Yesterday afternoon we completed our second whole class STEAM project. We learned how to create recycled paper! Earlier in the week we viewed a video (link here) about how recycling centers work to sort paper and then turn it into pulp to create new recycled paper so less trees can be cut down, therefore taking better care of our environment. The job of the students was to figure out how we could create our own recycled paper with the tools we had. First students mixed shredded paper and tissue paper with water and tried using their hands to create pulp. We then added some additional tools like potato mashers and whisks. They realized that the had not created pulp yet and really needed a machine to help. Out came the blender and together we created pulp! After creating the pulp together students then used mesh screens to make their own small pieces of recycled paper!
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We had a fabulous time at the Spring Fling Passport Party! A HUGE thank you to our six parent volunteers who made it possible! We had six awesome stations!
Bee Weaving: students worked on their fine motor skills while weaving black strips of paper through the yellow bee template. Spring Playdough: students used their creativity and strengthened their hand muscles while using play dough and spring play dough mats. Plant Needs: students cut and glued the four things a plant needs to live and thrive. Flower Word Families: students used a tracer, cut their flower and then brainstormed words to match a word family (such as -og: bog, dog, fog, hog, jog, etc.) Planting: students planted grass seed for a surprise project :) Spring Musical Chairs: students danced around the chairs and when the music stopped they read the sight word on their chair. This past Friday we began our STEAM project about how we could help feed birds in the winter. Partners worked together to investigate materials and draw a sketch of a bird feeder. Today, partners worked together to build their feeders and to figure out how they would hang from the line. After the next storm (!) we will hang them outside for the birds and see if they work! Today at Claypit we had a random acts of kindness day. Today we made cards to show appreciation for the bus drivers and crossing guards. We also had a compliment circle this morning during morning meeting. Each person in our class picked a random name card, went to that person, greeted them, and then gave them a compliment. At the end of the greeting our hearts were full of positive feelings. Everyone's compliments were so heartfelt and genuine! The snow made recess awesome today! Friends had so much fun playing!
Room 107 had a BLAST on the 100th day of school! Thank you so much to all our volunteers for making it possible! This week we have been discussing Groundhog Day! Today we made predictions during math about whether or not the groundhog would see its shadow and created a class graph. More friends think the groundhog WILL NOT see its shadow (yay for early spring!). We will see tomorrow if our predictions come true! Lots of choice time pictures!Today we spoke extensively about the life and message of MLK Jr. We watched a BrainPop Jr. video about his life and stopped to discuss some big words like segregation. After watching the video we discussed how we could be brave in our own lives as Kindergarteners just like Dr. King. The video did discuss that he was shot and killed, and we discussed this as well. We also spoke about how, while Dr. King lived in the past, there are still people today who do not believe all people should be given equal rights and treated fairly. The students agreed that they believed in Dr. King's message and wanted to continue uphold his memory by peacefully fighting for all people.
We will continue these conversations as the year continues. Please see the links below for some great resources around teaching about MLK Jr. and diversity. Picture Books About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for Young Children from Scholastic 14 Children’s Books about Martin Luther King Jr. We Need Diverse Books Happy New Year room 107 families! I am so energized to be back at school and so are your children! They came in this morning happy and excited to be here! I apologize for not posting more in December! My method of photo taking and transferring photos stopped working for a bit so I was unable to upload photos. I have the issue resolved now! I am going to post a whole bunch of photos below from all sorts of events from December! Enjoy! My goal is to get back to a regular posting schedule of about 2x per week in this new year! Yesterday we started the day with a new greeting during our morning meeting. We used a magnifying glass, held it up in front of our eye and said, "I'm so happy to SEE you this morning (name of friend)". The students loved it! It was a fun way to build community! I snapped a few pictures during the greeting :) Yesterday we also had a cultural enrichment! A dance troupe called Urbanity Dance visited us. We had a great time learning about difference dance forms and then getting a chance to dance ourselves!
Two weeks ago we had a wonderful visit from Jeannie the Service Dog and her handler Fran. Room 107 students loved giving Jeannie treats and petting her. Most students were very excited to meet Jeannie and hopefully she will come back and visit us again soon! The next day we wrote about our experience meeting Jeannie during Writer's Workshop. This month in math one topic we have been working on is sorting. We read the story The Lost Button from Frog and Toad and figured out which button belonged to Toad based on the attributes mentioned in the book. We have been playing a game called "What's my rule?" where one partners chooses a sorting rule and shows the rule by sorting a group of buttons and the other partner needs to guess the rule. We also learned about attribute blocks which can be sorted in many ways. Ask your child about one way they have sorted attribute blocks!
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