved in putting it all together and I am impressed how much they have all grown as learners when we do this BIG projects. They did a great job writing in the missing numbers the correct way and cutting all the pieces to put it all together! When they were done, they were so PROUD of how they turned out! They look FANTASTIC!! WOW!!! Here are some pictures of the class with their calendars and some of the ones they made:

This afternoon, we did a science project with an apple they brought in this week. They got to document what they learned about their apple in their science apple journal. They got to write about what color their apple was, guess how many seeds were inside the apple and graph how many there actually were when I cut it open, and they got to see and document how many cubes their apple weighed. We also did a class apple graph where we graphed how many apples were brought in of each color. We then got to spend some time talking about the graph such as what color we had the most of and what we had the least of. They LOVED doing the apple science today!

Have a great long weekend everyone! I'm looking forward to seeing all of you at parent/teacher conferences on Monday and talking about all the amazing things your kiddos are doing in kindergarten! Remember we don't have school on Tuesday due to Election Day! Enjoy!!