Pajama Day!

We had a super fun last day before the break. Nothing is cuter than kinders in jammies! It was a day of games, magic, hot chocolate, dancing, presents, and friends! Enjoy the slideshow below!

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Gingerbread Houses

Thanks for the great participation with the Gingerbread House decorating. It was so fun to see moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas all getting sticky together. I know it is such a busy time of year, so I really appreciate your ability to come to our event.

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Christmas Program

The children did terrific in their holiday program. They were so excited to perform! I am, of course, bias....but they were just the cutest! Look at these penguins:

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If you were unable to make the concert, or just want to see it again, our librarian posted the live feed. You can see the recording at this link: Eagle Cliffs UStreamTV. Thank you, Mrs. Fleming.

Billings Gazette

Look at our super stars!
Classroom iPads boost performance in kindergarten class

Gingerbread Stories

 

Through our Gingerbread unit, we read several different versions of the story.  We read The Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Boy, The Gingerbread Girl, The Gingerbread Cowboy, Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Friends, and Gingerbread Pirates.   Did you know there were so many?  While we read, we compared and contrasted the stories.  We recorded our notes on a huge classroom chart.  We wrote the characters, refrain, and endings for each story.  The students were so lively in their discussions.  I even caught them independently discussing other versions that they had read or listened to on the ipads.  

At the end of the many different readings, I gave a "quiz" using MimioVotes.  The votes are small hand held response clickers.  The quiz asked about the different stories' characters, refrains, and endings.  The quiz covered stories read over a two week time frame.  I was thrilled with the students' comprehension level.  The class average on the quiz was 87%.  Wow!  What great comprehension. 

We did so many different fun cross curricular gingerbread activities.  Here are some pictures of our other activities!

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Gingerbread Science

We did a science experiment with gingerbread.  In one of the gingerbread stories, the fox tricks the gingerbread man by convincing him to ride on his back across the river.  In this science experiment, our key question was: What would happen to the gingerbread man if he "swam" across the river himself?  We made predictions then tested our hypothesis.  The students observed and recorded what was happening to the gingerbread man in water at 20 minutes, 40 minutes, and one hour.  They concluded that water makes the gingerbread soggy and it will break apart.  Great work, scientists!

Gingerbread Math

 During our gingerbread unit, we made a glyph art project.  For the glyph, every piece of the gingerbread man art project was a code; an answer to a question.  For example, for this glyph, the placement of the bow indicated if the artist was a girl or a boy.  The eyes on the gingerbread man revealed if the artist liked to eat gingerbread or not.  The shape of the mouth indicated what the artist liked to drink when eating cookies.

After the glyphs were made, we did a great analysis of all the data.  We sorted the gingerbread men by the different attributes.   Then, we counted and recorded all the glyph data.  Awesome!

Sense Poetry and Art

 After studying the 5 senses, we applied our knowledge in a techie art project and poetry writing.  I uploaded several different Christmas images to our photostream.  For example, there were pictures of Santa, Christmas trees, lights, reindeer, cookies, and more.  The students used the app Pic Collage to create Christmas photo collages for each of the five senses.  The students not only had to have the tech skills to import and arrange photos, but they also had to think about which senses they use as they experience the holidays.

Once the collages were made and we shared our projects, the children wrote poems about the senses and Christmas.  Here are a couple examples of the writing pieces:

Christmas Senses

By Adalyn

I can see Santa.

I can hear jingle bells.

I can feel snow.

I can smell

cookies in the oven.

I can taste gingerbread.

It’s almost Christmas time!

Christmas Senses

By Tatem 

I can see Santa.

I can hear “Ho, ho, ho!”

I can feel gingerbreadmen.

I can smell cookies.

I can taste candy canes.

It’s almost Christmas time!

Senses Experiments

Studying the 5 senses gave us many opportunities for engaging and fun science experiments. Enjoy the slideshow below. Ask your child which experiment was their favorite.

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The 5 Senses

Scientists use their five senses to study the world around them. The Connected Kinders discovered this quickly. A beaker, like the one pictured above, sat on each table. The scientists could only use their sense of sight to study the beaker of liquid. The scientist wrote in their journals that this appeared to be a glass of water.

Next, the scientist were allowed to use their sense of touch.  Wow!  The scientists were surprised to discover five clear, jelly marbles in each beaker.  The scientists concluded that while we mostly use our sense of sight, the other senses are very important for studying the world around us.

In the News...

On Monday, Mr. Wardell came to visit again. Mr. Wardell is the gentleman that privately funded our classroom's technology. He is so interested in the class's learning and progress. He flies in from Georgia, just to see our kids! After only two visits, he knows the kids' names and interests. Mr. Wardell asked the kids what they enjoyed about the ipads. The Connected Kinders had so much to share! He also thanked the kids for their hard work, you could just see them light up! He has quite a connection with our class and we are so lucky to know him.

On the day of his visit, kulr8 returned to do a follow up story. Here it is below. I am so proud of our kids!

Turkeys on Parade

Isn't this just the cutest hand turkey parade you have ever seen? Have a wonderful and relaxing break!

Turkey Time

Here is a video that the kids LOVE!!!! We have been using it as a wiggle break. I had several kid requests to put it on the blog so they can have a "turkey dance party" at home! Enjoy!

There is an App for That!

