Problem Solving, Kindergarten Style May 23, 2013

One area on our Kindergarten progress report states: “Applies problem solving in everyday situations”

But, what is problem solving, what does that mean? In Kindergarten, we look at problem solving from a variety of angles. We problem solve when we figure out how to put on our coat without any help. We problem solve when we are struggling to get along with another and we can talk it out. Problem solving is even something we do during many of our math activities. Problem solving is what we do day in, day out socially, academically, socially, and individually. How are we going to get that block to go where we want it to in the structure? How am I going to get my sleeve right side out again? What happens when I try to put this square peg into a round hole? How can I get my friend to listen to my ideas? Problem solving helps us to become independent and self-sufficient, able to take care of ourselves and our friends.

As I was walking around the room today, I noticed the class involved in a variety of activities. Some were in the block area. Some were in the art area. Some were in sand, writing, puzzles. We were all busy and we were all problem solving in our own way:

Every time we put a puzzle together we are problem solving.

Working together to create a collage is problem solving.

Making a mask,

and figuring out a way to put it around our head,

by whatever means possible (yes, that is tape), is problem solving.

Using our reading strategies to figure our unfamiliar words is problem solving.

And figuring out a way to make a marble travel

is problem solving.

“Applies problem solving in everyday situations”  Yes. I think so!

May 21-24 May 21, 2013

Hello Parents!

Hope everyone had a nice, relaxing long weekend. As I type this, the Blackhawks are playing game 3 against the Red Wings. I made the mistake of watching the Cubs play at the same time the Blackhawks were playing Game 2. I think it is my fault the Hawks lost as the Cubs won. And, if you know anything about my Cubbies, it is that they don’t win all that  much this year! I think they stole their win from the Hawks. There is not Cubs game tonight, though, so here’s hoping!

We are still keeping track of the teams in the playoffs. I think one number combination the class will know this year is 4 and 3 equal 7!

We continue to work on guided reading and writing. We will spend time between now and the end of the year firming up our knowledge of letters and sight words.

In math we continue with our 3D shapes. This is always a fun unit, and we’ll be doing a lot of activities to reinforce our shapes/geometry.

I haven’t been in the class since Friday, so I don’t know how our tadpoles are doing, but we continue to study them in science. We will be going on another nature walk this week as well.

Here are somethings to take note of:

Wednesday is the last day to have any items turned in for our “Pamper Yourself” raffle basket for the Spring Fling. A note regarding this was sent home last week.

Friday, May 31 there will be No Kindergarten as the Kindergarten students for next year will be in to visit. Please note that there is no Kindergarten that day, however there is still school for the other grades.

So much going on! May 7, 2013

There has been so much going on in KD I’d like to give you a glimpse into the room!

To begin with, our STEM time is going really well. It is so interesting to see how intense we can be when we are working hard.  Some photos showing off our work:

 

 

Sketching a plant in the room.

 

Working together to create an intricate structure.

 

Using design skills to create treasure in the sandbox.

Learning about the physics of leverage with ramps.

We have been enjoying weekly nature walks. While on the walk, we sit and sketch what we see. It could be a rock, a tree, or a blade of grass. The important thing is that we sit and observe and actually notice the earth around us. When we get back to the classroom, we write about what we Saw, Felt, Heard, Tasted, and Smelled. We incorporate our literacy goals into our science outcomes- win/win!

Some new things have been added into the science/nature centre. I don’t know if your children have told you or not, but we have some new creatures in the class! We have tadpoles! It is so exciting to watch them. On Thursday they were still in the eggs:

But on Monday, they had all hatched and were swimming around!

It is so exciting to watch them!

We have planted some marigold seeds to add to the school flower garden. Probably the most fun was watching the peet pots expand! But we have enjoyed watching the seeds sprout and watering them:

This has led us to attempt to plant any other seed we come across!

We’ll see how they do.

And FINALLY!!! We are having a ball keeping track of the hockey playoffs. As soon as a team made the playoffs, we wrote down the name and added it to the list. Once the teams were set, we put them up on the board and now comes the fun part. Keeping track of all of the games. It is a great way to re-enforce part/part/whole. How many games have they played? How many have they won? How many more do they need to win? It is a good time!

So much going on, I don’t think we’ll be bored as the end of the school year approaches!

