Learning about 3D Shapes is Fun!

Hopefully you noticed that we added 3D shapes to our kindergarten report cards this quarter.  Your child should be able to identify all 12 of these shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, cylinder, sphere, cube, and cone. 

Valentine's Day and the 100th Day of School

In my eight years of teaching, the 100th day of school and Valentine's have never fallen on the same day until this year.  It was a perfect storm of learning and fun!  Here are some pictures from the day! 

My favorite activity involved measuring the arm span of a hug.  Take a look...

 We measured from finger to finger with candy hearts.

 We measured with coins. 

 We measured with cubes. 

Here we have Landon, David and Nathan with their 100th day snack mix.  We covered up a 100's chart with ten items of ten different ingredients. 

 Hannah, Cheyanne and Alexis. 

 Gumball machines with 100 gumballs. 

 Making creations out of 100 Legos. 

 Skylar is visiting the estimation station and estimating which container has MORE, LESS and EQUAL to 100 items. 

Audrey, Abi and Alexis writing about how they would spend $100. 

 When we returned from gym, we found out that the Penny Fairy had visited our room!  She left a note and exchanged our 100 pennies for dollar bills!

Our reaction to the dollar bills!

I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of our friendship party and scavenger hunt in the afternoon, but that was a blast also.  Did your kindergartner have as much fun as I did?! 

February is "I Love to Read Month"!

I'd like to extend a special "thank you" all family members who took time out of their busy schedules to read to us in celebration of "I Love To Read" month. Here are the special readers that have visited our room so far.

Dakota's dad

 Hope's Grandma

 Nathan's mom

 Cohen's mom

 Landon's mom

 Cheyanne's mom

 Noah's mom

 Hannah's mom

 Abi's mom

  Hope's mom

 A special Valentine's Day surprise from Pooh, Tiger, and Eeyore.

Noah's dad

 Isabel's mom

Dylan's mom

 Cohen's dad

 Skylar's mom

 David's mom

 Evan's mom

 Holden's mom

Audrey's grandma

Thing 1 and Thing 2!  These two very special and troublesome readers visited us on March 2nd, Dr. Seuss' Birthday!

Also in celebration of "I Love to Read" month, Parkers Prairie Elementary held a "Dress up like your favorite book character" day.  Take a peak at these good looking readers dressed up as their favorite characters.  (Pictures were optional, if you don't see a photo of your child, they were a little camera shy). 

 A dinosaur, Bob the Builder, and Daniel Boone.

 Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. 

 Barbie Princess, Sleeping Beauty, and Fancy Nancy. 

 A cowboy, Bat Girl, and Hank. 

Pocahontas, Tigger, and Minnie Mouse.

Beach Day

Polar Bear Cam- Check It Out!

We wrapped up our Arctic Animal unit today with a quick study of the polar bear.  The best part of the day was watching the San Diego Zoo's Polar Bear Cam.  Every little movement these furry guys made resulted in cheeering and hollering.  It was a loud and exciting day in the kindergarten room!  I promised the kids I would provide a link to the camera so they could watch more at home.  The San Diego Zoo also has a live camera feed on the pandas, condors, elephants and apes. 
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/polarcam/index.html

Keeping MLK Jr.'s Dream in our Hearts

Today was one of my favorite days.  I love sharing the story and dream of Martin Luther King Jr. with kindergartners.  As I shared his story and the story our country long ago, their mouths hung open in shock of the unfairness Martin Luther King Jr. experienced.  Their clear understanding of what is right and wrong is so inspiring.  I know I have said it before, but I can't wait to see what kind of adults these children will grow into. 
To illustrate the concept that we all are the same on the inside, we studied the outside of a brown egg and a white egg.  When we cracked them open, we found that they were exactly the same on the inside.  We made strong connections to this and the people around us.  We look so different on the outside, but we are the same on the inside.  It's important that we treat each other fairly. 

We also shared our dreams on a Martin Luther King Jr. art project.  They are displayed in the hallway, so if you are in the school please check them out.  They will warm your heart and brighten your day.