Career Day
Fun Stuff!
Memorial Day
Sam-Sam, take it away!
Memorial Day Parade in Bowie, MD
123 Kinder Street |
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We are busy making happy end-of-year memories here at 123 Kinder Street. Come have a look! Career DayAnd here is a future police officer in training... Fun Stuff!Having a ball in indoor recess... Counting 1,004 cubes in math small groups... Memorial DayAnd finally, Sammi the Standard Poodle has something to say about the Memorial Day parade that we had here in town last week. While there, the pupster got a chance to see some of our High Bridge students there, along with dancers, drummers, noisy vehicles and amazing floats. Sammi also reminds us to always honor those who serve and protect our country in the armed services. Sam-Sam, take it away! Memorial Day Parade in Bowie, MD
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Here in America, many are blessed to have jobs, a vibrant health care system and a variety of medications to make us well. But have you ever thought about what you could do with the empty medicine bottles?
Well, here's a great solution...I recently discovered The Malawi Project, and decided to get involved. You should have received a note home just a few days ago explaining this activity. Until the end of the school year, the class will be collecting empty medicine bottles in our large cookie container. When the container gets full, I will take it to Mrs. Robins (a local project coordinator) who will ship them off to Malawi where they are so desperately needed. Here is the flyer that came home. Feel free to download it, print and copy it, hand it out to all of you friends and family. And I will keep you posted on the state of the cookie jar. Let's help our little ones know how good it feels to reach out a hand to help someone else.
Oh, and of course... I made a video too! We will be watching this during Social Studies class, but watch it at home with the family as well.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend. The kindergarteners are collecting empty medicine bottles to help people in Malawi.
Our class has been going crazy here with animals and monsters of all sorts this past month! The huge Kindergarten Animal Book Report project was a tremendous success, with families going all-out to help the kiddies do their research and create amazing displays. We are also getting to know little Honey, our baby guinea pig.
Scroll down and take a look at what the kids have been up to here at 123 KinderStreet.
Here are just a few examples of the book report presentations that the kids created. The drawings and photos were absolutely beautiful.
Once the kids finished their presentations, they got to use the iPad to create these fun little video shorts using an app called ChatterPix. With a little guidance, the kids were able to do the entire things themselves, from typing the search terms into Google Images to drawing the animations to editing their recordings.
What...talking animals?!?! The kindergartners created videos to tell about their animal research.
Now on to a real, living animal...our new baby guinea pig Honey is all better now, and has been coming to school for the past week or so. Just after she came home from being treated at the vet, the kids and I went outdoors in the "front yard" to do some foraging. We had some real, hands-on lessons about the different uses of plants, and how some plants can be eaten, but others can be poisonous. One student picked a buttercup and asked if Honey could eat that. After a few clicks on my iPhone, we discovered that buttercups are poisonous for guinea pigs. Honey had a delicious meal that day that was fresh and totally free!
The kindergartners go looking for edible plants that our class guinea pig can safely eat. Foraging....it's free and it's fun!
And Honey's thank-you...
Which foraged plant will Honey like best?
Have you ever taken the family foraging? Do your research, and then give it a try...it's fun and it's free. You can't beat that!
Have a great week everyone,
We have been celebrating our earth this week! The students have participated in a variety of activities to bring awareness of what the earth needs, and how we can take care of it.
We started out last week with our Poem of The Week: Daffodowndilly. The students are busy memorizing and acting out the poem so that we can perform it next week for some first grade classes.
Our kindergarten class memorized this lovely poem by A.A. Milne for their poetry journals. We acted out the lines and even learned how to draw a daffodil. The flowers in this video live in my front yard.
Then we went out to the front garden at school to study real daffodils. The students discovered a wide variety of daffodils, and learned the difference between single and double blooms.
Meanwhile, inside the classroom, we learned how our Golden Pothos (Charlie) has variegated leaves since he has been in the bright sunshine at my house.
The kid's watched Jalen's video as he taught them how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Then we put our knowledge into action by reusing a huge sheet of bubble wrap from a shipped package . What fun!!!
Jalen tells us all how to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
We went back out to the outdoor classroom , where we discovered dead pepper plants, bird baths, a bird house, and lots of weeds that need to be pulled. We planted lettuce and pepper seeds in seed-starting pots to make a veggie garden for our new guinea pig, Honey.
Finally we used coffee filters, markers and water to create these beautiful earth day art projects that say, "Take care of the earth."
