Penguins

We created theme words for penguins.

K-1 grades: We labeled a giant penguin.

2-3We filled out a giant chart as a group. We learned about penguin facts such as: name, how they move, their height, how they live, who are the predators are, about their loves and babies, what they eat, and how much they weigh.

I created a large chart then made a smaller one for each of the children. This is a 2nd grader's paper. We did it together. The 4th-5th graders picked their own penguins and filled it in themselves.

Here was an art project for the K-1. It took two days to complete! This is how it began:

This is how it ended up:

On a teacher created penguin chart, we will measure each child against those heights of the penguins.

Create a penguin fact chart from the penguin books.

Battery Power

We used a small battery, some foam and a wire. This was a little difficult for us. The result was that the wire would spin. We got it to rock back and forth a little bit.

Color Motion

We used milk, food coloring, and dish soap.

Color Wheel

We made color wheels.

Pickle Power

Pickle Power: We were testing power using a pickle on foil. This is the beginning of the experiment.

Next we used a small battery, copper wire, and an "m" shaped paper clip on each side. Doing this caused the circle to move. One child did get it to rotate. :)
We learned that the power comes from the bottom of the battery :)

Kitchen Chemistry

We are going to investigate what science experiments we have in our kitchen this week.

These will be items that most of us have in our homes already.

We used lemon juice and food coloring to make these:

Senses

This week we talked about our 5 senses. We learned the song 5 Senses by Dr. Jean.

To conclude our senses unit, I created a Spin-a-Sense game. I made a large chart and listed all of the senses on the chart. The children spin the spinner and must tell me something that uses that sense, but you may not repeat, that is why I write what they say on the chart. :)

The older children 2-5 grades were going to be labeling parts of the eye, ear, nose, and hand. I created a sheet for them to complete each day. We have models of the eye and ear for them to

look at 3-D. Due to limited time - we had Elementastics on Wednesday, we were unable to do this :(

We made riddles instead. The K-1 children looked at a photo and gave three clues. Then decided which sense it should go under. For example, there was a photo of pizza and although we use most of our senses, we decided that tasting would be the best.

The 2-5 graders had to write down their three clues to see if anyone could guess what they were describing.

There are small pieces of tape on the squares to hold the game pieces in place on my pocket chart.

We used this chart to list things that used only, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 senses. I had wanted the children to label which sense they used but I wasn't the one doing the activity :(

November- part two Insects

We are continuing our work with spiders, but are also talking about insects.

We are singing the song from Dr. Jean "Head Thorax, Abdomen" in each of the grades. We use actions as well. We point to our own body parts as we sing the song. At the end of the song, we put up three fingers on each hand to represent the six legs on the insect.

In 2-5 grades are also learning another song to the tune of London Bridges. We read some very cool non-fiction books. We will be writing spider/insect facts as well.

Corn

We read the book Popcorn Science.

Elemetastics

A group of adults come to our school from a local college to do hands-on science activities with the students. They get name badges with their first names on, but their last name is an element.

k-1 did some color testing on brown and black markers. They also mixed colors together to get other colors.

4-5 grades made glasses with 3-D lenses.

2-3 grades tested how liquids reacted with other liquids. They tried water with vinegar- mixed well. Then water with oil. Finally, they got a saucer with milk on it. The teachers dropped a few drops of food coloring onto the plate. Then we gave them a q-tip with dish soap on it. The children placed the q-tips into the milk. We saw some very cool things happen. I have some photos and videos of what happened.

Nocturnal Animals

This week we will be learning about Nocturnal animals- those that work mostly at night and sleep during the day.

Books will be available for the student about nocturnal animals. We will read the book Stellaluna. The older children will do a Reader's Theater on the book Stellaluna.

We watched a PowerPoint about bats. We will label parts of the bat. I have enlarged a bat and laminated it so the children may write directly on the chart.

October- Magnets, Skeltons, Pumpkins, Spiders

Our themes in October:

Magnets

Skeletons & bones

Pumpkins & Gourds

Spiders

*******MAGNETS******

We used magnetic wands to see how many chips we could pick up.

We made plates with designs on them for the children to try and follow.

We had a sheet that the children had to cut out and put in order.

********Skeletons & Bones **********

Review songs

Put large skeleton in order

We made Q-Tip skeletons (pictures to follow)

*********Pumpkins & Gourds***********

K-1 we made pumpkin books.

Everyone explored the pumpkins and gourds. We came up with pumpkin and gourd words on a pumpkin chart. Then 2-5 grade children came up with questions to ask, the answers had to come from the chart. (Chart photo to follow)

I wrote down the questions on large index cards to use as an independent activity.

********SPIDERS**************

We are learning about spiders this week. as usual we have a variety of books available that are both fiction and non-fiction for the students to read.

One activity we had the students do was to pretend that they were spiders. I gave the students each 1/2 of a plate - this was their web. I gave them their insect (it was a sugar cube) then I gave them some venom (water) They used small spoons to put venom on the insect. When the insect (sugar cube) turned into a liquid, they used a straw to suck up the insect.

We also came up with spider themed words. The 2-5 graders had to come up with questions where the answers were on the spider chart.

September-Apples and Potatoes

In September we talked and learned about:

*All About Me

*Apples

*Germs

For our Germs unit, each grade got 4 slices of a potato.

1 slice everyone touched it

1 slice no one touched

1 slice we blew on

Each group did one different one:

1 rubbed on the table

1 rubbed it on the floor

1 rubbed it on the door handle

We made a chart of what we saw on the potato. I made a sheet with little hand lenses on it.

We also added to it what we think might happen.

