Friday, February 15, 2019

Can You Feel the Love in Kindergarten....

SO thankful we had at least two days of outdoor recess this week! Being inside, and the excitement of Valentine's Day and the upcoming Ski Skate Week break made for a high-energy, and sometimes difficult week. Still, we were able to stretch our learning brains and grow in sight word fluency, decoding, adding and subtracting, and practice kindness and gratitude towards others.

We made gratitude cutout hearts with our book buddies, slid down snowy slopes, and created collages of things in life that are close to our hearts. I love seeing all the students' creativity and passions come out in these art projects!

Enjoy the pictures, stay safe and warm in the snow, and have a great Ski Skate week! See you in 9 days!




Friday, February 8, 2019

100 Days Smarter

This week was short, but what a fun and great way to kick it off with the 100th day of school on Wednesday, February 6th! We talked about counting to 100's by 1's and by 10's and the kids played hopscotch, built structures using 100 Legos, created Fruit Loop necklaces with 100 Fruit Loops using various counting strategies and colored 100 gumballs in groups of 10's. The kids had a blast and loved learning about 100!

Other things we did this week: We did have to forgo the Thursday afternoon hike because of the depth of snow, so instead we did an artist study on Vincent Van Gogh and his still-life paintings of everyday objects with primary colors and short painting brush strokes. Then the kids were allowed to explore painting with big and small brushes and attempted to paint everyday objects with the primary colors.

Finally, we worked on retelling a story with beginning, middle, and end pictures. We did this with one of my favorite stories that also highlights empathy: Hooway for Wodney Wat. Ask your child what the book was about! This hilarious book explores celebrating differences (in this case, Rodney pronounces his "r"s as "w"s), and how to accept and be kind to those who are different than us. The students loved it!

Have a wonderful weekend, stay safe and warm, and hopefully we won't have any snow days next week! 





Friday, February 1, 2019

Ski you later!

What a fun week this week! We started off with a fantastic field trip to Tahoe City's XC Ski Club. The kids had a blast learning the strides, falling over, getting back up and skiing onward. I love how they serve as a fresh reminder of the beauty of resilience. Even when they fall, they get right back up and aren't afraid to try again with the very thing that made them fall in the first place! If you get the chance, be sure to say thank you to Cami, Allyson, and Meggie, as all three of these outdoor enthusiasts sent me the flyer to sign us up for free ski dates. Thank you, ladies!

We spent time learning about primary colors, and the kids were challenged to find out what happens when artists mix different colors together. They LOVED it. Pretty much every one of them figured out how to mix the colors and what combinations created which new colors. What a fun afternoon of exploration!

The kids also got the chance to experiment with and learn about the water cycle. We spent time on evaporation last week, and I showed them a video this week of my brother back in Wisconsin. He threw up a boiling cup of water into -25 degree (-50 with windchill) air, and the water immediately evaporated. Then we had the chance to explore the rest of the water cycle--condensation, precipitation, and collection (or accumulation). Students put water through a sponge (the cloud) with an eyedropper and were able to feel how heavy the sponge got before water started to "precipitate" through down to the ground. It was messy, educational, and they loved it!

Speaking of precipitation--be prepared with the snowstorm that's coming our way, and stay safe! See y'all next week!




Myles' Special Me read-aloud!

Exploring precipitation


Having fun on our Shirley Canyon expedition!


Last Day Pics and more!

Walking in at the Closing Ceremonies Well, we did it. We made it! Congratulations to all these bright, spunky, energetic kindergarteners...