Sugar Rush

Today we learned about junk food and how unhealthy it is for you. We decided to check out our own lunches to see how much sugar is in our junk food. I was very surprised to see some of the results.
We used the measurement that
4g=1 tsp.

Graham cracker- 1 g
Poptart crisps - 5 g
Watermelon - 9.5 g
Fruit by the foot- 10 g
Fruit snacks - 11 g
Marshmallows - 16 g
Lunchable - 17 g
Yogurt raisins - 18 g
100% juice - 22 g

Penguins!

This week we are learning all about those cute, tuxedo wearing Penguins! We read several Tacky the Penguin books by Helen Lester. The students discussed how it is okay to be different than everyone else. We got out our abstract abilities and made some adorable penguins out of cardboard tubes. They students had a blast gluing feather, beaks, feet, and eyes to the tubes to make some delightfully TACKY penguins!

100 Day!

Today marks our 100th day of kindergarten. We have had a blast doing many 100 day activities today. The students drew a picture of what they will look like when they are 100, played race to 100, made a necklace out of 100 pieces of cereal, and made 100 day hats! They also wrote a prompt," I would like 100 _____ but I don't want 100 ______!"
My favorite part of the day was our 100 day museum. The students all worked hard to being in 100 items from home. They were so creative with the projects- no two were alike! You can check out all of their hard work in the photos below!
Happy 100 Day!

Hibernation and Bears!

This week we are learning all about bears and hibernation. We have read tons of books on these subjects. I think the favorite so far has been More Bears by Ken Nesbitt and Troy Cummings.
The students have also participated in my projects and activities. We have built a class cave, made snow caves out of paper plates, an made some cute beats.
On Monday the students tried bear food- strawberries, honey, and tuna fish. Then we created a class graph of our favorite type of bear food. Honey was our winner! An surprisingly strawberries and tuna tied for second place!
Today the students wrote poems about hibernating animals. They did a really great job. You can check them out below!
Friday will be our hibernation day. We will all wear our pajamas and bring on our favorite teddy bear!

Happy new year!

Happy new year everyone! I am excited to get back into the swing of things and start the second semester! This is going to be a good one! I am really going to try to update the blog at least once a week- but let's not get out hopes up too high!
Last week we started DRA2 testing and have seen amazing progress from all of the kids! For the month we are learning about all things winter- snow, penguins, and bears- oh my! You can check out some of the fantastic books we will be reading below. You can even have your child get some theme related books from the library( hint: Eric Carle is a great read)!

Thanksgiving

This week we are learning all about thanksgiving. We have done lots of talking about what we are thankful for (and some writing too!) We have also been learning about why we celebrate thanksgiving.

One project we did was to show why we are thankful. The students decorated paper plates to look like turkeys and Native Americans. One side is a turkey, flip it over, and voila!- you have a Native American. The students wrote what they ate thankful for on each of their feathers.

Another project we did really focused on the first thanksgiving and teamwork! The students were assigned to a team and together they had to build their very own mayflower ( but they were not allowed to name their own boat that). I have to say, they all worked extremely hard and hot along wonderfully while crafting their boats:)

You can all of our awesome creations below!

Election Day

To teach the kinders about democracy, we decided to hold an election of our own. The class had earned a special prize by earning all of their stickers for the week, so we decided to let the students vote to choose their special prize. W gave them three options: pajama party, popcorn party, and ice cream party. The kids loved casting their votes and tallying them to see which party won. It was a close race, but they voted to have an ice cream party. We held the party on Friday afternoon and invited their families to join in on the fun!