Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy Earth Day!

 
Happy Earth Day everyone!
 
Today was a fun day in kindergarten!
 
Ms. Cook had the kids planting flowers.

 
 
We planted Pansies.

 
What a glorious day we had for an outdoor Earth Day activity!

 
They were planted in recycled deli containers too, in keeping with the Earth Day theme.

 
We hope your child's flower will find its way into your garden at home! 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Water Table

It started with corn, moved to wheat, then sand, and now....
 
 
The water table is open!  Oh, this has been a highlight over the past week!  We've been giving kids the chance to explore at the water table.  We have boats, funnels, large and small cups, eye droppers, turkey basters, and tubes.

 
We encourage the kids to explore capacity, objects that sink and float, and experiment with the way water moves.

 
If you volunteer in the classroom during our center time, I will probably ask you to supervise the water table.  The kids LOVE it but, as you can imagine, it can get a little out of hand without an extra pair of eyes. 
 
As the weather warms up, especially when it gets to be pool season, I would like to encourage you to break out the measuring cups and other plastic kitchen utensils for kids to experiment with!
 
Happy water play!

Our New Friends

We'd like to introduce you to a few new friends in our classroom!
 
This is Goldie, Cutie, Carly, and Tiny.
 
 
Our new friends are part of our Animals 2x2 science curriculum (and they will be looking for new homes at the end of the year).  We've been writing about our goldfish every day.
 
We are learning to observe like scientists and draw exactly what we see.  Sometimes it's really hard, when you're in kindergarten, to not draw a blue goldfish or a fish with stripes.  We are learning to make observations.
 
 
We've been labeling the parts of a fish.

 

We've also been researching all of the things fish need to live. 

 

I'm pretty sure the fish are the highlight of the school year so far.  It has been a lot of fun and a fabulous learning experience for the kids!
 
(Wait until they find out that live snails and worms come next!)
 
Oh, the fun we have in kindergarten!!!

Rice Rainbows

A few weeks ago we started working on learning to spell our color words.  As a follow up, we made some rice rainbows during centers/choice time.
 
 
It's so great to hear the kids sing the spelling of the color words as they make their rainbows.
 

 
I love working with colored rice.  Not only is it pretty, but having to pinch those tiny little grains of rice is great for small motor development.

 
Happy Rainbow Day!