Archive | January 2014

Fortune Cookies!

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Today Kindergarteners created delicious giant fortune cookies as part of our social studies unit on Chinese New Year! There are many stories regarding where fortune cookies “truly” originated, but one version claims that David Jung, a Chinese immigrant living in Los Angeles and founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company, invented the cookie in 1918. Concerned about the poor he saw wandering near his shop, he created the cookie and passed them out free on the street. Each of kindergartens’ fortune cookies has a secret fortune hiding inside, to welcome good luck to you in the new year. It is a tradition in China to share food and gifts with relatives and friends during the two week celebrations- a positive way to start the new year with generosity! Enjoy!

DANCING DRAGONS!

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In the Chinese culture, dragons are a symbol of good luck! They chase away evil spirits and often have red as an important color of luck as well (with the belief that monsters are frightened off by the color red!).

New Math and Literacy Games

Today in the computer lab we explored several new games that connect to this week’s math focus- addition! Other games support number sense and identification. Have fun sharing these games at home too! Links to these games can be found on the Leverett elementary online lab wiki  through the website, or just click on the link below! Enjoy!

Addition Games! 

 

 

 

Historical Figures

This week we started our new social studies unit on historical figures! We have many new books and life stories to explore! We are learning about different time periods, how the past has shaped the future, how a biography is different from a narrative, and how one person can make a difference! I have included in this post a photo of some of our classroom books, as well as an animated movie all about Kirk Christiansen (who created LEGO!) Enjoy!

 

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Maple’s Passing

Dear Parents, I am sad to report that our beloved class pet hamster, Maple, passed over the weekend. She was an older hamster, at three years old (and the average life expectancy of a hamster). Maple’s cage was not in the classroom this morning and the students immediately noticed. We briefly discussed Maple’s passing as a class and students were welcome to share their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs around Maple’s passing in an atmosphere of respect for each others words. Out of this brief discussion came the students’ suggestion that we leave flowers where Maple’s cage used to be as a way to remember her and show her we love her.  I think this is a wonderful idea and I will bring in a small potted plant this week. I also have encouraged students to create and/or draw flowers that they could put on the counter spot as well if they choose. Students also wished to discuss what new pet our classroom may adopt next (some suggestions included a peacock, a potbelly pig, or a rabbit….!) I hope to make a decision on what we may adopt within the next few weeks. Some students did have further questions around Maple’s passing and I encouraged them to talk to parents at home and discuss some of these questions as a family. Thank you for your support with this delicate matter.

Maple’s Home had a Makeover!

Special Guest!

We were lucky enough this month to have Trevon, Mrs. Martin’s son, help out in our classroom as a substitute while he is home from college on winter break.  Trevon shared with the class yesterday that he can play guitar and the students were eager to hear him play! When he arrived to the classroom today, he had a black guitar case in tow. The class was very excited!! The PreK classroom joined us after lunch and Trevon entertained the group with several songs and even took requests! “The Ants go Marching” and “Rain, Rain, Go Away” were popular choices. PreK even taught us a new song they learned as part of their transportation unit- “Twinkle, Twinkle, Traffic Light.” Thank you Trevon for sharing your talent with the class!

 

Learning Through Exploration!

Winter Fun!

Winter Card Update

I am so happy that kindergarten was able to participate in this exciting program this year! I hope you had a chance to stop by the card display in the school hallway! If not, here is a picture of the display before we left for the winter break! The children had a lot of fun opening the cards and finding the states on the map! We learned about a wide variety of schools and each card included an “interesting fact” about the classroom it came from. We received cards from kindergartens through fifth grade classrooms. Some classes were small, and others had as many as 35 students. In some schools more than one language was spoken. Some classrooms shared that students used iPads, had a pet rabbit, were big sports fans, or were recovering from a recent tornado.

Please be sure to check out the fun interactive US MAP game noted in the previous post! Enjoy!

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