Buggin' Out

Some crawl, some hop, some swim, and those are just the kindergarteners! We learned this week what makes insects unique.  We kept an anchor chart going all week long to record facts as we read books during story time. We began the week with a rousing rendition of "The Ants Go Marching" starring myself, the PM class, and the very talented Ms. Blevins - who was filling in for Mrs. Taylor.

As I sang/read, Ms Blevins posted pictures of the ants on the board, adding on to either side of the "sidewalk". This served as an introduction to even and odd numbers. 

The students used those same ants in the number work center this week.  They ordered the ants from 1-30. 

They also had ants marching all over their math paper that day. 

The next day we read 'I Love Bugs"

We saw lots of different kinds and we sorted them onto our anchor chart according to how they "got around." This activity taught me that I don't know very much about bugs - but Mrs. Taylor certainly does. I had no idea so many bugs could swim, hop, and fly. So, I was having to make duplicates of each bug so I could place them under multiple categories. 

Then the students selected their own picture of a bug and wrote about it in their journals. Just like last week, they got to use the picture in their illustrations. 

The students got to work with many different kinds of insects in centers this week. In the writing center, the students reached into the mystery box to pull out a card with a bug on it. They matched it up to their worksheet and recorded its name. 

This is a pic from last school year because I forgot to take a pic from this week.  

In the blocks center, the students had to build homes for various bugs.  I had some fun with them on Monday, while explaining this center. I told them the bugs in the boxes were real-that they'd been alive since my first year of teaching.  I gave them many warnings about how to handle them gently and make sure not to step on them.  I told them they were fast little critters and might hop out of the homes they build if they don't build them high enough. I really had them going. But I went a little further. I asked for a volunteer to come up and hold one. Most of their hands shot up.  I should have captured the moment on video, but I'll just narrate the pictures below instead. 

I had Bradyn push his sleeves back so the bug wouldn't crawl up his shirt. 

Then I told him if he had eaten any sugar at lunch that the bug would try to crawl into his mouth to get the sugar off his teeth. He immediately puffed out his cheeks and pursed his lips....hard.

He showed it to the class (they look pretty real -especially to five year olds.)

Then I bumped his hand so it looked like the bug had hopped out and into the group of kiddos. Jakota's face says it all.

Then I let them in on the joke.

Here are some of the children playing with the cool bugs.

A few of our other buggy centers were Insect Estimation at the math games center. The students took turns filling up different shaped/sized containers with plastic bugs. They handed it to their partner who estimated how many were in the jar.  Then they spilled and ordered them onto their counting mats to see how close their estimates were.  Activities like this are great for teaching other math concepts indirectly. The students were also realizing how many they were off by (subtracting, adding), and were adjusting their estimates accordingly.  

After the students ordered the ants from 1-30 in the number work center, they added with ladybugs

 

Meanwhile, they were cutting out pieces to make a ladybug (for our Fun Friday art project) in the fine motor center.  If there was any time left when they were done, they got to play with bugs, naturally.

The word work center was not insect-related. The students played with sight word magnets and letter magnets.  

On Wednesday. we read Eric Carle's book, "The Very Quiet Cricket." The students got to listen to the sound of crickets' chirping.  Then we wrote more about insects on the anchor chart - telling about the special things that some of them do - like chirp. 

We couldn't do Insect Week in kindergarten without reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. On Thursday, we read the BIG book of it. We discussed the life cycle of the butterfly. But as a writing prompt, the students told what they would put (new sight word this week) in their cocoon if they were a caterpillar. 

 

In other learning news, the students learned the two sounds of /oo/ this week. There are the lovebirds, that say "oo" as in "moon," and there are the bully brothers, who are always beating each other up, who say, "oo" as in "book." We sorted the sounds on Monday, 

The next two days, we focused on one sound at a time, spelling words using their onsets and rimes. An onset is simply the beginning sound of a word.  The rime is everything else (what sounds alike in words that rhyme).  For example, in the word "book,"  b is the onset, -ook is the rime. 

On Fun Friday, the students did a Write the Room actvity, looking for words with the most recent irregular vowel sounds we've been learning: ar, or, er, ir, ur, ow, ou, oo, and the other oo.  I have said before that this is one of my favorite activities. If you watch this video of the PM class, you'll see why.

It is not an easy thing to get ALL students on task AND quiet at the same time for any extended length of time. But for this activity, they are just as quiet and on task from minute one to minute fifteen, and they are so proud of their work. 

Another one of our Fun Friday activities was "Going to Work." Once again, I tricked the students into thinking taking a test is fun.  I can't believe they still are into it (although I did hear two groans among the cheers out of one class when I announced it was on the agenda today). Today's paycheck was a chocolate chip cookie. 

Our final item on the agenda was an odd and even project. First, the students gathered at the Smartboard where they worked with me to complete the page projected.  Then they completed the same paper at their tables. 

Next, we played this Curious George game from the pbskids website. The first four problems are great for teaching about even numbers, as you have to divide up the dog treats so the two dogs have the same amount. (But eventually, you must divide the treats among three dogs, which just confuses the lesson of odd verses even). 

