Hello Lovely Kinder Families! This week we continued with our "All About Me!" mini project and began an exploration of names. We know that names are not only comprised of letters, but of hopes and dreams as well. For read aloud, we read two books centered around name origins: Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. Both books explore the stories behind names, the feelings associated with our names, and what names represent (connection, family history, etc.). Both stories explored the sense of pride we can have when we truly love our names. We were inspired! We wanted to know more about our own name stories. We learned that Molly was born on a snowy day which is why her name is Molly Snow. Dylan shared that all of his siblings (himself included) have a middle name that begins with "S." We also learned that Leonidas was named after a King! We look forward to hearing more name stories in the next week. We continued our name exploration by singing name recognition songs (ask your child about "5 Little Muffins in the Bakery Shop") and by representing our names in a beautiful and unique way--beans!! By manipulating small objects, our Kinders develop their fine motor skills which in turn helps them with their handwriting! This week we also continued our "Learning with Nature" work. We took another trip to the Butterfly Garden where we used our "Eagle Eye" to find objects to observe and document. I noticed children taking field notes on the beautiful flowers, butterflies, and the many insects scurrying about By using the Butterfly Garden as our outdoor classroom, children learn the art of slowing down and looking closely. By finding details in the natural world, they begin to notice patterns and make connections. For instance, one child wondered and then hypothesized, "Why aren't there any butterflies out? Maybe because it isn't hot?" Later when Xavier found a monarch caterpillar all curled up and possibly dead, we decided to bring it back to our Curiosity Corner for further investigation. But by the time we made it back to our room, the caterpillar had stretched out and we realized quickly that it was alive! It was definitely weak and hurt, but it was alive. The children had many theories: "I think it was sleeping!" "I think it was playing dead. Possums do that!" "I think it was pretending when it saw us!" We are already engaging in rich conversations about the natural world and I am looking forward to what our next adventure will bring. And lastly, our Kinders have been working hard on developing our own special alphabet. Every year, the students in my class create their own classroom alphabet and this year is is a bit different from years prior. It has definitely been the most fun! Here's a little sneak peek: To another week of magic, exploration, and discovery!
With Love, Mrs. Rosemarie
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Hello Wonderful Kinder Families! This week in Kindergarten, we began exploring our identities and what makes us special. We talked about all the ways people look different and celebrated those differences as ways we are unique. The children noted that we had differences in hair color and its texture. They noted differences in shapes of eyes and their colors. They also noticed differences in skin color and body shapes (tall, petite, etc.) They then began the first drafts of their self-portraits and used mirrors to help them identify the details in their faces. Later in the week, we revisited our self-portraits and found so many beautiful differences between us. We found that some friends colored their skin brown while other friends colored their skin peach. We also noticed that some friends had colored their skin orange. When we asked why she made that color choice, she replied, "Because I couldn't find my color." We all searched the crayon box for a shade of brown in between the Crayola peach and Crayola brown and could not find a shade close to her color (I couldn't find a shade close to mine as well!). We all agreed that our friends were not muppets and should not have to color their pictures orange. We began to problem solve and someone suggested mixing colors. The next day, we listened to the story, The Color of Us by Karen Katz. In the story, a little girl wants to draw a picture of herself with a brown crayon, but her mom, who is also an artist, points out that brown isn't just brown. She shows her that there are many shades of brown from cinnamon and clay to ochre and sienna. To create an even more beautiful second draft, our Kinders learned about the "Critique" process. When we give each other "critique," we make sure that our feedback is 1) Kind: We make sure we keep our friends' feelings in mind. 2) Helpful: Our feedback is meant to be constructive. 3) Specific: We tell our friends' exactly how to improve their work. We look forward to sharing our self-portraits and the other ways we have expressed identity and our uniqueness. We hope to see you all at our Open House on Friday, September 16, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.
To Another Magical Week Together, Mrs. Rosemarie Hello Wonderful Kinder Families! I would like to extend a warm welcome to Kindergarten! We had an amazing week together and I am looking forward to an incredible year. Community, friendship, exploration, and play defined our first week together in Kindergarten. This week we engaged in a variety of community building activities and established our classroom norms: 1. Take care of yourself. 2. Take care of each other. 3. Take care of your space. Our Kinders also practiced many classroom rituals, routines, and procedures. Here are some highlights from the week: We took our first nature walk of the year to the school Butterfly Garden. Here we practiced our "Explorer Norms," greeted nature, and collected many "nature treasures" to add to our Curiosity Corner in the classroom. We will continue to take nature walks weekly throughout the year. These walks not only help children develop a deep appreciation for nature, but also serve as inspiration for projects, art, and discussion. There is so much deep learning that happens on these walks! And lastly, a large part of our day is dedicated to the work of the child or what Albert Einstein calls "the highest form of research" and that is play! Our projects are rooted in wonder and play and our Exploration Time is dedicated to just that. Through play, children not only develop friendships and important social skills, but it also allows them to practice emotional regulation and time management. Through play, children explore, take risks, and construct meaning. Children who engage in quality play experiences are more likely to have well-developed memory skills, language development, and are able to regulate their behavior, leading to enhanced school adjustment and academic learning (Bodrova & Leong, 2005). What an amazing week! I can't wait to see what the next week has in store for us!
With Love, Mrs. Rosemarie |
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September 2017
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