This week it is all about animals!! The Aspen class learned all about animals, animal behavior, and what animals do in the winter. As the class researched animals we found that they would migrate to warmer climates, hibernate and sleep through the winter months, or adapt to their environment by growing thicker coats and finding warm places to call home. We then labeled and classified many animals into these categories with a fun sorting activity!  We also read the book Animals In Winter , by Henrietta Bancroft and Richard Van Gelder and watched Sci kids videos about Hibernation and Adaptation.  Did you know that there are three types of hibernation?  Some animals experience Dormancy and others engage in partial hibernation called Brumation or Torpor.  Ask your child about these terms and what they learned from our lessons and videos this week! We learned some amazing things!

After we researched the above, the class then took a look at the characteristics of animals. We observed that some have fur, feathers, or scales. That animals can be found in many habitats on all continents and their characteristics have adapted based on the environments they call home. We then matched animals with their footprints with our animal classification footprint work.

Kindergarten students explored the world of shapes by manipulating and studying two dimensional and three dimensional shapes with  in class activities that allowed them to manipulate and create their own shapes. Next week the kindergarteners will further explore shapes with the Geometric Cabinet.

Next Week it is all about groundhogs and shadows!  We will learn about Groundhog’s Day, the habitats groundhog’s call home, and behaviors of the groundhog.  We will then take a look at shadows by researching how and why they occur while experimenting with some in class science activities.

This week the Aspen room learned about the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr, and Rosa Parks! We discussed what life was like before the Civil Rights Movement and all about those who helped to change the laws, and those who helped to create a better world striving towards liberty and justice for all.  We read the book, This Is The Dream by, Diane Z. Shore and Jessica Alexander that allowed the class to see the unfairness and inequality while learning about steps that have been taken to change various laws, rules, and modes of thought.  The Aspen class also re-enacted the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the story of Rosa Parks during morning meeting (line time).  Children volunteered to play the different characters in order to reanact and experience what it must have felt like to be Rosa Parks.  Many of the children used words like; “that’s unfair”, “that is mean”, “that is rude”, and “Rosa was there first!”.  As a class, we discussed these feelings and what it must have been like to experience unfairness like this, and the importance of what being peaceful and kind means.

The book we read had many illustrations demonstrating kindness and peacefulness.   As we discussed this topic, the class read and thought about  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

I realize that this can be a heavy topic for the Preschool and Kindergarten room, it was kept general and light. By spreading kindness and being compassionate towards others we can change the world!

The Kindergarten students continued their exploration of Multiplication this week through work with the Skip Counting Chains, and revisited multiplication through the Stamp Game, and  The Golden Beads (Decimal System) .

Next week we will be learning about adaptation, hibernation, and migration.  We will research these topics and learn what they are and what they mean. We will classify which animals adapt, hibernate, or migrate while learning fun and interesting animal facts.  At the same time, we will also use visual discrimination skills to observe and explore animal footprints.

               

Exploring addition facts with the Addition Stripboard.

           

The Aspen class during line time re-enacting the story of Rosa Parks and  what lead to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Brrr….it’s cold!  This week the Aspen Room took a trip to the Arctic and Antarctic.  We learned the terms North and South Pole, where these areas are located on our Earth, the climates of these areas, what kind of wildlife has adaptated to living in these enviroments and similarities and differences between the two regions. The Aspen class also researched penguins , how they have adapted to living in Antarctica, their life cycle, and how to classify different species of penguins.  Did you know….there are penguins living in warmer climates too? Did you know that some species of penguins lay two eggs?  Ask your child, he/she can tell you where penguins can be found. Your child is now a penguin expert! While discussing the Arctic we learned about the types of animals found in the most Northern areas of our Earth, how they have adapted to a frigid environment, and watched videos about Arctic wildlife.

This week the Kindergarten students continued to explore the mathematical operation of Subtraction by learning how to borrow with Dynamic Subtraction.  Next week we will be revisiting Multiplication through our Skip Counting Chains!