What an amazing week of hands-on learning! We plan to do many more lessons about the earth in our outdoor classroom. But for now, I'll let Sammi the Standard Poodle have the final word...
Sammi tells the kindergartners to take care of our earth.
The animal book reports are due next week. Hopefully all of the students are well on their way to being finished with their research, and putting the finishing touches on their presentations.
As you help your child with research, help them answer their questions and come up with even more questions and "I wonders". Help your child check the rubric to make sure they included everything the teacher asked for. Also, spend time this weekend helping your child practice their oral presentation. Choose a fact or two about their animal and practice sharing those facts with a nice, loud voice (I call it your teacher voice). Here are some ideas for the presentation if you or your child are stuck or needing some inspiration:
Finally, here is a great example of a kindergartener presenting his animal research report to his class.
Brilliant! I love that he dressed up for his presentation. Zack, you are too cute!!!
I cannot wait to see and hear all of your creative presentations next week. Until then, enjoy the warm weather!
Today's blog post is a bit of a mixed bag. We have been very busy in class with a variety of different projects and activities going on, with even more in store.
We are really focusing hard on self-control this month. It seems we've had a rash of out-of-control behavior recently where kids are hurting each other and not being kind. So as a class we are focusing on kindness, problem-solving, and gaining the skills needed to make and keep friends. I came across a really cute video on self-control that we watched in class, and thought to share it with you here. Watch the cartoon at home with your children , and get a discussion going .
Now Sammi the Standard Poodle--who has something to say about everything--has something to say to the kids about self-control.
Sammi loses control!
Oh boy, Sam-Sam...you sure have a lot to learn about self-control!!!
We have also been tracking this changing weather as the season transitioned from winter to spring. The kids learned what "lion weather" and "lamb weather" mean. They wrote about the weather, and made a really cute art project about the subject. Here are the kids now! The kindergartners know all about March weather. Finally, our class entered a Be Kind To Animals poster contest, which was sponsored by PGCPS. The children had to draw a scene which showed kindness, respect, or caring for animals. The kids had the opportunity to put to use all the great illustration techniques they have learned this school year, and they looked absolutely fantastic We've got our fingers crossed for the win!
Well, that's all for now. Have a fantastic weekend,
This week our students have taken collaboration and creativity to a whole 'nother level! I never imagined what sparks would ignite just by dumping a bin full of empty boxes on the carpet and shouting, "Explore!" I've seen kids having deep and elaborate planning sessions with each other on how to pull their creations off. I've heard partners brainstorming on what materials to gather or create , and cooperating with one another to get a job done. They are so proud of their creations! Here are some shots of the kids collaborating with each other: Great teamwork, guys!!! Now check out some of their awesome creations. Hover the mouse over each picture to read what the object is: The kiddies really "set their brains on fire" with this project!
The last part of the project will be to take a walk to our recycling bin and dump all of the boxes in. We will say "bye-bye" to our creations, but the lessons learned will last a lifetime. Stay tuned for Recycle Time part IV. Have an awesome weekend! That's guinea pig language for, "I GOT OUR NEW GUINEA PIG!!!"
After school today, I made a trip out to Petco in Gambrills to get a replacement for our dearly departed Marmalade. I was just in time to see a batch of babies that had just arrived yesterday evening. Although this new little one will never take Marmalade's place, I think we all will fall in love with her. No name yet...stay tuned! Also, check out the new Guinea Pig Channel at the link above to see videos and pictures of our new little friend. The new guinea pig won't be ready to come to school for a while, but you can check her channel every day to see videos and pictures of her as she gets ready for school. Wheek, Wheek! Do you remember back in the fall when I asked families to collect lids and bottle caps? Well, our class has put them to good use this month. As part of our unit on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle , we reused those lids to create gnat traps! We had a pesky gnat infestation in some of our classroom plants, and wanted to get rid of them in a green and eco-friendly way. So we filled the lids with vinegar and added a squirt of hand soap in order to attract and kill the gnats. Here is the before... And after... The vinegar-and-soap solution really worked! Now we are REUSING the gnat traps for scientific investigations in our science center. Come back soon for the next blog post, where you will see how the kiddies are progressing with their recycled box creations.
Have a tremendously successful week! |
Welcome!We are Mrs. Jenkins and Mrs. Koeppl, this is 123 KinderStreet, our little home away from home! Click on the pictures for more info about us. short /u/is
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