Community Service Project

Giving back to our community is something children learned about this week as we took a field trip to the Lexington Country Place Nursing Home. As part of our Holidays Around the World unit, we sang carols and learned about different types of holidays celebrated by people all over the world. Today, our students took those songs they learned and performed a small program for the residents of the nursing home. Then, we walked the halls caroling and delivering gifts to the residents. What a wonderful day! The smiles on the residents' faces lit up their faces and seeing our students talking with them was very touching.

We decided to take this trip with our book buddies in Mrs. Harman's 4th grade class.  This was a very special field trip.  Both classes brought in donations for the residents and we were able to put together many bags for the residents full of goodies. Thank you to all of the parents for supporting this service project and sending in items to donate. Each resident was touched by such a thoughtful gift.  More than anything, they were thrilled to see little faces of the children, both big and small, and enjoyed talking with each of them. Before our performance, we walked around to "meet and greet" the residents and say hello to them. Then, we walked around delivering the rest of our goodie bags to residents while caroling down the hallways. It was very special. This will be something the children will always remember.

Happy holidays to you and your family this holiday season!

Holidays Around the World

"Passports please! Buckle your seatbelts!" These are things our kindergarten students heard while imagining themselves traveling the globe to learn about holidays and celebrations around the world.

Our kindergarten students learned a lot about our world by learning about different holidays celebrated in North America and around the world. Students made passports that were stamped each day as we visited and learned about different holidays. Students made a craft for each celebration. This unit was a lot of fun for our kindergarten students and they learned a lot about the different celebrations around the world. 

In North America a Christmas tradition is hanging stockings. 
We threaded our own stockings and hung them up by the window.

In North America Hannukah is celebrated and a candle on the Menorah is lit each
night. Students decorated a Menorah from beans, lentils, and pasta.

Ramadan is also celebrated in North America.  Lanterns are used as
decorations.  Students decorated a lantern of their own.

Kwanza is celebrated in North America.  We made Kinara headbands.

We visited Antarctica where it is very cold.  We decorated snowflake ornaments.

Celebrating Fall

      Our class enjoyed celebrating fall this week. We made lots of fall crafts, two Thanksgiving class books, many art projects, and our Thanksgiving soup. Students learned about the first Thanksgiving and compared our traditions to those of the Pilgrims and Native Americans.  Students also wrote about what they were thankful for in their writer's notebooks and in our class book.  They also made "Thankful Turkeys" reviewing what a noun was, by listing a "person, place, and thing" they were each thankful for.  Enjoy reading these with your children.  They were very thoughtful with their choices. 

      We had our fall party on Tuesday. Thank you to all of the parent volunteers for your help in organizing the party. It was fantastic! We had a scarecrow station, an acorn station, chopstick game station, apple game station, and turkey treat station.  The party was a success thanks to the volunteers that took time to come and help out with the stations.  Students had a wonderful time at the party and will have some great memories. 



Students enjoyed making pine cone turkeys on Monday.



This was a fun fall game at our party. Students loved it and

it was a great fine motor skills activity for young learners! 

Students made these yummy turkeys!

  

Students enjoyed making their paper bag scarecrows at this station.

(picture from Amazon.com)

Mrs. Sampson read the book, Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano.

       Mrs. Page was a good sport to wear the silly hat and bring the pizza that the turkey in the story decided to have for Thanksgiving dinner.  The kids loved it!!

      Thank you again to the parents for making this a special party for the children. Everyone was very involved in working with the children in making their crafts and enjoying the games. This will be a day the children will never forget. I am thankful for such supportive parents and each of my students. Happy Thanksgiving!

Good Faith Effort Celebration

Students before they were aware of the reason for coming
down to the gym after specials this morning.

Students as I announced the fun we were about to have with balloons
because they all showed good faith effort during our Unit 2 Reading tests.

Our kindergarten and first grade students have been showing good faith effort when taking tests. We have talked about good faith effort this fall and how we should always try our best.  Examples of good faith effort are:

1.  Answering all questions. 

2.  Pacing yourself.  Taking your time and reading questions carefully.

3.  Staying determined even when questions are difficult.

4.  Remaining quiet during testing time.

5.  Staying focused during testing time and not distracting others.

Students are well aware of what it takes to show a good faith effort.  Our kindergarten and first graders have a wonderful foundation of test-taking strategies that will help them for years to come. 

Check out our Good Faith Effort Celebration where we got to run around the gym and have a balloon party.  What fun! Students had a blast laughing and hitting their balloons up in the air.  It was good exercise, too.  We will have several celebrations throughout the year to celebrate good faith effort on assessments.  Each one will be different, but each will be fun! 

Weaving a Web of Understanding

Our kindergarten and first grade students are learning about responding to literature.  We have learned about story elements such as; characters, setting, and main events and now we are learning to look for differences and similarities between texts. Each week, we read a story from our reading series, a leveled reader, a phonics reader, and a nursery rhyme or fairy tale.  When we read fairy tales, we read multiple versions and discuss how they are alike and different.  We have also started learning how to compare and contrast with familiar stories that do not have the same characters or adventures. 

