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.