We love singing in KG-B and on Friday we invited the other kindergarten classes to join us for a sing-along. Enjoy watching us sing "All I Really Need":
Monday, November 21, 2016
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Photos Needed
Dear Parents,
For our new unit of inquiry focusing on Journeys Create Opportunities for Change, we are in need of your help in acquiring some photos. Please send in with your child or email me up to five photos of your child in various places. These can be from journeys near or far and from any time in your child's life.
Also, please take a moment to view this unit's parent letter. All kindergarten teachers have sat together and created these letters to better inform you of what your child is learning in class. By taking three minutes to read what this unit entails, you will be more equipped to discuss school with your child and make connections at home -- which is especially helpful when the answer to your daily question about what your child did in school is responded with "nothing" or "I don't know!"
For our new unit of inquiry focusing on Journeys Create Opportunities for Change, we are in need of your help in acquiring some photos. Please send in with your child or email me up to five photos of your child in various places. These can be from journeys near or far and from any time in your child's life.
Also, please take a moment to view this unit's parent letter. All kindergarten teachers have sat together and created these letters to better inform you of what your child is learning in class. By taking three minutes to read what this unit entails, you will be more equipped to discuss school with your child and make connections at home -- which is especially helpful when the answer to your daily question about what your child did in school is responded with "nothing" or "I don't know!"
Please do inform me from the aspect of a parent of anything you feel might be useful to add to this letter, and of course let me know if you have any difficulty accessing it. Expect to see an update of similar nature focusing on literacy and math soon. As always, thank you for your support!
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Mystery Number Skype
Yesterday morning we had the wonderful opportunity of "journeying" to Sudan. We engaged in a Skype call with a kindergarten school at the Khartoum International Community School. During this exchange we participated in "Mystery Number Skype". The way this worked was before our call, our class chose a number between 1 and 100 to use as our mystery number. The kindergarten class in Khartoum then had to use their mathematical knowledge to ask questions to eventually guess our number. It was wonderful seeing little minds at work as students used mathematical terms such as "bigger, smaller, larger than, less than, more, digit, ones place, tens place". We are looking forward to our next Mystery Number Skype date!
Monday, November 14, 2016
Reflecting on Our Mekdela School Journey
After last week's visit to Mekdela School, we spent some time reflecting on our experience. We examined the differences and similarities between the schools and then thought about changes we that may have occurred in our thinking. Take a moment to view some of our teammates as they proudly share their reflections:
We then spent some time today reflecting on this journey once more through Harvard Project Zero's Visible Thinking Routine "See, Think, Wonder". We first thought about what we saw at Mekdela School. Some of the things we noticed were tables, chairs, and lots of students:
Finally, we posted our wonderings. These questions will help spark thought about our lines of inquiry and about how journeys might cause change. Our wonderings included such things as, "I wonder if they have a writing workshop", "I wonder why they don't have markers" and "I wonder why they don't have many toys". By engaging in conversation about differences and similarities between our school and the one just across our street, we can encourage open-mindedness and empathy. We can also promote understanding of others and recognition of the commonalities we have as humans.
We then spent some time today reflecting on this journey once more through Harvard Project Zero's Visible Thinking Routine "See, Think, Wonder". We first thought about what we saw at Mekdela School. Some of the things we noticed were tables, chairs, and lots of students:
We then shifted our focus and noted what we thought as we were engaged in the daily happenings and leanings in the kindergarten. A few examples of things we charted include, "I thought there would be lots of books but I didn't see many books" and "I thought the kids looked nice.":
Finally, we posted our wonderings. These questions will help spark thought about our lines of inquiry and about how journeys might cause change. Our wonderings included such things as, "I wonder if they have a writing workshop", "I wonder why they don't have markers" and "I wonder why they don't have many toys". By engaging in conversation about differences and similarities between our school and the one just across our street, we can encourage open-mindedness and empathy. We can also promote understanding of others and recognition of the commonalities we have as humans.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Journey to Mekdela School
As a provocation to our new unit of inquiry Where We Are in Place and Time: Journeys Create Opportunities to Change, we took a journey to Mekdela kindergarten. We spent roughly an hour experiencing what it is like to attend this local Ethiopian school.
Our visit began with a whole-school welcome and equivalent to 'morning meeting' outside. We joined the students in singing and responding to questions.
We then accompanied one of the younger classes inside and participated in their classroom learning.
