Dr. Seuss

Today we read The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. Click the link below to play a game to catch the Things from the book.

Catch a Thing

Happy 4th of July!

We are learning about our country, and Friday we learned about/celebrated its birthday with some loud Sousa music and a parade.


And for those of you who cannot view the video clip for whatever reason, just imagine all these children smiling, waving and marching around the room in something roughly resembling a line.

Jonah Video (from Tuesday)

Smoothies

Mrs. Peltzer made smoothies for us during our Valentine's Day party and when six-year-old boys start asking for recipes, you know they were delicious. So here is the recipe:

1 banana, 1 cup of apple juice, 1 cup of vanilla yogurt, 1 cup of frozen blueberries, 1 cup of frozen strawberries.
Blend in a blender and enjoy!

Why I love the school yard sale...

...because I got a great new toy for my classroom called Cranium Super Fort. No instructions, no pictures, I just told the class it was for making forts and then let them figure it out. Problem solving, creativity, collaboration, FUN.


And here is a picture from yesterday: Phoenix United Reformed Church's pastor and the Kindergarten portion of the congregation congregated in the igloo.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I didn't take any pictures of the party, but we made hats, which you probably already know if your child was wearing it when he/she got home. We made a craft, which you also probably have seen, we handed out valentines for half an hour, searched for candy kisses, and had delicious smoothies. So instead of party pictures, here are some math pictures.

We started by graphing how many letters we had on a conversation heart. (I snuck in some reading and we had fun trying to read some of the silly hearts)Then each child had a box of candies that they had to sort...
And then graph...
And then change the real graph into a colored graph. (We also ate a candy or two)
The 8th Graders came for a visit and to see our igloo. Their whole class fit inside!

Duck! Rabbit!

http://www.tumblebooks.com.public.phoenixpubliclibrary.org:2048/library/asp/full_book.asp?ProductID=3026

We will be reading this book next week. I think the online version is slightly different, but it's still a fun story. Enjoy!

If the link does not work, try the Tumble Books link on the blog's sidebar (it seems to work periodically), or just go the the phoenixpubliclibrary.org, choose "kids" on the left, then click on Tumble Books on the right and search it under Story Books.

Picture Post

Guess what? We can be in lots of places at once! Today we were at school, in our neighborhood, in the city of Phoenix, in the state of Arizona, in the country USA, on planet Earth, in space/the solar system. This was an introduction to our next Social Studies unit about our country. Later we collectively build a puzzle map of the United States.
We remembered that Columbus came on a boat to America a long time ago. So our loosely connected science lesson (also known as Friday fun), was making a boat using only a piece of tin foil and then testing to see if it floated and how many blocks it took to sink it. A few boats sunk right away or were a shape that couldn't hold blocks, so then they got to try making their boat into a different shape to improve it - that is what learning is about! Most boats took 0-8 blocks to sink, but one child's boat needed 28 blocks to sink it!
No pictures from our math field trip today, but here are a few pictures of Thursday's field trip INSIDE the new gym ("The best field trip ever" I heard). Ms. VP told us what the rooms were going to be.
Grades K-4 look pretty dwarfed by the high wall of our sunny, new gym!
Enjoy the weekend! See you all at Open House next week.

Sight Word Hop

I love going to conferences and getting new ideas. Especially ones that are easy to make, easy to reuse, fun for children, and good for practice. Here is the sight word hop game:

Really?

We have been reading books about money and they tell us whose picture is on each coin. One student was excited to share with us that "My mom met Thomas Jefferson!"
That tells me that someone looks really good for their age.

Solomon's Request

More from last week... we heard the story of Solomon becoming King over Israel and how God came to him in a dream and said to ask for whatever he wanted. Before giving Solomon's request for wisdom, I posed the question to the class: if God said to ask for any one thing, what would you ask for? I wish I could have recorded the answers, but the following are what I remember.

My Daddy to be home every day

Have lots of Scooby Doo movies

Quack like a duck when I'm be old enough

Fly a helicopter by myself (No, it was not the helicopter pilot's son)

Obey God

Live in a big mansion and all my friends can come over

Stay home with my mom until Jesus comes back

Serve the Lord

Have a lemonade stand

I was amused, but also impressed. They did not all ask for things, but some wanted something more Godly, and some showed they valued relationships.

Making Learning Fun

Today's science lesson was a little silly, but lots of fun; we went to 'dental school' and as part of our training had to brush gigantic teeth. No pictures - sorry, but hopefully your child's tooth-shape name tag was a conversation starter and they told you about what they did. This was the first time I had tried this activity, but it was quite popular, so I'll likely do it again next year, with a few changes. Your children are such a wonderful class. I really enjoy trying new activities with them.

Here are a few pictures from last week.
This is an activity called Read the Room. Children go around and read whatever they can find anywhere in the classroom: posters, signs, charts, name tags... Add some funky glasses and a pointer, and it is quite fun.
Or, if you prefer, you can read the room through a magnifying glass.
There are lots of things to read in our room!
Here are some children practicing their sight words by forming the letters with playdoh.
Playing the time game (matching digital and analog clocks). "Game" is like a magic word. If you say "Match the clocks" then the activity is okay. If you say "This is a matching game" it's suddenly perceived with greater enthusiasm. Is that called manipulation? Garnering greater enthusiasm leads to more practice and learning. :)

Gung Hey Fat Choy

Happy Chinese New Year! (a few days late)
We found China on our globe, learned that they celebrate New Year's at a different time than we do. We learned how to say "Happy New Year" in Chinese, and we made a Chinese paper craft. The video clip doesn't show it very well, but after you drop them, they spin.

Winter Weather, Igloo, and Morning Message

I'm so glad today's cold weather is not normal for this area. It takes a little more time when you have to put coats on every recess. I zipped/unzipped more coats today than the rest of the year. Granted, if we had this weather more often, they might be a little more gifted at coats. :)

Thought I'd show you a piece of our morning routine: every day we start with a morning message. The format is usually quite consistent, so they can 'read' it early on in the year, though now they read most of the varying parts quite accurately as well. Some days we just read it so we know what's going to happen during the day. Other days we take a little time and review certain concepts. Today we first looked for our letter of the week (Kk), then we found our new sight word (here). Next we did some review of the -ing sound. We also searched for, and boxed in, other letter combinations that work together to make sounds (like er, ar, sh, th, and oo).
And now, the igloo. This is what it looked like today. Almost done.
This is how it 'magically' grows each day...
IT IS FINISHED! Well, we might try to add a doorway, depending on how many more jugs come in. I think it looks like it is starting to melt. All the children playing in and around it are gradually pushing the sides out, and that, coupled with gravity, is pulling the roof in. I hope it lasts until Open House though. Come in anytime to get a closer look!