Yesterday was the big day! Two performances of our musical play, The Rainbow Fish! The students were thrilled. They shared how exciting it was for them to be on stage in front of their peers and families. Some students said they didn’t feel confident at first, but with all the rehersals and practice time, their confidence grew. I was just thrilled to watch this transformation!
Here is a video from the morning performance. What fun we had!
The kindergarten students and their families were tasked with creating a trap with at least one moving part that would catch a tricky leprechaun. As a lead into this activity, I read this wonderful book aloud:
After a mischievous leprechaun makes a mess of the band room, the Gingerbread Man vows to catch him. He follows the leprechaun’s clues all around the building finding chaos everywhere–even in the library! But then he finds the worst clue of all. It says the leprechaun’s next target might be a house made of gingerbread!
Luckily, the Gingerbread Man makes it to his classroom in time to set a trap for the leprechaun. He’ll show that mischief-maker that he messed with the wrong cookie this time.
After hearing this story, students had a clearer idea of what exactly the trap would entail.
We set the traps on each students’ desk, and they wrote instructions on how to use their trap.
Then students presented their traps to the class.
It was so fun hearing about all the different ways to trap a leprechaun!
Today we talked about the ocean habitat and the four zones in which the ocean is divided. Students learned about the characteristics and inhabitants of each zone. Together, we created a bulletin board to illustrate the ocean zones.
The March Morning Exploring tubs are ready! Students had a great time practicing math and language arts skills while building their fine motor skills. Read on for a description of the skills and activities we are working on this month.
Students find the missing addend by using the number bond and moving the pieces of gold with tweezers to help solve the equation. Once finished, they remove the clothespin from the card to check their answer.
Students read and write the heart word (high-frequency word) in salt with their finger, creating a rainbow word.
Students remove rainbows from containers using tongs, count and record the amount.
Students select a pot of gold and read the high-frequency word on it. They then link letter coins together using plastic links to duplicate the words read.
Students use links to put together the numbers with their matching quantities. This activity helps students recognize tally marks, ten frames, and numbers greater than ten and less than 21.
Students build the number shown by moving shamrocks to the jar on the playing mat. They then write that number in the box and count back. Once finished, they remove the clothespin from the card to check their answer.
Students build the number shown by moving gold coins to the pot on the playing mat. They then complete the equation on the playing mat. Once finished, they remove the clothespin from the card to check their answer.
Students make CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words by stringing the letter beads in order and writing the word on the response sheet. Once finished, they remove the clothespin from the card to check their answer.
Students use tongs to grab a green crystal with a number from 40 to 100 written on it. They then spin the spinner and read the number. Students compare their number to their partner to see which is greater or less than.
As you can see, there is a lot of fine motor building through the use of tongs, tweezers, and clothespins, in addition to building math and reading skills.
The students have been working on making the sets for our musical play the Rainbow Fish. I am excited to see them on display in the theater!
We have just over one more week until the big performance!
We are officially 100 Days Smarter! Kindergarten spent ALL day celebrating the 100th day of school. We came to school dressed up like we might look when we are 100.
There were 100 Hershey’s kisses hidden in the classroom. By 10:00 here is how many we found!
Students participated in eight learning stations that revolved around the number 100. The activities included:
building with 100 Lego bricks,
100 licks,
Look at the different approaches the students took when licking their lollipops!
Would you believe that not one student bit the lollipop?!
ordering numbers to 100
stamping 100 gumballs,
beading a necklace with 100 beads,
constructing with 100 marshmallows,
building with 100 cups,
and completing a sight word reader.
After lunch, each student enjoyed a cupcake!
Our day ended with a special display of our 100th Day Collections. Look how great these turned out!
100 drops of rainwater
100 shells
100 things
100 acorns
100 basketball cards
100 things
What a fun, fun day! We couldn’t fit all the 100th day fun in today, so students will make their 100th Day Trail Mix on Monday….stay tuned!
Alan Rose, from KEYT, visited Science class today. He shared what exactly being a weather person entails. The students had a great time learning about his job and the weather.
We started this beautiful, sunny Monday morning with costume making for our Rainbow Fish play. Students folded or twisted their white top in a design of their choice and then wrapped it with rubber bands…..another great fine motor building activity!
Next, students gently placed their shirt in the bucket with their special color.
We left the shirts in the dye for about two hours so that the colors would be BRIGHT!
Then the shirts soaked in cold water to set the color.
The final step was to squeeze out the remaining water and hang the shirts out to dry.
Aren’t they perfect?