Kindergarten Pow Wow

Through the last couple weeks we have been learning about our tribe - the Nez Perce. They are a fascinating tribe that had a lot of respect for their land and their people. The kids loved learning about what excellent hunters they were, how they breed the Appaloosa horses, and how they respected the buffalo as their source of life. Here are some highlights from our big day.

Long Night Moon - our November Book of the Month

This month our Principal Mrs. Phillips has a special reading of our November Book of the Month. This is a beautiful story that the whole family will enjoy. Here is Long Night Moon.

Skills Block in Kindergarten

Skills Block is a very important part of our day. In Kindergarten we spend about the first 45 minutes of our day in Skills Block. During this time we work on phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, shared reading etc. We do many whole group activities which focus on these different areas. On Wednesdays, we will be doing Skills Block Centers which reinforces the skills we have been working on that week and prior. Here are some examples of activities from this week.

Our First Kindergarten Awards Ceremony

On Thursday we had our first Awards Ceremony. The kids worked very hard this first nine week period and it showed through their awards.

Rafiki turns 8 weeks old

WOW...Rafiki has changed so much in the month that we have had him. He is not quite so little anymore. He still fits in one hand but not as well. He has learned how to run at full speed across the house! He loves to play with our dog Maxie by attacking her. He also loves to steal her toys and attack them too.



He learned to climb everything (even the stuff he is not supposed to).




The funniest thing he learned to do is hiss - he thinks it is going to scare the Maxie but it doesn't. When he gets mad, he wags his tail back and forth and puts his ears back. It only takes a moment until he is off running again. We go to the vet this week for his first set of shots and to see how much he is growing. The next big stage for a kitten is 12 weeks. I can't wait to see the difference!

Kindergarten Fire Safety

On Thursday we had a fire safety day for kindergarteners. It was a great morning and the kids were excited to learn. We began with a demonstration lesson where two girls where in a house while a fire started. The older girl crawled into the younger sisters room and attempted to wake her with no luck. The firemen came into the house and after doing a sweep found them both unconscious in the bedroom. The girls were taken safely out of the house. After the demo, kids were able to ask questions and the firemen showed their uniforms. They also discussed coming up with a fire escape plan and when to change the batteries on the smoke detectors (We included these two items as homework for the night). Then each class was allowed to go out and look at the fire truck up close and see all the cool things it includes. We finished our day by coming back and writing about it. Some kids wanted to finish their pictures so look for samples of work posted soon.

Pumpkin Sense

Science is a subject that almost all kids love. One unit that we do during Kindergarten is a pumpkin unit. During this time we learn how to become better scientist by practicing what good scientists do - making observations of the natural world using 5 senses, recording data, collaborating with a partner, create and record visual representations, understand that learning can come by observations.

Over the last couple days we have been exploring pumpkins. We have been learning how we use our senses to learn about pumpkins and make connections to the world around us. We had whole pumpkins, cut up pumpkins, and even pumpkin pudding to help us be better scientists. Here are some of the connections the kids made while doing this inquiry:

When I saw the pumpkin it made me think about...
pumpkin pie because it's the same color.
carving a pumpkin because it's big like mine.

When I smelled the pumpkin it made me think about...
mud because mud smells like that too.
dirty water because puddles smell like that. (one of my favorite answers)

When I felt the pumpkin it made me think about...
worms because that's what they feel like moving around. (another favorite)
pudding because it was squishy and slimy.

When I tasted the pumpkin it made me think about...
pie because it is creamy like that.
whip cream because it kinda fluffy.

When I hear a pumpkin it makes me think about... (they thumped on the pumpkin)
someone closing a door because it bangs.
someone knocking at the door because it goes knock knock.

After this exploration stage, the students discussed their answers and we as a class began to think about how we use our senses all the time. Sometimes we don't even realize that we are using them. Next we will discuss how our senses work together (for ex. taste/smell, touch/sight) to help us experience our world.

During this time, we have also been making daily observations about which pumpkins last longer - carved or uncarved. We began by noticing how a cut apple changes quickly over time. Our next step was to see if any changes happen to a pumpkin by cutting it. We will be finishing that up by Friday (the carved pumpkin is starting to mold and become nasty). Ask your child what he/she has noticed about the pumpkins. We will be learning why that happens as well.