Fall is in Full Swing

 Mrs. Snyder's and Mrs. Wightman's classes began the week with spending a perfect day at the zoo.  Wow..did they luck out with the weather!  

Apple Investigation

 We spent all week breaking down our 8 Key Concepts (5 are listed to the left) as we took a good look at apples.  We are absolutely amazed at how our students are able to make sense of these "Fancy Nancy" words, and apply them to all aspects of our learning.

Perspective and Change provided very yummy learning experiences! Perspective was represented in a graph as we taste tested various apples.  We were surprised by our results! 

After following the life cycle of an apple seed as we introduced Change, and reading many books on apples, we thought it would be fun to make applesauce.  It was so yummy! Change happens in lots of ways.  

Writing

The power of the mighty pencil!  Putting our voice on paper is a big step as we learn many ways to express ourselves. 

Here our students are responding to literature (The Scarecrow's Hat):

 Take a look at the amazing progression of writing our Kindergarteners will make:

An Explorer created this word and surprised us all!  We love to write in all ways!

Thank you to our Mystery Readers this week!

So Caring!

I was so glad to be be able to capture this moment on film!  Our Explorers are so very Caring. They are always looking out for one another.  Here a student noticed another child did not have their coat zipped and didn't want him to be cold, so without being asked, put his things down and started zipping! 

Things to Remember:

*Fall Festival is today from 2:00-4:00.  See you there!

*Book Character/Learner Profile Attribute Parade on Wednesday.  This will be in the afternoon (depending on the weather we may keep it right at our school).  Please send the costume and book with your child on that day.  

*Field Trip to Playhouse Square on Thursday for the entire school to see Snowflake (Hopefully, that is the only snow we will see this week).

Pumpkins, Mystery Readers, Mice and So Much More...

We have only been in school 44 days (yep, that's it-4 tens and 4 ones! We can't believe it either.) and look at all your children are already doing.  Even as teaches we are amazed constantly at the growth our Explorers are showing every single day. 

Let's begin with our Pumpkin Investigation that has been ongoing for roughly two weeks now. *This is a fun project at home too.  We examined a pie pumpkin and then cut the top off and then observed the inside.  We noticed a ton of seeds.  We wondered if we added soil what would happen. 

We added a little water, put it in the window and waited...and waited.

About a week later we noticed a couple of sprouts.

This is what we saw the VERY next day!

 Recording our observations is just what a scientist does:

Will a Pumpkin Sink or Float?
We decided to take it a step further and try to figure out if a pumpkin sinks or floats.

Most of us thought the pumpkin would sink.  It felt very heavy!  Although some thought it would float, because they could hold it in one hand (that opened up a huge conversation with lots of other materials being tested as well-so fun!).  Take a look at our findings:

Unit of Inquiry

 In our Unit of Inquiry of Who We Are, we spent this week completing our final project.  The students completed a folder book about themselves through our Key Concepts Form, Connection and Perspective.  The results were absolutely amazing!  To top it off, we had a tour come through yesterday, during our completion, and the visitors had the opportunity to converse with our Knowledgeable Explorers on the topic. Effortlessly the students explained what they were doing, using the terminology and were able to provide examples.  REMARKABLE!
During our student led conferences, you will have the pleasure of seeing and hearing about your child's project first hand!

Mystery Readers

We have had so much fun with our Mystery Readers.  Guessing who it might be is so exciting!  We sure have to be Thinkers as we listen to the clues.  
*If you have not signed up for a date, and would like to, please send a note to your child's teacher. We would love to have you!

Reading and Writing

Understanding that we are readers is truly exciting.  Often when we ask an Explorer, how they might know what a word is, they may resound, "My brian just told me."  Their daily practice of poems, read alouds, shared reading, phonics and their independent reading is all coming together to make this smooth transition.  Thank you for all you do at home.  Together our Readers are doing amazing things!

As you read with your child at home, please take time to discuss the story elements too.  Being able to identify the characters, setting, problem/solution or simply the beginning, middle and end helps make deeper connections to the story.