******* APPLES************

We enlarged an apple (photo to come) the students had to label the parts of an apple.

We weighed things against an apple.

We listed things that used apples in them: apple pie, crisp. I made an overhead using apples. I will have to see if I can share that with you some how.

Pensive

This is my pensive. Frog on the outside. It zips around the whole thing, which is a good thing!

On the inside left cover, there is a pocket, I put post-it notes in there. It also holds some pens.

Summer School

Dear Parents~

When looking at your child's timed math tests, there are lines or boxes ect. marking what your child did in the two minutes. After the time is up, I try to draw lines around what they finished. It gets a little crazy when they skip around. :) Then I ask them to complete the rest of the problems. :)

Summer School newsletter #1

Our first week of summer school is done. I am so impressed with how hard they are working.

I wanted you to be aware of the FREE summer reading program at the library. You can even ride the bus for free to get there!! http://www.meadpubliclibrary.org/teens/picks

The children have been working hard to add words to our class word collector. Each of them also have their own personal one.

Remember: Reading logs are due on Monday.

In addition: as a class we decided to look and listen for at least 2 Interesting Words per night.

For example, instead of using "said" we could use "exclaimed!" or "ancient" instead of "old."

This is to use the the reading strategy under Expand Vocabulary- Tune in to Interesting Words.

Thanks to the parents that have helped their children this week and for the children who worked so hard. Keep up the good work!

Please remember to call you child in if they will be sick or send in a note if you know they will be gone on a certain day.

Pictures will be added when we are done with school today.

Have a great weekend. See you next week!

Summer School Day

8:00 Students enter the room. Books shop for books if necessary.

8:05- 8:30 Making Words Lessons

8:30- 10:00 Daily 5 Reading Rotations

R2S (read to self) WW (Word Work) WoW (Work on Writing)

Mini lesson 1

Mini lesson 2

10:00 recess

10:15 snack and read aloud ( Snack will be up to the individual student)

10:30- 11:30 Daily 4 Math

Lesson: Teacher will meet with individuals and small groups based on student ability.

All games will be from EDM books.

Fact Practice: The children will use flash cards to practice their facts.

Fact Games

Number Games

Strategy Games:

Students will rotate to each section as their choice. One of the “Must Do” choices is the teacher; the other “Must Do” will be the workbook. The children will be assigned pages based on their individual need.

11:30-11:45 Share: TICKET TO LEAVE and prepare for dismissal. Assign homework

11:45 Dismissal

Summer School

Summer school is a time where we will try to work hard, even though it is summer. I am working towards a classroom that is welcoming and a safe place for the children to learn and be comfortable. The children are able to bring in beach towels to sit on while they are doing Read to Self and Work on Writing. While the children are reading, they will be using the reading strategies from the CAFE menu.

At the end of summer school, I will provide you an individualized list of the strategies we discussed. Not all of the strategies will be covered for each child as we are building on the strategies that the students already have begun learning. . Some of the strategies are covered as a whole group but some will be covered during individual conferences.

Summer School Day 1

Each day, your child will work with math, writing, and reading. Each day we will discuss items on our CAFÉ board. Café stands for: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary. Together we will work on strategies from those ideas. Each week, I will post a newsletter on my classroom site: http://kinderpond.blogspot.com/ of the strategies we worked on during the week. Please let me know if you do not have access to the Internet and I will make you a copy of the newsletter and send it home with your child.

We will be working in small groups to give the students the most individual instruction to meet their individual needs.

We added one strategy to our CAFE menu:

Check for Understanding is the very first one we talked about.

Yarn Art

I covered cardboard with tin foil. We drew with glue then added the yarn. We used sharpies to color. We decided that you needed to overlap the yarn to make pictures sectioned off.

Watermelon Art

We rounded off the corners and then gave them light and dark green and red squares.
We made a watermelon graph. I made green colored copies for watermelons. Those are supposed to be vines (the yarn.) Only one child didn't like watermelon!

Salt Paint

I made some salt paint of different colors and put them in ketchup and mustard bottles. They took forever to dry. Make sure that the lids are on tight. After using them for the activities, one of lids was loose and one of my students was using it and it blobbed out- so I said it should be a green bush lol

Feeling Buggy?

Here are two different TLC projects that we did. We did Ladybugs in Grass and the ladybugs, ants, and bees in the mural.

Here are some lessons:

http://www.kinderpond.com/ladybugunit.html

http://www.kinderpond.com/insect.html

Seuss on the Loose

Every year we decorate the room and every year all of the students come visit our very own "Seussville" Each class comes for about 30 minutes. We look at everything in the room. In years past, I have dressed up as either the Cat in the Hat or when the Horton movie was coming out, I was Horton. Here are some of the photos of the classroom from last year:

Get splashed from the Ocean at the Kinderpond

Sea Turtles from TLC

Two different versions of the beach scene from my Multi-aged room. The top one is 3D.

Ocean resist- also from TLC. We created all of the creatures with paper, so as a culmination art activity, we drew them with crayons and water colored over the top. I think I used some blue food coloring and water. :)

We made an ocean graph with pictures from TLC - I think lol!

Mail Truck

During February, we talk about not only Valentine's Day, but to go along with that, we talk about the mail. This came from TLC.

Space Rocket

Another quickie space project from TLC

During our small space study, we made this astronaut graph. I think the picture came from TLC Art book.

Easter Eggs

We made Easter egg glyphs.

Seuss- Cat in the Hat

Our art teacher taught the children to make Cat in the Hats. The children drew in pencil then traced in permanent marker. Not a one, looked the same. So very cool!