Author and Illustrator, David Biedrzycki, visits Fuller Meadow!

We were so excited to meet a real author and illustrator yesterday!

David Biedrzycki captured the attention of our Kindergartners with pictures of his friendly book characters and photographs of the snowbanks in front of his house and his relaxed cat, Sox.

Students learned that all you need for a story is an idea...

and that personal experiences can inspire you!

This local author encouraged children to keep a little notebook or sketchpad beside their beds.  That way, if they have a dream with interesting characters, they can do a quick sketch while the image is still fresh in their mind right after waking up.

Mr. Biedrzycki likes to think of himself as a "green artist".  He stopped using paper when creating his illustrations.  Now, he uses a drawing tablet that connects to his laptop.  He used the free website www.sumopaint.com to show the children how to draw a beetle.  The students enjoyed having input into what the Kindergarten beetle would look like.  They loved that the beetle could easily be copied, multiplied, and the colors modified to create a beetle family!

He told us the story Breaking News: Bear Alert and we were ecstatic to find our very own Mrs. Carreiro made a surprise appearance in the restaurant scene!

Kindergarteners learned about the writing process.  Teachers and students found it interesting that all the pages of a book are actually printed on one huge page!  After it is printed and bound, the pages are cut along the edges to make one page turn into 32!

When we returned to our room, the children were eager to try out their new knowledge of how to draw a beetle!

To learn more about Mr. Biedrzycki's work, check out his website www.davidbiedrzycki.com.

Thank you for visiting Fuller Meadow, Mr. Biedrzycki!

St. Patrick's Day

Believe it or not, the Leprechaun came to Room 117 last week!  He was the one who wrote the morning message.  He was the trickster who mixed up the numbers on the hundred chart. And he was the one who inspired us to be Trap Engineers!

Well, actually, it was our friendly and creative neighbor, Mrs. Murphy, who came up with this exciting STEM activity.  Students had to work with a partner to come up with a plan, sketch a design, and use teamwork, creativity, and engineering skills to catch the little Irish man.

We talked about what our traps would need:

*some type of entrance

*a clever way to lure him in

*a way to trap him

Our Gordon College intern, Miss Zoe, helped us get our trap plans started!

The children hoped he would visit while they were away at music.  They crept down the hall back to the room in hopes of not scaring the leprechaun away.  But, alas, he was too quick.  As children inspected their traps, they saw closed boxes, nibbled paper apples, and fallen glue sticks that once dangled from the tables.  Their eyes widened with surprise that the little leprechaun had left golden nuggets, green footprints, dark green beaded necklaces, and glitter everywhere!

After cleaning up the mess Leppy had left us, the children settled down and wrote about why they felt their traps were still a success despite the mischievous leprechaun's grand escape.

In the afternoon, we completed a science experiment that I found here.  We tried making Rainbow Rain.  We gathered the materials, took turns adding the fluffy shaving cream and colorful food coloring.  We learned that using the pipette did not work very well so we decided to pour the water from a cup, which created more of a whirlwind of colorful water than drops of colorful rain.  We did learn, however, that when clouds get heavy with water, we get precipitation.

There was some skepticism of who the leprechaun really was, but I neither confirmed nor denied the accusations that I was behind the mischief.  I think we can all agree though that fun was had by all, including me.  I enjoyed seeing the students' creativity and teamwork!

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln

To begin our unit on two famous presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, I first wanted children to think about who a president is and what their job is as president of the United States of America.  

The children had some thoughtful responses to these questions that started off our Presidents unit.

What is the job of the president?

"They keep our country safe." - Oliver
"They keep our country clean." - Ryan
"They say true words." - Aiden
"They make sure there are no more wars." - Vivi
"They make sure people are nice to other people." - Kip
"They make sure people do not fight with each other." - Lilla
"They make sure no one is hurt or mean." - Jordyn 

By the end of the unit, children were able to answer this essential question:

What characteristics make a strong leader?

Children enjoyed listening to biographies of when Washington and Lincoln were young and about their jobs and adventures before they each were president.  They were surprised that they could make text-to-self connections with these famous leaders such as loving to read and learn and having moved as a child.  I was impressed that as I read the books about Lincoln, the children were independently making wonderful text-to-text connections with what they learned about Washington.

We practiced finding the main idea and details of a nonfiction text as evidenced below in our Washington thinking map.

Chatterpix made our Washington directed drawings come to life so we could share our new knowledge with you!

After we learned about each president, we compared them in a Venn Diagram.  Each student had a chance to pick a fact and determine where in the Venn Diagram it should be placed.

Lastly, we used information from this Venn Diagram, along with the many other intriguing facts we learned, to write opinion pieces about which leader was our favorite president.

Did your child teach you anything interesting about one of these presidents?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.1
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.2
With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.3
With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.9
With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

Flat and Solid Shapes

Mathematicians in Room 117 have been hard at work learning about 3 dimensional (solid) shapes.  We been describing them, composing them, and comparing them to 2 dimensional (flat) shapes.

During math workshop, students rotated through four stations to strengthen their skills of sorting 3D shapes, composing shapes and pictures with 2D shapes, and identifying 3D shapes in pictures.

