The Countdown is on...

Though we had a short week this week, there was SO much packed into that time! We had some definite year highlights this week. This Tuesday afternoon, the students were spell-bound by the Wild Things show (now called the Animal Conservation Ambassadors). We got to meet a variety of creatures (most of whose names I've already forgotten), including a California rattlesnake, a ring-tailed lemur, a turkey vulture, and an ALLIGATOR. The kids all got to come up and touch the alligator, which they LOVED.

On Wednesday afternoon, we learned more about animals and their habitats, and the kids all got to choose a habitat and create it with all the things their animals would need--food, shelter, water, and space. They greatly enjoyed it, and it was fun to see how they created their habitat dioramas.

Thursday morning ended up being the perfect time to go to the farm in Sparks! It only started raining as we were leaving, so we got to experience a hay ride, churning butter, planting pumpkin seeds, and petting baby animals in the warm sunshine. Thank you to all the parent volunteers and drivers for making this a possibility! It was a long drive there and back, and Ms. Jenni and I are so grateful for your help in helping keep track of kids and shuttling them to and from the farm. It was an amazing end to a fun-filled week! See you all next week!

QUite the week!

This week we had lots of fun, even with the less-than-ideal weather. We were definitely grateful for no indoor recess this week though--yay! It was fun getting to see y'all at the Open House; I hope you enjoyed it!! I hope you were able to see, even in just small snapshots, how much these students have grown and changed this year. It's amazing to see the difference between September and now! These kids have worked hard, and it was so fun to be able to share that with you all.

We did lots of art, writing, and science this week, and we enjoyed green beans for Harvest of the Month. Another big highlight was experiencing the wedding of Princess Q and Prince U. Whenever they are together, they create a kOverall, I believe the pictures will speak for themselves. :) Happy Memorial Day!

Open House!

QU dress-up

Attracted to Learning

Although the students were disappointed that we weren't able to make our Shirley Canyon hike this week due to snowy (!!) weather, we had a blast participating in the awesome magnet exploration stations that Ms. Allyson prepared for us. Students learned about magnetic fields, and how magnets can either attract or repel each other, depending on which ends of the magnets are facing each other. Students also experienced the power of magnets even through a barrier, such as water or plastic. They loved it!

Instead of getting to read with our reading buddies this week, students learned how to participate in reader's theater. I put them in partners, and each student chose a part. They did readings with each other and greatly enjoyed changing characters and reading the plays with each other. Some partners got to read two plays with each other. I am hoping to do more reader's theater in the final month of school. They did so well with it!

Beautiful Cards

Finally, we spent quite a bit of time this week focusing on writing different kinds of letters. Students wrote traditional letters, cards, and postcards. Next week, they will have the chance to "publish" one of their works on a postcard that they can then send from home. I told them that they will also get the chance to write me letters and postcards this summer, should they choose to do so. I will make sure everyone has a copy of my mailing address by the end of the year :) Hopefully, this will keep them engaged and excited about the writing process! Feel free to make this a part of their summer "school", as I strongly encourage continued reading and writing throughout the summer. Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and enjoy the snow! It may be "off-season", but it's still beautiful and I'm amazed at the beautiful nature we are surrounded by! See you all next week!

More Reader's Theater!

Magnet Fun

More Magnets

Quite the Magnet Collection!

Hit the Trail!

The kindergarteners have become more and more curious about the pioneers coming west, as we've read a fictional tale of what it was like to be on the Oregon Trail many years ago. We're now continuing the theme by reading a historical account of a family who traveled west. They love making connections between this and our own trail adventures on Thursday afternoons. This week, we focused on finding landforms, as this relates to what we've been learning in science this week. It's amazing how many landforms are right here around us in Squaw Valley. What a beautiful place we inhabit!

Our group work this year has come SO far! They are finally able (mostly) to navigate center work on their own with a short introduction. It's been fun to see them engage in games, puzzles, and the like. They are getting more and more ready for first grade!

Some other highlights of the week were: Doing finger painting on Thursday, creating a fun, paper-layering art project of different landforms, doing our landform scavenger hunt on Thursday, cup stacking in math, and learning how to use number lines and pictures and tens frames to solve problems in math. Something else I've noticed with this class is that they are choosing to drift towards letter writing and bookmaking during our quiet/downtime after lunch recess. They want to write notes to each other or to their parents, and are sounding out words and stretching them into sentences. It's amazing to see how far they've come! Thank you for your work at home, and let's all keep working hard to create the most successful five weeks yet of this year!

Fingerpainting Fun!

Word Sorts for Reading Centers

Beautiful hike!

Exploring

Fishing

Bean there, Done that

Observing our bean seeds

What a week! While it was full of ups and downs and lots of sickness, we made the best of it. We learned more about history, and how we use timelines to keep track of history. Students made their own timelines of what they looked like as a baby, how they look now in kindergarten, and how they think they will look as adults. It was a great connection activity! We also welcomed Ms. Chris, Ms. Sandy's mom, as our teacher's helper for the rest of the year. We are beyond excited and thrilled to welcome her, along with her wisdom and experience in teaching, to our kindergarten community.

Scientific observations

We also spent time observing our sprouted (or not sprouted) bean seeds this week, and we learned that sometimes scientists' experiments don't work out correctly the first time, and they have to try again. We discovered that too much water on the bean seeds will cause them to mold, and as consequence, they won't sprout. This was disappointing for many students, so they got to take home their repurposed containers and new bean seeds with the hopes that they would sprout a second time at home.

Artistic concentration

Other highlights this week were: learning how to solve subtraction problems using tens frames, counters and number lines, being introduced to fact families, continuing our read aloud about the Oregon trail (kids are FASCinated with how people lived back then!), and collaborating with TK to do a mini field day outside on Thursday afternoon. We unfortunately didn't have enough adults to do a full hike that day, so we made the most of it, teaming up with TK and taking parts in events like the Ball Toss, Standing Long Jump, and a Water Relay. The kids loved it!

Beautiful Butterflies

Finally, we had a guest parent volunteer come in and teach us how to create watercolored coffee filter butterflies as a spring art project on Thursday. The kids loved it, and I'm sure many will ask to recreate this popular art piece at home :)

Next week looks pretty rainy, so I hope everyone is able to enjoy a beautiful time outside this weekend! Finger's crossed to less rain than the forecast is predicting!! Happy weekend!!

Picking team names and creating team cheers!

Water Relay

More Water Relay

Standing Long Jump

Ball Toss