The hallway outside our classroom was transformed into a gingerbread house! The students had so much fun creating the candies and gingerbread kids to add to the house!
Reading
We have been learning a lot during our fiction reading unit! The students have been focusing on the different story elements of characters, setting, problem, and solution. We have read several stories based on The Gingerbread Man and were able to compare and contrast the elements in each of these stories. What wonderful observations these readers were making!
Gingerbread Engineering
As an extension to our learning from the gingerbread stories, we participated in Gingerbread Engineering! Mrs. Wasik, our Advanced Learning Facilitator, came into our classroom to help us think and plan like engineers. We began by thinking about the problem the Gingerbread Man faced in the different versions of the story. The students quickly pointed out that the Gingerbread Man had trouble crossing the water in several of the stories.
Once the problem was set, the students set about planning different ways to solve that problem. Each group had to brainstorm several different ideas to help the Gingerbread Man cross the water safely. Then, each group of students had to decide which of their ideas was the best one.
The fun began soon after that! Once the students decided on the best way to get the Gingerbread Man across the way, they had to choose their materials and build their object! From speed boats to submarines to bridges and jet packs, the ideas were flowing! We definitely have some future engineers in K-1!
Math
Gingerbread men even found a way to be in our math lessons these last few weeks! We were lucky to have Mrs. Schwarz's 4th graders join us to help us measure different objects with gingerbread men! The kindergarteners loved working with these older students!
We learned about the concept of area, when trying to see how many pennies it would take to fill the inside of a gingerbread man.
The students have also been working hard on counting to 100 by 1's and 10's. These are great activities to also practice at home to help your child feel more confident with these important skills.
Science
We have finished up our unit on Rainbows, Color, and Light. This fun-filled unit allowed the students to participate in many different hands-on science experiments. The kindergarteners hunted for rainbow effects while observing CDs and blowing bubbles! We also looked at how sunlight plays an important role in creating our shadows! We ended the unit by creating our own rainbow colored stained glass windows, which are brightening up our classroom on these cold and cloudy days!
Hour of Code
The kindergarteners had a chance to participate in the Hour of Code, which gives all students an introduction into coding. Mrs. O'Kelly, our LMC director, has put together a list of coding resources for the students. These highly engaging and fun activities help nurture creativity and problem solving skills, which helps students in all areas!
Please visit this link to see all of the resources available for your child:
Me Bags and Guest Readers
A highlight of kindergarten is definitely learning about our classmates when it is time to share the Me Bag. The children love hearing about what their friends enjoy doing outside of school, and they especially love having guest readers surprise us with great stories!
We learned that Nathan loves playing with many of his toys, especially his cars and trucks.
Charlie loves having Minion Bob in his room each night!
Ryelan shared a very special picture of her visiting with Santa!
Benjamin shared that his favorite thing to do is play video games!
Caroling
Mr. Deptula and the 5th grade carolers visited our class to share some holiday spirit! The kindergarteners loved singing "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with them!
Recess Reminders
To help our kindergarten day run smoothly, I ask that you have your child's belongings labeled. Many things, especially gloves and snowpants, look alike, so having it all labeled definitely helps.The students will only be going outside for recess on Wednesdays and Fridays, so those are the days to have all the snow gear brought to school. In order to play in the snow at recess, students must be dressed appropriately in boots, snowpants, coat, hat, and gloves. The school policy is that we do go outside if the temperature (with windchill) is above 0 degrees. Snowpants and boots are not necessary on any other days. If something changes in our schedule, I will be sure to let you know.
If your child wears boots to school, please be sure they have shoes in their backpack to put on. We had several students without shoes today for gym class.I also ask that you practice with your child at home putting on and taking off their snow gear independently. My two hands don't get very far (or fast) with 18 students and each piece of their snow gear, so your help with this is greatly appreciated!
Happy Holidays!
I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy holiday season! I feel so fortunate to work with your children each day. They truly bring a smile to my face! Enjoy your time with your families! School will resume on Tuesday, January 3.
