How many seeds in our pumpkin?

We are very excited for Pumpkin Day on Friday when we will see if pumpkins sink or float, measure how tall our pumpkins are, and count the seeds of one of our pumpkins!  Today we made predictions or estimates of how many seeds the children think one of our pumpkins has inside.  To help educate the children on how to make a good estimate, I read them the book How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara.  We learned some important information from the book that helped us make our estimates.  Check out these cool facts we read:

•  Each line on the outside of a pumpkin has a row of seeds inside. 
• The longer a pumpkin grows on the vine, the darker it is and the more lines it has. 
• The largest pumpkin doesn't necessarily mean it has the most seeds!

Check out our estimates!

Moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and babysitters, we would love to hear YOUR predictions! In the comment section below, add your name and your prediction of how many seeds you think are in this pumpkin!  

Hopefully the 8x10 frame can help give you some idea of the pumpkin's size.

Thank you for sharing your predictions!

Check back next week for pictures of our Pumpkin Investigation Stations and to find out the actual number of seeds!

I spy a pattern!

Throughout the month of October, my class will be exploring, investigating, and creating patterns.  After reading about them and using shapes and movement to practice creating patterns in my room, they will apply their knowledge in the art room with Ms. Nasser.
Ms. Nasser and I created this unit after taking a Project Based Learning (PBL) course this summer.  We have collaborated in the past and love connecting art with our Kindergarten content areas and the Common Core Standards.
Our goal is to help students to see that patterns are all around us.  They help places, clothing, and objects look interesting.  With the new Middleton Center Complex project underway, we thought we could tie in this real life event with what students are learning by having students design community buildings that display their pattern examples.

Our driving question for the students is: How can we, as Kindergarten architects, use shapes and patterns to create beauty in buildings?

We introduced this unit yesterday with a quick video about patterns around Middleton.



I gave students a little background about patterns with a read aloud of My First Book of Patterns by Bobby and June George.  It is a great book.  I highly recommend it!

After watching the video, we went on a pattern hunt around the school.  The students were better at finding patterns than Ms. Nasser and I were!  We were very impressed! Students learned that they are going to become pattern experts.

The children are SOOOO EXCITED about patterns!  Some were even happy to see they had patterns on their clothing.  We decided as a class that we needed to have a Pattern Day and each of us wear patterned designed clothing!  More information will be sent home at a different time about Pattern Day.

Ms. Nasser and I were hoping to gain your help with spotting patterns at home, out in nature, or while you are out driving, shopping, and having fun.  Simply click on the plus sign in the Padlet box below.   Use the up arrow to upload a picture and write your child's name and description of the pattern and where you found it.  If you are having technical difficulties, feel free to email me the picture and caption and I will add it to the Padlet for you.  We will be sharing our pattern sightings over the next couple of weeks!

Thank you for your support!

 

Beginning of the Year Fun

We made it through the first 9 days of Kindergarten!!   The children are doing well learning the morning routines and are doing them on their own now (with some reminders).  We also practiced walking outside for a fire drill and they did well following directions and staying in a quiet line. 

All of the children seem to be adjusting well to coming to school whether on the bus or being dropped off.  We began the regular morning routine with the first and second graders last week of waiting in the gym before heading down to the classroom.  The kids are also doing a great job getting ready for dismissal at the end of the school day.  I am gradually trying to let them be more independent with placing papers in the pockets of their folders and packing their backpacks on their own.

We have been busy learning each other’s names, practicing our cutting and gluing skills, becoming familiar with the daily routines, and learning the expectations of school behavior.  We have also been learning the terms before, after, same, and different in math.

I have been encouraging the children to go home each day and share one thing they have learned.  If your child has not shared what we have been doing, here are a few suggestions of what you can ask them about:

• What does a 5 star listener look like? (I am looking for children sitting with legs crossed, hands still and in their laps, ears listening, eyes watching the speaker, and lips that are zipped) 
• Can you show me how you write the numbers one, two, and three? 
• Who were the characters? or What was your favorite part of the books The Kissing Hand, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, and The Wheels on the Bus? (The red titles take you to read alouds of the stories).

We got to check out Dr. Carreiro's office during our tour of the school.
Can your child name some of his/her new classmates?

I'm looking forward to our second full week next week.  We are going to continue learning each other's names, learn how to print numbers up to 5, learn that good readers read the pictures to tell a story, and develop an understanding of expected and unexpected school behavior so that we can create our classroom rules together.

April Vacation Fun

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are having a great vacation!  Whether you are having fun in your neighborhood or have traveled some place exciting, I am looking forward to hearing all about it!  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. The children enjoy sharing a photo with the class and talking about their vacation.  :)

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

February 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 or do a cool craft project?! Add to the padlet below a sentence or two or even a picture of a special vacation moment that you would like to share. 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.

Global School Play Day 2019

My class and I had so much fun during Global School Play Day 2019! 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 imaginations come alive.  They worked well together, problem solved, and amazed me with their creativity!

During the morning, we had fun playing in the gym with Ms. Teixeira's class.  We played tunnel tag and then the first graders taught us Sphere Ball!

The students were supposed to have computers during specialist time, but Mrs. Haines invited them into the gym for some station fun with Mrs. Newton's class!  The kids loved all the different gym stations Mrs. Haines created!

After lunch and specialist, we visited Mrs. Thomson's first graders for games and crafts!

Mrs. Bailey donated large boxes for the children to play with and they LOVED them!  These boxes were the highlight of the day!  The kids enjoyed playing with them so much, they begged me to keep them in the classroom.  We continue to still play with them at the end of many school days.  I love how much joy simple cardboard boxes have brought to the classroom.

Mr. Sam was kind enough to cut out windows and other openings in the boxes.   We even decided to apply our new learning of pushes and pulls and use the boxes as rides down the hallway ramp!

The kids' creativity also shined through with random paper rolls and other odds and ends I've been collecting.    

I think everyone would agree it was such a fun day of learning and playing together!  It was great to get to play with other classes.

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.

100 days of learning, 100 days of fun

The students and I can't believe we have been learning and growing together for 100 days already!  It is crazy how quick the year is flying by! We enjoyed celebrating this special day together! The students were proud to share their family 100th Day projects with their classmates.

We started off the day with special 100th Day morning work.

During Daily 5, children had 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.  A few kids even wrote numbers 1-100.

During writing, children had to reflect on what they are able to do now that they weren't able to do 100 days ago.

After library, I had a special 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 to use teamwork like real engineers to creatively construct masterpieces that each contained 100 pieces of that station's material.  

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 72 days!