So many apps, so little time!  I have had several requests to find out what apps we are using in class.  I love to share!  There are bunches and bunches of educational apps.  I will share a few of our class's favorites.  As we add more in class, I hope to continue highlighting student and teacher favorites.

The screen shot to the left is our Language Arts page.  Each app works on important reading and writing skills.  Here some links to my top picks from this page.

 Letter School- This is an incredible handwriting and phonics app.  It helps children with correct letter formation and letter/sound association. $2.99
Starfall- In this app, students see, hear, interact, and play with letters and sounds.  $2.99
 Letter of the Day- This app, again, works on letter and sound identification and association.  The game provides instant feedback and helpful hints.  $1.99
 Sound Sorting- Here is an interactive game that let's children sort pictures by beginning sound. $0.99
 Sight Words PhotoTouch- The ipad says a sight word and the kids have to touch the correct word out of 4 different choices.  The same app is also available for just letter identification.  Free.
 Reading Rainbow- (with subscription)  This is an amazing resource.  With this app, children have access to an incredible library of wonderful literature.  Children can read the books themselves or get the books read to them.  Further, the app has short video clips that compliment the stories.  How do children become better readers?  They read, read, read!  This app is packed with reading opportunities.
 Scribble Press- I have this app on the students' dock because we use it all the time.  This app allows the children to write and illustrate books then has an option to share/ publish their creations into ibooks.  One of the best parts....FREE!
Teach Me Kindergarten (not pictured)- We haven't done this app in class..yet.  However, the app has several games that cover and practice important kindergarten skills.  Plus, the app tracks progress and has an parent screen where you can monitor your child's progress.  This app also has a first and second grade version. $1.99

On our math page, we also have several awesome apps.  Here are just a few for now.
Quick Images- This app is spectacular for developing number sense and mathematical strategies.  See the post below for more specifics.  I highly recommend this app. $0.99
Counting Board- A great app to practice counting and identifying the numbers to 100.  Free.
123 Number Magic- An app to practice counting and number identification.  Free.
PrestoBingo Shapes- This app explores geometry.  Students have to find shapes hidden in pictures.  $1.99
Sid's Science Fair- Here is a science app that really engages the kids.  $2.99

This is certainly not everything, but a good start.  Like I said, I will continue to update as we introduce new apps in class or as I discover new apps.  I appreciate your interest and support!

Thankful for Tech Night

 Thank you so much for your participation and enthusiasm at Wednesday's tech night.   It was wonderful to see the Connected Kinders showing you their favorite apps and all they have been learning.  The "Thankful" ibooks turned out great.  I am working on sending everyone the link to your child's ibook.  The children sure enjoy having the books they created on their ibook shelf.  I have seen several kiddos open it and read it.  What a special memory!  I hope to do another "Tech Night" in January.  Stay tuned!

Base Ten Equations

The Connected Kinders are becoming teen number experts.  We are working so very hard at deeply understanding the numbers 1-20.  We have played several games and we are constantly counting.  With a strong counting foundation in place, this week we moved to the place value of the teen numbers.  The students were introduced to the concept that the teen numbers could be represented as a 10 and ones.  For example, 14 is 10+4. 

One activity we did to practice this standard was to build models of the number with a double ten frame and counters.  After students built the number, they took a picture of the model with their ipad.  Next the students put the photo into the Scribble Press app and wrote the corresponding equation.  Aren't these kids impressive?!

Big Ideas in Mathematics

Subitizing is being able to instantly see how many. We are working on developing different counting strategies and building a foundation for place value concepts. The Connected Kinders are doing amazing math with the app Quick Images. With this app, a graphic of objects is flashed on the screen and then disappears. The students have to be able to tell how many but they do not have the time to count each item. Quick Images fosters the development of number sense by having children compose and decompose the numbers in a variety of ways. For instance,a child might see 17 as 10+5+2 or 5+5+5+2. Subitizing also helps develop addition and subtraction strategies.

After practicing this app for only a couple weeks, the students are not only quick at grouping and counting the numbers but they have also become very proficent at explaining their thinking. If you are interested in buying this 99 cent app click here.

Counting to 100

Counting to 100 is a huge kindergarten objective! We have been practicing daily to meet this goal by the end of this second quarter. The students are doing fabulously! It is very exciting to see so many of the children accomplishing this objective. They are so proud. Here is a video that has been helping us practice and understand place value. The practice you are doing at home makes a huge difference! Thank you.

Buddies in the Computer Lab

Today we went to the computer lab with our buddies.  They were so helpful with our first lab experience.  Below are the links the students worked their way through.  Each link is an interactive  game that reviews a concept we are working on in class.  The links are still active so please feel free to explore these sites together with your Connected Kinder.
Number Bingo
Turkey Book
at words
Letter Match
Turkey Add to Color
Turkey Dot to Dot

Scarecrows

Last week was "Scarecrow Week."  We made these fun scarecrows that are hanging in the hallway.  The children had to follow several multi-step directions to complete the project.  We worked very hard!  We also read several different books about scarecrows.  One of the class' favorites was the Silly Willy Scarecrow.  In this book, the scarecrow scares things away by using beginning sounds.  The kids thought the "u" page was particularly funny.

The students want me to read it over and over and over again.  It is great for letter and sound practice.  Since the book is such a favorite we made a class book using the concept and our names.  The students had to use the beginning sound in their names.  I took pictures of them fake running.  So funny!  They are sure getting good at silly photo poses!