Hi JK Families!

We began our "Ants" theme this week, and are learning the parts of an ant's body along with multiple other facts.  We know there are over 800 different kinds of ants, and that there are ants that can dive, swim and live under water.  We learned that ants are extremely beneficial and turn over ten times more soil than an earthworm. 

Mrs. N and the instruments the children play are a highlight of their day!  They love the xylophones! 

 What green thumbs they have!  

 Our first attempt at determining which foods were preferred by ants was sabotaged by squirrels! 

 There's a chance I might have missed a few ants that almost crawled out of their tube, causing a scream and scary moment before we poured those into the ant farm. 

 JK LOVED the performance of Seussical Wednesday!  It was so much fun to see our reading buddies and other friends showing their talents. 

 Beautiful May Flowers on their calendars!  

 Ant farms.  Testing fine motor skills as they create their own tunnels for their ants (popcorn seeds)!  The children are also drawing ants and labeling the parts of an ant.

Math/Science:
We conducted an experiment using different kinds of food we left on a tray outside, to discover which were most preferred by ants.  We learned that ants liked the fruit (strawberry) and other sugar snacks (including cookies, milk duds, M&Ms, and frosting to the more salty snacks of gluten free pretzels and cheese).  Each student presented to the class on the parts of an ants body, pointing out the antennae, thorax, abdomen, head and legs.  We made a classroom chart about the things ants CAN, NEED, HAVE and EAT.  The most comical was reading about their favorite snack of aphid's sugary poop.

We are using seeds and flower pictures for a counting game this week.  Any items used as manipulatives help them understand the one to one correspondence.  We read "Remainder of One"

Our ant farm is providing daily entertainment as we watch the amazing insects create their tunnel system which in nature would allow the queen to lay many eggs a day and then house all of the larvae, pupae and eventually adult ants. These intricate systems are necessary for the eggs to all have their different compartments full of "food" provided by the worker ants.  Our ant farm was designed by NASA scientists to test ants in space.  The gel allows the ants to create their tunnels in the absence of the pull of gravity in space.  The gel is both their food and water.  They have also created an ant graveyard where they move all of the dead ants to clear their tunnels of bacteria. 

Language Arts:  We have added more words to our writing center and have also been working in our word books this week.  Spelling out names, including first, middle and last and finding things that begin with each, as well as saying each vowel and the different ways the vowels may sound.  We use "Flippy Dolphin" to try a different vowel sound if the first one didn't work. 

Our third grade reading buddies came to visit this week.  They read books with us and the children completed journals by coloring a scene or character from the story and writing about it. 

Fine Motor:
We made our own ant farms, carefully counting out how many ants we would have and then deciding to pair them or have them crawl in single file. 

The children used pom poms to decorate May calendars making bright colored May flowers!  They labeled their flowers using either inventive spelling or writing center words.  The coordination required holding a clothes pin is a bit different than the tripod hold when writing, so tested another skill as they painted. 

Regarding summer activities to avoid the "summer slip",  I am a big fan of visiting the library weekly if not more often.  It's a great time where you can find books in a new environment and take time to relax and read awhile while there, making it more interesting than at home.  Typically story and reading time only happens at bed time for JK and K kids, so the library is a great way to incorporate daytime reading!  Hunt for letters and letter sounds in words, challenge them to find words that begin and end with the same sound(s) and use reading strategies to decode words.  Look for signs as you are going places.  Count and write!  Set up a writing center and make it fun with books and gel pens etc.  Have them climb trees and do the monkey bars and peel oranges to develop their fine motor skill muscles.  Throwing and catching a ball helps with their reading and writing.  Balancing and walking on a "balance  beam" also helps with their reading and writing, by having them cross the midline. 

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Massey

Hi JK Families!

This week we have continued our study of Spring, and growing things.  We have also talked about the weather and April showers and all about the water cycle.

Math/Science:

The children completed an experiment simulating rain and clouds, as we added the words precipitation and evaporation to our vocabulary list.  We used food coloring and shaving cream as we discussed the water evaporating from various water sources and becoming clouds, which eventually fill to create rain (or snow, sleet, hail, etc.).  The children illustrated, labeled and wrote about the experiment on their observation drawings.  

We continue to journal our grass and bean plants, noting that any changes in plant needs may effect their growth.  Some plants were getting too much water and some not enough.

Fine Motor:

We made signs for our demonstration of kindness Friday, using colored pencils, markers, crayons, stickers, scissors and construction paper.  We talked about all of the ways we show kindness and things we can do each day to make someone smile.  Being a leader requires considering how other classmates are feeling and making an effort each day to take care of each other.  We talked about making our signs readable from the street and our message we want to convey to our neighbors.

We finished our self portraits for April.  It's amazing to think we will just have one more self portrait until the end of the year!  Many daily creations of plants/flowers, spring, etc. have been made using various classroom materials.  We have all been Lego crazy lately.  I love giving them challenges when building, so their creative minds solve problems while playing.  We are using cubes now to build, and working on categorizing in various ways.  

