"How To" Bulletin Board

This month's bulletin board features writing from our "How To" or functional genre. Students wrote about each incredible edible that was made during Writer's Workshop. This board is featured in Mrs. Timmon's blog so follow the link to see the work close up. We couldn't have said it any better:)

Celebrating Seuss

Friday was Theodor Seuss Geisel's birthday (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991), also know as Dr. Seuss. This is an author that we celebrate every day. Every child has a Dr. Seuss book in his/her book bin and gets to pick a new one every week. Some students came in dressed on Friday to celebrate their favorite author. Thank you to Dr. Seuss for teaching so many children to read by using rhyme, repetition and humor to tell a story.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Anyone?

In continuing our "How To" unit, we made chocolate covered strawberries this week. Students were shown how the recipe was taken from a magazine and how all recipes are essentially "How To's" In one magazine, we found how to repot a plant, how to do stretching exercises and our favorite "How to Make Chocolate Covered Strawberries." We followed the directions and they came out delicious. Hopefully, the children explained the process and they are making them at home for a lovely dessert.
Chocolate Covered Strawberries on PhotoPeach

Visiting the Baby Chicks

Today the students were treated to special visit to a fifth grade classroom to see the baby chicks that have recently hatched. Every year, fifth grade has the opportunity to see this life cycle in action. They explained to the kindergarten students how they they incubated the eggs and the care it took to finally get to them to the 28th day when they started pecking at their shells. The chicks will stay for a while longer and then move on to live on a nearby farm. Thanks 5th grade for the wonderful welcome and experience for the kindergarteners. They really enjoyed learning about the chicks.

Making Chocolate Pudding -- How to

The children are having a lot of fun in Writer's Workshop sharing their expertise in all that they know how to do. They have written "How to Make Paper Airplanes," "How to Skate," "How to Make a Shirt", and "How to Get Ready for School." During the Demo Lessons, they have been shown "How to Make Popcorn," "How to Make a Bear Valentine Box" and now "How to Make Chocolate Pudding." All the ingredients were laid out and the instructions were followed on how to make it. We poured, measured and stirred. It was another wonderful shared experience that they could all write about...and a tasty one too!

Functional Writing: How to Make Popcorn

Our "How To" writing is a lot more fun with shared experiences like making popcorn. Students watched as all the steps were demonstrated in this "How To". First the popcorn machine was plugged in and turned on. Then two tablespoons of oil was put in. Next a half cup of popcorn kernels were added. Finally the popcorn popped and was served. This was a first time experience for some students. They thought that popcorn was made in the microwave or at the movies. They watched several times so that enough was made for everyone and then they wrote about "how to" make it. We had a "popping" good time...except we forgot about the salt!

Valentine Memories in Kindergarten

Students have been bringing in their empty cereal boxes for our Valentine activity. This weekend the boxes were cut and painted brown. When the children arrived on Monday, they made their Bear Valentine Mailboxes. This worked out perfectly for Writer's Workshop. We are in the Functional genre which is basically "How to" writing. After they made their bear box, they wrote a "How to Make a Bear Mailbox" for Writer's Workshop. It was a great way to include the activity into writing and have lots of fun doing it.

Reading Fairy Visits Daily

You never know who the reading fairy may visit during Reader's Workshop. She looks for good readers who are focused on their books and using their strategies to figure out new words they encounter. These two students K and M were visited just the other day and you can see how happy they are when were "caught" reading a good book! Who will the reading fairy be visiting next? We'll just have to wait and see!!

Groundhog's Day in Kindergarten

After reading a few books on the folklore of "Groundhog's Day", students couldn't wait to make their predictions on whether the groundhog was going to see his shadow or not. Five children voted "Yes" and twenty eight children voted "No". On the morning of February 2nd, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter.

100th Day of School

Celebrating 100 Days of Kindergarten on PhotoPeach

Celebrating the 100th day of school is a milestone in the year of a kindergarten student. We have been looking forward to this since the first day of school. Every day is logged on a sticky note and days are counted using straws bundled into groups of ten. For homework, students were invited to come to school wearing 100 of something. We had a hat made of 100 straws and one made of 100 silly bands. We had 100 gummy worms and 100 pieces of popcorn...there were even 100 ants on someone's pants! This also marks only 80 days left of kindergarten and we plan on making every day remaining in this most precious year memorable ones!! Happy 100th Day from the Mall-ards!

Bingo Book Bonanza - 25 Book Challenge

This week students were rewarded for reading their 25 books for this quarter by attending the principal's Bingo party. Every student in the school who attained the 25 Book Challenge had the opportunity to play bingo with the principal. There were all kinds of prizes: stuffed animals, books, and games. Every student in our class was a winner and went home with a special prize. It was a great way to reward the children for something they love doing anyway...reading!!

Double checking to make sure they didn't miss one!

