Show and Tell: Devin had a unique thing to share, he shared his new haircut. His uncle shaved his head last week.
Activity: We read aloud the story Rosie's Walk. Students LOVED it! We then began our project, creating our own individual copies using construction paper and crayons.
Blue Day: We had our assembly on the blacktop where Nikhil was recognized for his excellent Teamwork this month. We received an additional 15 minutes of recess.
Social Studies: Today we reviewed the map of California, labeling it with its name and gluing it onto a page where we will also display the rest of the California symbols.
Fire Drill: After lunch we had a fire drill. These will be happening frequently to prepare ourselves for our May 21st DisRoaster Drill.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Kindergarten Concert
Today was our Kindergarten Concert. After recess we performed for the entire school! It was an excellent performance. We received positive feedback from most of the staff and even received a congratulatory poster from our Buddy Class.
Science: Today we talked more about our new friends - the silkworms! Students made observations about the silkworms - using sight, sound, and touch.
Social Studies: We reviewed California State symbols and students completed a sheet on which they colored the California Redwood, California Quail, California Flag, and Golden Poppy.
This evening we had another successful show performing to a packed house of friends and families. I am SOOOOOO proud of all of the students in Room 4, as I'm sure you all are.
If you have photos of the concert I'd love copies.. If digital, please send to misswagenaar@gmail.com
If you recorded the show and would be willing to provide me with a copy I'd greatly appreciate it!!!
Thank You!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Things we can do to take care of The Earth..
Show and Tell: Alexa brought in a mermaid doll that changes colors when it is placed in the cold water.
Social Studies: We worked together to create a list of things that we can do to take care of The Earth. Some of our ideas included: not putting garbage in the ocean, cleaning up the Earth, not harming animals, and saving water.
Writer's Workshop: Students then used our brainstorming list to create speech bubbles for their dolls, stating things that they would do or things they would tell people to do to take care of The Earth.
Penmanship: Students did rainbow tracing and listed Ii words on a penmanship worksheet.
Music: We practiced once again on the risers with Mrs. Kwiatkowski on the piano.
Art: Students worked on their April self portraits. During this time, our D.O.G.S. (dads of great students) - Mr. Ponciano helped students to glue quilt mating onto our large sheep which will be used as a decoration for our concert. It looks GREAT!
Friday Funday: In addition to Mr. Ponciano, Christian's father also joined us for a leisurely afternoon of choice. Students not only interacted nicely with one another but also did a stellar job of cleaning up after themselves.
Social Studies: We worked together to create a list of things that we can do to take care of The Earth. Some of our ideas included: not putting garbage in the ocean, cleaning up the Earth, not harming animals, and saving water.
Writer's Workshop: Students then used our brainstorming list to create speech bubbles for their dolls, stating things that they would do or things they would tell people to do to take care of The Earth.
Penmanship: Students did rainbow tracing and listed Ii words on a penmanship worksheet.
Music: We practiced once again on the risers with Mrs. Kwiatkowski on the piano.
Art: Students worked on their April self portraits. During this time, our D.O.G.S. (dads of great students) - Mr. Ponciano helped students to glue quilt mating onto our large sheep which will be used as a decoration for our concert. It looks GREAT!
Friday Funday: In addition to Mr. Ponciano, Christian's father also joined us for a leisurely afternoon of choice. Students not only interacted nicely with one another but also did a stellar job of cleaning up after themselves.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Ii is for infinity
Show and Tell: Geremy shared a "Game Ball" from his baseball team. It is a ball, not used to play with, that is signed by his whole team.
Penmanship: Today we talked about the letter Ii. We noticed that the capital I wears a hat and shoes, but the lowercase i only has a hat. We brainstormed words that start with Ii, which was a challenge.
Art: We created paper dolls that resembled ourselves. We used clothing to color/cut and attach and yarn to resemble the hair. They will be used to create a wall display with our wonderful tissue paper Earths.
Activity: In preparation for our upcoming concert we created headbands that will be worn during the performance. These green headbands are decorated with three types of flower and a worm. VERY CUTE!!!
Penmanship: Today we talked about the letter Ii. We noticed that the capital I wears a hat and shoes, but the lowercase i only has a hat. We brainstormed words that start with Ii, which was a challenge.
Art: We created paper dolls that resembled ourselves. We used clothing to color/cut and attach and yarn to resemble the hair. They will be used to create a wall display with our wonderful tissue paper Earths.