Up Next:

Next week the Aspen class will learn all about Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and the Civil Rights movement!  We will discuss why having a day off to honor individuals that have changed our world for the better! See you next Tuesday!

Welcome back Aspen Room families! This week the Aspen Room has been “Snow” Cool! The Aspen Room has been discussing Snow and all things related to cold winter days.  We learned why it snows, what snow is made of, how snow forms, and the amazing designs ice crystals make to form snowflakes.  We watched a video, How Snowflakes Form, and a video showing  magnified examples of different types of snowflakes and their crystal designs.  Did you know….that different types of snowflakes (crystal combinations) form depending on the temperature of our atmospheric conditions.  Therefore, the type of crystals that form are dependent on temperature and the path a snowflake takes as it falls.  This is what makes  each snowflake unique!

After discussing snowflakes, we shared what we like to do outdoors during the winter months.  After sharing all of our thoughts, stories, and ideas on all the fun we have with snow, we explored our winter themed practical life shelf and enrichment activities! Ask your child about the foam bead snowball spooning activity!

The Kindergarten students explored subtraction with the decimal system and learned the terms Minuend , Subtrahend, and Difference. Next week we will continue to explore this mathematic operation with Dynamic Subtraction!

For the week of January 11, we will explore the Antarctic and the Arctic!  The Aspen Group will look at these Biomes and will explore their similarities and their differences, and what kind of wildlife can be found in these habitats.

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This week we dicussed table manners and learned how to set a table.  The children helped lead the group meetings by sharing how one should behave while sitting at the table.  They all had very good ideas of what classified as having “Good Table Manners” and shared many scenarios indicating what “Bad Table Manners” are.  We had a lot of fun sharing our thoughts and ideas on this subject!  You all have very polite and well mannered children! During our discussions we also talked about how to try (taste) foods that we don’t care for and to try new foods when they are presented to us.  At the same time, we role played how to react when we discover that we don’t like a particular food using “Good Manners”.  We then read How Do Dinosars Eat Their Food which reinforced all the great manners they shared during our group meeting time.

After discussing manners, we learned how to set a table with our place setting activity from the practical life shelf.  Then during afternoon meeting time, we learned the names of the place setting objects in Spanish. Your children now know plate, fork, spoon, knife, napkin, and placemat in Spanish.

Kindergarten students are continuing their work with telling time, and have reviewed some of our previous lessons for reinforcement. Next week the kindergarten students will learn about the layers of our Earth and will research and explore each part.

Our theme for next week will be all about Conifers.  We talked a lot about decidous trees and identified various types of leaves during the months of October and November. Therefore, we will learn what a Conifer is while learning to identify different types of Conifers.  Conifers are special and are found all over this time of year.

This week we are talking Turkey!  Where do turkeys live?  What do they eat? Can they fly?  We learned the answers to these questions and more!  In fact,  we also learned what a group of turkey’s is called, then we labeled the parts of a turkey, and listened to turkey calls. Did you know that a group of turkeys is called a flock or a rafter?  Ms.  Taylor also found an amazing video called Turkey Facts on youtube for us to watch during afternoon line time!  Ask your child about what they learned about turkeys this week. They are now turkey experts!   The class also watched/listened to read aloud books called Turkey Trouble and How To Catch A Turkey. They were hilarious books full of Thanksgiving fun!

Kindergartners have been working on their addition and multiplication skills as well as learning to tell time on an Analog Clock and also observed the differences between an analog clock and a digital clock.

Next week we will be talking about Table Manners and will also talk about the Pilgrims and why we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States.

