Two busy weeks: Penguins, MLK, and Beanstalks!

Hi everyone!  Sorry I missed out on blogging last weekend, but this teacher took a mini vacay at the beach!  I had such a great time, and good thing, too, because I came back to one of the busiest times of the year here in Kindergarten!  Between visiting pre-schools, prepping for Open House, and working on report cards, this teacher is BUSY! Report cards will be coming home this Friday, so please look for an envelope marked with your child's name in their backpack.

Last week and this week we spent some time learning about the great Martin Luther King, Jr.  The children learned why he was such an American hero, how he changed America peacefully for the better, and why segregation was such a bad idea.  We all agreed that Jesus would have been very proud of MLK!  We couldn't imagine being told that we couldn't play with certain friends just because they looked different than us.  The children definitely felt that was unfair, and we are so glad that laws are different now! This week we combined religion, social studies, and art to create a lovely art project showing how the world is now filled with love because of our ability to love others no matter what they look like.  

   You will also notice some baggies hanging by our window.  The kids and I read the story "Jack and the Beanstalk" this week, so we decided to do a little experimenting of our own with "beans".  A wonderfully generous parent donated some sweet pea seeds for each child to place into a baggy with a wet paper towel.  We know that seeds need sunlight, air, and water to grow, so we are trying to grow our own beanstalks here in the classroom! We'll see if we have some success when we come back to school on Monday.  Here are some photos from this activity:

spraying the paper towels to get them a little wet

placing the wet paper towel into the bag

soaking in a little sunlight!

Making our predictions of what our "beans" might do in 10 days

We also had some fun learning a little about penguins this week!  Our information-filled weekly magazines from Scholastic provided us with a Science lesson on penguins.  We read our magazines just before our 5th Grade Study Buddies came in to help us cut and paste some penguins together!  Be sure to stop by and see our penguins on display in the classroom!  Here are some photos from our fun with penguins:

Study buddies and kinder kiddos working together

almost complete!

Once again, thank you so much to our AMAZING MOMS for volunteering this week and last week during recess and centers.  I can't tell you how nice it feels to know you are able to help us out, especially when the wonderful Mrs. Frawley isn't feeling well!  A special award goes out to the mom's who showed up last minute to help fill her shoes- you ROCK!!!! I'd also like to give a shout-out to our mom's that helped out at this month's successful Kinder club! It sounds like the kids had a blast!  Here are some photos from the past two weeks for you to enjoy!  

Last week, when we studied the letter Mm, we also learned how to draw some monkeys!

Martin Luther King, Jr also starts with Mm, so we incorporated some math into a lesson about being different!

We used ten's frames and "snowballs" to discover different addition combinations to make the sum of 10

Well, I had many more photos, but my computer is having technical difficulties, and this teacher has way too much to do!  I will just have to add more photos next time.  

In the meantime, we hope to see everyone at our Open House tomorrow!  I will be at the 10 am mass, then I will be hosting presentations at 11:15, 12:15, and 1:15 for prospective kindergarten families!  Please feel free to swing by and say hello in between the presentations!  Open House is a great opportunity for you to meet the other teachers, visit the other classrooms, and take a look around our campus at some of the rooms you don't normally get to see (computer lab, library, etc).  I know Mrs. Garrett, the first grade teacher, is looking forward to meeting all of you!  

This week's share will be things that begin with the letter Oo.  

Take care, and enjoy the weekend!