Activity: In preparation for our upcoming concert we created headbands that will be worn during the performance. These green headbands are decorated with three types of flower and a worm. VERY CUTE!!!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Happy Birthday Annie!
Show and Tell: June shared a Spongebob Squarepants toy that was activated with water that he got from Burger King in March.
Readers Workshop: We practiced private and shared reading as well as Writing the Room while meeting with small groups for Guided Reading. Students are continuing to excel with their improvements in independent reading levels!
Music: Today we practiced walking into the cafeteria with all six classes, placing ourselves onto the risers and going through all of the songs in our concert.
Social Studies: We continued discussions that revolved around Earth Day, today examining maps. Students were asked to brainstorm places they've seen maps or what they've seen maps of. They noted seeing maps at places such as Great America, the Zoo, or in their car and recalled that these maps were of places such as states, countries, or even the Earth. We read through a picture atlas that was HIGHLY informative on topics from our Universe (cities ->countries ->Earth ->Solar System -> Universe) to things as specific as habitats including deserts, grasslands, and others.
Happy Birthday Annie: After singing Happy Birthday to Annie in regular, mixed up, and mouse voices we enjoyed a slice of cake that was brought in by her mother and nanny. For our final read aloud of the day, Annie selected her library book A Snowman's Christmas.
Readers Workshop: We practiced private and shared reading as well as Writing the Room while meeting with small groups for Guided Reading. Students are continuing to excel with their improvements in independent reading levels!
Music: Today we practiced walking into the cafeteria with all six classes, placing ourselves onto the risers and going through all of the songs in our concert.
Social Studies: We continued discussions that revolved around Earth Day, today examining maps. Students were asked to brainstorm places they've seen maps or what they've seen maps of. They noted seeing maps at places such as Great America, the Zoo, or in their car and recalled that these maps were of places such as states, countries, or even the Earth. We read through a picture atlas that was HIGHLY informative on topics from our Universe (cities ->countries ->Earth ->Solar System -> Universe) to things as specific as habitats including deserts, grasslands, and others.
Happy Birthday Annie: After singing Happy Birthday to Annie in regular, mixed up, and mouse voices we enjoyed a slice of cake that was brought in by her mother and nanny. For our final read aloud of the day, Annie selected her library book A Snowman's Christmas.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Earth Day!
Show and Tell: Alana brought a really neat toy from Japan to share. It is a portable piano (difficult to explain) but basically it hooks up to each finger and as her fingertips tap any surface it makes the noise of a keyboard. VERY COOL!
Science: We talked about the map of the Earth and that it is usually done in two colors: blue and green. The green identifies land and the blue identifies water. We talked about the key (or legend) that is found on a map so that people who didn't color the map will know what each of the colors means. Students colored their own and created a legend to go with it, then labeled (air, Earth, United States of America).
Music: ALL 6 Kindergarten classes practiced on the stage today, it went very well. You're all in for quite a treat.
Art: Using tissue paper, we created another version of an Earth. Students first painted a white construction paper circle with water, then placed down tissue paper. The inks from the tissue paper bled onto the circle and created a truly beautiful Earth.
Throughout the day we discussed good ideas of ways to respect our planet Earth. These included cleaning up all of your trash at lunch and taking care of plants.
Science: We talked about the map of the Earth and that it is usually done in two colors: blue and green. The green identifies land and the blue identifies water. We talked about the key (or legend) that is found on a map so that people who didn't color the map will know what each of the colors means. Students colored their own and created a legend to go with it, then labeled (air, Earth, United States of America).
Music: ALL 6 Kindergarten classes practiced on the stage today, it went very well. You're all in for quite a treat.
Art: Using tissue paper, we created another version of an Earth. Students first painted a white construction paper circle with water, then placed down tissue paper. The inks from the tissue paper bled onto the circle and created a truly beautiful Earth.
Throughout the day we discussed good ideas of ways to respect our planet Earth. These included cleaning up all of your trash at lunch and taking care of plants.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
sick sick sick
Friday was an interesting day...
Show and Tell: We started our morning with Christian's Show and Tell.. He shared his remote control Thomas the Train. He did an excellent job.
Healthy Play: Miss Sabina came and led us in Healthy Play. We learned a racing game where an entire line of students race around the circle doing a specific action (running, speed walking, hopping, flapping like a chicken, etc).
Art: We completed our April quilt which we started Thursday afternoon. Students cut and assembled their kites to attach onto one of the quilt squares and attached a piece of string.