This week the Aspen Room learned all about the Skeletal System. We discussed the parts of the skeleton and learned the names of our bones, how bones help us, how to keep our bones healthy, and fun facts about our bones.  Your children also explored the Skeletal System by putting together our skeleton puzzle, labeling the bones of our skeleton , working with the Skeletal Classification cards, and coloring skeletons!  Your child also learned that the adult human body has 206 bones but an infant has about 300! We learned that this is because the bones in an infant are still developing/growing and as a result they have more bones than an adult. We also discovered that the Python has the most bones with 600 vertebrae which  can equal 1,800 bones! Yet, the shark has the fewest amount of bones because it’s skeleton contains a lot of cartilage. It was definitely a “Skele-Fun” Week!

Kindergarten students learned all about the parts of Trees, Plants, Arachnids, and Insects!

Next week we will be talking about Healthy Habits and Safety! We will discuss food groups briefly and  making healthy choices, review washing hands, and safety rules (How to cross the street, Halloween safety…etc).  We will have sorting activities, yoga cards, and more!  Have a great weekend!

This week the Aspen Room learned all about pumpkins! We learned how they grow, sang pumpkin songs, sorted pumpkin seeds from the goop (pulp), explored number concepts with our sorted pumpkin seeds, scrubbed pumpkins, and worked with the many pumpkin themed practical life activities! Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!!! Did you know that the Pilgrims survived the harsh winter by eating pumpkins? Yet, today the majority of pumpkins are grown and sold for decoration and carving purposes! This week’s homework assignment bake/eat something with pumpkin in it!

Kindergarten students learned all about the Animal Kingdom! They learned the many differences between the different Classes of animals! How animals are classified and the differences between each classified group.  We also had fun labeling and tracing our animal puzzles in the classroom.

Next week we are exploring the Skeletal System and learning all about bones! Bones have many important jobs for our body.  Do you know how many bones there are in the human body? Do you know which animal has the most bones? Next week we will learn these fun facts and more!

Matching and making patterns with pumpkins!

Kindergarten follow-up work! Tracing and labeling the animal puzzles.

Fall is Finally here!  Hooray, for the best season of all!  Well….in  my opinion it’s the best! This week your children learned all about leaves.  We learned that leaves have a very important job, that a leaf has different parts, why they change colors and fall, how to identify or classify leaves, and  we observed leaves with a magnifying glass to look at each part up close.  Your children are now leaf experts and tberefore have a homework assignment to collect and bring in two different types of leaves. I can’t wait to see all the colorful leaves they will return to school with next week.

This week the kindergarten students learned all about landforms! They now know how to identify a lake, an island, peninsula, gulf, cape, bay, system of lakes, and an archipelago. We also explored these landforms geographically with classification cards depicting examples of each landform from around the globe.  They also identified some of these landforms on our continent coloring maps.

Next week it’s all about Pumpkins!!! How do they grow, what’s inside them, and what are they used for? We will explore ” Pumpkin Math” and our Practical Life area will be filled with pumpkin themed fun! Kindergarten students will be exploring the characteristics of animals within the animal kingdom. See you next week for more Aspen Room fun!

See You Next Week!!!!!

This week the Aspen Room explored the world of color! Did you know that Red is the first color that an infant sees? An infant will eventually see the full color spectrum by the age of  five months! In the Aspen Room we learned this fascinating fact and more! Your children were able to explore the world of color by learning the names of colors in both English and Spanish (George taught us some color names in Portuguese!), we learned what Primary and Secondary colors are , experienced the meaning and the differences of Warm Colors and Cool Colors, created colorful works of art with watercolors and coffee filters, then used our knowledge to explore enrichment activities in the classroom.It was a very busy week!

Our kindergarten students learned the descriptive language of where we live, from biggest (galaxy) to smallest (street address).  They also practiced their handwriting skills by writing their address and working in their new cursive binders! Next week they will explore landforms!

Next week our theme is leaves! We will discuss and explore the parts of a leaf, the function of the leaf and how it does it’s job, the classification (names and type of leaf), and why they change color in the Fall! Hello Fall!!  It is finally here! Enjoy your weekend and I will see you next week!