Lots of prizes to choose.

Saehae Bok Mani Badseiyo.- Korean New Year - Year of the Dragon

Korean New Year on PhotoPeach

Saehae Bok Mani Badseiyo which is Happy New Year in Korean. On Tuesday, we celebrated the Korean New Year. Ms. Hanna came in to teach the students about the biggest holiday for the Korean people. It is a time to celebrate the family - past and present. The first thing they do on this special holiday is to wish each family member a Happy New Year. After first having bowed before each other, the parents will sit down on the ground and will receive their children's greetings for the New Year. While doing this, the children kneel down in front of their parents, performing a deep bow by touching the ground with their forehead (Sebae). Ms. Hanna taught the children these bows and "B" was gifted a hand-made headband for her most gracious bow. The students learned where Korea is on the map and were shown a slide show of the special holiday foods. The children were also given special Korean cookies. Thank you for sharing your wonderful traditions with the class!
Celebrating the Year of the Dragon on PhotoPeach

Martina Una Cucarachita Muy Linda; Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: Un Cuento Cubano / A Cuban Folktale (Spanish Edition)

Martina the Cockroach Retelling on PhotoPeach
Every month Principal Phillips chooses a book that the whole school receives for their classroom library. This is called our "Book of the Month." This month we received the book "Martina the Beautiful Cockroach" by Carmen Agra Deedy. However, the book was in Spanish. The lesson was to experience how children who speak other languages must feel to be handed a book and asked to read without understanding. This opened our eyes to feeling what others must feel in this situation. Luckily, a few days later, we were also given the English version of the book and were grateful so that we could share this wonderful book with the students. Then we thought that we didn't want the Spanish version to just "go away." Again luck was on our side when our room mom (who is Cuban-American) not only read the book to our class in Spanish, but brought props and food to accompany the experience. Thanks Lourdes for the excellent performance of "Martina Una Cucarachita Muy Linda"...and such a lovely cockroach you were!!

Morning Message

One of the student's favorite activities each day is reading the morning message. This is when they find out some of the news of the day. In the beginning of the year, the morning message had all the letters and punctuation. As time has gone on, the message changes...a capital letter may be needed, some letters in words may disappear, and punctuation is added. During this ten minute time frame, students learn everything from sight words to quotation marks. Vocabulary words, compound words, antonyms, and synonyms are also sprinkled in from time to time. Children are called on via name cards to go up and correct the message. If they get stuck, we help them remember some basic rules: the first letter of people's names are capitalized, days of the week are too, and if it is asking a question, then of course it gets a question mark. As you can see from the before and after photo, they are learning a lot about sentence structure in kindergarten.

Learning about Dr. Martin Luther King

Students were very interested in the books displayed and wondered who the man was on the covers of these books. We read the book "Martin Luther King - A Picture Story" to the children. It told the story of Dr. King as a young boy. Interesting facts included his love of baseball and other sports, he loved to use "big words" like his father the preacher, and how he started college at age 15. After two years in school, he decided to become a minister. The book also told how he felt when he didn't go to the same school as his friends. It was hard for many of the children to understand the reasoning behind some of the things that happened, but they did understand his message of being kind to one another. We celebrate his birthday on Monday...he would have been 83 years old.

Blend Ladders - Using Short Vowels

Recently we have added "Blend Ladders" to our Skills Block each day. By using the short vowels and consonants each ladder is created. For instance, ba, be, bi, bo, and bu would be the first ladder. This CV (consonant, vowel) will help students recognize most short vowel words - especially when adding the next consonant letter. After we brainstorm words on the ladder, students write and draw the ladder in their Skills notebook for extra practice. They are now noticing these words when they read and write.

Author Visit: Carmen Agra Deedy

What a treat it was to come back to school after the winter break and have an author visit our school. This was not just any author...it was Carmen Agra Deedy! Carmen is a New York Times bestselling author and has been writing and traveling around the world telling stories for more than twenty years. Her books, including 14 Cows for America, The Library Dragon, The Yellow Star, and Martina the Beautiful Cockroach , have received numerous awards and honors. Born in Havana, Cuba, she came to the United States as a refugee in the 1960s. She told the story of her journey when she was just three years old. She didn't want to leave the land she knew but it was not safe to stay there. Carmen loved to listen to baseball games on the radio and told of her first trip to see a baseball game. The students were enthralled with her storytelling and so were the adults. Afterward, some students went to have their books autographed and they just loved meeting her.
Carmen Agra Deedy Visits Chets Creek on PhotoPeach

We Are Back in 2012

Everyone was back in school today excited to share how they spent their holidays and what they got for Christmas. It was great seeing all the children and we noticed a slight growth spurt in some of them. Today was "Resource Day" which means the students have the opportunity to go to Music, Art, P.E., or the Library and have a teacher who specializes in that subject teach them. Today they had Art. They learned about Origami (折り紙?. This is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. The children created their own origami dogs. They had a great time and were very proud of their puppies!

