Discovery Museum Visit

We are fortunate that the Middleton PTO provided our entire Kindergarten with a visit from the Discovery Museum to support and enhance our students' learning and understanding of force and motion.
The children loved working with Susan yesterday morning.  As we reflected at the end of the day about the special science program, many students said she was "nice", "kind" and would assist them if they made a mistake or needed help.  The students and teachers loved how hands-on and engaging the activities and workshop was.  The hour went by fast!
Susan did an amazing job introducing a new concept and science vocabulary word(s), sparking their curiosity, and then letting the children go off in small groups to explore.
Susan began the workshop by asking students to think about what things move, how they move, change direction and/or speed, and how they stop.
The students were excited to get to explore with an array of toys!  They explored applying different strengths to pushes and pulls to make the toys move.

Next, Susan introduced the term collision and the idea of balanced/unbalanced forces and the transfer of energy with balls and ramps.  
In the video below, students learned that the pumpkin gains energy when it collides with something that has more energy (the ball).

The children were so excited for this station!

After, we regrouped and discussed friction and what objects may create friction.  The children were each given a smooth sock and a sock with grips on the bottom and were instructed to place each on their hand and to rub the floor and to note what they observed.

To wrap up the workshop, a special activity was planned.  Children had the opportunity to be engineers and build a prototype of a toy that moves or has a moving part.  They were allowed to use a variety of materials.  I loved their creativity!


The Discovery Museum in Acton, MA sounds like an amazing place to visit!  Find out more information at http://www.discoverymuseums.org.
Thank you, PTO, for bringing us this amazing program!

Vacation Fun

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are having fun this vacation! I can't wait to hear all about it! Did you visit family or spend time with friends? Did you watch any good movies or travel? Did anyone bake something yummy?! Add to the padlet below a sentence or two or even a picture of a special vacation moment that you would like to share about. On Monday, each of us will be choosing one special moment to illustrate and write about. This padlet can help with our brainstorming when we are all a little tired as we settle back into our routine. :)

Simply double click on the board and write a note. Write your name at the top of the note as the title.

STEM Baking Project: Bread in a Bag

For Valentine's Day, I had a special treat planned for the students.  They would need to use their scientistic observational skills and their mathematical knowledge of measuring to make bread.  Yes, you heard me correctly, warm from the oven, golden brown, soft bread! I got the recipe here.  This recipe caught my attention because all the ingredients go in a bag, which makes for easy mixing and clean up.
I told the students the day before how they would become bakers the next morning and would bake their families a delicious side to accompany their Valentine's Day dinner.  To help prepare for baking, we would need to hone our measuring skills.  During Tuesday's math stations, Mrs. Reid, our school's fabulous math specialist, came in to assist with measurement stations.
We used sand, beans, and plastic gems to help us become familiar with using measuring cups and measuring spoons.  We also estimated how many scoops to fill certain containers and compared the sizes of containers in regards to how many scoops they could hold.  Some students also learned equivalencies such as it takes 2 half cups to fill one cup or 4 quarter cups to fill the same cup.

At the end, we came together and shared what we learned - useful information to keep in mind while we cooked the next day. :)

Wednesday morning students came in excited to celebrate Valentine's Day and eager to bake bread. Thankfully, the amazing Ms. Clemenzi had some time available and offered to join in on the fun.  After students put on their plastic aprons and gloves,  they got with their partner and started reading the kid friendly directions that I created with pictures.  Each pair of children had a gallon sized plastic bag that they put all of their ingredients into.  They took turns squishing the contents of the bag to mix all of the ingredients and to "wake up" the yeast.

Of course, once the loaves were placed in pans and left in the kitchen to rise, these bakers had to clean up their messes, and they were happy to do so!

I loved the teamwork, cooperation, and involvement of each child.  There was definitely some quality control with a few friendly reminders to fill the measuring cup all the way or to level off a measuring spoon.  What made me a happy teacher was that kids were open to their peers' constructive feedback and often thanked each other for the help or reminder.

