Scientists Observing Trees

This morning, these 23 kindergarten scientists bundled up, braved to cold temperatures and ventured outdoors to observe different trees on the Northview school grounds.  As scientists we spent time observing...which means looking closely at...several different types of trees.

   

   

   

   

   

   

When we came back indoors, we took some time to talk about our observations.  We observed that there were many different types of trees.  Some trees were large and some were small.  Some trees had leaves still on them and some trees had no leaves at all.  One thing we did notice though was that every tree had the same parts:  roots, trunk, bark, branches and leaves.  We labeled the tree posters below.

   

World Kindness Day - November 13

Wednesday November 13 was World Kindness Day.  Our Morning Message posed the question How can WE be kind?  Hmm, that is a great question, especially when we are only five or six years old!  We needed to do some thinking around this.  We also noticed that the first four letters in Kindergarten are kind!

After Writer's Workshop, we read the story Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler! by Margery Cuyler.  Then we did some brainstorming and made a list of ways we can be kind.

       

Mrs. Radermacher made us a really cool poster.  We all wrote our names on a hand then Mrs. Kurt added our ideas from the chart paper to the hands.  We realized that we all do lots of kind things each and every day!

I am very proud of these kind kindergartners.  We are going to try to do kind things each day!

Fire Station Fun

Our kindergartners are sure having fun playing in our new dramatic play area...the fire station!  We have been using it during Managed Independent Learning time.  A HUGE thank you to everyone who donated items to make this dramatic play area possible for the students and to Mr. Kurt for helping me come up with a fire hydrant! 

   

   

   

   

Writer's Workshop

In Writer's Workshop, we are still working on oral storytelling.  Our belief is that if you can think it...you can say it.  And if you can say it...you can write it!  Our writing may look more like drawings with some labels at this point, but this is where we begin the writing process.  We are excited to share our beginning stages of writing with you at conferences next week and can't wait to show you how much we grow through this process!

   

One of the most important components of our Writer's Workshop model is our sharing at the end.  We share writing in a variety of ways.  Below, we are doing a whole group sharing using the document camera and SMART board.  Students share their writing and actually "teach"their peers about writing strategies they use.  When they finish their sharing, their peers share questions and comments they might have about the writing.

   

   

   

Do Pumpkins Sink or Float?

In one of Morning Messages last week, Mrs. Kurt posed a question for us.  Do pumpkins sink or do pumpkins float?  First we took a survey and recorded our predictions using tally marks.  Nineteen friends predicted that pumpkins would sink.  Five friends predicted that pumpkins would float.  There was only one way to find out...we had to be scientists and try it!

   

We had two pumpkins in our classroom.  First, we filled a tub with a lot of water.  Then our friend of the day, Olma, got the small pumpkin for us and set it in the tub of water.

It actually did float...but what about the bigger pumpkin we have in our room?  We decided to try that one, too.  Surely it would sink because it is bigger, right?

The big pumpkin actually floated, too.  

It was fun to try something to find out the answer like real scientists do!

Fifth Grade Buddies

On Thursday afternoon, we had a visit from our Fifth Grade Buddies from Mrs. Dahl's class.  It was so much fun meeting our new buddies and spending time with them.  Mrs. Dahl's class read us stories and even let us KEEP the books they read to us!  We will be gathering with these fifth grade buddies throughout the school year.  Thank you, Mrs. Dahl's Class!  ❤️