After recess, Mrs. Robinson took over the class because I had to excuse myself due to the severity of my sinus infection. The class joined Room A for reading buddies, free choice, and ANOTHER round of Healthy Play.
Show and Tell: We started our morning with Christian's Show and Tell.. He shared his remote control Thomas the Train. He did an excellent job.
Healthy Play: Miss Sabina came and led us in Healthy Play. We learned a racing game where an entire line of students race around the circle doing a specific action (running, speed walking, hopping, flapping like a chicken, etc).
Art: We completed our April quilt which we started Thursday afternoon. Students cut and assembled their kites to attach onto one of the quilt squares and attached a piece of string.
After recess, Mrs. Robinson took over the class because I had to excuse myself due to the severity of my sinus infection. The class joined Room A for reading buddies, free choice, and ANOTHER round of Healthy Play.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Animal Tongues
Show and Tell: Today Yuto shared a very unique toy that he recieved as a gift from his mom that was purchased in Japan. This toy allows him to place an animal information card into a device and move a dial, the result is a speaker that plays the sound that the animal makes. Yuto was kind enough to hand out an info card to each student and give them the chance to try it on their own.
Writer's Workshop: Today we wrote our "About the Author" pages for our Farm Informational book. Students wrote about who they are, where they live, and who is in their family. Some students even included a fun fact about them, such as their favorite color or activity. After their writing was completed, they drew a portrait of themselves.
Social Studies: We read a Scholastic Let's Find Out titled "Animals Tongues". Students cut and created a small book, then went through and circled the sight word "the" before practicing reading alone and in partners.
Math: We used farm dice that we had colored and created last week to start a discussion about probability. Students were given the instruction to roll the dice 20 times and record their results. We then got together as a class and compared. We found that the majority of students rolled PIG the most and the majority also rolled DUCK the least. After looking at the dice, we realized that 3 of the sides were PIG, 2 sides were COW, and 1 side was DUCK. Some of the students began to understand that since there were more PIG, that is why most people rolled it the most.
Music: Today in music we practiced once again for our Kindergarten concert. I hope that you have all made plans so that you can attend the concert on the evening of April 29th. It's going to be great!!!
Writer's Workshop: Today we wrote our "About the Author" pages for our Farm Informational book. Students wrote about who they are, where they live, and who is in their family. Some students even included a fun fact about them, such as their favorite color or activity. After their writing was completed, they drew a portrait of themselves.
Social Studies: We read a Scholastic Let's Find Out titled "Animals Tongues". Students cut and created a small book, then went through and circled the sight word "the" before practicing reading alone and in partners.
Math: We used farm dice that we had colored and created last week to start a discussion about probability. Students were given the instruction to roll the dice 20 times and record their results. We then got together as a class and compared. We found that the majority of students rolled PIG the most and the majority also rolled DUCK the least. After looking at the dice, we realized that 3 of the sides were PIG, 2 sides were COW, and 1 side was DUCK. Some of the students began to understand that since there were more PIG, that is why most people rolled it the most.Music: Today in music we practiced once again for our Kindergarten concert. I hope that you have all made plans so that you can attend the concert on the evening of April 29th. It's going to be great!!!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
1st grade concert
Show and Tell: Nikhil shared a small Tyrannosaurus figure and explained some interesting facts about T-Rexes, including their weight (of 8 tons) and the interesting fact that they can knock a car over with their head.
Writer's Workshop: Today we moved onto the next step toward publishing by sharing our work with a friend. Students had to choose a page out of their folder to read to a partner sitting at their table. Once they'd traded, students signed each other's checklist to show that they had traded. After finishing, some children chose to go back and edit previous entries while others chose to add and extra page (or two) to their informational book.
Penmanship: Today we talked about the letter Tt. We found tons of words that started with Tt, a total of 69!!
1st Grade Concert: After recess, we attended the 1st Grade Concert: Adventures in Science. They performed old favorites with scientific lyrics, including songs about the rain forest, states of matter, and the continents. Students were very impressed with the excellent performance.
Computer Lab: Students navigated www.starfall.com. This is an EXCELLENT website with great resources that're helping students work on phonics and promoting good practices which will aid in learning to read.
Art: After talking about our Kindergarten Concert, students were given the chance to draw some icons that will be submitted to Century Graphics for use on our Concert T-Shirts. These icons were created in black and white and ranged from trees to flowers to bugs and even a couple planet Earths. Final selection will be made based on what will fit and look appealing on the t-shirt, but all sketches will be contributed to the effort.