The bread baked while the kids were at recess.  After lunch, they were anxious to try the warm bread.  Thumbs up all around!

I'm glad families enjoyed the bread!  I hope this lesson inspires children to help cook at home.  Add a comment below or send me a picture if your child helps you bake something yummy!

I could not have done this special project without the support and assistance of our wonderful cafeteria staff.  Thank you also to Mr. Sam for his help reading directions and cleaning up after us.  Thank you also to the parents who helped at our Valentine's Day party.  I appreciate your help with packaging the bread loaves so they were ready to send home.

Wow! Already 100 days of learning together!

The students and I can't believe we have been learning and growing together for 100 days already!  One boy even exclaimed in excitement, "I can't believe we've already been in school for 100 days!  I just pinched myself to see if it was a dream or real!"  It is crazy how quick the year is flying by! 

The children's 100th's Day projects they completed at home with their families.

Children started the day dancing their way to the cafeteria to have team time with Ms. Clemenzi, the math and science curriculum specialist, while "Celebration" played over the intercom.  

Photo courtesy of Dr. Carreiro.  Hear all the Kindergarten students count by 10s in her blog post.

During Daily 5, children had special 100th Day literacy and math activity choices.  Some students practiced counting by tens to 100 and ordering those numbers correctly.  Others chose to go on a word hunt and write 100 words they spotted around the room.

During writing, children imagined what they will do when they are 100 years old.

We also challenged ourselves to 100 jumping jacks!  We did it!
After art, I had a special new activity I was excited to try out with the class.   I got this amazing freebie from Brooke Brown's blog Teach Outside the Box.  The kids LOVED the 100th Day STEM bins!  They had teamwork like real engineers to creatively construct amazing masterpieces that each contained 100 pieces of that station's material.  

And these kids made snakes and a snake trap with 100 pipe cleaners!     As a Kindergarten team, we had a goal to collect 100 cans for our town's food pantry, which we exceeded, thanks to our amazing Middleton families!

I am looking forward to seeing the children's love for learning continue and their reading, writing, and math skills soar over the next 78 days!

Global School Play Day

My class had so much fun during Global School Play Day yesterday!  Despite the day being cut short due to snow, we crammed a lot of play into 3 and 1/2 hours.  Some kids didn't even want to stop to eat snack!  
This was a day of unstructured play that was supervised by teachers.  It was so nice to have the opportunity to play with the children and to see their imagination come alive.  They worked well together, problem solved, and amazed me with their creativity!

Mrs. Campbell donated a huge box for yesterday's activities and the children LOVED it!  I've never seen them so excited!  Of course, we had to make predictions how many students could actually fit in the box.  We fit 10, although the kids emphasized we could have squeezed more in!

I loved hearing the children share their ideas and build on each other's suggestions of what to do with this box.  It went from the possibility of a home with a rug inside, to a boat, to a McDonald's, which everyone immediately, somehow seamlessly, agreed upon and took part in creating.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed taking each other's order, making the food, and manning the register. 
Thankfully Mr. Sam came to the rescue and cut out a door and window for us!  He's the best!

To my surprise, shortly before the end of the school day, someone suggested the box should transform to a library with books inside and they made the inside cozy with a bean bag and blanket.

I love that they took the time to decorate the McDonald's turned library with colorful pictures and glued on circular windows.  I enjoyed watching them play!
The kids' creativity also shined through with random paper rolls and other odds and ends I've been collecting.  I like how they figured out ways to bring their interests of sports and exercise into the day.

Some of us even tried to learn how to juggle with our new scarves.  A couple second grade friends joined us as well!

I think everyone can agree that it was the best early release day ever!  I don't know about the kids, but I was exhausted when I got home and ended up falling asleep on the couch for a few hours!

It's amazing that play helps with brain development, increases children's imaginations, develops their self-control, problem solving, and critical thinking skills in the areas of math and science as well as enhances self-esteem and language skills.  My goal is to encourage more unstructured play here at school.  I hope you will consider doing the same at home.