DEEP Space

There is nothing like studying space with kindergarteners to make you think deeply about your job as a teacher, and about life in general.  Let me share with you a few moments from this week.  First of all, as we began this unit, the kids thought of questions that they had about space.  One of them was, "What are the planets like?"  This week we delved into what it would be like to stand on each planet and created a book about the planets.  During one of our discussions about planets, one of the kids asked, "Ms. Deb, are planets REALLY real?" Several other kids chimed in, "Yeah, are they?"  I answered, "Yes, they are REALLY real.  I promise I will only teach you things that are real."  And they all said, "OK, Ms. Deb.  We believe you."

When you think about it...great big balls of rock or poisonous gasses that are multicolored and spinning around somewhere out there too far away to see... it does sound a bit far fetched, doesn't it?  So do so many of the things that we take for granted as facts.  I was honored by the trust that my students have in me, and reminded of the responsibility that accompanies that trust.

I was thrilled to find that one student was continuing to be curious at home, and obviously having conversations with her parents about space when she came back to school one day and said, "Ms. Deb!  I found out the answer to my question!" I said, "Oh, what was your question?"  She said, "My question was, 'How far does space go?'  It goes for EVER!!!!!!"  This led to a discussion about getting LOST in space.  To which one student replied, "You can't get lost in space.  You just keep going down, down, down until you get back to Earth!"   😊

We worked on a LARGE mural of space, which you can see in the hallway to our classroom from the lunchroom next time you are in the school.  And we will continue our study of space for a few more weeks, as we incorporate it into our math, writing and reading as well!

We celebrated the Super Moon on Monday with a great Moon Party!   The moon was in and out of the haze, but we did get some opportunities for some very clear, beautiful views.  The kids enjoyed looking at the moon through binoculars provided by Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge for a short time, but then mostly enjoyed playing on the playground by moonlight!  That was an opportunity not to be missed!  When everyone got cold we headed inside for hot cocoa and Moon Pies to warm up!  Thank you to everyone who came and to Steve Rudolph from the Refuge!  It was so much fun!

We have had several fun hands-on explorations in math this week, including weights and balances, and adding numbers using dice.  If you have board games at home that use dice, playing them would be a great opportunity to help your child learn to "count on" from the larger number using dice!

In writing this week, I introduced the kids to the district's writing curriculum, The 6 Traits of Writing.  We will use the metaphor of building to help us learn how to build great writing!  The 6 Tools we will use are:  Organization, Ideas, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions (periods, question marks, capitals, etc.).  We began by looking at tools and building our own houses out of blocks.  They were very elaborate!  We had everything from a house powered by a generator to an RV!

We have been studying the tool of  organization in our writing, and what comes first, next, and last.  We worked on this by making a fruit salad and writing down the steps we used to make it.  Then the kids wrote their own recipes for how to make their favorite foods.  It was a yummy way to learn about writing!!!  

Red, White, and Blue!

I am happy to report 100% voter turn out for the Tok Kindergarteners!  They were so excited about the election this week.  We took a field trip to the Senior Center to see what voting was really like....

The best parts were crowding into the voting booth, and getting stickers!

A big thank you to Amy Young and Madison Crozier for helping to chaperone!  Our class actually got to vote in a mock election at Tok School that afternoon.  They were so happy when it was finally THEIR turn to vote!  They took it very seriously.  We even had one write-in candidate from our very own class, who was running on the platform, "I think it would be cool to have my own bowling alley."  

Later that day we celebrated our freedom to vote and the Veterans who help protect our freedom by making flags and a big flag thank you poster for Veteran's Day.

The class performed This Land Is Your Land at the Veteran's Day assembly on Friday with the rest of the elementary classes.  They were very brave for their first school performance and knew all of the words!  I was very proud of them!  

We went from the Stars and Stripes to stars in the sky.  We began a new unit learning about outer space this week!  The class had many questions about space that we will endeavor to answer in the next few weeks.  We began by learning what makes night and day, and all about the moon.  Here we are creating edible phases of the moon with oreo cookies!  

Don't miss our Moon-Gazing party Monday night at the school from 6:30 - 7:30 to celebrate the Super Moon!  We'll have scopes set up, so come see the full moon close up and enjoy hot cocoa and moon pies.  Dress warmly!

Halloween Party!

Halloween

The week started off with a bang, with our Halloween Costume Parade!  I have to say, the Kindergarteners stole the show.  They were all super cute in their costumes.  See for yourselves!

After the parade we had our party.  Thank you to everyone who contributed time or treats!  We played Halloween 4 Corners, the Mummy Game, and heard a story about Poor Old Joe... complete with touchy-feely body parts!  

We even had a surprise visit from Edward Scissorhands at our party!

A Day in the Life ....

After Halloween, life got (somewhat) back to normal.  Here are some photos of a day in the life of a Tok Kindergartener!

Running laps around the gym is how P.E. begins.  Then it's time for the games!

We did a science experiment with yeast while learning about the grain group and making bread!  The yeast blew up the balloon!  The kids were eager to share their bread with our friends in 2nd grade.

Watching Eragon eat his worms is always a highlight of the day!

Every morning we check William's seeds.  He is the class gardener!  The seeds he planted from our pumpkin just kept growing up and up and up!  I am beginning to think we'll have to start calling him Jack and the Pumpkin Stalk!

Center Time!

Once or twice a month we get a special treat to have art class with Shauna Lee.  On Wednesday, she helped the kids make day and night pictures, since we are going to begin studying about space and what makes day and night in science!  We also learned about time and parts of the day in math this week.  Check out their artwork on your way down the hall to Parent Teacher Conferences on Monday, Nov. 7th!