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!