The Invisible String - Tuesday, October 25

On Monday, Ms. Skerritt, dropped by our classroom to show us a new book that she got.  It is called "The Invisible String" and it is by Patrice Karst.  The book is about twins who are afraid and don't want to be away from their mom.  In the story, the mom teaches her twins about the invisible string, a magic string that keeps us connected to the people we love, even when we are not with them.

We thought that reading this book might make some of our friends feel a little less anxious about coming to school in the morning and saying goodbye to moms and dads.  If we all remember that we have an invisible string that connects us to each other, transitions and other scary events can be made a little easier.

The students LOVED the story, and now ask for it every day.  We have read it three times now, and will continue to read it as long as the students ask for it.  In the meantime, we recorded Mrs. Piquette reading the story to the children and wanted to post it here for you to enjoy at home.

It's Not a Stick

After our walk to the woods at the beginning of October, many students were eager to put their imaginations to use and come up with ideas for what a stick could be.  With our Learning Buddies from Mrs. Kelly-Miller's class, we put together a video showcasing our "Not a Stick" art work.  This same art work will be on display in the hall outside our classroom soon.

We also read "Not a Box" and began playing with boxes in our classroom.  We have made forts and ramps so far, and now the children are interested in making cars with larger boxes.  Stay tuned to see some amazing, imaginative projects inspired by "Not a Stick" and "Not a Box."

"Not a Stick" by Antoinette Portis

"Hey, be careful with that stick!"

"Look where you're going with that stick!"

"Watch where you point that stick!"

"Don't trip on that stick!"

How many of us have uttered these phrases when outside playing with our children?  As a parent, our fear of what may happen when our children play with sticks (they will get poked in the eye, hit someone, trip and fall, scrape their arm) often outweighs the possibilities that sticks bring to rich imaginative play.

Today we read a book that illustrated what sticks could become with just a little bit of imagination.  Have a look:



 We were so inspired by "Not a Stick" when we read it, that we decided to go look for sticks to add to our classroom and more importantly, our outdoor learning area.

We walked to the forest area behind St. Ignatius Catholic School to explore the woods and see what we could find.

Andrew's Scenic Acres

On Monday, October 3rd, we were so fortunate to be able to go to Andrew's Scenic Acres. We spent the day at the farm; picking berries, apples, corn, and pumpkins. There was a lot of fresh air, a lot of mud, and a lot of happy children.

We began our trip by introducing many of our JK students to the joys of riding a school bus. The excitement was palpable as we climbed the huge steps on to the bus and found a seat with our friends.
We arrived about 35 minutes later, and dropped our backpacks off at a tent. We then walked to the hay ride, and our adventures began! From the moment we started our hay ride, it was non-stop action.
We walked through a (gently) haunted forest, picked raspberries and blueberries left over from the season, chose an ear of decorative corn to bring home, picked apples, and ventured into the pumpkin patch in search of that perfect pie pumpkin.

Once our arms and tummies were full, we headed back to the tent to eat our lunches, and then played in the hay and the play structures. We visited the animals and took a picture with one of the many beautiful displays.

Enjoy this short video of our adventure!

We Love Music!

After being in school for four weeks with our kindergarten students, one thing is very clear: we LOVE music.  Mrs. Proud and Mrs. Piquette encourage a love of music, and our new music teacher, Mr. Millar, is an amazing musician!

We have had lots of requests from parents and students to see how we spend our days and how we learn in kindergarten.  And since music is such a huge part of that, we thought this first post should be all about the music in our class.  Here are 5 music facts about KC.

A New Year, a New Classroom!

Happy 2016/2017 school year everyone, and welcome to our new blog for Kindergarten C!

Over the summer we changed rooms, and are looking forward to a great year in a bright, shiny new room.  We are located in room 105.

We have worked hard to make our room cozy, inviting, and home-like for our students.  We can't wait for everyone to come and visit during the open house on September 22nd.

For now, here's a preview!

We have been enjoying our small, SK class this week.  Having 14 students in class has allowed us to do a lot of observation and documentation.  We are learning the children's interests and beginning to plan for a wonderful year of learning together.

Amazing Ants

May 19, 2016

In kindergarten over the past week or so, we have been very interested in ants.  The children found ants outside and began asking questions about them.  Then they found ants in the classroom, and they became even more interested!

A few of our students began making houses for the ants out of paper, so we thought we should find out more about ants to determine what kind of home they would actually like to have.  We went outside in the afternoon on May 19th to do some research, and see some ants.

We were lucky enough to find an area outside that had a lot of ants.  We wondered if there might be an ant hill nearby, so we went to get some food to see if we could observe the ants more closely.  We found some cookies and candy and put them on the ground, and the ants came running!

We took lots of pictures and videos, and drew pictures of what we saw.  The children were very engaged.  The inquiry continued after our outdoor time.  The children looked through many books to find out more about ants.  We learned that ants have 3 body parts: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.  We also discovered that ants have 6 legs.

The children used their new knowledge to create ants out of tissue paper and plasticine.  We even made antennae out of pipe cleaners.  One student let us know that ants use their antennae to smell things, and then the students were leaning over to put their antennae on the table, or their food so they could smell things.  One student even "smelled" her mom at pick up time!