Congratulations to our GREAT Readers!

Colten and Matthew proudly show their new books for reading 200 steps!

Caleigh, Alliyah, Lindsey, and Ian are happy to receive their book "Get Happy" for reading 200 steps!

Introducing Characters with Stellaluna

Introducing Setting with Stellaluna

Today starts my most favorite thing about teaching literature- introducing story elements: setting, characters, main character, and events in the story.

I use hand signals and written symbols to teach these elements. Please use the blog posts this week as a tool to extend learning at home.

After reading a few pages from Stellaluna, the students used the symbols and described the setting of the story.

Week 11 Plans- Nocturnal Animals

I will now post lesson plans on my blog. In a busy world, I like to make things simple, and to me, it's as easy as having everything in one place!
Here are the lesson plans for this week. Please let me know if you cannot upload the link.

Lesson Plans

Also, parents, please be sure to refer to the Red Ribbon Week flyer for the exciting events happening next week.

Boosterthon Pledge Donations are due October 30th.

100 Book Challenge Goals is 110 steps.

No School TOMORROW!!! We all will enjoy a much deserved 3 day weekend!

See you Monday, Oakland All*Star Kinders!

Boosterthon Fun Run Day!

We had a great time at our Fun Run!

Fall Leaves Unit

Our Room 202 Scientists have investigated the driving question "Why do some leaves change colors in the fall?" for over two weeks. It all started with this one question when discussing seasonal changes. This was a great opportunity for students to drive the instruction and we took it!
Here is Our Journey...

We started our unit by asking what the students already know and what they wonder.

 

 

Our All*Stars then observed their natural surroundings for signs of seasonal changes.

 

'

 

We watched informational videos and recorded facts.

 

Ms. Garner and I recorded an  age- appropriate informational video on evergreen trees. We also used this as a hook for our lesson as our students were going to prepare to create their own video during that week.

 

 

 

We conducted two experiments in our OES Wonder Room.

 

We put a "Waxy Coat" (on evergreen trees) on a deciduous leaf to help keep the green color.

We used rubbing alcohol to remove the chlorophyll from a deciduous leaf and to see the original color.

 

 

Here is our Immersion table for our Fall Leaves unit!

 

 

 

Best of all, our Oakland All*Star Kindergarten friends worked really hard on learning BIG words like chlorophyll, deciduous, and evergreen and they used them in an informational video so that boys and girls around the world can learn why some leaves change colors in the fall. 

 

Enjoy...

 

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my job?!?! This melts my heart every time!

Our class joined Ms. Garner's for our Video  Premier Party. A few very important guests, Dr. Patterson, Mrs. Skinner, and Mrs. Mckelvey joined in on the fun.

  We had a popcorn snack to celebrate their hard work! 

After we returned to our room, we received a pretty special email from our principal...

Dear 5K Friends –

 

I am so proud of you!  You guys are truly “Making Success Happen!”  You need to know that there are not many 5 and 6-year-olds who know how to use the words, evergreen, chlorophyll, and deciduous…BUT my 5K friends at Oakland do!  Keep up the good work and know that you are a very smart group of students.  I am thankful to be your principal. 

 

“Follow Your Own Star”

 

Dr. P

Way to go Room 201 and 202 All*Stars! You have made us all so proud! 

BOOSTERTHON!

Our class is dominating in Kindergarten! But, Ms. Garner's class is catching up! Get those pledges this weekend!
Our class earned 5 minutes of extra recess and a shoes off day! WOOHOO!

We also won a pajama party day! We will schedule it for next Thursday! Way to go Oakland All*Star Kindergarten!

Walk to School Day!

 

Thank you to our Super Hero PE teacher, Mrs. Cabe

We love our Super Hero students and their supportive parents!

Our Community Helper Journey

We squeezed two weeks of our Project Based Learning lessons onto one bulletin board and could not be happier about how it turned out!
It's hard to believe at first glance, but this is the work of 5 and 6 year-old kindergarteners! We are so proud of their hard work.

We completed a Know and Wonder chart on several community helpers.
We explored literary non-fiction ABC books and used ABC of Jobs as our mentor text.
We used our names to practice writing our own ABC page.
We wrote about a community helper that started with our assigned letters.
We met real community helpers!
We wrote opinion pieces on the community helpers that is most important to us.
We recorded Public Service Announcements describing the community helper that is most important to us and why!

Mem Fox Author Study

We have read books by Mem Fox for two weeks. She is one of my most favorite authors. There's no need for a long explanation, I'll leave it to these three sweet and smart children!

Have a great weekend!

Just a typical Thursday morning until...

Dr. Patterson made an announcement over the intercom that we had a special delivery at the back door. What could it be?



A water bottle, food, and a BUNNY!

His name is Max and he was born on August 10th.

 

 

Meeting our new friend! How sweet are these pictures?!?

 

Max is Mrs. Roper's helper. And yes, he is a boy in a pink blanket. We are going to get him boy things ASAP! After two daughters, I don't own a lot of blue items! 

 

This was a popular place to sit during Read to Self time!

 

Max had a carrot while our boys and girls ate snack today.

 

Welcome home, Max! He is going to make a fabulous class pet!

 

I'm sure you noticed great writing samples in your child's homework folder today. They were eager to write about their new pet!

 

Congratulations!

Congratulations to these great readers! They have all read 100 steps in 100 Book Challenge!

 

Jakoby, Trey, Matthew, Payton, Rilee Grace, and Ashton

 

Jayden and Christian

Working with Tens Frames

We have been working on counting numbers 0-10 using tens frames for 6 weeks. We are now discussing building on to numbers and briefly reviewed taking one away today. Listen to these great explanations of how they know to make 7 and 4! Wow, I'm impressed... I hope you are!
By the way, we are fully implementing Daily 5 math. I will be posting more information on that soon.

Fire Safety Assembly

Today, we were lucky enough to have Boiling Springs Fire Department visit us for the second time in less than a few weeks! Our fire department shared information on how to prevent fires and how to stay safe in the event of a fire. They encouraged our children to have their parents check fire alarms and practice a fire drill at home.

 

Thank you, Boiling Springs Fire Department. They put their lives at risk to save people, animals, and items in our homes that are dear to us. I am personally grateful for their commitment. Last year, we lost our home to a fire caused by lightning. I saw these great men, along with two other fire departments, work for 8 hours to put the fire out of our home. They were exhausted, yet still continued to go in to put out the fire and bring us picture frames hanging on the walls and our little girls' teddy bears and dolls.

Please check your fire alarms and practice a fire drill at home. We never want to think of this horrible event happening to us, but we need to be prepared if it does.