The K's have been exploring shapes in math and last week they were introduced to 3D shapes! We collected some everyday 3D shapes -- old boxes, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, and more -- and began working as a class to construct a spooooky haunted house! We will present this at the all school meeting on Friday October 30!
This week we dove into geodes! We learned that the crystals inside geodes are formed from water running through the air pockets in rocks, and that the larger the crystals, the older the geode! We studied examples of different geodes, and even broke into some of our own! Students looked closely at their rocks and added an entry to their geology notebooks!
We began our week thinking about what we want to learn this year. We came across many topics, from Star Wars to the sky to unicorns...we finally settled on rocks! This was something we could all get down with. Thus, began our journey. You can see from the photos we've been quite busy with this exploration. Students have begun their own rock collections and we set up a Geology Lab, with tools to help us explore our findings. You can see Connor testing different hypotheses about the sandstone in our courtyard -- he was breaking pieces off and dusting/measuring them. We sorted our rocks by color, shape, size, and weight. We've been thinking a ton about what it means to be a scientist... someone who asks: Why? What if? Where? How? What? When? WHY? We will continue our journey next week!
This week we focused a lot of classroom time talking explicitly about anti-bias and being kind. We thought about what it means to be a friend, how we can treat each other kindly or how we talk to each other, and what it means when we have the opportunity to apologize. We created an "Acts of Kindness wall" inspired by the book above and student have been eager to add actions they have taken to help out friends onto the wall.
This week we continued exploring shapes through a couple of spoooky activities! We made ghosts, haunted houses, and more. Students put on an impromptu puppet show for our friends at home.
This week students were introduced to a new math tool -- Geoboards! These boards are awesome, as students are practicing fine motor skills and creativity as well as math/ELA concepts as they use rubber bands to create patterns, form letters and numbers and shapes, and compare their designs to each others'! In creating designs, students learned about symmetry, or making things look the same on each side. After students felt like they made their BEST design, they used their tablets to record a photo of it on Seesaw!
So much learning happens outside of structured activity time in the classroom! At today's recess, students learned how to make hopscotch boards and play tic-tac-toe! In hopscotch, students are practicing forming shapes, counting, and writing numbers. They are developing their gross motor skills as they practice hopping on one foot and switching to two. They are practicing sharing and waiting their turn in line. They cheer each other on and build community. The list is endless!
This week our math exploration has been all over the map! Many of the kids were introduced to the game JENGA! for the first time. We continued our daily water/sand exploration and engineering as students worked together to build river systems and bridges. Math was tied into our fort building as students gathered sticks and compared resources (Which are longest? Where should these go? How many short ones do we have?). We also have been looking at shapes. Students have practiced drawing and identifying shapes and used their tablets to capture photos of where they saw shapes around the classroom!
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About MichelleMichelle has been a part of the Summers-Knoll community since 2015. Before teaching Kindergarten, Michelle taught 3rd and 4th grade. Archives
May 2021
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