Enjoying the weather and learning about fall!

Tearing paper to create a pumpkin

We ended our fall leaf unit by creating graphs using our leaves from our fall walk. The K-Kids learned that a bar graph represents information gathered, and they created their own bar graphs for the color of leaves found. They did a great job analyzing the information and determining which color of leaf we had the most of and the least of. We then started learning about pumpkins. We created a learning chart by first identifying what we already think we know about pumpkins (our schema). By identifying these points as a class, I can determine where to go with the unit and help clear up misconceptions (one misconception: pumpkins sink - I can't wait for them to find out that pumpkins actually float!).  We also created paper pumpkins by tearing orange paper to create a collage effect.  It is great exercise for those little fingers to do all of that tearing and gluing - leads to stronger pencil grips and being able to write for longer periods of time without tiring!

Candy Land, Trouble, and Sorry are all great board games for K-Kids to play! During math this week, the K-Kids created their own board games. They designed the premise of the game, and they designed two or three tricks on their game boards to make it more interesting (a bridge connecting two points, an X which means you go back to the beginning, etc.). They were put into pairs and taught each other the game and played both games. The K-Kids were sooooo excited about their games and took such pride in explaining the rules. It was also great practice for rolling a die, quickly recognizing the number of dots on a die, and one-to-one correspondence for moving around the game board. The games went home with the children this week - maybe they taught you all how to play as well! 

Writer's Workshop this week provided an opportunity to learn about periods, uppercase and lowercase letters and spacing between words. The K-Kids practiced writing complete sentences and matching the sentence to their drawn picture. They also practiced writing sentences with an uppercase letter at the beginning and then using the correct lowercase and uppercase letters throughout the sentence. The introduction of the period was presented as a secret that "little kids may not know" and as I reviewed it each week, the K-Kids made me whisper the rules of the period so the little PreK and JK friends would not find out. It was very cute! As usual, many of the K-Kids are experimenting with the usage of a period (or sentence stopper as I sometimes call a period) and use periods after everything - their names, the first letter of a word, etc. This is absolutely fine, and as the year progresses they will recognize when a sentence is over and when to use that period (shhh...don't tell the "little ones"!). 

Kindness week was a success! We learned about being kind to ourselves, to each other, to Roycemore, and to our community. Through discussions, story books, and hands-on activities, the K-Kids learned what "kindness" is and how we can make ourselves and others feel happy. The kids gave each other compliments (put-ups) and demonstrated with their bodies how it made them feel (head higher, shoulders straighter, smile). I read a book about a little boy who was not very kind to his friends, and the K-Kids showed me how those put-downs would make them feel (head lower, frown, shoulders down). Take a look in the Lower School Hallway to find your child's quilt square in the Roycemore Lower School Kindness Quilt! We could not have asked for better weather on Friday for our park day and beach clean-up day! Each time the K-Kids earn a compliment while walking quietly in the hallway (being respectful) or as a class are sitting quietly on the learning rug (appropriate), working together to clean up the classroom (respectful) or do a great job in special classes even when I am not there (trustworthy) - they get a jewel in a jewel jar. The K-Kids earned all of those STAR (safe, trustworthy, appropriate and respectful) jewels this week and for a prize we went to a community park by the Noyes el stop. It was a beautiful Friday morning, and the kids LOVED playing and exercising at the park. That afternoon the entire Roycemore Lower School walked to the Lighthouse Beach to clean up the beach for our finale to Kindness Week. I am sure the K-Kids slept very well on Friday night after the very busy and active day! Thank you to our parent volunteers for helping at the beach! Enjoy the pictures from the park and beach clean-up.