I have begun assessments for our last reporting period.  Please feel free to pop in to take a look at their ESGI results.  I have completed a few but will have most finished second or third week of May.  It's exciting to see the progress, and I can also offer suggestions to minimize the "summer slip" as well as things to challenge and entertain them over the summer break according to their specific strengths, interests and needs!

Language Arts:

I have had such fun reading with everyone this week!  We play many games which always makes our reading groups full of laughter and encouragement.  Our popcorn words are fun to dance to, as we motion and then "pop up" like popcorn.  Fun while playing and interactive classroom teaching = meaningful learning.

We have read many books about spring, the weather, clouds, rain, gardening, the water cycle, as well as many fun fiction books.

Thank you to all of you who attended and helped prepare for the auction.  It was a huge success and our table sold for $2,000!  What an amazing contribution for Roycemore and the children it will help.   

I have ordered our ant farm, which will arrive in the next day or two.  It's a highlight of JK, so can't wait to introduce our little red insects to the class!  

Have a wonderful weekend!  

Ms. Massey

Hi JK Families!

Our plants are growing and we are journaling our observations!  Thankfully the sun has finally appeared to help them along.

I hope you are able to attend the auction!  Grab your tickets if you have not already done so.  Our room parent Stacey (Jack's mom) has been working hard to complete an amazing animal handprint table with all of the children.  It is fabulous and will be up for auction at the event!  If you are unable to attend, there will be absentee bidding as an option.  Please click link below for details.

www.roycemoreschool.org/scholarshipfundraiser

Math and Science:
The children are continuing their raindrops and clouds center, as they work through different story problems to subtract and add raindrops. We used the Ipads to play math related games and to find plant pictures. 

We completed an experiment on plants and oxygen, asking the questions, "Do plants breathe?"  We took a pole and charted the votes, which were about 50/50.  We then gathered freshly picked leaves (a little hard to find with all of the cold and snow!).  We submerged the leaves in water, and talked about how we know when someone is swimming underwater we can determine if they are breathing.  The children all talked about how bubbles let us know someone is breathing and releasing air as they swim.  We checked back to our plants later and discovered the vases completely filled with tiny bubbles, representing the oxygen released during photosynthesis.  It was a great way to demonstrate plants and their "breathing" (transpiration). 

Fine Motor:
The children used clay to create their own flower.  We talked about how flowers may have many rows of petals, and how most are somewhat symmetrical, but now exactly! We discussed pollination and the importance of insects and the wind to pollinate flowers.  The children used only their hands to mold the clay, and were able to use as much or as little as possible.  I love leaving it up to them regarding scale.  It's fun to see what they choose when the amount is not pre-decided, giving them the freedom to build as large or small as they wish.  We will paint the flowers when they dry and display them for you to see!

We used water colors to paint coffee filters and then made flowers from them, adding stems, leaves, and some even included the roots in their pictures.  We wrote words on the white board labeling the plant parts we were creating. 

The children are working on observation drawings of a daffodil. It's so fun to see the different perspectives when they are drawing.  They are also working on their April self portraits.  We are using mirrors to assist with accurately drawing themselves.  It's amazing the progression that has happened this school year in their abilities to not only manage utensils when creating, but in their awareness of all of the tiny details of their faces and clothing etc. 

Language Arts:
The children are learning to use all different strategies when decoding words.  We have been hunting for words using letter sound knowledge.  Our "Parts of a Plant" pictures is a great exercise for choosing between a few different words that begin with the same letter but have different ending letters.  This week we have been really concentrating on our pencil grip,  and reminding ourselves to grip the pencil with all three fingers (tripod grip). Please remind them as you see them writing to "pinch the pencil". 

One of our centers was the game of "Eye Spy" where they located objects and then wrote them by sounding out the words.  This is but one example of our intentional teaching and children learning as they play! 

Social/Emotional:
We have been working on our word choices in JK, and encouraging positive words.  We don't like to hear, "I can't!"  It's amazing how many, "I can't do it!"'s I heard at the beginning of the winter, regarding zippers.  Every child in JK is able to zip their zipper, and dress themselves for outside with very minimal assistance.  It's sweet when the older kids help us get ready, but we have to remind them that we can do it ourselves and to let us put on our own shoes, coats, and zip our zippers.  The hardest thing to do as an older friend, teacher, or parent, is to let children do all they can do.  It's one of the biggest gifts you can give to them.  They are so proud to do it themselves!  I love seeing the look of achievement and pride.  We are working on our dining hall skills and manners, along with our behavior when eating with a large group of people.

We met with our 5th and 6th grade reading buddies.  It was lovely to have our older friends read to us, and also show them what we know, whether that be letters and letter sounds, popcorn words, or many words and the ability to read fluid sentences.  We are all at different stages and it's so nice to have individual attention from such an amazing class of kids.

We also had 3rd grade reading buddies, and completed "Response to Reading" journal sheets.  They were impressed by how far along the JK has come with their writing! 

We will continue our experiments and study of growing things, and talk about the water cycle next week.

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Massey