I stressed the importance of alternating between the dogs. Treat to the black dog, treat to the brown dog. Treat to the black dog, treat to the brown dog. I wanted them to use the same motion when adding the spots to their ladybug crafts - using the pieces they cut earlier in the week at the fine motor center. I wanted the students to easily be able to tell if their ladybug had an even or odd number of spots. (Though I did tell them that in the real world, ladybugs have an even number of spots - of course I had to check with Mrs. Taylor, the bug expert, first). They turned out very cute. If time permits next week, I'd like for them to add a (very) short writing piece to attach to it that tells if their ladybug has an odd or even number of spots.  

That's it for bug week. I'll leave you with a few cute pics from a special lesson by Mr. B (our PE teacher) on the circulatory system.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!

 

If a boy were to ever tell you what he did in school- it would be this week! Transportation week is always one of the boys' favorite weeks in kindergarten. The girls like it quite a bit too. And what's not to love? We began the week by reading Curious George and the Hot Air Balloon. We watched for, then recorded, the three modes of transportation George used in the story: a car, a hot air balloon, and a helicopter. Then we sorted them on the transportation anchor chart. The next day, we read Harbor by Donald Crews. The boys were INTENSELY into it.  It names and shows the many different types of boat you can see in a harbor. 

 That same day, the students paired up and were given a picture of a vehicle. Together they decided if it went by land, air, or sea. They took turns coming up in front of the class and sharing about their vehicles, then posting it onto the anchor chart under its correct category. 

On Wednesday, I read "I'm Dirty"by Kate and Jim McMullen. Some of the boys were really excited to share what they already knew about construction/clean up vehicles. 

After that, each students reached into the mystery box and pulled out a picture of a vehicle. This time, instead of sorting it on the chart and telling about it verbally. The students had to write about that vehicle in their journals. As a special treat, they got to use the picture as a part of their illustrations.  

Our new sight words this week were 'now', 'goes', and 'does.' I always try to use the new sight words as much as possible in our group writing time and have it be a part of their journal writing as well. So our chart this week modeled how to use two of the words in a sentence. For two days, we made and read sentences about how a vehicle goes (on land, air, or sea).  Then I posed questions about which way a vehicle goes. Does a car go in the air? Then the students answered these questions using the word 'goes' in their responses. No. A car goes on the road.  

To wrap up the unit, we watched a great video about transportation on brainpopjr.  Then the students wrote about which vehicle they thought was the best. I encouraged them to write at least two sentences but told them that 3 sentences would be too hard for them-that they wouldn't be able to write any more than two until they got to first grade. And they wouldn't be able to write more than 4 until they were second graders. This reverse psychology worked on a handful of them. I had some that completely filled up the page! (But I forgot to take pics)!

This week's centers got the students really pumped up.  In the word word center, the students used letter beads to create sight words in individual "parking spaces." Once a word was complete, they got to park a car in that spot. 

 

In the math games center, the students played "By Land, Air, & Sea." In this subtraction game, the students start in the air, rolling the dice and traveling down the numbers. Once they've landed on zero, they trade out their plane for a car and travel down the road. Lastly, they change their car to a boat and work their way down the sea.

  

In the writing center, they wrote sentences similar to the ones we'd written on the anchor chart. This center is mainly about teaching the students correct letter formation, and then, as they advance, correct sentence formation -using spaces, keeping letter in words close together, using punctuation, etc.  

The students put together a firetruck, a ship, a plane, a train, and a construction vehicle in the puzzle center.

And they built  a road in the number work center. The unifix tracks had to be put together to go from 1 to 100. After that, the students had a bag of yellow "mile markers" that they had to place on the road. Once those tasks were complete, they could pretend to make long trains or other vehicles on the road. 

For whole group math in April, our calendar/Smartboard time looks like this.

 

There is no regular pattern on the calendar this month. Instead, the students are learning about the life cycles of various "springy" things: frogs, flowers, butterflies, and hens.  

On the next page, the students have to read and then solve a word problem.  We try to solve using mental math or our fingers. Then we can check our answers using the pictures on the left of the page. We go back and forth between addition and subtraction problems. 

On the next page, the students go on an Easter egg hunt.  They touch an egg and it disappears to reveal a number. Then they add that many green squares to the odd-looking hundred grid. This grid is set up in vertical groups of ten to look like we're working with base ten blocks.  This activity is great for learning to count on from numbers other than one, determining how many more we need to get to a certain number, and figuring out how many we will have once a new amount of blocks has been added.  We also review how many tens and ones are in the number.

For example, in the picture below, we had started off on the number 38. Before Sydni touched an egg to reveal a number, I asked the students, "How many squares do we need to reach 40?" After she touched an egg and revealed the number 4, then I asked, "What number will we finish on?" Finally, after Sydni placed the last square on number 42, I asked, "How many tens are in 42? How many ones?" 

One the last page, the students track the days in school and adjust the amounts of tens and ones.

Sometimes we finish up our group math time with an online game. One we've been playing a lot in April is Shark Numbers. It works on identifying how many tens and ones make up a number. The students really enjoy it. 

I"ll leave you with a few pics from a wonderfully entertaining assembly that the AM class attended this week. The Zuzu African Acrobats put on an awesome show and even got some of the kiddos involved!

This was not taken at our performance, but this is one of the tricks they did.