Our Holiday Breakfast and Celebration

Our Holiday Pictures and Party - December 2011 on PhotoPeach
Our Holiday Party was all it could be. We started off with a wonderful breakfast. Students brought in everything from orange juice to pancakes and sausage. After the breakfast, children participated in making holiday crafts. Snowflake ornaments, reindeer food bags, snowman buckets, and decorating sugar cookies were some of the activities. After lunch, a student from last year shared Hanukkah traditions with the class and taught them how to play driedel.
Coach Hall visited and read "The Polar Express" to the children. It all culminated at the end of the day with second grade students running in and singing "Feliz Navidad" - a super ending to a terrific day. The Mall-ards will be back in January, 2012 - Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Very Happy New Year!!

Oh Where is the Gingerbread Man?

The Gingerbread Man on PhotoPeach

For some reason, this year, this class has been into the "The Gingerbread Man" series of stories. We had read "The Gingerbread Man", "The Gingerbread Boy", "The Gingerbread Friends", "The Gingerbread Pirates" and other gingerbread folktales. In order to add to that excitement, today we made our own Gingerbread Man. The children stirred all the ingredients: cake mix, oil, eggs and water and we poured the batter into our gingerbread man mold. The smell was delightful in the room and the students couldn't help but stare at him baking in the oven. Then we had to leave the classroom for lunch. When we returned to class, the Gingerbread Man was GONE!! He slipped out of the oven and the children where determined they were going to find him. We went outside, to the Media Center, up to the second floor and we finally found him in Mrs. Alvarado's kindergarten classroom! We took him back to the classroom and decided to lock him in the office while we made a few more for the class to share. It was such a fun time and one the children will remember for a long time!

Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread Houses on PhotoPeach
It is a tradition in our classroom that we make Gingerbread Houses in Kindergarten. Parents supplied the needed sweets: candy canes, graham crackers, Skittles, cereal, pretzels, ice cream cones, gum drops, and icing. The children had a wonderful time creating their very own Gingerbread House!

The Christmas Tree

The lobby Christmas tree is decorated with a string of pictures from every classroom in the school. We just had to get a picture with the kids all around the tree.

Don't Forget About Books!

This is a great video that just had to be shared. "It's a Book" was written by Lane Smith. In this digital age of laptops, iPads, Nooks, and other technology, it's just great to sit back and read a book. During the holidays, remember to read to your child and add a few books under the tree. They don't need batteries!!

Bulletin Board: "Hear the Pitter-Pattern"

Our bulletin board this month, "Hear the Pitter-Pattern" features our work in Writer's Workshop, Science, and Math. In Writer's Workshop, we have been creating pattern books much like the books they bring home each night to practice. They feature a general topic and then each page refers to that topic in some way. The books on this board were written after our nature walk a few weeks ago. The students described the items they collected by writing a pattern book about it. For instance, "I found a leaf." "It is pointy." In Math, they completed a pattern, created a pattern with stickers, created a hopscotch pattern and labeled these patterns, such as AABB, ABCABC, etc. For the past few weeks, we have been able to refer to patterns across the day in Reader's, Writer's and Math Workshops. The students are getting a true sense of what a pattern is and how they are found in the world all around us.

Better Not Pout Bags

Here's one way to keep the holiday excitement in check -- it's our "Better Not Pout" bags. Each day in December the children are awarded a special treat in their bag for good behavior. The treats may include lollipops, stickers, pencils, candy canes and other miscellaneous goodies. The bags serve as a constant reminder that we are still in school and we have to adhere to our class promise. If there is someone who does not make good choices on a certain day, then the treat is not put in the bag (just for that day). The students are so excited with these bags and can not wait until the last day before winter break because that is when they receive their reward...so you "better not pout!"

Trimming the Tree

It has been a tradition at our school for every class to decorate the enormous tree in the front lobby. We put each child's picture on a strand of stars that go around the Christmas tree. Today all of us went to the front lobby to add our decoration to it. When it is completely adorned, we will be taking our holiday class picture in front of it. Now we will start our countdown to the big day!!

Pow Wow Video 2011

Below is a video (thank you Melanie Holtsman) of our Pow Wow day. This will explain the tradition and also show some of the happenings during this celebration.

Pow Wow 2011 from Chet the Eagle on Vimeo.

More Pow Wow Pictures

These pictures will give you a glimpse into our wonderful Pow Wow day. Thank you to Melanie Holtsman, our school photographer, for capturing the spirit of the day.

