A Black and White World

This week we proposed the question "What if our world only had shades of black and white?"  At first, the students laughed, but then they started truly thinking about what that would actually entail.  To give the students a little perspective, we found a short clip of an old Mickey Mouse cartoon from 1929.  The students found it very strange that the sky was as white as  Mickey's pants, with very little variation in shades.  We then made some connections to our own world.  

The students thought it's was very strange and interesting to think about all of the trees, grass, sky, flowers, animals, etc... being nothing but different shades of black and white.  

We then found the same clip in color.  We made several realizations.  One was that all but two students would rather live in a world with color rather than a world with shades of black and white.  

Later in the week we thought it would be neat to take a survey outside of our school.  Miss Hannigan and I both took a group of students on a walk to look for different colors around our world.  

When we returned to our classroom, we combined our lists.  Our survey results showed that blue was the most common color in our world.  It was a beautiful day with a very blue sky!  The second most common color was green.  We spied green grass, trees, bushes, insects, weeds, and much more.  The color brown was the third most popular color.  We saw brown tree branches, mulch, dirt, leaves, grass, insects, and much more.  

Once we completed our survey, we asked the students again: "Would you rather live in a world with shades of black and white... or, Would you rather live in a world where there is color everywhere?"  All of the students chose color, even the two that originally chose black and white.  

We then documented our survey results just like scientists.  Students used their exploration lab journals to draw a picture of something they saw that was blue, something that was green, and finally something brown.  

 

Friday, we were fortunate enough to have one of my former student's Kristen read us a couple stories.  The students enjoyed hearing a child just a bit older than them read confidently in front of the class.   

Finally, to end a very busy week, our superintendent Dr. Clifford came in to speak to our whole school.  Dr. Clifford gave the students several homework assignments.  He told them that by the time they were in first grade they needed to be able to tell him what their favorite asset is and why?  In addition, he wants them to "learn how to learn."  We also sang the "Pirate Song."  

Ask your child to sing it for you!

I hope everyone's week is beautiful, and that you all have a moment to stop and take a look at the beautiful colors our world has to offer.  

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Asset Builder of the Month and Green Lemonade!

It's amazing that one of our very own was nominated and chosen to be West Carrollton,  ECC's "Assest Builder of the Month!"  Anthony has shown school pride by helping keep our boys bathroom clean as well as helping his fellow classmates when they are in need! 
Great work and congratulations Anthony!

Friday we learned how to make the color green.  Since we needed to cool down from the hot and muggy weather we thought it would be fun to have some lemonade.  In the last couple weeks the students have learned how to spell a few color words including; red, yellow, blue, and now green.  We invited Mrs. Garrabrant's friends to join the fun. 

Each child received a glass of lemonade and some blue ice cubes.

As they dropped in the blue ice cubes, they began to notice something was happening!  Their lemonade was turning green.

We ended by learning how to spell the color green while singing the green song. 

We will be looking at colors and how they make our word a different place.

Have a spectacular week!

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Treasure Blocks

Building a classroom community is an incredibly important part of building a loving, caring, and fun place to explore and learn.  To build classroom community, each child creates a "treasure block."  Families work together at home to create a treasure block.  On the treasure blocks you will find many things the student "treasure" as well as enjoys.  You will find photos of their families, pets, sports teams, favorite color, favorite foods, and much more.  In order to get to know each child a little better, each student shares their block with the class.

While they share their block, we often remind our friends that this is a time for us to learn about their new fellow friend/classmate.  We are learning to be careful listeners while learning about them and not focus on ourselves.  Also, a web/graphic organizer is made for each student.  This is a way for us to document all of their "treasures" to remember later.  It's also a great time for Miss Hannigan and I to listen and observe similarities.  For example, last year I noticed about 80% of our students enjoyed some kind of transportation, which resulted in a 5 month transportation study.  This year, Miss Hannigan and I are noticing that our students are scientists and explorers.  They enjoy exploring nature and LOVE animals - specifically ocean animals and animals found at zoos.  We gather and learn a lot about each and every student from their treasure blocks.

