4th of July...

This video was posted here last year to celebrate the 4th of July...it's well worth celebrating again:

Interactive ABC Book....

We spend a lot of time learning letters and letter sounds in Kindergarten. We play all sorts of games to help build our skills. Here's a fun interactive ABC book created by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich. All the animals in the book have been created using the letters of the animals name in Bembo font  and punctuation marks only! Amazing! I hope you enjoy it:

Bembo's Zoo

50,000 Visitors...

WE DID IT!! The kids of "Kindergarten Tales" have anxiously awaited the day we would hit 50,000 visitors. I will say, I had my doubts that we would make it before the school year was over. The kids were promised a "GAME DAY" at school if we made it. Looks like Monday will be Game Day for us. Thanks to all our visitors for you interest in what we do in Kindergarten. We hope you haven't been disappointed. We hope you will continue to visit us here! THANKS!!!

Octopus Come to Kindergarten...

We learned about the octopus a few weeks ago. Today, Mrs. Blakely surprised us by bringing three of them to school. They were not alive but they were REAL! There were two babies and one REALLY BIG one. We were all thrilled, and a little scared. We paired up with a friend and took turns looking at, touching and holding the octopus! Mrs. Varava came in to take pictures for us. You can see the excitement on all of our faces:

Thanks to Mrs. Varava for taking all these wonderful photos!

We Know Fish....

We have been learning about FISH! We know that...

• fish breathe out of gills
• they are cold-blooded animals
• fish are all different colors and sizes
• some fish have fake eyes
• fish don't have eyelids
• they sleep with their eyes open
• fish that live deep in the bottom of the sea can sometimes light up
• clown fish live in sea anemones
• most fish have a skeleton or backbone
• lung fish can breathe out of the water
• swordfish have a nose that looks like a sword
• fish must live in water
• Mom sea horse give the eggs to dad to hold onto
• some fish have weapons
• some fish make nests
• some fish hold their eggs in their mouths
• some fish eat other fish
• if a fish has sharp teeth then you know they eat other fish
• sharks have rows and rows of teeth
• the biggest fish of all is the whale shark
• the archer fish can spit water to catch his food
• salmon can go in salt water or fresh water
• you can get a cut from shark skin
• some fish go to cleaning stations
• big fish let little go in their mouths to clean their teeth
• some fish live in fresh water and some live in salt water
• sharks are fish
• some fish use camouflage
• some fish are blind
• if sharks and rays stop moving they will sink

We know LOTS more about fish. Take a look at the pictures we made of fish using the Paint program. We drew the fish and labeled the parts....gills, eye, mouth, fin, & tail.

A Hermit Crab Visits....

We have been learning about all sorts of interesting sea animals. We learned about hermit crabs. We know they live in shells and as they grow, they will move out of one shell and into another.
A few days ago, Jake (a former Kindergartner, now in 5th grade) shared his pet hermit crab with us. He showed us what it eats and the tank he brought it to school in. His crab's shell is painted to look like Lisa on the T.V. show "The Simpson's". We thought that was pretty funny. We  recently read the book A HOUSE FOR HERMIT CRAB by Eric Carle so having a real hermit crab visit us was a treat! Jake passed it around and many of the kids were brave enough to hold it. Others chose to just look. Either way, it was neat to see it up close! Thanks Jake for sharing!

Spring Sing '09...

On May 6th, we had our Spring Sing. We got to go on the stage at Bartlett High School to perform for our families and friends. We were both nervous and excited! Miss Byker taught us songs to sing. We did a GREAT job!

Kindergarten Chicago Cubs & Sox Fans...

Recently, one of our classmates asked if we were Chicago Cubs or Sox fans. We thought this was something worth graphing. Each child signed a "baseball" and placed it on either the Cubs or Sox side. There were some who didn't have a preference at all, they added their names to a separate graph. Take a look at the results for yourself:

Do you have a favorite baseball team?

Earth Day & Recycling Dead Batteries...

Today we celebrated Earth Day. We watched the video THE LORAX and talked more about doing our part to help reduce the amount of waste we add to our Earth. After our recent visit from SCARCE; we started wondering what changes we could make in our lifestyles to help the Planet. One thing we decided was to start recycling dead batteries. We sent a note home letting our families know about our decision. The response was overwhelming! We got a LOT of batteries. Grace brought in two very large bags of them. The PM class worked hard to count them all. We had 248 AA batteries alone. In all we had more than 425 batteries in less than one week! That's AMAZING! We are hoping to inspire others in our school to bring them to us as well. We will give them to a local fire department to dispose of properly for us. This will keep them out of the landfills and ultimately help the planet! If we can do this...so can you! Won't you join us in our efforts. Remember, together we can do so much!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...

As we get closer to EARTH DAY (April 22, 2009) We are learning about all kinds of ways that we can take small steps and have a BIG impact on the environment. Recently, our P.T.O. sponsored a visit from SCARCE, an organization dedicated to educating us on the values of Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling. Miss Linda shared with us so many interesting facts about the amount of waste there is in communities all across America. We were fascinated by some of the information she shared. We learned it's important to REDUCE the amount of waste we create. One way to REDUCE is to find ways to REUSE old things. Other ways include RECYCLING some of our old things. She showed us that clothing can be made from plastic bottles and corn! AMAZING!! We learned that Nike has a special program where you can drop off old gym shoes and they are making playground surfaces, playground equipment and new shoes from the old gym shoes. Their program is called REUSE A SHOE. You might consider gathering and donating old shoes from kids at your school. We are planning to do it too. Miss Linda really got us inspired and thinking about ways to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. How about you? What can you do? Maybe our video will spark some thoughts: