Delightful December

December in kindergarten brings lots of joy! We were busy with Grinch Day, caroling, Polar Express pajama day, cooking baking, ornament making, plays, and more. We made many happy memories!

ChatterPix

This week we tried out a new app called ChatterPix Kid.

 

 This app invites us to take a picture, draw a mouth, add our voice, and make the picture talk. Pretty awesome!! :) We took pictures of book pages and shared our thinking about the characters. This is just the beginning of great things we can try with ChatterPix Kid.

ChatterPix Characters from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Fabulous Fall Fun

Better late than never!! We had a fun November with turkey disguises, Scarecrow Day, and a yummy Fruit Feast. Thanks for your help with these special projects and days!

The Three Little Pigs...Lego Style!

I'll huff...and I'll puff...and I'll blow your house in ! These words were said often in our classroom this week. We enjoyed reading several different versions of The Three Little Pigs. While reading, we made book to book connections and analyzed the characters. Ask your kindergartner about his/her favorite selection. On Friday, we used our Lego sets to retell, focus on vocabulary, and share our thinking about the pigs and wolf. Without much direction from me, these kindergartners were creative, independent thinkers! Each kindergartner shared one pig or wolf smart thought in the video below.


The Three Little Pigs....Lego Style! from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Names and Sounds

We spend much of our time in kindergarten learning about letter sounds. Recently, we made a name chart listing something that starts the same as our name. Next we used the app SeeSaw to take a picture, add drawing, and add our voice. Our books buddies helped a little, but we are getting better and better at sharing our learning on the iPad.

Our Alphabet Movie from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

The 50th Day of School

We definitely are 50 days smarter...look how far we have come in just 50 days! On Friday we celebrated the 50th day and what a perfect day it was--filled with floats, socks hops, 50's stations, and more! Check out our dance moves in this video. We would have fit in perfectly in the 50's!

Whooooo is learning about owls?

Now that we understand the concept of our "schema" (all the ideas we already know), we did some research to make our schema GROW for owls. We learned facts from books, magazines, and online. After drawing our owls, we wrote about a few facts, and then shared our thinking in this video.




Owl Facts 2015 from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Imagination Day 2015

Imagination, Imagination, What do you see?
I see Kindergartners looking at me!

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Our Strong Schema

During Readers' Workshop we have learned about "schema"-- all the information in our brain...the "stuff" we already know a lot about. Our "schemas" are all different because of our varying experiences in life. We wrote and drew about areas where we have a strong schema. Check our our smart thinking in the video below.



Our Schema from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Fair Haven Farms 2015

We were lucky enough to have a beautiful day for our trip to Fair Haven Farms a few weeks back. Marcia and her daughter Marne did an awesome job teaching us about the fruit grown at the farm and the signs of fall that surrounded us. These happy pictures sure make me smile! Enjoy!

The Wheels on our Bus...

For many of us, riding the school bus is something new! We made a predictable chart about riding the bus and also enjoyed singing a silly song about the bus ride. This song helped us practice letter sounds. Take a listen to our sweet voices in the video below.

The Wheels on our Bus from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Signs of Fall

Signs of fall are surrounding us! We have noticed them on the playground, outside our windows, at Fair Haven Farms, and more. We used the app "Drawing Pad" to help us draw and write about our ideas.

All About Me using Pic Collage Kid

Friday we collaborated with our 5th grade book buddies for some reading and creating. We used the iPad app Pic Collage for Kids to make a collage about our favorite things. This helped us get to know our book buddies and helped us become familiar with the various tools of the ipad. Check out our collages below.


My Movie from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Explore Kindergarten

This video will give you a glimpse into our kindergarten day. Stop by anytime to checkout our busy classroom first hand.

Our Forever Books

We loved seeing everyone's Forever Books this week in kindergarten. Many books were familiar to us! On Friday, our 5th grade Book Buddies read us our books and talked to us about what we were THINKING as we read. We know strong readers THINK while reading. Next week we will write and draw about our thinking about our Forever Books. 

Our First Day Together

The first week of kindergarten was full of exploring, learning routines, and getting to know one another. It is always amazing to see the progress we make together in just 3 days! Enjoy some shots from our first day of school. Hopefully your kindergartner can name a few new friends.

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Fun and Fitness

Fun and Fitness. . . sweet, sweet memories.