I think the favorite activity was the building station!  Students had to use their imagination and construct with our 3 dimensional foam shapes and then record the shapes they used.

My smart students even surprised me by finding 3D shapes during snack time!

To culminate our shape unit, students had a choice.  They could go on a shape hunt with our Gordon College intern, Zoe, or create a Chatterpix sharing information they learned about a shape of their choice.

On their shape hunt, they found many solid shapes around the school...

and even some flat shapes too!

Mrs. Nichols and I worked with the students who wanted to use Chatterpix to share what they learned about shapes.

    3D Shapes from Amanda Libby on Vimeo.

We are becoming quite the shape experts!

What shapes can you spot in your house or while you are outside for a walk on a beautiful, sunny day?

CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.A.2
Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.
CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.A.3
Identify shapes as two-dimensional (lying in a plane, "flat") or three-dimensional ("solid").
CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.B.4
Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/"corners") and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).
CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.B.5
Model shapes in the world by building shapes from components (e.g., sticks and clay balls) and drawing shapes. 

Share About Your Vacation!

Hi Everyone!

I hope you had 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? Add to the padlet below a sentence or two or even a picture of something you would like to share about your vacation. On Monday, each of us will be choosing one special moment to start a seed story. 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.

Created with Padlet

Pearls, Bow Ties, & Baby Powder: The Makings of a 100th Day Celebration!

Cheers to being 100 days smarter!

  These centenarians really know how to celebrate!  With one hand cupped around their ear and the other on their tired, aching backs, you'd be surprised how spry these gentlemen and woman moved.  Lots of pictures were taken to capture this historic day.  I couldn't not share them all with you!   (Click on any collage to enlarge the photos!)

     We were excited for our 100th day morning work!

We had some special options for today's Daily 5.  Students stacked ice cream scoops as they counted by tens to 100 while others filled in a hundred's chart.  Pictured below, Madison and Ryan were up for the challenge of recording 100 words they spotted around the room.  They are almost done!

We recommend you visit the Libby Senior Center.  Check out all they offer to keep your memory sharp and your number sense intact! ;)

In math, you never would have guessed it was afternoon nap time.  Teen number bingo, 3D Shape Roll, Say, Keep, and gumball math were a few of the attractions.  The men and women tossed their canes aside and learned just how long 100 can be.  We ran for 100 seconds and chatted with friends for the same amount of time.  We were even very successful at sitting still without talking for 100 seconds.  It's crazy how long 100 seconds feels when you are just staring at the timer!

They deserved a quick "nap" after all the exercising they did!

During writing, we imagined what we would do when we are 100 years old!  Some of the responses were hysterical while others were sincere.

  
We can't forget that we also worked together with the other Kindergartners to give back to our community by collecting cans for the food pantry.  Our class collected 46 cans, a jar of raspberry preserves, and two boxes of cereal!  As a team, all of the Kindergartners collected a total of 156 cans!!  Thank you for your helping hands!

Parents, I am impressed with the outfits you put together!  Thank you for helping to make this day a success!  I will leave you with "Just Dance Kids: Celebration".  Click here to feel like a kid again!  Your children know the moves!

A thoughtful, caring class

After winter vacation, we finished up our beloved Gingerbread Man unit by reading The Gingerbread Bear by Robert Dennis. As we read, we quickly noticed one big difference between this version and

the other versions: all the characters were different and the author used interesting words to describe them: the clever park ranger, the sweet mom, and the little girl. After a second read, we tried to think of some interesting adjectives to describe some of our favorite characters from the book. We learned adjectives describe a noun (a person, place, or thing) and that when you describe a character or person you can think about their physical (outside) and personality (inside) traits.

The children enjoyed brainstorming adjectives, which got this creative teacher thinking. To tie in with our wellness goal to strive to be bucket fillers, we should try to showcase the positive qualities of others!

First, the children got to take their partner's picture. The helpful Mrs. Nichols held the ipad while each child practiced zooming in and zooming out before taking the photo.

Next, we worked hard together to come up with a list of possible character traits. Then, the excited children went back to their seats and eagerly got started right away. They couldn’t wait to surprise their partner with their kind words!

Finally, it was time for the fun part! I introduced to the children how to use the cool iPad app Pic Collage.  They learned how to upload their partner’s photo and choose their font style and color after typing the adjectives from their character map.

Thankfully, the gracious Mrs. Mack was available for a last minute request for help with the Pic Collage portion of this class activity.

The masterpieces look stunning and were the efforts of much thought and conscientious work. I am truly impressed! It was so touching to see smiles spread across their little faces as they heard the kind words others thought of them. Then, seeing all of the heartfelt work in the Animoto video, I couldn’t help but get a little teary. I think this little activity on adjectives made everyone’s heart grow three sizes.

Now, without further ado, I present the efforts of my hardworking class. Please understand that the students are very enthusiastic writers and are trying hard to listen for beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words small and large. I wanted to honor their efforts and showcase their spelling that they should be so proud of!

We challenge you to surprise a friend, loved one, or passerby with a kind word or gesture. Fill someone’s bucket with a note of thanks or a picture of beauty.