Kinder Field Trip

On Thursday we went on our annual Kinder field trip to the Children's Museum.  If you haven't taken your own child(ren) there, this is an awesome place that keeps them busy, let's them explore and create, and above all...LET'S THEM BE KIDS!

Our awesome PTO paid for this trip, so if you see a member, say THANK YOU!  Make sure you check them out next year so you can join their efforts of providing great opportunities for our kids!

At the Children's Museum we explored aviation and air!

We explored slides!

We explored balls, ramps, cars, and a rock wall!

We explored art and painting!

We explored music and instruments!

We explored in the grocery store by shopping and running the cash register!

We explored the medical field!

We explored with mirrors!

We explored with legos!

We explored the world of farming!

This was an AWESOME day!  After the Children's Museum we went to a nearby park for lunch.  There is a pond by the pavillion that we eat at.  There were ducks, and even 5 baby ducks this year!  The kids really liked watching them while eating their sack lunches.  Then we hiked up a hill to play on the park's playground.  The wind was refreshing, and the sun was warming.  Couldn't ask for a better weather day, OR for better student behaviors.  All in all, we had a great time together!  I want to thank the volunteers from our room (Jen Schoettmer and Pascale Wallace) and from Mrs. Rodman's room (Misty Gahring and Kristi Wright) for coming and providing great help!

Enjoy your weekend and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY for all you mothers and grandmothers out there!

Informational Report Presentations and Book Reviews

We finished our 3-week unit on writing informational animal reports.  Within our Writer's Workshop, we spend some time learning how to write informational reports.  Our class took 3 weeks to study animals and publish 3 different reports on animals.  The weeks started out by voting on which animal group you would like to join. Then throughout the week students read, with a teacher, different books about their animal answering the questions:

• What are some characteristics of your animal?
• Where does your animal live?
• What are some parts of your animal you can draw and label?
• What are some facts you learned about your animal?

Then we compiled all of our new knowledge and created an informational report packet.  On the Friday of each week, we presented these reports.  We did this three different ways; by presenting in front of the whole class, by presenting in a group of 3, and by presenting to a 1st grade friend.  It was awesome to see them take ownership of their learning!

This week we started focusing on writing book reviews.  We again started with students picking the group they wanted to join based on book choice.  We reviewed 3 fractured fairy tales (which is my favorite type of children's book)!  Our reviews were so captivating that we had to spend some extra time today sharing all 3 books in class!  We hung our book reviews on our lockers so other students can ask us about our learning.  We have found how infectious our excitement for literature can be!  Check out how cute our book reviews look!