Spaced Out!

This is our first attempt at some online learning science activities... this time about the MOON!

Start with this short Nat Geo movie about the first people on the moon! Watch here!

Click here for two stories to read about the moon!

What is in the night sky? Watch this video!

You can make your own craters on the moon.  Click here!

You should also have gotten some Oreos in your packet.  If you haven't eaten them already, you can do this activity!  Click here for directions!

Last but not least, you can write a journal page about going to the moon.

Would you want to go to the moon? Why or why not? If you did go, who and what would you take with you?

Solar systems, Sledding, and Sneaky little Leprechauns!

March is super busy and fun for kinders... there is a lot to do! 

• Enjoy the sunshine coming back outside? Check!
• Finish up our unit on Space? Check!
• Have a Book Buddies Party? Wait, two of them? Check, check!
• Set traps for leprechauns? Check!
• Write thank you notes to donors who gave us new headphones? Check!!!

We had to postpone our Book Buddies sledding party until Friday, but we still had an impromptu St. Patty's day Book Buddies day on Wednesday!  We read stories and learned about the legend of leprechauns and their gold.  We went on a hunt in the fourth grade room for clues to where they had stashed their gold and lucky charms!  

The kids wrote stories about what makes them feel lucky.  They had some awesome ideas, like, "When I go fast in a dogsled race I feel lucky," "When I get to play hockey with my friend I feel lucky," and "When I am with my family I feel lucky."

And on Friday, we set traps for the leprechauns that just might come sneaking about in our room on St. Patrick's Day!  Some weren't so much traps as nice little houses for them to live in. :) 

There just so happens to be a musher in the Iditarod named Quince Mountain.  There just so happens to be thousands of his fans that call themselves #uglydogs.  It just so happens that these #uglydogs decided last year, when his wife was a rookie musher, that it would be pretty neat to donate to rural Alaskan schools in her honor during the Iditarod.  And they are doing the same thing this year in honor of Quince.  Our project on Donorschoose.org for new headphones and science equipment was funded by #igivearod and #uglydogs last week!  So we spent some time learning about how and why we write thank you notes, and writing letters to the donors that helped us.  We also had fun following Quince and the other mushers on the Iditarod trail! 

When I asked the kids what they wanted to say to the #uglydogs one of them said, "Thank you for caring about us."  I think it is pretty awesome that people from all over the country care about little old us way up here, and just the fact that the kids know that someone cares about them enough to buy them headphones made them feel pretty great and motivated!

Also in writing we started the District's writing assessment.  It is not required in Kindergarten, but I always like to see what my Kinders can do in the Spring. The prompt was, "Where is your favorite place to visit, and why?" We talked about the importance of adding a "because" to your writing to give more information.  The kids had fun brainstorming their ideas...

We are also wrapping up our unit on Space with a creative painting project.  Each student created a mobile of the Solar System that will be coming home next week!  

Friday was warm enough to get in some sledding with our Book Buddies!  We drove to Airport Hill and had a bonfire, hot cocoa, and a great time sledding with our buddies!  Thank you to parents who came to share the fun with us, and helped start the fire, bring wood, serve cocoa, and keep everyone safe!  

*** After the break I will be in touch with you about how to pick up packets of school work for your child, and what we are doing to keep learning going as much as possible during the school closure. As always there are links on the side of our blog to online learning programs that your child is enrolled in and can do at home. School lunches and breakfasts will also be available beginning the middle of next week, so stay tuned for more information!  And give your kids a hug from me! 💕

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We had lots of fun this week celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday!  In my opinion the man was an absolute genius, as evidenced by the numbers of children that still love his books, and the numbers of children that have learned to read using his books!  Thank you, thank you, Dr. Seuss!

We started off the week with classic Cat in the Hat.  We tried to balance as many things as the Cat could!

We made Cat in the Hat hats with -at family words on them!  

At math time it was time for Green Eggs and Ham!  First we followed a recipe to cook them, and then tried the eggs and made a graph of who liked them and who did not!  We even put a candle in the eggs and sang Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss!

We had a couple of surprised kids who were doubtful, but got brave enough to try them and found out that they DID like green eggs and ham after all!

Monday was just a wonderful day of cooking, as in the afternoon we made colored star cookies to reinforce our learning about different sizes and colors of stars, and the different temperatures stars can be.

Continuing our study of space and stars, we read legends about how several of the constellations got put up in the sky.  Did you know the story of the Great Bear, or Ursa Major?  It was put up in the sky because the friend of one of the Goddesses got turned into a bear, and she wanted to put him up there so he wouldn't get taken by a hunter!  Then the kids created new constellations, and wrote legends about how they got put up in the sky!  They were wonderful stories, and are up in the hallway by the lunchroom for you to see!

We learned about greater than/less than in math, and of course the old analogy of the alligator that wants to eat the bigger number.  So... we made alligator puppets, and played a game where we rolled dice and the alligator puppets had to "eat" the dice with the bigger number!  

Of course, they ended up eating other things as well... like my finger! :)

We continued Dr. Seuss celebrations all week with Dress-up Days, and on Friday we made Yertle the Turtles and stacked them on top of each other.  Poor Mack on the bottom. :(
We had some great discussions this week about the lessons that Dr. Seuss put into all of his stories, like the Grinch, Star-Belly Sneetches, Green Eggs and Ham, and Yertle the Turtle.  The kids were able to find some wonderful lessons!  "Try something before you decide you don't like it." "Christmas is about love not about presents," and "No one should be the boss of anyone else" were just a few of the morals they found in the stories.