Boats

Each child had a partner and they had to talk together about the design of their boat. The material choices for today were- Popsicle sticks, foam paper, coffee filters, tin foil, straws, and clay. Each partnership had to draw a plan together before building. Next, they built their boat with different materials. Lastly, we used our overhead projector to project each team's boat as they tested them with a plastic billy goat. It was fun to see if our billy goat could make it safely across the river!

Who Sank the boat?

For science lab today, we began with a book called "Who Sank the boat?" It helps you think about heavy objects and lighter objects in water. Here's a sneak peek of some children making extra boats at choice time!

New Games

We have been learning some fun new games in literacy small groups. The first is called "I have who has." In this game, the captain hands out all of the cards and takes the first turn. He or she may say "I have blue, who has black?" Each child checks his cards to see if he has the black card. If so, he picks up the card and follows the chain. This format is used throughout the year for letter and number identification, letter sounds, word patterns, sight words, skip counting, etc.

In math centers, we played racing bears to build teamwork. We rolled a die and had to work as a team to move the bears to the end of the game board. We also learned the numerals game. In this game, one person is the "hand" and the other is the "checker." The hand picks out a number card and puts that many cubes (we called them pieces of chocolate or candy) into a bowl (we called it a tractor). The hand sends the tractor to the farmer to check his order. The farmer places the cubes on the check sheet to make sure he has the correct number of items. This game practices one to one counting, turn taking, regulation, and rote counting.

Dramatizing

Acting out our new fairytale was more challenging than last week. The goats had to take turns crossing the bridge and wait for their turn while pretending to eat grass in the pasture. Teams really had to help one another remember their lines. It's good practice for teamwork, self- regulation, working memory, and taking turns.

Making props

This week, our new fairytale is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. On Monday, we made props that we will need for the week. We worked with our center groups to make bridges, grassy pastures, and barren pastures. We reused the back of some of last week's props to recycle them into new ones!

Huff and puff houses!

In science lab today, each team of 2 children made 3 houses together. 1 out of straws, 1 out of Popsicle sticks, and 1 out of connecting cubes. Which one was the easiest for the wolf to blow down? Why do you think so?

Dramatizing

Tuesday was our first time dramatizing with our small group. Each child was given a role card by the Team Captain and then became part of the fairy tale to dramatize their role. 

The Three Little Pigs!

We were very excited for a whole week about The Three Little Pigs! We read the story once on Monday, and then started to make props for our dramatization centers. We decided that we would need straw houses, stick houses, and brick houses. Can you tell what we are making?

Hello Kindergarten Families- Welcome to Kindergarten and the Hardy School! I am so excited to start a wonderful year with you and your children. I will be using this blog to keep you informed about what's been happening in our classroom as we embark on a new and exciting adventure together!