Math and Science

Dear Families,

The New Year has brought exciting  new units into our classroom.

Our Autumn science study on trees is starting to evolve into our winter study where we are exploring wood and the processes of creating paper.  We launched the unit by labeling everything in the classroom that we thought was made out of wood.

In our math study our treasure hunt has led us out of the lake of mysterious shapes where the children analyzed and compared 2 dimensional 3 dimensional shapes and compared them to real world objects. the children have been introduced to new vocabulary words such as sphere, cylinder, rectangular and triangular prisms.

Our Drama study is concluding with Kevin, soon and we will be announcing a family share to showcase our work.

Clara & David

Early December math adventures!

Dear families,

Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, we were surprised to discover an amazing thing in the teacher's closet: an ancient treasure map! Along with the map came a letter which read:

To whomever finds this map,

X marks the spot of a great treasure. Can you find it? All you have to do is pass through each check point and solve the challenges that lie within. There is The Forest of One More, The Mountains of One Less, The Cave of Mysterious Shapes and The Lake of Solid Shapes.

You will need to use your math powers for each challenge. Put your math smarts to work as you work independently and with others. If you complete each challenge, the treasure will be yours.

Signed,

Captain M. Burns

The students decided we had better start this math adventure because they sure were curious about what treasure awaits them! First we made a large collage version of the treasure map so we can track our movement on the map, with lots of math built in ("If each of you at your table makes 2 trees for the forest, how many trees will there be?" "Cut out boulders around the cave. How many are there?" etc.).

Last week we trekked through The Forest of One More, working on figuring out why numbers are in the order they are when we count up, or move up on a number line, and how many you have when you add one more to a quantity. This week we are in the cold Mountains of One Less, where your children are making connections between their work last week, learning that when you count up the next number represents one more and when you count down the number represents one less! 

It has been so fun to watch your children engage in math with a fun background setting. Before we begin every day the kids pretend to dress for the weather, clear the pine needles from the forest floor, or pull up a rock to sit on before we begin our math meetings. :) 

Talk to your child at home about the concept of "one more" and "one less" at home. Work it into your real life and help them understand these concepts if they are difficult for them. Ask them about their math adventures this week. How far are they from the treasure?

take care,

David & Clara

p.s. Here are some photos from our final work with our Me Towers a week or two ago, when we shared our towers with Roberta's class. We were surprised to find that some of the kindergarteners had never been properly introduced, even though they spend time together every Friday when we study science in the park, and we were pleased to see that so many of them realized they had a lot in common that they never knew before!

Early November

Dear families,

Thank you for taking the time to come in during parent teacher conferences and our family share last week.    During our math morning work routine we have been sorting and counting the cans that have been brought in for our harvest food drive. We created giant ten frames to help us organize and count them. November 23rd will be the last day to bring in cans,  that morning the school gathers together in the yard and delivers the cans to the Trinity church.  Parents are welcome to join us during this event.

We have finished our reading unit on emergent literature and the children are hard at work creating story boards, puppets, felt pieces and dioramas of their favorite books.  We will use these props to retell and act out these stories during literacy stations this week.

On Friday we went to Sauer Park to continue our tree study.  We brought crayons with us so we could put the colors of Autumn into our observational sketches.

Have a great week
Clara and David

 

October wrap up

Dear families,

Happy Halloween!

Your children have been hard at work and play this month. This week and next we are wrapping up a number of projects, many of which we will share with you next week at our family share on Friday, November 7th, after arrival in the morning.

In Writing Workshop students are writing books all about themselves. One book is filled with what each child loves, and the next book what each child can do. These books overlap writing and social studies, as children share their interests and abilities at the same time as they learn about the conventions of writing and how to write their first few high frequency words.

In Reading Workshop we are finishing up a unit about building good reading habits while reading emergent storybooks. Next week our class will celebrate finishing this storybook unit by spending a morning on storybook crafts and creating props that we will keep in the classroom to use during literacy centers. Now that we have assessed every child in reading in the last month, we can begin working in groups on next reading skills and strategies based on what each child is ready for.

In Math we are still in the midst of our first unit of the year, which is a hefty one! Your children are working on counting, sorting, comparing and currently grappling with the idea that a number can be broken up into parts and put back together to make the same whole. We are even beginning to write equations!

Last week on Science Friday we studied and collected signs of fall. Today we are hunting for seeds! We also save a bit of time every week for some playground time.

This study also overlaps with another: our new drama program! Yesterday our class met our new (but very experienced) theater arts teacher, Kevin. We had a blast starting our story with him, which is all about trees in the city. We started thinking about seeds that trees drop. If your child finds a seed this weekend, see if you can figure out which tree it came from, and why it's shaped like it is (is it in a fruit for an animal to eat? A sticky burr to stick to fur? Is it a flyer?)  Kevin will be working with us for our theater arts residency for the next 2 months. We can't wait to see him again next week!

Next week we hope many of you join us for our Social Studies and Writing Workshop family share. There you will see a few finished projects. One of them is our "Me Towers." The blocks are up but we need your and your child's help to finish by adding artifacts from their lives: small keepsakes or toys that represent their unique skills and interests, along with photos from their five years of life!

Your children cannot wait to share their hard work with you. See you then, and stay tuned for our next blog post with photos from the family share.

love,
Clara & David

A few more photos from the week: both kindergarten classes on their trip to Puppetworks, and our new Choice Time center, dramatic play, where we introduced lots of fun costumes and props for open ended dress up play. Your kids were fire fighters, patients in a hospital, doctors and crime fighting princesses.