Valentine’s Day came a little early to Kindergarten this year! I planned our parent party for first thing this morning. I wanted there to be several activities that the parents could engage in with their child. Take a look at these fun activities!
Race to see how many pompoms you can blow into the bucket in one minute.
Make a three-dimensional shape using heart-shaped gummies and toothpicks.
Stack the conversation hearts! Students used tongs to see how many hearts they could stack in one minute.
Weave a heart-shaped placemat.
Bead a Valentine’s themed necklace.
I also made a photo wall and took pictures throughout the event.
We ended this part of the morning with each student reading their special Fill Up Our Hearts notes that we have been writing. (Read more about this project here:)
Our unit on the Five Senses is wrapping up, but not before we squeeze in some last minute senses learning! Last week, students were asked to create a musical instrument using any items they had at home. Students were asked to “think like an inventor, be a problem solver, use your imagination, and have fun!” They were given a planning sheet where materials and ideas were recorded and a blueprint was sketched.
Once students brought their instruments to school, they were invited to share the process they used to invent!
Students also brought their instruments to music class, where they played a listening game.
Students even had an opportunity to play their musical instruments!
I love how this project integrates learning at home to school to music class!
Today we hosted the Middle School Intro to Engineering class as part of our project-based learning unit that revolves around the Magnet Wall. The kindergarten “clients” met with their engineer team.
They explored the magnet wall together, discussing pieces the wall lacks.
The Engineers took notes and made specific measurements.
Here are some preliminary ideas.
Big ideas! We will travel to the Upper School in a few weeks to check on the Engineers’ progress. Wait until you see the new STEM Lab where all of the pieces will be created.
The kindergarteners made more fairy tale magic today during Friday Fun! In the kitchen, they enjoyed making Rapunzel’s braid bread. This was a great activity for fine motor building, as the students had to roll three pieces of dough.
They also had to divide the dough into three equal parts and learn how to braid! (more fine motor!)
Students also worked on coloring and creating a 3D castle. This will be such a fun tool for them to use as a setting when they retell their fairy tales!
Finally, students engaged in a STEM kit where they constructed a solid chair that would hold one of the three bears.
One more Friday Fun to go before we live happily ever after….
Have you ever wondered how the princess in the classic fairy tale, The Princessand the Pea, made it to the top of the giant stack of mattresses? The kindergarteners sure did, especially when a beautiful bed stacked high with mattresses showed up in our classroom!
I set out many different supplies that the students could use to construct a way for the princess to reach the top of the mattresses.
They quickly began building different contraptions and revising their ideas.
I loved watching the students design, test, redesign, and then present their creations.
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!
Kindergarten and Third Graders had their weekly STEM Buddies meeting yesterday, and boy was it a fun one! Students were introduced to their first buddy challenge of the year: to create a mat for Bee Bots! The students’ eyes were wide with excitement. To make the project more concrete, I created a plan to guide the students through the activity:
We brainstormed the topics and skills together. Here are some of the students’ ideas:
Next, students found their buddy and got right to work thinking, planning, and designing.
Work will continue on these Bee-Bot games over the next few weeks. I can’t wait to see what the students create!
Last week, students listened to the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea in preparation for an exciting STEM activity I had planned for Grandfriends’ Day. Imagine that the Queen shows the princess her bed for the evening- it is large and stacked high with mattresses. The princess notices that there is no way for her to get to the top where she will enjoy a wonderful night’s sleep.
This is where the students and their Grandfriends came in… working together, our visitors and students were tasked with inventing something to get the princess to the top of the mattresses. I provided a variety of building materials, like pipe cleaners, marshmallows, toothpicks, spoons, straws, tape and more!
Students brainstormed with their visitors, sketching a draft of their vision. Look at what was created!
If the Gingerbread Man (Boy, Girl, Baby, etc.) had just been able to float across the river, then the sneaky fox would not have gobbled that cookie up! As part of our monthly STEM challenges, the kindergartners were tasked this month with creating a floating gingerbread cookie using whatever materials they wished. They made their presentations today.
Students used a variety of materials including Styrofoam, wine corks, straws, balloons, plastic, foam, and wood to make their gingerbread creations float.
I loved the excitement the students showed each time a classmates creation floated. Way to go!
On Friday, the Kindergartners will participate in another gingerbread man-themed STEM project with our third grade buddies. This project includes toothpicks and marshmallows as building materials….stay tuned!
I don’t even know where to begin. We had such a wonderful trip to Hope Ranch this morning. The engineering class’ presentations were so well thought out and full of pertinent information. The high school students truly listened to the requests of the kindergartners. From the color schemes, to the sparkles, to the shape of wood blocks, each client had their ideas recreated to their liking.
When we arrived in Hope Ranch for first period, the kindergartners had a chance to see the 3D printer in action. In fact, the printer was printing a gingerbread person for each kindergartner! Students then got settled next to their engineer and the presentations began.
You get a sense of the trials and work that went into engineering each piece!
I love the humor students used and the fact that most of the projects were not successful the first or even the second time they were tested. What a great way for students to learn perseverance and determination!
I had the kindergarten clients pose for a picture with their engineer. (Side note….this high school student is blind and gave us his presentation, written in Braille, to take back to school. The kindergartners were interested that he reads using his sense of touch.)
The Launcher…..you will see video of this piece in action later in the post.
The Bouncy Castle Trampoline…..looks just like a bouncy castle!
After the presentations were complete, Mr. Moore gave the students their next task.
Use teamwork to create a run…
Again, students witnessed firsthand how engineering often takes multiple tries before it works.
First try…
A few more tries….some tweaks…some parts added…
and the goal is achieved!
The kindergartners proudly transported the pieces back to Lower School.
Once back at school, they had a chance to put them to use on the MagnaWall. What followed was hilarious! (Kindergartners are a little more heavy handed than high schoolers…)
Those are some strong magnets!!
Of course, once I stopped filming the marble went into the cup!
Ta-da!
The kindergartners are so proud of their new MagnaWall pieces. What better way to show our gratitude than by writing an old fashioned “thank you” note.
Thank you, Mr. Moore, for working with me to create such an engaging and learning-filled project on so many levels.
