100 Years Old

Once again for the 100th day of school time flew by! Before we knew it we were 100 days smarter and 100 years old! Students put on their 100 year old best to look super 100. The Kindergarten wore anything from beards to hairy eyebrows. Students could be seen walking around with canes, big bellies, glasses, pearls, ties, curlers, gray hair, and even a life alert button!

Take a look at this Kindergarten grade photo! Can you spot me in the middle?

Arctic and Antarctic Wonders

This year I topped an all new record of milk jug building. My typical 100 milk jug igloo project quickly turned into a school wide frenzy. Before we knew it we had over 600 milk jugs to build our frozen tundra room.

Every year we explore the Arctic and Antarctic regions of the world. This is by far my favorite part of the entire school year. 

We tracked the process of collecting milk jugs on a school wide poster outside of the office. Together we put them in bags in sets of ten. This provided a good visual for grouping by math.

Here you can see our classroom featured in a local newspaper!

Bubbles Galore!

One of the best parts about being a Kinder is getting to explore the world of Science.

With the help of Carnegie Science Center our room got to take a closer look at bubbles and explore them hands on.

 

First the students learned what made up the bubble solution. Next, they got to blow bubbles using different shaped wands.

 

Each student was given a cup with a straw. They got to experiment how the bubble changed with the new tool.

 The result was that they were able to make much larger bubbles! Some were as big as their entire head!

 

 

 Hands down the last part of the experiment was the most fun. We covered the cups with a piece of cloth. This made tiny bubbles and foam like you would see if you added too much soap to your washing machine. They had a blast making a mess!

Do You Want to Find Our Snowmen

Since the Frozen craze is still running wild (I am not complaining I love it too!) I decided to make a school wide Olaf hunt. With a little thinking, I came up with new words to the tune of "Do you want to build a snowman?"

To go along with the song I made life size characters including Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Sven, and a pretty large mountain with castle.

Throughout the school I created about 14 Olafs to post in the hall. Different grade level teachers picked a grade level color. Then for each holiday they cut out holiday shapes and write different skills on them.

Now when students walk down the halls they can look for their grade level color and practice their skills. It is a fun and easy way to get students engaged in practicing while also keeping them quiet in the hallways.  The best part is the kiddos can choose to work a grade level up for a challenge or a grade level down to challenge themselves!

Holidays Around the World - India

Today we went around the world to celebrate holidays! I was super excited to teach about India and Nepal. We traveled all the way across the globe to visit India and to celebrate Diwali! We learned how to say Happy Diwali, looked at the script writing, and got our passports stamped! I was very happy to get to wear my traditional outfit from Nepal that my host family got me last summer.

One student just could not help but photo bomb the picture!

The kiddos got to decorate their own Diwali lamps that turned out just as bright and gorgeous as India itself.

My favorite thing we learned was how to do some dance moves. Here is a clip of the kiddos dancing to some Indian music! Priceless!

Before they took off to visit some more countries everyone wished each other a Happy Diwali and said goodbye!

Google Docs 8-A-1

Google docs can be a very useful tool for students and teachers alike. How? With the use of Google Docs students can communicate and work together to build a project. Teachers can plan a curriculum and share information all through one document.

There are many benefits to Google Docs for students. Many students learn through visual learning. With the use of google docs students can log on and work on building a project all at the same time. You are able to see the words and plan together. Instead of sitting and just chatting about what their project might look like they can actually show it. If I were teaching an older group of students I would use it in a situation where students learned best from a visual aspect.

Not only would this help the visual learner because they can see and work on their project but also because they can do it anyone. Google docs allows students to work on the same project from the same classroom, different classrooms, at home, or half way across the world.

With the use of sharing students can even share documents. These documents could be anything but as a teacher I could share things such as graphs or visual aspects that would continue to help my visual learners.

Because google docs has such a wide variety of tools it can help many different learners!

Paraguay Skype! 6-C-2

Hi Everyone,

As you may already know I love to travel. Every summer I jet off to another region to travel and learn about the people and volunteer in schools. Everyday I try to incorporate some of the ideas I have learned abroad in the classroom. The world is a massive place with countless things to learn. However, with the use of technology we are now able to make connections throughout the world with a few simple clicks. Over the past few weeks our class as have been learning about the internet and blogs and how we are able to safely share information as a class with others.

Now we get to take it one step further! In the coming weeks we will begin to learn more about the world. We will cover information about the earth, continents, countries, and holidays. Before Christmas the entire Kindergarten will even embark on a journey around the world learning about holidays as they go. And with the thanks of Skype our class will get the opportunity to talk with another Kindergarten class in Paraguay, South America!!!

Yes you heard me! We will be making a Skype video call with student in South America. Although we can not jump on a plane and travel out of our town we are able to connect with others around the world. The idea that the world is huge with other cultures is a lot to take on at such a small age. But actually people able to communicate with someone that far away can help them understand the larger picture of the world. Students will discuss what will be going on in the weeks leading up to this event. Each student will be able to construct a question that they will get to ask the class and the teacher in Paraguay. The idea is that the students will be able to make connections with these students even though they are miles and miles away!!!