Writer's Workshop: Today we moved onto the next step toward publishing by sharing our work with a friend. Students had to choose a page out of their folder to read to a partner sitting at their table. Once they'd traded, students signed each other's checklist to show that they had traded. After finishing, some children chose to go back and edit previous entries while others chose to add and extra page (or two) to their informational book.
Penmanship: Today we talked about the letter Tt. We found tons of words that started with Tt, a total of 69!!
1st Grade Concert: After recess, we attended the 1st Grade Concert: Adventures in Science. They performed old favorites with scientific lyrics, including songs about the rain forest, states of matter, and the continents. Students were very impressed with the excellent performance.
Computer Lab: Students navigated www.starfall.com. This is an EXCELLENT website with great resources that're helping students work on phonics and promoting good practices which will aid in learning to read.
Art: After talking about our Kindergarten Concert, students were given the chance to draw some icons that will be submitted to Century Graphics for use on our Concert T-Shirts. These icons were created in black and white and ranged from trees to flowers to bugs and even a couple planet Earths. Final selection will be made based on what will fit and look appealing on the t-shirt, but all sketches will be contributed to the effort.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Happy Birthday Christian!
Writer's Workshop: Students completed their third informational page for our farm animal book that we hope to publish.
Science: Students identified and used a word bank to label pictures of several farm animals.
Music: Today we practiced for our Kinder Concert with Ms. McDermott and Ms. Stryker's classes. We sang each song together as a group and will continue to practice in our own classrooms as the concert quickly approaches!
Happy Birthday Christian: Christian's birthday was Friday, but we recognized him today by singing our fun and mixed up version of the birthday song.
Science: Students identified and used a word bank to label pictures of several farm animals.
Music: Today we practiced for our Kinder Concert with Ms. McDermott and Ms. Stryker's classes. We sang each song together as a group and will continue to practice in our own classrooms as the concert quickly approaches!
Happy Birthday Christian: Christian's birthday was Friday, but we recognized him today by singing our fun and mixed up version of the birthday song.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
April Fools!!!
Show and Tell: Today Annie shared her sketchbook.. She has been taking art classes and brought in her sketchbook which contains some of her srtwork, including a crab and several fish.
Reader's Workshop: Students read privately and some wrote the room while I worked with more Guided Reading groups. Those who I met with are making excellent progress and are remembering to follow under the words while they read as well as looking at the pictures for clues.
Writer's Workshop: Today I modeled writing and illustrating my first page for our farm book. Students were reminded of topics that thhey could choose to write about and selected theirs. Then they wrote their first page and illustrated it - each page will only contain one sentence or idea.
Social Studies: As we entered a new month, we have a new lifeskill to focus on. Teamwork is April's lifeskill and means "I will work with other.s" This is an excellent lifeskill for our class to work on as we prepare ourselves for the leap to first grade. We'll focus this month on working together, being kind to one another, and always trying our best.
Read Aloud: After lunch Miss Ciampa and I switched name tags and took one another's classes (pretending to be the other) for a Read Aloud in celebration of April FOol's Day. The kids seemed to have a really good time with the practical joke.
Computer Lab: Students had the chance to use several applications on the website www.starfall.com It is an excellent website that I suggest to anyone who has a computer with internet access at home. There are varying levels for students ranging from letter identification and sounds to learning to read all the way up through "I can read" activities.
Reader's Workshop: Students read privately and some wrote the room while I worked with more Guided Reading groups. Those who I met with are making excellent progress and are remembering to follow under the words while they read as well as looking at the pictures for clues.
Writer's Workshop: Today I modeled writing and illustrating my first page for our farm book. Students were reminded of topics that thhey could choose to write about and selected theirs. Then they wrote their first page and illustrated it - each page will only contain one sentence or idea.
Social Studies: As we entered a new month, we have a new lifeskill to focus on. Teamwork is April's lifeskill and means "I will work with other.s" This is an excellent lifeskill for our class to work on as we prepare ourselves for the leap to first grade. We'll focus this month on working together, being kind to one another, and always trying our best.
Read Aloud: After lunch Miss Ciampa and I switched name tags and took one another's classes (pretending to be the other) for a Read Aloud in celebration of April FOol's Day. The kids seemed to have a really good time with the practical joke.
Computer Lab: Students had the chance to use several applications on the website www.starfall.com It is an excellent website that I suggest to anyone who has a computer with internet access at home. There are varying levels for students ranging from letter identification and sounds to learning to read all the way up through "I can read" activities.
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