Pumpkins Seeds, Fire Station Field Trip & PJ Day

We had another busy week this week in Kindergarten. Take a look below at what we have been working on. We welcomed a new friend, Devon, to our classroom this week! We look forward to getting to know him better and helping him fit into our classroom community.

 In Literacy Lab this week, we focused on the letters R & B. We read books about each letter, completed picture sorts, and glued red paper on the letter R and beans on the letter B.

In the listening area we read "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat" and completed a sequencing paper by putting the pictures in the order they occurred in the story.

 We worked on the letter N & G. We watched lots of videos for each letter to practice recognizing them as well as their sound, practiced writing the letters, made a list of things that begin with the letter, and drew pictures that began with the sounds. 

 We decided to take out the seeds in our pumpkin and before we did so, we all made a guess on how many seeds we thought would be inside. 3 of the seeds inside the pumpkin had already broken open and began growing a vine. We added those to our science area so we can continue to watch them change. I also added a seed in a clear cup with soil in our science area so the students could observe.

We counted 409 seeds in our pumpkin! I also documented what the students noticed about the pulp and seeds.

Some students chose to use the scooper and some chose to use their hands. They really loved this activity! Then they separated the pulp and seeds so we could count the seeds. 

 On Thursday we took a walking field trip to the Fire Station with Ms. Riggs class since it was fire safety awareness month. We learned about how the fire fighters help keep us safe, learned about their equipment and vehicles, learned what we can do at home to stay safe, and took a tour of the fire station. They also gave us Junior Firefighter hats.

 The students got to go on an ambulance and learn about things they keep in or on the ambulance and what they are used for.

The students also got to sit in the front seat as well as the back seat of the fire engine. They loved this!

The students got to spray water from their tank which was really exciting as well!

The firefighters showed the students what they look like with all of their equipment on in order to show them that they are not scary and they shouldn't be scared. Thank you so much to the firefighters for being such great hosts and showing us around. Also, a huge thank you to our parent volunteers for your help during this trip!

 On Friday we started visiting with preschool reading buddies. We will meet with them every Friday and we will be sharing different things with them such as books, writing, portfolios, etc. This allows us to practice our speaking and listening skills, reading skills, building confidence, and many more. The students had such a great time sharing their purple book as well as their best pieces of writing from the first quarter.

 This week we finished the book Charlotte's Web so on Friday we watched the movie. I brought in some popcorn for the students and also brought in our pumpkin seeds that we took out of our pumpkin that I cooked. The students got to enjoy these snacks while they watched the movie. They really enjoyed this movie and talking about similarities & differences between the book and movie.

 Friday was also Pajama Day and the students really enjoyed wearing their PJ's to school.

Thanks for checking in. Stop by next week to see what we are up to next. 

Have a great week!

Mrs. Brittany Garrabrant

Orange & Purple Color Mixing Experiments & More

We had another busy week in Kindergarten! Since we finished learning about all of our friends, we began our "normal" writing time. The students are now working on drawing a picture with details, labeling details in their picture with 1 letter for each thing (like S for sun, G for grass, etc.), and being able to tell a story about their picture. These are all things that you could be practicing with your child at home in order to help build their confidence in writing. 

In getting close to the end of the 1st Quarter, the students have been working hard to show me what they know and getting things ready to share with you all at conferences such as updating their data folders, writing their name for their portfolios & getting things together to put in their portfolio to share with you all. 

We also worked hard this week on learning about the letter I and it's sound. It is a tricky one so we spent some extra time on it! Unfortunately I left the letter card at school and forgot to get a picture of it but here is our list of words that we made. 

In literacy lab, we focused on the letters D & L. Reading books, sorting pictures by beginning sound, and rainbow writing. We also glued lima beans on the letter L & mini donuts on the letter D.

We also began using the listening center in literacy lab. The students listened to a story (There was an old lady who swallowed a bat) and colored a picture related to that story. 

On Tuesday we did a color mixing experiment with Ms. Riggs class using shaving cream. The students each got a pile of yellow shaving cream and a pile of red shaving cream. They mixed them together to make orange! 

 They really enjoyed this experiment!

Then we documented what we noticed. We did it together as a class on the Promethean board (bottom left) then the students did the same on their paper. I didn't draw anything for the prediction part because I wanted the students to document their own prediction. These papers will be in the student's portfolios.

 The students were very excited to earn their orange color book this week! They couldn't wait to take them home and read them to you.

On Friday we did another color mixing experiment with Ms. Riggs class. The students were paired in groups and had 2 cups of colored vinegar, one red and one blue. They also had 2 cups of baking soda. The students poured the colored vinegar into the cups of baking soda and watched what happened next. They were excited to see that they made purple! 

 They also enjoyed this experiment. We are now learning our Purple color song and how to spell the word purple. Ask your child to sing it to you!

 Then we documented what happened.

Again, we completed it on the board together (top right) except for their prediction and then they did it on their own. We complete box 1 & 2 before the experiment and then we do box 3 & 4 afterwards.

 We had a great week and have another busy week planned. Check back next week to see what we are up to next.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Brittany Garrabrant

Treasure Blocks, Pirate and Peeps, Finished Class Rules Book & More!

We had a busy week in Kindergarten! With our QPT day, the students only had school on 4 days but we got so much done in those 4 days! Take a look below to see what we worked on this week.

We finished up our treasure blocks this week! Monday we learned about our friend Jacob W. (not photographed) and Tuesday we learned about our friend Eli.

 Thursday we learned about our friend Lylah and Friday we learned about Mrs. Boyd. 

Next week we will be starting writing about various topics, focusing on using our pictures to tell a story, and using labels in our pictures.

Tuesday we had our first "Pirates & Peeps" visit. High schoolers from the NHS program came to visit and help in our room. The students worked on observational paintings of pumpkins and the high schoolers helped with set up, monitoring, and clean up with this activity. I forgot to take picture of their finished products. Afterwards, they read books with the Kindergarten students. Thank you to the high schoolers for their help, the students look forward to the next time!

 On Friday Ms. Sue (our occupational therapist) came to our classroom to do a lesson on pencil grip and an activity on cutting. She showed us a song to help us remember how to hold our pencil and the students really enjoyed it! Then we practiced cutting out a snake, which took hard work with our fine motor skills. She helped us remember thumbs up when we cut so that our thumb is on top when we use the scissors. The students enjoyed this very much.

 Since the end of the quarter is getting closer, we have been working on updating our data folders in order to prepare for our student-led conferences. 

In literacy lab this week, we focused on the letters S & T. The students practiced reading books with pictures beginning with those letters and using their pointer fingers while reading. They also practiced rainbow writing the letters. 

The students sorted pictures by letter based on the beginning sound of each picture. They also played a letter identification game which required them to take turns and be patient.

 The students glued tissue paper on the letter T & seeds on the letter S.

We have been working so hard on our class rules book and this week we finally finished it! Take a look at the last pages that we completed.

When Mrs. Boxley came to visit this week, she helped the students work on the last page of our class rules book. They signed their name and put their thumb print in order to promise to do their best and love school.

 The class also earned their green color book. We will begin working on learning orange next week.

 As a reward for our hard work this week, we watched videos of Mo Willems books since we have been reading them. The students really enjoyed seeing the books come to life.

 We also added a couple new workstations including alphabetizing tiles, making numbers with plastic pieces, and creating numbers using halloween 10's frames.

We also worked on the letters R & B, making a list of words that begin with those letters and drawing our pictures to make our letter cards.

Below you can see our letter cards for R & B as well as A & O from last week.

Thanks for stopping by. Check back again next week to see what we are learning about next!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Brittany Garrabrant