October/November in the Kinder Classroom

Hello,

Here’s another blog for your enjoyment. We’ve had a lot going on the past 6 weeks with two festivals (Harvest and Halloween) and two field trips. We’ve also had so many absences due to various viruses, making it hard to hold on to the through line for certain projects. Nonetheless, it’s been busy and productive and the kids are getting into the groove of kindergarten.

Math: We’ve moved into a math unit on sorting and classifying, using the acorns brought in by the children as a first study. The children sorted the acorns according to categories they identified like acorns with caps, green acorns, fat acorns, pointy acorns etc. Organizing by attributes is another important foundational mathematical concept. They’ve also been bagging up and labeling various flower seeds to take home for their own gardens.

Next, we moved to symmetry. We discussed the concept of symmetrical and asymmetrical in the context of things we see around us. This ties in nicely with our study of butterflies in science and further discussion of examples of symmetry in nature. The children used the pattern blocks to build symmetrical patterns with a partner and practiced who is leader and who is follower. They also made symmetrical butterflies with cut out shapes.

I am introducing the “golden numbers” one by one. We are following a step-by-step approach to thoroughly examine each number in a way that hopefully has lasting relevance, laying an amazing foundation for more complex number work in the subsequent grades. We will be looking at the numbers both from a mathematical standpoint — how to write each number and recognize it and know what it means, but also we will look at some of the deeper significances of each number. For number one, we talked about things there are only one of: the Earth, the sun, the moon, and of course, each of them. For two, we talked about the symmetry in the body, and marveled at all of the body parts of which we had two, and then they drew bodies and labeled symmetrical features. For three, we plotted three dots on a page to create triangles. Sorry, didn’t get any photos.

Language Arts:

Letters: The kids started work on a set of homemade alphabet cards, focusing on correct letter formation and coming up with a phonetic image to draw on the card. Once complete, these will hang on the deck and be good reminders when kids forget what a certain letter looks like. They will also help us turn the alphabet into a phonics song with movements for each letter.

Stories: We surround the kindergarteners with stories, not only reading books but also telling stories. Bony Legs was one such tale. Through telling and re-telling and then acting it out at the Halloween performance, it now lives within each child. They know it so well and can conjure up the images that make it come alive in their minds. This is what inspires children to love reading. Bringing stories to life is the foundation for developing this love.

And this is precisely why Kathleen’s puppet shows are so moving and so important for the children. She has presented many stories so far: The Little Red Hen, The Apple Tree Elves, The Apple Cake, The Naughty Hobgoblin, and Little Boy Knight. She hand makes all of the dolls and props featured in her shows herself, using wool. Amazing. Later, she lets them play with the dolls and create their own story worlds as in this photo of Aria. The kids did a story retell in a round for the Apple Cake puppet show, each moving the story forward by taking turns with the chronological retelling.

Similarly, when we teach artistic endeavors like how to weave and finger knit, both introduced this month, the tracking involved is very similar to tracking words across a page when one reads, and the finger movements are building the finer muscle control needed to write neatly and uniformly.

Science: The children have been busy gathering nature’s treasures (leaves, walnut hulls, berries, acorns) around campus and going on short hikes. We’ve planted daffodils and harvested milkweed seeds. We did a sink/float experiment where the children guessed whether a variety of items would sink or float, the grand finale being a pumpkin that everyone guessed would sink because it was so heavy but which actually floated. They came up with a number of intelligent theories on what determines why things float or sink. Then they made little boats out of walnut halves and floated them in a tub of water. They also learned about barn owls (we recently had two barn owl boxes installed at school and expect visitors in the coming months). They dissected barn owl pellets and categorized the bones of the unfortunate rodents and birds eaten by the owl the day before the pellets were harvested.

We went on two science-rich field trips and learned about land animal adaptations at the natural history museum and ocean animal adaptations at the Seymour Center. Here are photos from both. The children were perfectly behaved on both trips and our guides and chaperones were impressed.

Santa Cruz Natural History Museum

Seymour Center (with the first and seconds as well)

Working with clay to make five little pumpkins sitting on a gate

First sewing lesson: Sewing popcorn and cranberry necklaces, in a pattern, of course. Soon we’ll sew actual fabric, moving to more complex projects that culminate in the kids sewing their own pillows for rest time.

Making pine cone bird feeders:

Spanish Class: Making sugar skulls and paper flowers in honor of Dia De Las Muertas with Señora Mirna. Mirna says: We have been working on developing a sense of sound for the language via books, music and crafting. We have been focusing on body parts, counting to ten, simple action verbs, simple dialogue and colors.

Pottery Class: Linda says, “So far so good! All the kinders enjoyed and learned quickly the three techniques for making forms with clay. First the pinch pot, then the slab and finally the coil. Put these together and voila!

Learning that using their hands together are the best tools they have is priceless. I am looking forward to seeing where these creative imaginations will continue to grow. Happy Pottery!

Below you’ll see creations so far:

A couple of shots from weekly animal chores

Torn paper apple trees — kids were only allowed to tear paper, not use scissors, to mimic lines from nature. They came out beautifully.

Making banana bread for the harvest festival. They also made apple sauce.

Keeping cozy at rest time. It’s been cold!!! But we’re staying outside like troopers. We have heaters and it’s not uncomfortable. The children quietly look through books, the sandman or sandwoman hands out a small snack, the teacher reads a story, we share news, announcements, and feelings sometimes, and then the kids have play time on the deck or continue resting and reading if they prefer.

Group hugs: A favorite kinder 2022-23 pastime!