The Language of Plants

Patterns All Around!

As part of our study on patterns I have asked each child to search around his house for patterns to share with our class. Please encourage your child to find 3 or 4 objects with patterns and bring them into the classroom. We will display these on our "Pattern Board". Of course the items will be returned when finished; please simply put a piece of masking tape on each item labeled with your child's name. Thanks in advance for extending our learning at home!

We Love Our Animal Friends!

Our class is full of readers and writers! We have had such a great time meeting our "animal friends" and using them to help us; they continue to encourage us as we develop our skills. Many students are realizing that often our "friends" say more than one thing, which has led to some great discussions about the English language. We will learn more about this throughout the year through a program called Structured Word Inquiry.

Writer's Workshop has been a big hit as we tell about 'small moments' from our own lives through our pictures and words. We are being such risk-takers as we try our best to write the sounds we hear in order to add text. We have even begun learning simple words that we see regularly in print (sight words) and are inserting those in our writing. Praise your child for the great work he/she is doing!

Cadyn and Mikail as authors.

Iris illustrating her story.

Sandeep and Sahan sharing their stories.

Shanza sharing her writing with Ashman.

Last week we also began something very important: our growth portfolios! This year we will be using the iPads as a means of capturing our learning -- providing an opportunity for the students to have ownership over their work. We will continually reflect on our work and the progress we've made throughout our time in kindergarten.

Imran and Sandeep working on their portfolios. 

Aly helping Aylin with her e-portfolio.

Pattern Walk

KG-M went on a hunt last week in search of patterns. We found so many and realized that patterns are all around us! The students used iPads to take photos and document their learning.

Check out all the patterns we found!:

Aquatics Unit Beginning Soon

Please see the following important information from our P.E. teacher, Mrs. Heather Bretzfield:

Dear KG/First Grade Families:

Our next PE unit, Aquatics begins next Sunday, September 22^nd. We will swim in the pool for all scheduled PE classes untilOctober 24^th. Please send your child to school with a swimming kit containing a swimsuit, goggles, towel, and hairbrush.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Warm regards,

Heather Bretzfield

hbretzfield@aisdhaka.org

"What's That Sound?", Smelling Jars, and a Blindfolded Obstacle Course!

We have continued to explore our senses and will begin wrapping up our Unit this week. A number of experiences have allowed us to more closely examine how our senses help us explore the world around us, including a listening activity in which we had to identify sounds solely through our sense of hearing. Many students realized that it was difficult to determine what was making the sounds when the other senses were removed. We found that sometimes this was true in regard to our sense of smell as well. Through a "smelling jars" activity we shared vocabulary and discussed how sometimes it's very easy to identify a smell, while at other times it is more necessary to have our sense of sight to help determine where the scent originates. This activity also brought forward the realization that smells often bring forth vivid memories.

Yesterday we joined the other kindergarten classes in an exciting lesson that encouraged us to be great risk-takers! We completed an obstacle course, but the twist was that we had to do it blindfolded! This really made us consider how important our sense of sight is in helping us function successfully on a day-to-day basis. We also realized just how important our other senses are when one sense is taken away. The discussion following the obstacle course was an interesting one as the students shared what it was like loosing their sight. This expanded into dialogue about people that are missing some of their senses, and we discussed this further today after reading the book Seven Blind Mice. The students showed empathy as they shared how difficult it must be for people who are blind. You can view a recording of this book on Youtube by clicking here.

Five Senses Language

I'm a Risk-taker!

We've continued exploring our senses through a series of sessions that have led to some new understandings. With the help of a mystery box, we saw how our sense of touch helps us identify unknown objects. Such vocabulary as hard, soft, spiky, bumpy, flexible and squishy came forth as we touched a variety of objects in the box. This vocabulary will prove to be very useful during writer's workshop as we examine how consciously thinking of our senses while writing can help develop a more interesting story for our readers.

The next day we went on a texture walk around the school and realized that our world is full of different textures. After making rubbings of the various textures, we discussed how textures can tell us more about objects. For example, the trunk of the tree on the playground was not only rough, but wet as well. This told us that it must have rained recently. The students also realized that we not only feel textures; we also see them! We discovered that sometimes we use multiple senses at the same time!

This discussion was followed up today with a closer look at textures and safety. One of the learner profile traits we are focusing on is being a "risk-taker". In order to be scientists and discover more about our world and ourselves we have to be willing to take risks. We did come to understand, however, that often our senses can warn us that something is unsafe, warning us that taking a risk is not such a good idea. The words sharp and hot were shared and we all remembered not so pleasant personal experiences involving items fitting these descriptions.

We will continue practicing being "risk-takers" under safe circumstances throughout this year. After reading the book Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee we developed a clearer understanding of what this term means.

Many students are already applying this trait to other areas of their lives. Aiden pointed out today during reading group, "I was a risk-taker today! I was a little nervous about reading because I didn't think I could do it, but I tried anyway and now I know I can. I read a book all by myself!"

Encourage your child to be a risk- taker at home!

Kindergarten Websites

There has been some interest in educational websites appropriate for kindergarten that the students can use outside of school. We have a wikipage dedicated to just this! Click HERE and bookmark this page for quick access. Additional sites will be added throughout the year. *Please note that while you will find your child's name currently entered in the site "Raz-Kids", individual reading levels have not been adjusted as they are still being determined. This will happen soon. In the meantime of course your child is welcome to begin exploring the site and reading the books shown. When asked for Teacher Username, enter kmolloyb.

Senses

KG-M has been abuzz with learning and the topic "senses" fills our day. This first Unit of Inquiry is all about how our senses help us explore our world and develop new understandings about ourselves. As a provocation to help us begin thinking about our senses, we explored many different items. Through a follow-up discussion we discovered that we used many body parts to explore, including our eyes, ears, hands, tongues and noses. These body parts helped us see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Sometimes we used only one sense to explore an item, while at other times we used multiple senses!

Yesterday we did an activity to delve deeper into the sense of taste. We wanted to eliminate the other senses (but not smell!) the best we could, so we put on blindfolds and tried not to use our fingers to touch the things we put in our mouths. We then discussed the various tastes we experienced. Salty, peppery, sweet, bitter, sour, tangy and minty were some of the many words shared. We will expand upon this activity by seeing how our sense of taste connects with other senses, and how we are all unique in our likes and dislikes. 

Our current math focus is sorting and classifying. We are looking at attributes and determining different ways of sorting. We have noticed we can sort using the senses as attributes as well!