Reading Non-Fiction

It is so much fun to put books in the hands of our kinders.  Today we had the students examine non-fiction texts to see if they could determine what the book was about, and what they could learn from reading it.  One student was excited to show the class how Earth rotates around the sun.  Another explained that leaves can be all sorts of different colors, even purple!

After recess everyone pulled out their writing folders and picked one book to publish.  Then they shared their book with a partner, who made suggestions for how to improve the book before it was published.  One student corrected the spelling of his partner's book, while another asked questions to gather more detail.  Everyone is excited to publish their books on Monday.

Fiction and Non-Fiction Books

Each child selected a book at the beginning of Reader's Workshop today.  It was exciting to watch the kids do everything we have taught them when looking at a book for the first time.  They were finding sight words, telling what they saw happening in the story, making predictions about what the story would be about, and sharing what they liked with their friends.  When everyone had a chance to check out their stories we talked about deciding if a book is fiction or non-fiction.  We know that fiction books tell a made-up story,  that there are characters in the story, it has a beginning, middle and end, and the illustrations are usually drawn.  Non-fiction books often have photographs, diagrams with labels, indexes, and glossaries.  We can learn from these books and they are true.  We also discovered one book which was both fiction AND non-fiction.  Take a look at the books you have at your house.  Help your child sort the fiction from non-fiction books.  It's a fun activity.

We also wanted to give parents a heads up.  There will be NO KINDERGARTEN CLASSES on Thursday and Friday MAY 22 and 23 due to the screening of incoming kindergarten students.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call the office at 882-7585.

Rebuilding the Buckets on Wacky Wednesday

We started the day with our extended choice time.  Kids painted, used measuring tapes, wrote notes to each other, played math games, built with foam blocks, and published books.  We were overwhelmed with the amazing independent learning that took place in the first hour of the day.

When the classes returned from their special, we made another attempt to create a bucket design that would work better.  The kids checked out the past successful designs, then went to work creating their own new buckets.  They tried, they failed, they tried again.  And again.  And again.  Most of the kids found success.  Everyone had fun.  They played with the windbags when they were finished, trying to find ways to fill the bags with air. When everyone was done, we debriefed and answered the question, "What did we learn when we tried making buckets again?"  The answers were inspiring.  Just check out the list below.  These kids are learning to be tenacious, to be creative, to help each other, and to never ever give up.  This was more about engineering.  It was about becoming a person who can problem solve and persevere.

But we weren't done yet.  Mrs. Burgess continued reading My Father's Dragon to the class.  The kids were then instructed to find a way to show Ms. Roper what has been happening in the story.  They could show what they knew however they chose.  We had kids put on a puppet show, make a Lego map, create masks, and write a summary.  When our fourth grade buddies came in, the kids were excited to share the story with their friends.

Today was about choice,  letting kids take charge of their learning.  It was exciting and I can't wait until our next Wacky Wednesday.

Leprechaun Traps

We tried to trap the elusive leprechaun today.  The kids read about leprechauns and Saint Patrick's day.    Then we looked at leprechaun traps made by others across the country.  The class enjoyed seeing the "bait" and the traps people used.  For this project the students were allowed to work alone or choose a partner.  They set to work immediately, using boxes, construction paper, straws, tubes, sticks, and (best of all) glitter.

As the kids finished their traps we asked them to explain to us how the trap would work.  We had lots of trap doors, a tube the leprechaun would slide down, and a tangle of yarn and paper to ensnare the leprechaun.    They took off for lunch and upon returning the classrooms were turned upside down!  The easel was on a table, rocking chairs were tipped, green streamers were everywhere.  As the children giggled and squealed they headed quickly to their traps to discover a gold wrapped chocolate.  Many students went to work tidying the classroom.

Once the rooms were in order, each team or individual was asked to explain their trap.  The best part of these explanations was hearing a team who worked together on a the bridge project tell us they didn't fight at all like during the bridge project.  Instead, they listened to each other and worked together.  As a result they were super happy with their trap, and their teachers were super proud of their growth.

Then, I offered to buy each of the traps for 25 cents.  The children who sold their traps were given a quarter, five nickels, two dimes and a nickel, or three nickels and a dime.  This was our chance to bring math into the day with coin identification and counting by fives and tens.  Many children who received a quarter were disappointed to have just one coin.  When given an opportunity to trade for the five nickels, they did so.

Everyone wrote a "How To Build a Leprechaun Trap" story to wrap up our day.  This "how to" story included a materials list.  Many of the children needed more than three items for materials, so they problem solved and added numbers.  It was a fun day for all.

The Bucket Test

The class was disappointed when they heard today would be an early release because they really wanted to test their buckets from yesterday.  We assured the class we would still test their buckets today.  Every child dipped his or her bucket into the water, pulled it out and counted to ten.  If any water was left in the bucket, we declared it a success.  We had 7 buckets work and 14 buckets fail.  The kids thought about why their buckets didn't work.  Some buckets were made with cheesecloth, others had handles that broke, and many had holes in the bottom.  We challenged the kids to come up with a better bucket idea at home, using tin foil, plastic wrap, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks or straws.  You could see how your family can build a better bucket.  The kids will have another opportunity to build a bucket next week.  Have fun practicing!

Building Buckets

We started the day with a magic trick.  The class learned how to make THREE sight words from the letters A, N, D.  We made stairs like this:

a

an

and

Ask your child to show you this trick at home.  We also played "Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?" with last names.

Everyone was excited to check out the book fair as well.  They each found a few books that they would like to take home, you can come check the book fair out when you come in for conferences.

Today we talked about how to use what we already know to help us figure out a new book.  This is called "activating schema."  The class was excited to "activate schema" when looking at the covers of books and reading the titles.  

This afternoon was spent building buckets for Jack and Jill, who have lost their pail to carry water.  We will test our designs tomorrow and discuss why the designs either worked, or didn't work.  

Putting the Houses to the Test

The class put their houses to the test today as we used a hair dryer to blow down their creations.  All but three houses stood firm.  We discovered the houses attached to a foundation were the ones that stayed up and those not attached fell down.  Then we started working on "How To Build a House" stories.  The kids were charged with coming up with a warning for their directions.  Some of my  favorite warnings were, "Don't forget your foundation," "Don't ruin your plan," and most importantly, "Don't let the wolf blow down your house."