The Dolphin Class

On Wednesday, February 1, 2012 we celebrated being in school for 100 days.  After we cleared up the misconception that we don’t get to go to first grade after 100 days, we got down to celebrating!

The day was split up into four activities and the kids rotated around through the kindergarten rooms doing activities to do with the number 100.  In Ms. Howard’s room they made a headband with 100 tally marks.  In Ms. Zehra’s room they made a book about the number 100.  In Ms. Krista’s room they practiced skip counting to 100 by 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s. Mr. Eugene and Ms. Jacky helped them count out 100 items for a delicious 100-item snack!

The activities for 100 will continue throughout the rest of the week to include how to write the number 100 in different languages, estimating how long 100 seconds is, making a list of 100 things we are thankful for and/or doing a dot to dots up to the number 100.

Check out some photos (click to enlarge)

100-Tally Mark Headbands:

Number Books:

Skip Counting:

100-item snack:

Today was so much fun!  Our new unit of inquiry, Materials and Properties, is underway.  We have been exploring different materials all week as we sorted and classified them into categories such as plastic, paper and wood.  Thank you for all the donations of materials but we still need more!!!  Please send in materials that float especially.

Today we did an experiment called Bounce or Break?  We examined seven objects and predicted whether they would bounce or break when dropped from the second story landing.  The objects we based our predictions on were a basketball, a watermelon, an empty bottle of water, a full bottle of water, a pillow, a bag of flour and a trash can!

Check out the video of all the fun here:

Now, kids, here’s a question for you:

Name one thing from your bedroom you think would bounce and one thing you think would break if we had dropped them today (but don’t test this at home!!) Put your thoughts in the comment box and we will share them in class! 

Our new unit of inquiry, Materials and Properties,  will start on Monday. Please send in materials that the Dolphins can use to explore, sort, classify and touch.  We will use these materials to explore bouancy, flexibility and other fun experiments like if the objects bounce or break.

The materials we are looking for include:

* paper

* plastic

* wood

* metal

*  Styrofoam

* cardboard

* fabric

Items are needed as soon as Monday!  Thanks for your support.

Kindergarten is halfway over!  It is hard to imagine but it is wonderful to see all the growth your children are making.  It’s been a very busy semester and December was especially busy.  The Kindergarten Concert was lots of fun and the party was fun for everyone!

This holiday season it is important to think of those less fortunate.  When asked what they could share with others, here are some of the answers given:

“I will give the poor peoples monies because they can not buy food. My mom gives me money and I will give the poor people monies because the poor people don’t have monies.”

“If I didn’t like the colors my toy clock, I could give it to someone who liked the colors.”

“Probably I would share some of my food and some of my candy.  The candy that I don’t like because it doesn’t taste very good like blue Tootsie Rolls.”

“I would share the toys I don’t need anymore and the toys my sister doesn’t use anymore.”

“I would share food because poor people don’t have money and they don’t have food to eat like fish, rice, vegetables and fruit.” 

“I would share water because they just have dirty water.” 

“I could share my Korean food to them.”

“I would share toys and food and they can also live with me, play with me and go to school with me!”

“”I could give them some like markers and pencils so they could color and food  and flowers so they can stick the flower on the paper and a watch.”

“I would share my toys.”

Have a wonderful vacation and we will see you back on January 9, 2012!

Reflection (ri-flek-shuhn):  noun

We do math all throughout the day in Room P002.   A lot is done in the morning with calendar.  For example, we count the days of school, we practice tally marks, we do mental calculations (like what is ten more than a given number), we work on patterns and time.

This semester we have also learned about numbers to 30, non-standard measurement, sorting, graphing, tallies and other fun things.  Here are some pictures of us doing math in the classroom. 

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Story telling.

Jeepney Ride.

Ice Cream.

Language.

Songs.

Cooking.

Art.

Parade.

Wow, what a great day!  Thanks to all the parent volunteers!

Twas the night before the museum, when all through the room  All the Dolphins were busy for visitors soon.   They researched, asked questions and drew pictures with care,  with anticipation of visitors and friends being there.      

The shark group was large and comprised of all boys. They had drawings and posters and assortment of toys.  The shells and crab group had just four quiet girls -who confidently shared about shells (but no pearls). The dophin-whale group was a loud, rowdy bunch. But who knew what those mammals would eat for their lunch.                                            

The classroom was decorated, looked just like the sea.  The tables were separated to make groups of three.  The children practiced and practiced the facts they would say. To be totally prepared for their museum day. 

 The day finally came, the kids brought in their gear:  Swimsuits and bubbles and snorkels were here!  They brought wetsuits and goggles and masks of all kinds, then stood by their tables in excited lines.

The room looked great, did not look the same!  Then shortly thereafter the visitors came. Some parents came too, as excited as most (though asked to please wait for the upcoming blog post!)                                                  

The time finally came for the museum to begin! The kids shared what they knew of the group they were in.   Lots of facts and opinions of sea creatures were said (though we missed sharing the day with Layla and Ved.)      

Our Museum Day is now over, the room back to before (cleaning it up was a bit of a chore.)  But it was so awesome having an ocean in here!  We cannot wait to see what we’ll be doing next year!

Preparing for the Museum:

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Ocean Museum Open for Visitors:

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Mr. Steve came in and showed us how to use iPads!  Several of us already knew how to use them but he showed us some new games and let us explore independently.  We can’t wait to use them again!Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.

Are you remembering to pack healthy lunches and snacks in reusable containers?

Help save the Earth!

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