Fast and Furious to the End!

Looking back on the pictures from this week, I can't believe it was only ONE week!  From now 'til the end of school we have so many great things planned, it is an exciting time.  I love this time of year.  My kinders are so much more capable than they were at the beginning of the year.  This is when we put all of their learning to work and watch it click!

We did a little bit of everything this week, it seemed... we studied magnets, electricity, symmetry, fractions, life cycles, astronomy, botany, engineering, pottery and tie dying!


We began the week by meeting our new butterflies! 

We got out the microscope and looked at slides of butterfly wings, legs, and antennae, too!

In math we've been working on dividing things into fractions, and looking at lines of symmetry, so we practiced symmetry by painting one half of a butterfly and folding it over to make it symmetrical.  Beautiful!

This week we explored folding paper strips into fractions.  The kids figured out themselves how to fold halves, and that folding each half in half gave them fourths, then eights, and so on.  Then we compared fraction sizes, and put them in order.  There were lots of "ah-ha moments", and it was awesome to see those little wheels turning!  I have to admit... I am pretty proud of my class.

Our next reading and writing unit is about plants, so we took a field trip to see the school's greenhouse!  Ms. Bonnie Emery gave us a wonderful tour, and in exchange, we gave her the ladybugs that we raised in class!

She let each of the kids pull up a carrot.  Yummmm!!!

We also got a look at the compost pile.  Each day after lunch, the kids throw their leftovers into a compost bin, so it was great to see (and smell) where it goes, and learn how it helps the plants grow!

We had the wonderful opportunity to go stargazing in the planetarium brought down by UAF.  Thank you to Mrs. Dunning for sponsoring this event.  We got to see a star show all about the planets and constellations.   Below is a view from inside the planetarium showing how the sun rises and sets in the winter as opposed to the summer in Alaska.  

In science we are learning about magnets and electricity.  We spent some time being curious about magnets, and the kinders had wonderful questions, like "What do magnets look like inside?  What makes magnets stick to things?"  and "What kinds of things do magnets stick to?"  Here the kids are answering their own questions...by going fishing for different things in our room with magnets, and then we classified what did and did not attract magnets.   It was super fun.  Who doesn't love to play with magnets?!

We learned about "force fields", or magnetic fields, and watched a movie about the Earth's "secret weapon" against solar storms - it's magnetic field!

Mr. Monroe, the shop teacher, was kind enough to come in and share his circuit kits with us. Your kids are making electrical circuits... how cool is that?!  They are learning about circuits by experimenting.  What makes the lightbulb light up?  Where is the electricity coming from?  What happens if I hook up TWO batteries?  Three?!  Why isn't mine working?  By troubleshooting and collaborating they are answering their own questions and figuring things out for themselves... it was so fun, and they couldn't WAIT to get their hands on these kits again!  That's all they wanted to do in their free time!  Thank you Mr. Monroe!

To go along with our mini unit about Goldilocks, we did an engineering project about building a better chair... one that wouldn't break!  The kids had to work together using the engineer's design cycle to build a better chair and then test it using weighted figurines of Goldilocks, Baby Bear, Mama Bear, and the heaviest of all, Papa Bear.  They even got creative and began designing bunk beds!

We had art class with Mrs. Lee and learned how to make pinch pots!

We also did an art project with Mrs. Fastenau for music to create tie dye T-shirts for the Spring Concert THIS TUESDAY at 2pm and 6pm.  

Just thinking back on our week, I can't believe all that we did!  But I also realized how MANY MANY people help us and create amazing opportunities for our kids.  THANK YOU to Mrs. Dunning, the 5th grade teacher who brought the planetarium to the school with a grant that she wrote.  THANK YOU to Bonnie Emery in the greenhouse, Mr. Monroe for sharing his electrical kits and knowledge with us, Mrs. Lee for volunteering to teach art in our school, Mrs. Fastenau for providing music opportunities, and many others. I feel so fortunate and grateful to work at a school where so many people are collaborating to bring together these amazing opportunities for our kids.