Halloween Party '09...

We had a lot of fun at our Halloween Parties. It was fun to dress up and parade around the school in our coustumes. Can you guess who we are?:

Bubble Gum in Class...

We made a book about bubble gum. It took a few days to finish, but we got it done! Each child made their own book to take home to begin a nice collection of books that we'll make and that they can read at home. On the last day of bookmaking, we got to have bubble gum. We tried to blow a bubble. Most kids are still learning how to do it. We had a little poem we were chanting... BUBBLE GUM BUBBLE GUM JUICY AND WET, CAN YOU BLOW A BUBBLE YET? Take a look at our video to see who can blow a bubble, and who can't just yet:

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.

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?

Kindergarten Draws Birds...

As we prepare to say "Goodbye" to winter and "HELLO" to spring, we've been learning all about some of the birds we can see in our neighborhood. We learned about the robin, cardinal, blue-jay, sparrow and hummingbird. There are many other types of birds we could see as well. In the computer lab we drew birds using the PAINT program. We had fun taking what we learned to do with pen and paper and transfer it to the computer. Take a look at what nice birds we drew:

Leprechaun's Gold...

Today was St. Patrick's Day! We all remembered to wear something green! Yesterday in class we wrote letters to the Leprechaun asking him to SHARE his gold with us. We were careful to use our manners and not insist he turn over the whole pot. We thought maybe he would be willing to share it with us, especially if we told him one thing we would buy with the gold. Some friends asked for the "DS" game system, others wanted computers and one person wanted to buy a desk! 

Today we found a note on the chalkboard that read..."No gold...But look for treats"! We began searching the room and lo' and behold we found lots of green candies scattered about! They were tasty! It's not the same as gold, but it was nice he left something for us.

  Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Symmetrical Art Work...

We have been learning about LINE SYMMETRY. We used some of our best drawing talents to create a picture with a felt tipped marker. Mrs. Blakely used the copy machine to create a mirror image of our drawings. We VERY carefully colored both pictures with crayons and colored pencils to emphasize more of the details. Take a look at our hard work:

(click on the speaker icon in the box to turn the music on/off)

 

We have a few more drawings to add, so check back later for more interesting artwork.

35,000 Visitors...

It seems we had a lot to celebrate in February! Among the things we celebrated was the fact that we reached 35,000 visitors to our blog! Anyway we look at it, that's a big number for Kindergarteners! :-)
We celebrated by doing something we haven't done in class this year... we had lunch at school!We had lunch delivered by our good friend Tony, (AKA The Dogfather). We had hotdogs, chips, cookies and juice. YUMMY!
We couldn't have reached this milestone without the help of friends, family and other curious folks that visit our blog.
THANKS everyone for taking an interest in what we do in class!
Thanks also to Tony for his continued support!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Tangrams...

After listening to the book "Grandfather Tang's Story"; we got to work with our own set of tangrams. The challenge was to use all 7 pieces to make a square. It was not as easy as it sounded. We really had to think hard. Our brains were tingling! But no one gave up. Everyone gave their best efforts. Mrs. Blakely used the overhead projector and her tangrams to give a few helpful hints. Gracia and Annette were the first to make the square. Once someone could do it two times on their own, they were able to go out and help a friend. The rule for helping was you couldn't touch their pieces, you could only use words. That too was a challenge. Take a look at some of the fun we had today:

Stuffed Animals and Hot Chocolate...

We've had an unplanned winter break. The weather turned wickedly cold and school has been closed for several days. The wind chills were near minus 20 degrees. OUCH! Before our little "break" we had our "Stuffed Animal Day". This was actually postponed from just before Christmas when we had yet another bad winter day. Anyway, we all brought one of our favorite stuffed animals to school. We drank hot chocolate and watched a movie. It was fun. Take a look at the animals we brought to school:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

note: we are missing a few photos in this show. The missing photos will be added soon so check back soon!

Holiday '08...

Here's hoping everyone had a great Holiday Break and that your New Year is off to a great start. My apologies for not posting much lately. We're back in session tomorrow and will be back on track on our blog as well.

Before the break we had our Holiday Party. Thanks to all the parents who helped out. We were due for a special day on Friday, but ended up with a snow day instead. We've postponed our special day 'til a little later in this week. Here's a few images from our Holiday Parties.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dancing In Kindergarten...

Every now and then, we take a break from our normal routine for a little extra fun. Last Friday we invited our Kindergarten neighbors over to join us for "DANCE FRIDAY". We had a blast! We danced to about 3 different tunes. We have some really good dance moves. If you haven't tried it, don't be shy, give it a try, you'll be surprised at how much fun it can be!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Halloween Fun...

We had fun at our Kindergarten Halloween parties. There were all sorts of fantastic costumes, witches, movie characters, cats and more. One fun costume was Jack as "Dr. McCutie", heart specialist. Job Description: to fix broken hearts! How clever! ;-)

We got to parade around the school. Then back to our classrooms for party fun! Thanks to all the parents for your help with our parties. Take a look at some of the fun we had:

What a year...

Wow, it's hard to believe that our school year has come to an end. It seems we just got started! On Monday, June 2nd said good-bye to all our classmates. The morning class went to the office to lead the school in the Pledge of Allegiance. We gave "Center Time" one last go round. We cleaned the room a bit and said good-bye to our friends. Mrs. Blakely gave us all a hug and a DVD of Kindergarten Memories. It was a sad day, we really like school so saying good-bye was difficult! We hope everyone has a fun summer. Please check back here often because there will be summer updates; including a summer review for Easy Tech.

WOW!! This is also our 100th post on our blog!! ;-)

Dance Friday...

We declared this past Friday, "Dance Friday" in our class. Of course we did our regular work (minus visiting the computer lab...we're making up a snow day). But then Mrs. Blakely brought out her iPod and we danced to the tunes. We thought this might be a different sort of way to burn off a little extra energy. It was fun. Everyone participated. We have some very good dancers in Kindergarten. And despite what some kids thought, you could do it without actually bringing your "dancing shoes" to class ;-).

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sea Life...

We are so excited! We began our Sea Life unit on Monday. We brainstormed things we think we know about the animals that live in the sea or ocean, the things you can see there, and the things you can do there. We used Kidspiration to keep track of our thoughts.

AM thoughts:

PM thoughts:

Check back with us often to see what we have learned about Sea Life!

We Know Birds...

We have learned a lot of interesting facts about birds. Watch our voicethread and you can find out some of what we know about birds...

Bird Watching...

Over the past few days we have been learning all about the birds we might see in our neighborhood. We made binoculars out of paper tubes and went for a nice long bird watching walk. We spotted a lot of birds we know and a few we didn't know. We worked with a partner. We had a pair of binoculars, a sheet for tallies, and a clipboard. We went all around the school yard looking for robins, sparrows, blue-jays, cardinals, hummingbirds, other (mystery) birds and nests. We found a lot of robins, sparrows and "mystery" birds. We didn't see any cardinals, blue-jays or hummingbirds. It was a very windy day, but we had fun!

Young Artists...

We continue learning to work with the Paint program. We are learning to control the mouse to create more detailed drawings and works of art. We welcome any contributions to showcase in our "Art Gallery". Feel free to use whatever drawing program you have availble to create your works of art. Save your work as a "JPG" file and send it to us. If you don't have access to a computer or prefer to draw with markers on paper, you can take a digital photo of your work and send it. We already have a contribution from Issac of Oregon. Thanks!

Music Makers: Tappin' Tunes with Tubes...

Last week in Music Class, Miss Ellis gave us plastic tubes to tap out rhythms. She had us follow her movements to familiar tunes. Take a peek at what fun we had: