Exploring Kindergarten - Home

Exploring Kindergarten

Coding - Session 1

4/6/2019

As a part of our Applied Design, Skills and Technology curriculum, we began a unit of study on Coding with Mrs. Sauer, our Teacher-Librarian. The children had fun understanding directions and how to "program" or tell something or someone how to move. We even followed 'code' ourselves - on the carpet and then on a grid mat. After moving ourselves on the coding mat, the children got to code with 'Flurb". They had to cut and paste the arrows correctly to get Flurb to the food. They all did very well!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

3/19/2019

We read the story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The children each made their own coconut tree with the letters of their name climbing up the trunk.

We also made a class tree. Each child made a glitter letter for their name.

St. Patrick's Day

3/19/2019

Morning Table Tubs:

Some of our Leprechaun Traps:

Fun St Patrick's Day Activities:

Our Pots of Gold:

Our Five Senses

3/8/2019

We took part in the school Science Fair by doing our own unit of study on our five senses. We participated in a variety of activities that involved our senses - touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste.

Using our 'feely box' to touch items. Then we sorted them by how they felt.

We also took part in "smelly centres" and "tasty centres". The children decided which smells and tastes they liked and then we graphed our favourites.

100th Day of Kindergarten!!

2/23/2019

It's hard to believe but we celebrated our 100th day of Kindergarten. Time flies!! We were involved in a variety of activities throughout the day (and also the rest of the week!).

We walked through the door 100 days smarter!

We made 100 Day crowns to wear.

We did a wide variety of activities related to the number 100 - made a 100-loop chain, had fun building with our 100 cups, made 100 Day glasses, weighed our 100 collections, measured things in the classroom that were 100 centimetres, did 100 polka dot painting, made 100 gumballs with bingo daubers, and did shape finding. It was a busy day of counting!!

Our 100 number search. We had to find all 100 numbers and then put them in our 100s chart.

Love Bugs!

2/6/2019

Using the Creative Thinking Core Competency, the children made their own 'Love Bug' using loose parts.

Next, the children did some writing about their Love Bug in their "I Am An Author" book.

Morning Table Tubs

2/5/2019

Valentine's Day Theme:

Groundhog Day

2/2/2019

We created pop-up groundhogs as well as construction paper groundhogs.

Together we thought about what would happen if we would got an early spring or if we continued with more winter. The children each decided what they would prefer and why:

Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!

2/2/2019

Our Penguin Projects:

As a part of the Applied Design, Skills, and Technology component of our curriculum, each child planned and created a penguin using cardboard Kleenex boxes.

Together the class created criteria of what their penguins would need.

After deciding what kind of penguin they wanted to make, the children got busy creating!

Our finished products turned out so great!! The students definitely demonstrated fantastic creative thinking! We used Chatterpix to make them come to life. The children used the Chatterpix app to tell about their penguin. They did a great job!

Penguin Inquiry

1/28/2019

As a whole class, we started our new unit of study by thinking about pets. We created a class graph of who had pets.
Next, we created a t-chart of animals that we thought would make good pets. It created a lot of interesting discussion about what should be considered a pet.

To pique curiosity about Penguins, I set out some books, some stuffies, and little figures at our Discovery Centre. The children enjoyed choosing to go to this centre throughout the day.

Then we wondered:

In order to answer this question, we needed to do a lot of research to find out more information about penguins.

And so it began...
We started by creating a list of what we think about penguins. Some of that information might be true...but it might not. It was just our thoughts - BEFORE doing any reading or research.

Then the children looked through many non-fiction books about penguins to see what they could discover. Even though reading is difficult for them at this age, the pictures can often provide lots of information...and lots of questions!

After looking through books, we created a class "Wonder" chart - things that we wondered about penguins.

Last week we received a special delivery - a box from Antarctica. Ms. Mabee delivered it to our classroom. We noticed that it even had air holes and snow on the top.

We opened it up to find our new penguin friend, Percy. He came all the way from Antarctica because he heard that we were learning about penguins. Included in the box with him was a note about his journey from Antarctica to Kamloops.

It was fun to have him in the class while we learned about penguins.

How Do Penguins Stay Warm?

We wondered how penguins stay warm in the cold. We read that they have a layer of blubber or fat under their feathers. So...we conducted an experiment. We created a "blubber glove" using butter to create a layer of fat. The children dipped their hand in an ice cold bowl of water. Brrr...they all agreed it was too cold!! Then they put the blubber glove on and put their hand back in the water. The blubber glove protected their hand from the cold...just like the blubber does for the animals living in Antarctica and the Arctic.

Walk Like a Penguin!

We thought we'd try waddling like penguins - which wasn't too hard until we added an "egg". We pretended that we were Emperor Penguins who had their egg on their feet. The hard part was trying to move without letting it drop on the ice!