The purpose of this visit was to provoke thinking about our new unit on journeys. The lines of inquiry for this unit are:
Ask your child to share some of his/her experiences with you, and ask about his/her thinking. Did it change? What did s/he notice?
Please visit this link to see all our photos and videos from our journey to Mekdela School.
Our visit began with a whole-school welcome and equivalent to 'morning meeting' outside. We joined the students in singing and responding to questions.
We then accompanied one of the younger classes inside and participated in their classroom learning.
This was followed by an introduction of all our ICS students:
The purpose of this visit was to provoke thinking about our new unit on journeys. The lines of inquiry for this unit are:
- Types of journeys
- Reasons why we journey
- Change experienced because of the journey
Ask your child to share some of his/her experiences with you, and ask about his/her thinking. Did it change? What did s/he notice?
Please visit this link to see all our photos and videos from our journey to Mekdela School.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Exploration Fair
On Friday we welcomed EC4-B to our classroom so that we could teach them how we explore the world with our bodies. For this "exploration fair" we came up with our own ideas as to how we might explain/demonstrate this concept to the EC4 students. After brainstorming a variety of activities in which the students could engage, we chose the ones we were most interested in leading. We then made signs, gathered materials, and practiced how we could teach others the information we have learned through our unit of inquiry on the senses.
Many of the centers we led focused on the line of inquiry, "How losing a sense/body part affects our learning and our lives", but some of the centers incorporated our other two lines of inquiry, "How our senses work" and "How our senses work together."
Tesanda and Nathan wanted to teach others the importance of exercising to take care of our bodies, so they led the group in a Zumba Kids dance from GoNoodle. This really got our hearts racing!
Ask your child to describe his/her teaching activity, and take a moment to check out all our pictures from this experience here.
Many of the centers we led focused on the line of inquiry, "How losing a sense/body part affects our learning and our lives", but some of the centers incorporated our other two lines of inquiry, "How our senses work" and "How our senses work together."
Tesanda and Nathan wanted to teach others the importance of exercising to take care of our bodies, so they led the group in a Zumba Kids dance from GoNoodle. This really got our hearts racing!
Ask your child to describe his/her teaching activity, and take a moment to check out all our pictures from this experience here.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
What Happens When We Lose a Sense?
We quickly got back into the swing of things after our October break. If you are reading this then you are able to access internet, which I am happy to hear as you can continue to stay informed about our learning.
Last week we had two wonderful experiences that helped us more fully understand our line of inquiry, "How losing a sense/body part affects our learning and our lives". First, we visited the Misrach Center. The Miscrach Center is a "school of apprenticeship and rehabilitation for the blind, deaf-mute and disabled". While visiting this center we were able to interact with individuals who had lost a sense. We saw how they used their other senses to do every day tasks. We were amazed to see how blind people can use their sense of touch to read braille and how they can type through a program that lets them hear. We also saw a workshop in which deaf-mute men and women were making eye glasses. I hope that you were able to discuss this experience with your child. If not, please take the time to look through these pictures with him/her so that s/he can share his/her learning.
Another great experience we had last week was when Mr. Mesfin came to visit. Mesfin works in our school in the cafeteria. Mesfin is deaf. We learned that he became deaf at age of four when he slid off his mother's back and the fall left him unable to hear.
Mr. Mesfin taught us how he communicates through his hands by signing. Ask your child to show you some of the signs s/he learned.
Last week we had two wonderful experiences that helped us more fully understand our line of inquiry, "How losing a sense/body part affects our learning and our lives". First, we visited the Misrach Center. The Miscrach Center is a "school of apprenticeship and rehabilitation for the blind, deaf-mute and disabled". While visiting this center we were able to interact with individuals who had lost a sense. We saw how they used their other senses to do every day tasks. We were amazed to see how blind people can use their sense of touch to read braille and how they can type through a program that lets them hear. We also saw a workshop in which deaf-mute men and women were making eye glasses. I hope that you were able to discuss this experience with your child. If not, please take the time to look through these pictures with him/her so that s/he can share his/her learning.
Click here to see all our photos from the Misrach Center.
Also, please click here to find out more about the Misrach Center and its work.
Another great experience we had last week was when Mr. Mesfin came to visit. Mesfin works in our school in the cafeteria. Mesfin is deaf. We learned that he became deaf at age of four when he slid off his mother's back and the fall left him unable to hear.
Mr. Mesfin taught us how he communicates through his hands by signing. Ask your child to show you some of the signs s/he learned.
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