Mrs. Marshall

Earth Day April 23, 2013

I have been reading a book titled, Last Child In the Woods by Richard Louv. It is about the importance of nature in our children’s (and our own) lives. One line that really struck me was, “Children today know about nature. But, they don’t know nature.” What he means is, we speak about taking care of the earth, we speak about the life cycles of animals, but children are no longer exposed to them.

This really has me thinking about how we approach nature during the course of the day. Especially on days like Earth Day. So, instead of killing trees by printing off worksheets, I decided it was important to get out into the trees. I am hoping and planning that nature walks will be a weekly activity for us. We went out, sat down in the far corner of the school property and just watched and listened. We sketched what we saw. In the afternoon, we wrote down what we observed with our 5 senses. It was a great day. Here are the photos:

 

April 22-26 April 22, 2013

Another busy week ahead of us for KD, but we’ll have some fun and learning!

This week we are reading the book In My Backyard. With Monday being Earth Day, we will be spending a lot of time talking about nature. In My Backyard is the story of a boy, his pet dog, and a frog. It is a great way to reinforce that nature is all around us.

We went on a nature walk around the school property today. We sketched some trees and leaves, and wrote about the things we saw, heard, felt, and smelled. It was a great way to combine our science outcomes with our writing outcomes. We will be doing this (hopefully) on a weekly basis from now until the end of the year.

In math we will work on part/part/whole for numbers to 10.

Our sight words are he she are and we are adding with and what.

Here are some more activities we will be participating in this week in regards to Earth Day:

Tuesday- Litterless Lunch (let’s see if we can have the most lunches that do not create litter!).   Earth Day Play (we are going to watch a play put on by Mrs. Read’s and Mrs. Clarke’s grade 3 classes in the afternoon)

Wednesday- Cleaning up the front yard

Thursday- Dress in Blue, Green, Brown- the colours of the earth

Friday- NO SCHOOL! PD DAY!

We are still collecting Canadian Tire Money. The class who collects the most will recieve an extra Phys. Ed. class!!!

Have a great week!

PS, I will be posting pictures from our Nature Walk today later!

Mrs. Marshall

April 15-19 April 16, 2013

Sorry for the late post! But isn’t the weather beautiful?!

Things are moving along quite well in KD these days. We have all been busy, and I have noticed that we have all moved forward in our work. As a matter of fact, I sat down with each guided reading group on Monday and gave them the new books. Wouldn’t you know, they were able to read those books with little or no help from me! Fantastic! So, that means that we will all be moving up to the next level. I am so proud and impressed with their reading. And just today, I have noticed how all of our writing is progressing as well. I don’t know if it’s the sunshine or the routine, but whatever it is I’ll take it!

Speaking of Guided Reading, I will not be sending books home anymore. We have been having a problem getting them all back in time, and since the weather is getting nicer, I know it will be harder to get the reading in each night.  I may be sending a book or two home later, just so you can see how well they are doing. If you have any questions about this, please let me know!

Math is coming along quite nicely as well. We will be finishing off numbers 6-10 and problem solving this month. In May we will move on to geometry/3-D shapes.

This week we will be continuing with the sight words he, she, are and with. We have a pretty good handle on vowels, so we will move on to lower case letter printing. We are reading the book, The Seed, and we are talking about Earth Day and what we can do to be “green”.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Marshall

 

April 8-12 April 7, 2013

Great week last week! The children LOVED STEM time. I knew they would. It’s a great time of constructive play, emphasizing problem solving and higher level thinking skills.

We had a great time with the story It Looked Like Spilt Milk. I will be posting pictures about STEM and our Spilt Milk activities later in the week.

Here’s what’s on tap for the week:
In literacy we are reading the book “I Go for a Walk With Grandpa”. We continue to learn about vowels and are reviewing our letter formation. We added the sight words ‘he’, ‘she’, and ‘are’. We will be adding the word ‘with’ this week. We also have begun learning about word families. For writing, we will learn about the “King of Ing”- how we can take words like go and make it going. I didn’t send home guided reading books last week as we had Monday off, but expect them home this week.

In Math we will continue with our numbers 6-10, especially the concept of “part-part-whole”, learning how numbers can work together to equal other numbers.

In science we will be looking more into clouds and weather- our book for the week is about seasons, so this will fit right in.

We continue to collect money for Easter Seals, as well as Canadian Tire money for the Spring Fling.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Marshall