A Year in Photos

What an amazing year it has been!  Thank you for sharing your amazing children with me.  If I didn't have the incredible opportunity to have these kiddos again next year, I wouldn't be able to watch this slideshow without lots of tears! I will admit, it makes me tear up regardless.  However, it is so much easier to say "Have a great summer," instead of "Good-bye."  All my best...

Graduation Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is our kindergarten graduation.  The ceremony starts at 9.  The children will sing a couple songs and get their award.  Then, the children and I will return to the classroom.  When all the kids are back in the rooms, you will be allowed to come to the classroom.  I have a summer packet and report card to give you.  Once you have the folder and I get one last hug, you are free to take your child home and start your summer vacation!  See you tomorrow...it will be a great day!

Butterflies Away

We have been studying butterflies in class. Did your child tell you we had our own caterpillars in the classroom? We have been observing them the last couple of weeks. Last week, they had turned into chrysalises and this week we had 14 butterflies! On Friday, we released them.  So exciting!

Math Journals

On Thursday, I will be sending home all of the students' things.  They will each get a large bag of classroom treasures.  Then, on Friday, students don't need to bring anything to school for graduation.  Amongst the treasures, the children are each bringing home their math journals.  We have been using the math journals all year long.  In the journals, I give the students different problems that they have to apply skills from our kindergarten standards in order to solve.  The students not only write the answer to the problem but they also show their thinking on the page.

In the two above examples, the children used pictures to solve and explain the math problems.  On the left, this kindergartner showed mastery of the kindergarten objective to be able to decompose numbers into pairs in more than one way.  On the left, it is obvious that the mathematician can effectively solve and represent subtraction word problems.

Here are two entries that show different strategies for solving problems.  The child on the left used the strategy of counting on to solve an addition problem.  On the right, the child used her fingers to help her subtract.  

The great mathematically thinking continues.  On the left, this student explained that she knew what 6+5 was because she knew the doubles fact 5+5=10.  On the right, the student showed that she used resources in the classroom to solve 10-7.  Because of the ten fact rainbow, she knew that 3 and 7 go together to make 10.

After the students solve the problems independently in the journals, we meet together to discuss the different strategies for solving problems.  The students celebrate all the different ways they can arrive at the same answer and learn from each other.  The above entry shows a mathematician that had been paying attention during math discussions!  In one entry, she shows four different ways to explain the same problem. 

Please take some time to look through your child's math journal and discuss his/her thinking!

Self Portraits

The children have come so very far this year.  This week I saw a terrific example of their progress.  We did self portrait drawings during the first week of school and then made another picture this week.  Just look at the August portraits next to the May portraits.  Amazing!

Staying Active

This month one of the healthy habits was to play an active, organized game with a group of friends...well the Connected Kinders sure got this done! We had field day early in the week. Mrs. Trollope organized six different games and had some Eagle Cliffs sixth graders run the different stations. The kids had a great time playing with the parachute, playing Cookie Jar and Capture the flag, running relay races, and even a water game to cool off. We had perfect weather for field day. One of the kids' favorite part of field day was popsicles at the end!

We had such a wonderful time with field day that we made a "playground day" with our 5th grade buddies.  Instead of field games we learned and played playground games.  Our buddies taught us how to play Wall Ball, Lightning, Four Square, and Soccer.  The kids rotated to each game and played with their buddies.  So much fun!  It was a great way to end the year with our buddies!

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo!

We had such a great field trip to the zoo on Thursday! A huge thank you to all the parent volunteers, I couldn't have done it without you! Enjoy some of the highlights!

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We Love Nonfiction!

The kids can't seem to get enough nonfiction. They are incredibly curious. They are loving reading the nonfiction books in the Reading Rainbow app. On the app, there is a whole island made by National Geographic Kids. Then, I found this great National Geographic collection. Each book icon will take the kids to a book and they can read it online or have the text read to them. Please explore. I have put the link in this post and at the top button bar as well. One more helpful hint, I have also found these National Geographic Kids books at the Dollar Tree in the Heights. $1 nonfiction! Can't beat that!

National Geographic Online Books

Mission Ridge

Our Mission Ridge field trip was a great success.  The Connected Kinders were polite, respectful, engaging, charming, and...AMAZING!  The faces of both the kinders and the Mission Ridge residents speaks volumes.  It was an incredible experience for cross generational learning.  I was so proud of the kids.  Below is a slideshow.  It is a long one but I had so much trouble narrowing down the images. 
 

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Mr. Wardell Visits

Mr. Wardell came to visit this week.  The children love to show him all they are learning and he loves the Connected Kinders.  This visit he brought each of the children a unique and special gift from his recent trip to China.  A Chinese chop or seal is used to sign official documents, artwork, and other paperwork.  Chops have been part of the Chinese culture for thousands of years and are still used as signatures today.   Each Connected Kinder now has a chop made for them with their name in Chinese characters.  Pretty amazing!

QR Solar System Fact Hunt

I know I have said this before....the Connected Kinders are incredible!  Wednesday we reviewed all the facts we have been learning about the solar system with a QR treasure hunt.  The students worked in pairs.  They had to scan the code, read the riddle, write the answer to the riddle, and find the next QR code.  Can you solve one of the riddles?  Ask  your kinder for the correct answer!

I am a terrestrial planet.

I am Earth’s twin.

I spin the slowest.

My clouds are poisonous gas.

Go Sky Watch

We found a great new app to compliment our solar system study. It is called Go Sky Watch Planetarium. It is free. By pointing your ipad to the sky, it tells you what planets, constellations, and stars are in the sky at that exact moment and location. The children loved finding out where all the planets are in the sky. Of course, we had to do the app during the day and couldn't see the stars and planets we were locating. This would be a great app to try at home with the night sky to look at and compare. Let me know if you try Go Sky Watch!