Thanksgiving Turkeys and Happy Wishes

With only two days of school this week, we decided that it would be a great time to talk about the Mayflower, Pilgrims and make hand-turkeys. We talked about all the people and things of which we are thankful: our moms, dads, grandparents, teachers, friends, our houses, the food we have to eat and the great school we attend. During this time time of giving thanks, we want to thank the Mall-ard parents. Sharing your child with us is our greatest joy. Thank you for all you do for our class. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday...and see everyone next week!! gobble, gobble :)

Pow Wow - The Best Ever 2011

We were so excited that Friday was finally here...the day of our Pow Wow. We have learned about the Lenape tribe, practiced our dances, and had our attire ready to put on. After the the ceremony, students enjoyed a day of activities including: music, art, taste-testing and outside activities. The day was superior in every way and one that the children will remember for a long time. To read more about our Pow Wow and the history behind the event visit timmonstimes.blogspot.com

Pow Wow Kindergarten 2011 on PhotoPeach

Family Night - Making a Wigwam

On Tuesday night families were invited to come into the classroom and make a wigwam. For several weeks we have been collecting plastic gallon milk and water jugs. The containers were cut off at the middle and it left us with a base to build the wigwam. Paper towel strips were cut up and glued to it. This represented the bark to cover the wigwam. It was a great night to have parents come in and work with their child on this project.
Making a Wigwam - Family Night on PhotoPeach

Lenape Family Project

Lenape Nation on PhotoPeach


Students and parents were invited to research the Lenape tribe for homework. They were given a card board cut out to dress their Native American accordingly. Students presented their project to the class and told how they created it. Our Pow Wow is fast approaching. The children are learning so much about the "Original People."

Independent Reading in the Wigwam

Each day we invite a few students into the wigwam for "Wigwam Reading". This special place at the entrance to our classroom is a great place to have a few benches for the kids to enjoy their books. Our "wigwam readers" love their books even more with the quietness inside the tent. Sometimes a little change of scenery and a comfortable spot makes a book a little more enjoyable. I wonder who will be our "wigwam readers" tomorrow :)

Learning About the Lenape

If you were to enter and exit our classroom, you would be going through our wigwam. The children just love it and they are getting more excited by the day with our Pow Wow next Friday. Parents are helping with getting the Lenape dress and accessories ready. Students are also working on painting colorful shakers for the various dances we will be performing.

Today we read a wonderful book called "Rainbow Crow" (a Lenape Legend). This is the story symbolizing the value of selflessness and service to others. We love this story so much we want to share it with you - just click on the link - and we know you will also find this Lenape legend touching and heartwarming.

Writing Like Scientists

Today for Writer's Workshop we went outside to observe and collect some of the world around us. First we adopted a tree which we will watch change as the seasons go by. The class chose the tree (above) to be "our class tree". Then we gathered leaves, flowers, bark, shells, stones, and sticks in large zip lock baggies. They picked up anything they found to be interesting. Tomorrow we will be observing our collection with magnifying glasses to really notice all of the special characteristics of the objects we found. Our researchers will be writing about how these items look and feel. They will be noticing the world around them and writing about it like never before. We can't wait to read all about their findings.

Children are proud of what they have found.

Looking for anything that looks interesting.

Knots on a Counting Rope - Our Pow Wow Begins

Every November Kindergarten students at our school enjoy a Social Studies Unit on Native Americans. It culminates at our annual Pow Wow. Our class is the Lenape tripe. The Lenape are called the "Original People". They were a peaceful tribe from New York to Delaware. The Lenape helped early settlers learn how to fish in rivers and grow vegetables native to this land. Students learned that they did not have televisions, phones or iPads back then. The art of storytelling was valued as a way to pass history on from one generation to another. The story "Knots on a Counting Rope" by Bill Martin and John Archambault is about an Native American boy who hears the story of his birth from his grandfather. He was born very sick but the grandfather would not let him die. He had named him Boy-Strength-of-Blue-Horses and the boy did grow strong but the sickness left him blind. The homework this week was for parents to tell a story or stories to their child and then knot the counting rope every time they heard it so that they could one day tell the story. Enjoy listening to story "Knots on a Counting Rope."

The Science of Pumpkins

There are so many activities related to pumpkins. For the past few weeks in Science, the children have been learning about this very special seasonal fruit. Oh yes, it is a fruit. We learned that fruits have seeds in them and vegetables do not.This was a big surprise to everyone. Children were invited to scoop out the pumpkin's pulp so that we could estimate the amount of seeds that were in it.

After all of the seeds were gathered, students wrote their guesses on a sticky note and placed it on the chart. The estimates ranges from 40 to 80,000!

Then they came up and placed ten seeds each onto plates so that we could count by 10's and find out the number. That pumpkin had over 300 seeds! Today our experiment was a sink and float activity whereby the students predicted if they thought various items might sink or float. There was a pen, paper clip, cup, bracelet, water bottle, stapler, gourd, and a few different sized pumpkins in the tub of water. The children were quite surprised to out what actually sank and floated.