Welcome 2015!

I hope everyone had a wonderful break and enjoyed the holidays.  Our class had so much fun leading up to vacation.  A huge thank you to all of the parents who volunteered, sent in treats and donated supplies.  It really is a magical time in kindergarten.

We have our tickets and  are ready to board the Polar Express!

With that being said, it was also wonderful to get back into our normal classroom routine.  We didn't waste any time getting back to work this week.  In art, the kids made pottery bowls with Mrs. Emerson.  Mr. G. introduced yoga in PE and we visited the computer lab. Math was a lot of fun this week too.  We began our study of 3D shapes.  Our focus was on these shapes: cylinder, sphere, rectangular prism, cube and cone.  Below are pictures of a group project we did after reading a book called Shape Up.  In the book, the shapes were going to the Shape Olympics.  It was our job to find out which shape would get a metal for rolling, a medal for stacking, or both medals.  Kindergartners loved this project and worked so well together!

Ayler and Henry sort their 3D shapes using a Venn diagram.

Rose, Lauryn and Lucy work together to find shapes that roll and shapes that stack.

Lucas R., Summit and Lucas L. make a ramp to test which 3D shapes roll.

Madison, Clara and Sadie  work together.

Alice, Lia and Samamntha sort 3D shapes together.

This is what we found...a sphere can only roll.  Cylinders and cones can
stack and roll.  A cube and rectangular prism can only stack.

Before heading to music, we created towers using 3D shapes. 

Alice and Samantha build a tower together.

During the second trimester, our writing focus will shift from narrative writing to informational writing. Some examples of what informational writing in kindergarten can be: labeled pictures, writing directions and recipes or writing facts about a favorite animal.  In science, we are about to begin a unit on winter animals.  Our lessons will integrate a lot of informational writing .

Everyone labeled their reindeer drawings before vacation.
 Remember, in kindergarten,we spell words the way they sound!

This week we drew pictures and included all the clothes we would need to go outside in the cold weather.

We had plenty of indoor recess time this week.  It looks as though it should warm up next week.  Please be sure to send in clothes for the playground each day.  As always, let me know if you have any questions.  Happy New Year!

Charlie creates on in the easel during indoor recess.

Joe, Sadie and Clara work together on the iPad one day during indoor recess.

We enjoyed the playground before vacation. It was too icy to use this
week but we all hope we can use it soon! Akice and Lia try to balance on a snowball.

Lucy and Sadie enjoy the tire swing.

Lauryn gets a tour of the playground by Madison.