Class of 2027

Graduating Class of 2027. . .
*Big thanks to Ava's mom and Wilken's mom for taking on this project!*

Inventions Day 2015

Inventions Day ALWAYS proves to be one of the best days in kindergarten. These kids amazed me with their awesome teamwork and creativity. Whether it was a helping someone attach a paper towel roll to a milk carton or assisting with transporting large creations from one spot to another, these kids spent the day thinking and cooperating. I know you are also enjoying all those special inventions at home right now! :) You are welcome!!! :) The future for these little inventors looks bright. The video is a little longer, but it is worth a watch. Due to it's length, click on the link below to watch the video that is housed on another site.
Inventions Day 2015

Spiders, Flies, and Worms - OH, MY!

Doreen Cronin helped us learn about these creepy creatures in her diary books. You will learn more than you want to know in our video.

Spiders, Flies, and Worms - OH, MY! from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Pigs!

Pigs! Who would have known we could learn so many interesting facts about this animal! Here are a few of our favorite fun facts.

"Big Ideas" from Nancy Carlson

Recently we did an author's study on Nancy Carlson. Nancy is a Minnesota author who writes about interesting animal characters like Loud Mouth George, Arnie, Henry, Harriet, and many more. Nancy's funny stories are not only entertaining, but also teach us a lesson. As we read Nancy's books, we focused on main idea and charted all the "big ideas" we gleaned from Nancy's books. Next we found Nancy's drawing lessons online and made our own illustrations just like Nancy. Using the iPad, we took pictures of our drawings and added our voice to share our favorite "big idea" from the books. Thank you, Nancy, for teaching us a great deal about writing, illustrating, and life!

Aloha from Hawaii

Our trip to Hawaii was hot, fun, and filled with adventure. We loved our plane ride that even had a pilot guiding us. Our snack on board and stations in Hawaii were a hit. Later we enjoyed visiting 2 other Hawaiian islands where we learned how to do the hula and surf. Some highlights from our kindergarten spring break are below. 

Our Bird Mental Images

Ms. Hanus helped us learn that strong readers make mental images while reading. We recently read the book Birds by Kevin Henkes and found ourselves making many mental images while listening to the story.

Next we used the iPad app "Drawing Pad" to help us illustrate those strong metal images. Sharing these mental images helped us understand the story.

Our Bear Songs with Songify

After researching bears in books, magazines, and online, we worked in collaborative groups to share our learning. Next we used the app Songify to share our favorite facts and turn our words into a song! Take a listen!

listen to ‘Bear Fun Facts’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘Where bears live’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘Kinds of Bears’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘What bears look like’ on audioBoom

listen to ‘What bears eat’ on audioBoom

Our Jungle Drawings

Have you checked out your kindergartner's art on Artsonia.com? An info sheet was sent home from art class earlier in the year, but you can also go to www.artsonia.com and search Annandale Elementary to find our kindergarten projects. You can purchase many great gifts displaying your child's artwork. Take a peek at our jungle drawings that you can find on Artsonia.

Valentine's Day 2015

There is nothing better than spending Valentine's Day in Kindergarten! Love is definitely abounding. We were so proud of our monster Valentine boxes and made awesome "heart maps" to label all the things that fill our heart.



Valentine's Day 2015 from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

100th Day of Kindergarten

I think this was the best 100th day of Kindergarten yet! Our 100 capes made us feel extra special all day long. We also loved stations with the other K classes - 100 day bingo, a 100 drawing book, and a 100 style snack! During our snack time we were lucky enough to eat 100 snacks...well some of us saved quite a few for at home too. We also received a special food delivery from Kelly's dad straight from China King! We had quite a feast with a lot to celebrate -- we are 100 days smarter!

100th Day 2015 from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Penguin Facts

Thanks to Ms. Hanus, we have learned many interesting facts about penguins. After charting our learning, we each illustrated a fact. Today Ms. Hanus helped us make a video to share our new thinking.

Penguin Facts from Katie Zuehlke on Vimeo.

Snowballs

The book Snowballs by Lois Elhert was filled with awesome ideas for making snow creatures. After reading Snowballs we were inspired used our own "junk" to make group snowman. We painted, measured, glued, taped, and used lots of cooperation!

Windblown

This week read the book Windblown by Edouard Manceau.

This book was filled with creativity as pieces "blow around" making different creations on every page. We used our imagination and made something out of the pieces too. We shared our thinking below.

StoryMaker

This week we used the app StoryMaker to create and write a story on the iPad. We we are learning how to use the space bar....I was impressed how quickly the kindergartners made this a habit while typing.  The link to this app is in our digital newsletter this week. Enjoy!

Christmas Memories

Our last few days before break were busy and fun! Between play performances, cookie baking, caroling, gift making, and cookie eating,....we still found time for lots of reading, writing, and math thinking about the holidays. Enjoy!