A Sneak Peek

All of the Kindergarten classes have been rehearsing for their music program this week. The program is on Tuesday, May 4th at 6:00 p.m. I recorded 3 of the songs today, so I could give family members and friends a sneak peek. It was a quick rehearsal, so no props were used today. Hey! Some things have to be a surprise. :-) Enjoy!

Only a small portion of this song

Part of "Tony Chestnut"

Part of "I Can Sing a Rainbow" (they were pretending that they were holding the props)

Our 2nd Field Trip!

Today, we went to the Mulvane Art Museum's Art Lab. We had a blast! Outside of the museum is a huge sculpture made out of sticks. It has windows and secret hiding spots. The students were given the opportunity to explore the sculpture. They even saw bird's nests inside the sculpture. Outside the sculpture, the art teacher explained the difference between sculptures and paintings. She also taught them about organic movement. These are lines that are found in nature. You'll have to ask them more about this.

Inside the museum, the students got the chance to explore in the Art Lab. They could go wherever they wanted! In the Art Lab, there were places where they could make rubbings, prints, small sculptures, and self-portraits. There was also a large glass window and a rock wall that they could draw on. They even had large blocks, cylinders, and other objects they could use to build large sculptures. The Art Lab also had much, much more.

After we were finished exploring in the Art Lab, we went with the art teacher. She had the students draw lines with organic movement (curvy lines) on a paper. Then, the students used watercolors to paint over the lines. This is called "resistance painting." They did this in art class a few weeks ago, so they were very happy that they already knew all about it. They were also excited that they got to make 2 paintings! After we were finished, we went outside to eat our lunches. We had a fabulous time! :-)

Outside of the Art Museum

A video of them exploring the huge sculpture located in the front of the museum

Making a large sculpture in the Art Lab

Drawing on the glass window

Making a rubbing

Making a self-portrait

Drawing on the rock wall

Making prints

Exploring

More fun in the Art Lab

Drawing her lines with organic movement

Painting over the lines





Eating lunch outside of the museum

A Stuffed Animal Day

Today, I let the students bring their favorite stuffed animal to school. Each student got the opportunity to introduce their animal friend and tell everyone one special thing about their stuffed animal. The stuffed animals joined them for story times, recesses, and centers. They also were with them when they made a special book about their stuffed animals. In their book, they wrote what kind of stuffed animal they had, and they wrote about what they like to do with their stuffed animal. They also drew a picture of them with their stuffed animal and shared their animal's name in the book. During math, they graphed the different types of stuffed animals that everyone brought in. On an unrelated note, they also completed their hundreds chart that they have been working on in math. They did a wonderful job and I am placing their completed charts in their scrapbooks. Anyways, we had a fun day with our animal friends, and we are looking forward to our 2nd field trip tomorrow!

Playing with their stuffed animal friends on the playground




C playing with his animal friend in the construction center

T listening to a story with his animal friend in listening center

H's bear helped her make their special book. He was so big that he needed his own chair! :-)

Here's a peek at each page from the special book they made (the pages came from different friend's books):

Our Professional Class Picture

I wanted to share our professional class picture, since I know many long-distance family members view the blog. I thought everyone might want to see it. I think it turned out great, and we only had 1 student missing that day.

(The other woman in the picture is our Kindergarten para, Miss Campos)

Earth Day!

We wanted to go outside and pick up trash today but it was raining. However, we still did other things to celebrate Earth Day. First of all, many of the students wore green today. We also read a great book about all of the small things we can do to help keep the Earth safe. We discussed these ideas and each student wrote about what they would do to help the Earth. We placed all of their pages into a class book. We did a scholastic magazine about Earth Day too. The magazine included a huge letter that we could use to write to someone about our ideas for helping the Earth. We decided to write to President Obama. You can read our letter to him in the picture below. We are going to mail it and see if we get a response back from him.

The students who wore green to celebrate Earth Day

Making our class book


The cover of our book (K drew the Earth in writing center)

"Picking up trash and recycling"

"Planting the flowers and the trees"

"Riding my bike"

Our letter to President Obama

Hawaiian Day and Junior Achievement

Today, we completed the Junior Achievement program. Miss Gardner brought in a fun booklet which reviewed all of the things we have learned during the Junior Achievement program. She also brought us M&M cookies as a treat for our last day with her. Lastly, they all received a certificate for completing the program. Today was also Hawaiian day, so many of the kids were wearing leis and colorful clothes.

Here are the students who were decked out in their Hawaiian clothes:

3 of the students proudly displaying their Junior Achievement certificates

Ocean Painting

They have been making lots of different ocean art projects in Art class for the upcoming school carnival. Last week, they drew an ocean scene using some glitter crayons, and they painted over it with blue paint today. They learned that this is called "resistance painting." The wax in the crayon causes the paint to roll right off of it. Their ocean scenes turned out really neat. I also had 2 guest readers today. In reading groups, a friend brought in a book to share with the whole class at the beginning of the groups. Then, another friend brought in a book to share during shared reading time. We really have some great readers in Kindergarten. :-)
As I mentioned earlier, our school carnival is Friday. In order to celebrate, we are wearing special outfits each day. Today was favorite team day, so I took a picture of the students who wore their favorite team shirts. Lastly, a friend celebrated her birthday today. She brought in yummy snack cakes to share with us.

Several friends painting their ocean scenes in Art class






N reading a book to the class before reading groups

G reading a book during shared reading

Wearing their favorite team shirts (I think I missed 2 students who had team shirts too)

Happy Birthday H!!!

Earth Day Posters

Today, we made Earth Day posters with our study buddies. We have already been talking about how to keep the Earth clean and safe, so we put our ideas to paper. They did a great job making the posters, and they liked having their buddies help them write what they wanted to say. The posters will be hung up around the school if you want to check them out.
We also learned about insects today. We read a really interesting book about them. It had great pictures and facts. We now know that insects have 6 legs, 3 body parts, and often times have wings. Then, we decided to put our knowledge to good use. I gave each student a bag containing pictures of insects and animals. We sorted the pictures by insects and non-insects. We always counted the legs to make sure that it was an insect or not. They did an awesome job!

Holding up their insect papers


Making the Earth Day posters with their study buddies




Here's one of the completed posters: