Sunday, November 23, 2014

Who Were the First Americans?

I introduced our Thanksgiving unit this week with the question, "Who were the first Americans"?  It was a good thing I asked this question before going further.  Here were some of the answers...

  • pirates
  • God
  • Jesus
  • Joseph
  • bears
  • dinosaurs
  • Native Americans
We then read an online book that introduced Native Americans and the six regions they lived in the United States at the time Europeans began to settle.  The following day students were given a QR Code to scan with their iPad which led them to one of 3 YouTube videos about a Native American region - Eastern Woodlands, Plains, or Southwest.


Then students paired with another student who listened to the same video.  Together they recorded information  about housing, food, clothing, and travel from the video.







Students then shared their findings with the whole group.  



Performance was evaluated using the following rubric which was discussed extensively before the start of the project.

The videos were short and so we had time to view all three of them after the presentations.  Hearing about the videos prior to viewing helped us look for certain facts.  Viewing the videos as a whole group helped individuals see some major points they had overlooked.  The next day we recorded all that we had learned about the first Americans.  I was really impressed by how much the students had retained.


Here are links to the 3 videos:





Tuesday, November 18, 2014

More Christmas in November


More teaching materials and supplies thank you to Adopt-a-Classroom donations!  Hunter asked where our Christmas tree was! Thank you!  Thank you!




Synergize!


Hunter had been working diligently by himself on this puzzle.  It was almost time to clean up and he had about a third left to complete. When we asked for some assistance, these two friends helped Hunter complete this puzzle in about 2 minutes.  The boys then made up a story about the dinosaurs in the puzzle.  That is synergizing!  Great job boys!

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Revitalized Block Center

Previously we have had to fit all our wooden blocks back into these 3 containers when we were finished playing.  It definitely cut into the amount of time we had to build.
This is our new block cart donated by Alex's grandparents (Terry and Tammy Behymer) through the Adopt-a- Classroom program.  All 3 sets fit into this one compact cart.  The chalkboard side lifts up and out so that the students can access the blocks more easily.  There are 4 casters so that the cart can be easily rolled to where it needs to be.

The students dumped out all the blocks today...
...and cleaned up in about 30 seconds!


Thank you!


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Christmas Shopping in Kindergarten


Nice to see the boys using authentic literacy during their free choice time!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Places We Have Traveled


Vocabulary words we have been using for our Transportation unit are transportation, vehicle, travel, journey, and adventure. Today we made a bubble map of the places we have traveled.  At home discuss with your child additional places you may have traveled and we will keep adding to the map.  We will also begin adding places the students would like to travel to in the future.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Reaching for the Stars


Students are currently choosing the next star they are reaching for.  Each has chosen either Counting to 100, Reading 20 High Frequency Words, or Reaching the Next Level on RazKids (Leveled Reading app on the iPad).  Some students may have tracking sheets in their PEACE Notebooks for you to observe their progress in reaching this goal.  Stars in the near future may include Reading All 31 High Frequency Words, Naming 2D shapes, Naming 3D Shapes, Writing First and Last Names the Kindergarten Way, and Tying Shoes.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Kindergarten Ice Cream Party










Student really had something to celebrate! Congratulations on meeting your goal by learning all the names and sounds of the letters by Halloween!  Thank you to family members who celebrated (and helped!) with us: Jon Metz, Linda Luthy, Kim and Ava Berkenbile.  Thank you everyone for helping us reach this goal!

Monday, November 3, 2014

Christmas Lists


Please send in your extra toy catalogues for us to use in our writing center to begin making Christmas lists.  Just trying to keep the students motivated to write.

Chris Fascione - "Bringing Literature to Life"


Permission slips will be going home Tuesday to see storyteller Chris Fascione at Brown County Elementary School on November 13th.   This performance is made possible by a grant from the Quincy Society of Fine Arts submitted by Mrs. Melody Jochem, our art teacher.  The grant was written to benefit all Brown County students.  Click on the picture above to visit Chris Fascione's website and read more about him.