 Before they start sharing, we learn how to finger spell the child's name using sign language, as well as using our "magic fingers" to write the child's name in the air!

Before each child is finished, his/her classmates have the opportunity to ask questions.  Of course we had to learn the difference between a question and a statement!  

Ask your child if they can explain it to you!

 

When they are done sharing, together we use sign language to tell the student "It's nice to meet you _______." and the treasure student says "It's nice to meet you too."  

Then we begin thinking about how we can write a story about the friend we just learned so much about.  We think about all the new things we have learned and how a story can be told through pictures and labels.  Students each get a sheet of white paper, and a strip of paper with the students name on it.  They cut the letters apart and glue them back together onto their paper.  This is a great way for students to begin to look around the classroom for classroom resources.

Of course it takes some time for the children to learn about skin tone crayons and not drawing people with purple or green heads.  It also takes some children time to learn how to draw people, or other objects to help tell their story.  In the beginning we received a lot of "I can't do it." In addition to "I don't know how to draw."  Now students are learning to try their best (it doesn't have to be perfect) and to never give up.    

In addition, the children are learning how to label their illustrations to give the reader more information.  We began with labeling the child they are illustrating.  As the days go on, we begin teaching students hows to use their resources when trying to sound out objects to labeling.  Below you can see Harlan and Brennan using their name tags as an alphabet resource to objects in their illustration.

It takes a lot of time to get through every student, but it is so worth while by the end.  We learn SO much more about each child.  We learned how illustrate a story through pictures, how to label words, and even writing simple, short sentences.

Thanks for stopping by to learn more about our treasure blocks and how our friends write stories!  Stop by soon to see how we made green lemonade and our very own "Asset Builder of the Month!"

Mrs. Julie Atkin

Exploration Stations and Peace Beads

This week we introduced several exploration work stations.  During exploration work stations students focus on exploring literacy, math, science, and life skills.  Introducing exploration stations is a process because students need to learn where the stations take place, how to explore their respective station, and how to clean up and put away their station properly.  It will certainly take a lot of practice, but the students are off to a great start.

Science Exploration

Students have been exploring natural materials such as seashells, 

buckeyes, pine cones, nuts, seeds, and much, much more. 

Library Exploration

Students have been exploring books and the process of "picture reading."  Some students have been looking for sight words they might know as well as reading simple sentences. 

Math/Sorting Exploration

Students have been working on the process of sorting, and how we use sorting in our daily lives.   

In addition, we have introduced Geo boards.  

Soon students will be making shapes and letters with the rubber bands.  

Writing Exploration

Students have been exploring writing materials while writing their names, friends names, and teachers names.  Others have been illustrating pictures and labeling their work. 

Engineering/Natural Materials Exploration

Students have been exploring natural wood slices and branches of all shapes and sizes.  Students have also been engineering castles, forts, factories, towers, and much more!  

Look at all of our talented engineers and their creations!

 

 Alphabet Exploration

Students have been putting alphabet rocks in alphabetical order. 

In addition they have been using them to make their names. 

 Write the Room

Students have been exploring written words and numbers around our classroom.  While using a clipboard and a pencil, students have been writing all the words and numbers they can find around the room.  Students have been excited to begin writing their new friends names as well. 

Art Exploration

In addition to many other open ended art opportunities, 

this week students also helped to complete peace beads for our classroom. 

 We will be introducing many more opportunities for students to explore in the upcoming days/weeks/months.  Be sure to ask your child what they explored in the classroom on a daily basis. 

 Before we finished our day on Friday, we invited Mrs. Garrabrant's kindergarteners to our classroom.  We started by listening/watching the book "Pinkalicious" from Barnes and Noble Online Storytime.  There are several books on their website that your students will enjoy!  We then ended our time with some fun education songs including phonics songs, sight word songs, color word songs, and number songs.  We can already tell these two classes will become great friends.  I look forward to them sharing all their wonderful experiences with each other. 

As promised, here are a couple of photos of our peace beads.  They look simply beautiful and with your help making them, will continue to support a peaceful and loving kindergarten environment. 

Have an amazing week.

Mrs. Julie Atkin