This week, our first graders read the story, A Big Circle, which was a fictional story about dinosaurs.  Then, in guided reading they read another book about dinosaurs.  With prompting and support, they were able to compare and contrast the two stories they read.  We talked and charted the comparisons on what we call the "top hat" graphic organizer.  The titles are listed at the top of the hat, then there are two columns where we list the differences in each story.  The brim of the hat is how the two stories were alike.  Below are the charts our first graders filled with ideas.  They were great thinkers!

In shared reading this week, our kindergarteners listened to the story, Bear Snores On.  Then, later in the week we read, The Very Cranky Bear.  These two stories are very similar, because they both talk about a bear in a cave sleeping while other animals come in and do other things to disturb the bear.  After reading the second book, students were asked to draw a picture of how the characters in the story had different experiences.  They had to draw one picture of characters from Bear Snores On and another from The Very Cranky Bear.  Then, we came together as a group and had a discussion of how the characters had different experiences in the two stories.  We charted ideas on a top hat graphic organizer and labeled our writer's notebook activity.  Our kindergarteners were able to pick up on some great ways the two stories were alike and different, based on the characters' experiences.  Check out their graphic organizer below.

When our 4th grade reading buddies came on Friday afternoon to work with the kindergarten students, the children had a book talk. The older children asked our kindergarteners questions about setting, characters, and main events in the story.  Then, together the children wrote these literary elements on the body of the spiders we made from our Itsy-Bitsy Spider craft.  Check out our literacy "web of understanding" on our hallway bulletin board. 

Boyd's Orchard

Students had a wonderful time at Boyd's Orchard.  They picked pumpkins, went on a hay ride, listened to a speaker talk about what kinds of things they grow at the orchard, petted animals at the petting zoo, and played on the big playground.  It was a lot of fun and a day that students will always remember.  



picking the perfect pumpkin



Students listened to what they do at the orchard and one of our
students got to dress up in some of the gear a beekeeper wears.



enjoying the petting zoo



the hayride was fun



the big slide





Pumpkin Predictions

In our K/1 classroom, we are always learning.  On this day, we were learning how to make observations based on our five senses.  Our subject was a pumpkin. 


Our subject.

Each student made predictions as to how big around the pumpkin would be.  Each student cut off a piece of yarn to represent how big around the pumpkin was and then we displayed our predictions on a strip of paper to compare.  Then, we took the yarn and measured the pumpkin around the middle to see what the actual measurement was and who was the closest. 


Students made predictions about how big
around they thought the pumpkin would be.

Next, students made observations by feeling the pumpkin's outside and looking at the pumpkin to use descriptive words and tell what they felt and saw.  We began a list of descriptive words on a chart.  Then, we opened the pumpkin to continue observations.  Students used their sense of smell to smell the pumpkin and describe what it smelled like.  We added those words to our list. 

Students smelled the inside of the pumpkin. 

Next, we got to look at the insides and describe what we saw.  Students then felt the insides of the pumpkin with their hands and described what they felt. 

Here students got to feel the insides of the
pumpkin and describe what they felt.

Each student pulled out a seed and
described how the seed felt and looked.

While making their observations, students did a tremendous job using descriptive language.  Check out their long list of descriptive words below.    

Our list of descriptive words during our observations.

Fire Station Fun

Our field trip to the fire station today was tremendous.  We had a beautiful day to walk to the fire station and we learned a lot listening to the firemen.  They reminded the children to call 911 in case of an emergency and to stop, drop, and roll if their clothes catch on fire.  One of the firemen also dressed in his gear, as he talked about what the pieces did for the firemen and not to be afraid.  

After today, our students will not forget what to do in case they see a fireman during a fire.  The firemen also told children what the equipment was used for and came around with the tools to show the children what they felt like.  Students even walked through the station and got to sit up in the truck.  Today was an experience they won't forget. 

The fireman tried on his gear and talked about what
each piece was for while telling the children there
was no reason to be afraid of a fireman.

He walked around and let the children touch his gear
and talked to them about what to do if your house is
on fire and you see a fireman coming in the room.



One of the fireman brought around some of the
tools and equipment they use when fighting a fire.



The children got to climb into a fire truck, sit in the
seats, and check out what was inside. 



Fun at Evan's Apple Orchard

Our field trip to Evan's Apple Orchard was wonderful!  Our kindergarteners and first graders had a great time.  Thank you to the parents that were able to come along and help chaperone.  This will be a day that the children will always remember.  Check out some of the fun things we did. . .

Students enjoyed a tractor ride around the orchard.

They sampled delicious apple cider.

They fed the animals at the petting zoo and learned about different kinds of animals.

They had fun playing on the playground.

The large slide was a blast!

Our class after a fun-filled day at Evan's Orchard.