Kinder Class
Welcome kindergarten families to my first blog post of the year! Look here at least once a month for details about classroom activities, about how to support students at home, and about what to expect for various upcoming events. It will serve as a sweet little insight into the times we are sharing together. Sometimes the photos alone are almost enough to tell the story. Keep in mind, all of this is just a fraction of what we get up to. There is really so much happening in our class each and every day. Yet, we are purposeful in giving the children ample time to relax, play and really relish this special kindergarten year.
I crafted a nature hunt for the kids where they peeked at 10 things on a tray and then set off in teams to find the items. I’m always amazed at the remarkable memory of a 5/6 year-old. They typically remember all of the details in an activity like this, as well as the details in all of our stories, songs and the like.
Math: Our first concept for the year has been patterns. The children have learned about visual patterns involving shapes and colors, and have stamped and painted patterns. Together we’ve made 3D patterns using our bodies and various seating configurations, we’ve made sound patterns, and they’ve even made edible patterns using cubes of fruits skewered onto kebab sticks. The idea here has been to relay the idea that a pattern is something that repeats and to be able to take, say, a sound pattern (like clap, clap, snap, clap, clap, snap) and replicate it into a visual pattern (so, red, red, blue, red, red, blue) or to have me clap a pattern and have them build that pattern with the snapblocks and then duplicate that 3D pattern into a colored grid in their books. Most got the concept of an ABABAB pattern down; some were coming up with quite complex arrangements. See Arias in the photo gallery below holding up the snapblocks (ABACABAC).
Nature Studies and Hand Crafts: We’ve explored the campus together in this class taking the children on guided hikes, gathering acorns and other seeds, watching the monarch caterpillars (now turning into chrysalids), touring the willows (an area that is off-limits to kindergarteners at recess time), and gathering leaves and flowers for pressing, making tea and using for crayon rubbings. Kathleen took them to collect calendula seeds and petals from the big garden so they could sort them and soak them in oil in preparation for making special salves. They painted apples using watercolors and also carded wool and then wet-felted this into 11 perfect little rosy red apples. See Cossette’s below.
The children also received their “Golden Number Books”, blank drawing books that they will fill with numbers and math concepts throughout the year. We began with the number 1 and after practicing writing this number, we brainstormed some of the things that there are only one of — the Earth, the Sun, the Moon and each unique child in the room. Here is the picture I drew on the chalkboard. Each did his or her own version in their books. Lastly, they did some work with the mathematical concept of symmetry by cutting out colored paper shapes and using symmetry to glue them on to paper butterflies.
The children are enraptured as Kathleen tells the Magic Tree Elves story, an autumn tale about sharing one’s bounty with others.
Storytelling: Kathleen and I like to delve often into the ancient tradition of oral storytelling; with no text between the storyteller and the listener, and no pictures save for the ones the listener creates in his or her own mind, deep connection and focus is achieved. There is something very unique watching children hang on every word in a particularly exciting story and we believe storytelling goes far in building kids with rich imaginations, an invaluable asset in any learning process. We also tell stories at least a couple of times each so that the kids have the chance to really own the stories and live into them. The hope is they will bring these stories home to retell to you or to siblings and these stories will become part of their repertoires. Some of the stories we have shared so far have been Grimm’s Tales like The Giant Turnip and the Porridge Pot. We’ve also told The Little House with No Windows and No Doors and a Star Inside, the Magic Tree Elves and a calendula herb story called “Marigold”. Sometimes after a telling or two, Kathleen brings the stories to life with a special puppet show using her handmade dolls and props. Wednesday afternoons, last period, is her time to share her puppetry art with the children. Afterwards, she will often let them play with the dolls and recreate the stories on their own to tell to the group. It is magical to listen to them retell stories to a group of peers, seeing a child’s imagination in action like this is very special.
Language Arts: Students were told another story, this one about kindness and filling the world with beauty as they were presented with their kindergarten crayon boxes and their Red Writing books. These blank work books will hold all of their letter work, dictated stories, “book reports” and special illustrations. The pages are filling up already. Our first days were spent working on pencil grip, the concepts of writing left to right and up to down and the idea that letters and numbers are “straights and curves” put together in different configurations. They practiced writing their names in the “kindergarten way” which was new to some (first letter is upper case, rest are lower case.) Please practice this way of writing at home. Even though some adults write in all uppercase letters, I am trying to teach them their lower case letters, since these are the letters they will see most. Liana (in Humanities in the upper grades) also works along these lines so the sooner they get used to this way of writing, the better. It smooths the way when they are learning about capitalization in a sentence etc. So, try to help your children here by writing their names like this too — when you sign them up on the lunch board etc.
The kids found out their penpals last week. These are 11 preschool students who attend Bonny Doon Elementary Preschool. They drew pictures for them and wrote Dear… to each one. Next week, they will begin to craft the letters and sign them. Then we’ll mail them off and wait for responses. The hope is that eventually, after several letters back and forth, they will get a chance to meet the kids in the flesh!
Sifting through the worm castings in teams of two. Shredded paper towels and apple chunks were added to the worm home during the revamp.
Science/Gardening: We overhauled our worm bin, pulling the wriggling red worms out to separate them from the worm castings they’d been busy producing all summer. They also removed some of the roly-polies as the balance had gotten a bit out of whack in terms of making the best soil. In the meantime, the kids got to study these two creatures with magnifying glasses and then replenished the bedding and food for the worms and tucked them back in their dark, moist home. The following week, they used the worm castings as amendment to plant new flowers in the woolly pockets on the side of the kinder hut. They look beautiful! Thank you, worms.
Covered in germs…yuck!
Another science lesson for September involved a hand washing experiment. We discussed germs and how they spread. Then I covered the kids hands with lotion (pretend snot) and glitter (germs) and they witnessed how “sneezing” on one’s hands and then shaking hands easily spread the “germs” from hand to hand. We spoke of other strategies to prevent this (like the elbow sneeze/cough) and then they washed quickly in cold water/no soap and again, for longer, in warm water/soap to see how much more effective the second technique was in removing the “germs”.
Cooking: We have cooked up a storm already in kindergarten. Cooking isn’t just fun, it is a way to practice math (counting, measuring, multiplying, dividing, learning steps, following recipes) and social skills (taking turns, being patient, self control so that we wait to eat until we are finished). We made granola the first week and then I served this for snack time until it was all gone. They made the fruit kebabs in patterns. And today we baked two apple crumbles and an apple almond cake for the Harvest Festival tomorrow. Thank you, Estella, for your help in the classroom! Be sure to try these offerings. Kathleen will also be making a harvest bread with the children tomorrow for the festival.
That’s the report for September. I hope you have enjoyed reading about your children’s classroom time. Let me know if you have any questions and stay tuned to next month’s blog, coming at the beginning of November. Here are some other photos. Thanks for being part of the kindergarten. We’re off to a great start. Don’t forget the Back to School meeting on 10/17 at 3:30. The children will perform the story circle we’ve been working on for several weeks.
Working on tree drawings to illustrate the Apple Tree Elves Story.
ChetanWin and Zariah’s completed illustrations for the Apple Tree Elves. The kids later dictated their versions of the stories and Kathleen and I wrote down their words.
The children are bonding so well already and so many friendships have formed. For the most part, it feels like a very kind, inclusive class with everyone playing well together.
ChetanWin is proud of her soapy wet felted apple.
Looking at the different milkweeds growing in the garden. We released the monarch caterpillars in this haven and two have already formed chrysalids, almost right before our eyes. This beautiful plant is called Family Jewels and inside each puff are thousands of milkweed seeds.