After our nature walk to Riley park, students brought back leaves, twigs and pinecones to explore on our light table. They had many questions about leaves. We explored the many different colors of leaves, noting the different shades and textures. We also explored the book "Mouse's First Fall" and looked at how leaves have veins running through them. Using tissue paper, glue and a paintbrush, students created their own 'leaf mosaic' to represent the shades and textures of the leaf. We made a tree for them to be attached to, and fall down from--to show how we know it is fall (since the leaves 'fall' down).
Who am I? What do I look like? What about my family? What is family? We examined these questions and ideas during our first couple weeks of school. For our first project, we used mirrors to explore different features on our faces, and talked about how we each have different colored eyes, hair and skin. Students used different art mediums to create their faces over a two day period. Students used pencil, marker and oil pastels to create their finished project of themselves (their self portrait). After creating an image of themselves, students started sharing about their families. How are they different? What is family? We looked at the Family Book by Todd Parr. Kindergarten students had a chance to share about their family, then draw a picture to show members of their family--both near and far.
This year, our Kindergarten class is participating in a reading buddy program. Kindergarten students pair up once a week with our buddy class, which is grade 6. Each student has the same buddy each week to foster a relationship throughout the school year. During our buddy time, each Kindergarten and grade 6 pair find a couple books to explore together. This is a great way to foster a love of books, looking at books, listening to the story and following along with the words. This week after reading time, the grade 6 students had the opportunity to see first hand with their Kindergarten buddy some of the exploration centers that we set up in Kindergarten. I know our class is very excited about this year long adventure.
Kindergarten is such an exciting time, especially the first day of school! When students come to Kindergarten, there are lots of routines to get used to, as well as lots of new areas of the classroom to discover. During the first week of school, the classroom was set up for students to explore and discover lots of different learning areas. We are fortunate to have a light-table in our classroom, wooden construction/building blocks, as well as lots of great resources for exploring numeracy, literacy, art and science! Here are some photos of the first couple weeks of Kindergarten in our classroom!
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Welcome to Kindergarten!This is our class blog. Monthly Archives
February 2016
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