Take a look at this wonderful journal entry:

 We continue to work on adding details, spacing, making our writing match our pictures, sounding out words and using our sight words to help convey our thoughts.  We have connected that being able to read well, sure helps us write well too.

Math

After reading Mouse count, we did a little investigating.  We wondered how may ways we could arrange 10 mice while putting some in the jar and some in the grass.  We created MANY combinations.  Understanding the concepts of numbers is extremely important.  Knowing there are many ways to create a number lays a solid foundation for addition and subtraction down the road.  

 As we have ventured into graphing, we have fun analyzing the results:  
-Which has the most/least?
-How many more/less does __ have?
-What do the results mean to us? 
-What if we made a change?  How does that effect our information?

Things to Remember:

1-Mrs. Snyder's and Mrs. Wightman's classes are headed to the zoo on Monday.  Bag lunches have been ordered already, no need to send in a lunch.
2-The Book Fair begins on Wednesday and will be open on the day of the Fall Festival (10/27).
3-Our Learner Profile Book Character Parade is on 10/31.  We will parade to Julka Hall.  
Here are some examples:

*Our creative Explorers should be able to share what Learner Profile their character represents and why.  

4-Student Led Conferences begin on Nov. 6.  Look for the confirmation letter in your child's folder.

Look At Us Go!

We must first begin by thanking everyone for supporting our OneWorld! Fundraiser.  What a truly amazing evening! The baskets, auction items, volunteers, donations, networking, etc that went into the evening was remarkable.  Thank you!

We started this week off and running with the Key Concept Perspective. Our focus is to appreciate another person's point of view and coming to the realization that different views does not make us wrong, it simply adds to our uniqueness. 

We generated many ideas on the use of a pumpkin and then explored ways
others around us may have used them.  *Thanks to our pumpkin study, next week we will begin a science investigation using a pie pumpkin.

The literature we have chosen for the week has allowed us to make many connections to other stories, the world and ourselves.  In this book, we learned what it would be like to be a Kindergarten student in China and compared it to our experiences here in America.

We love to READ!!

Sounding out words is so much fun.  We stretch each word to hear the individual sounds.  Here a student is jumping the sounds he hears in a word.  Stretching words helps us become more independent writers too!                         *Please encourage this skill at home.  Hearing and writing the sounds is more important to us than perfect spelling at this point.                                                      

Knowing the alphabet, sounding out words, sight word practice, reading to self, reading to someone, listening to reading, word work and picture walks through books are some of the ways we are practicing our reading skills each and every day.

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

We are continuing to work on quantity and formation of numbers 1-10.  

Using a 10 frame helps students understand the many ways we can create a given number.  Having the children explain how they know it is the given number takes their critical thinking skills to a much higher level.  

"I knew there was 5 because there are 3 on the left
and 2 on the right and 3 and 2 make 5."
 "I know there are 5 because there is 1 on the top side,
2 on the bottom and 2 on the other side.  1 and 2 and 2
makes 5"

"This is another way to make 5.  I put 5 across the top and none on the bottom. 5 and no
more makes 5."

What amazing Thinkers and Communicatiors! *Learner Profile attributes in action.

Our number lessons continue in Mandarin as well, as we now have learned all our numbers 1-10!  Did your child bring home their Go Fish game to play with you?

Tracy Silverman and his Electric Violin

We were throughly entertained with the lessons and music that Mr. Silverman shared with us on Tuesday.  An electric violin gave us a new perspective on what violin music sounded like and felt like.  A huge thank you to Doug Wood for bringing him to Campus International for us all to enjoy.

Tracy Silverman's website

Our music study takes many forms.  Here a group of students is playing along with Mrs. Pohl on some very unique, OUTSIDE instruments.  We sure love the music we make on them and would love to have them added to our playground!

Things to Remember:

*Vision First will be coming next week, if you haven't signed your permission slip please send it in as soon as possible.  The children love the experience and the service is superb!  

*Next week's Learner Profile attribute study for the school is Open-Minded.