This week in Aspen it was more Halloween themed fun! We utilized the upcoming holiday as an opportunity to learn all about Bats and Cats! We spent the week discovering so many interesting and fun facts while practicing our research skills! Ask your child what the word research means. During group lessons we learned that bats are not that spooky and are actually quite fascinating and unique creatures. Did you know….that bats are not birds even though they fly? Did you know that they are mammals?? Aspen learned this amazing fact and more! We took a deeper look at what characteristics qualify a living organism to be classified as a mammal. We then discovered that cats are also mammals and also discovered that the word cat rhymes with bat!! Thus, we dove into many activities involving rhyming fun!!

In Kindergarten Workshop, the kindergarteners began their introductory lessons on telling time on an analog clock! They spent the week skip counting by fives and practicing the necessary skills for telling time! They sure have been helping to keep us on schedule! In Readers Workshop, the Cardinals continued to focus on the sequence of events within a story and comprehension skills. We read Give Me Back My Bones and discussed what events took place within the story, focusing on when (the order) and how the events happened. We also spotted sight words and rhyming words within the story. The Cardinals also received another beginning reader book to practice these skills independently. The Chickadees continued phonics practice, decoding words with some phonics games with rhyming fun! We incorporated the games from previous weeks into one Mega Phonics Game! The Chickadees also read Give Me Back My Bones, and we also discussed the order and sequence of events within a story. We then practiced creating our own mini story with our own sequence of events. The Chickadees also learned a few new sight words! In Writers Workshop, the kindergarteners continued to explore what it takes to be a writer while practicing their best handwriting skills!

We also had our Halloween classroom party and Trunk Or Treat! All of the cars were decorated so creatively! Thank you for making our Halloween so special and fun! Another special thank you to our parent volunteers helping out! You are all amazing!

Work with the Knobless Cylinders- development of fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, and the visual discrimination of dimension.

Skip counting by six! Mathematical fun exploring the linear sequence of numbers!

Painting Spider Webs as one of our Halloween party activities!

Cookie decorating fun!!

Halloween sensory bin fun!! We played I Spy finding spooky objects!!

This week in Aspen, we learned all about our Skeletal System! The Aspen children studied the locations and the names of the bones in the human body. While learning the scientific names of our bones, we discovered many interesting fun facts! For instance, do you know where the largest bone in the human body is located? What about the location of the smallest bone in the human body? Ask your child, they are now Skeletal System experts! In class Aspen also engaged in a variety of skeletal Practical Life activities, scientific exploration, and reading classification work. Aspen spent the week labeling the parts of a human skeleton, comparing and contrasting different types of animal skeletons (plastic), and researching skeletal facts. We also had a visit from Mr. Bob Bones, our Skeletal System mascot! He spent the week working, researching, and teaching Aspen all about the skeletal system! It was Skele-Fun!!

This week in Kindergarten lesson, the kindergarteners learned all about insects, arachnids, and the parts of a leaf and a tree. They spent the week learning the names of the different parts while comparing and contrasting their charicteristics. In Readers Workshop, the Cardinals read the book Llama, Llama, Red Pajama and found rhyming words or sight words! They also practiced writing phonetic words from memory. Focusing on phonics and the skills they have acquired in Writers Workshop! We also studied the concept of sequencing and what comes next within the story The Little Red Hen. We also discussed words with “e” at the end or the “magic e”! The Chickadees focused on phonics and practiced their skills while utilizing their knowledge individually. We played the “Pick It, Say It” game! Chickadees picked a number out of a pumpkin and then read phonetic words from a column of their chosen number. Chickadees demonstrated amazing decoding skills and exhibited confidence while sounding out their words. One row even contained challenging “sh” phonograms! The Chickadees also read the book Llama Llama Red Pajama. In Writers Workshop the kindergarteners worked on their true stories. They learned that true stories tell who the story is about, where the story happened and what happened within the story.

Next week our topics will also be Halloween themed! We will be learning all about Bats and Cats while discussing Mammals!! Next week we will also have our Halloween celebration and Trunk or Treat on Friday! There will be more information sent out regarding our in class celebration next week! Have a great weekend!

Hammering golf tees into a pumpkin!

Using a sieve to scoop ping pong eyeballs out of a spooky pumpkin.

Using the tweezers to transfer bones!! “Bonus Challenge Time” -self discovered variation balancing bones using a bone to transfer other bones from one bowl to the other!

Mr. Bob Bones stopped by to teach us about our Skeletal System! He stayed and tried some of our Halloween themed activities!

Reading a good book with good friends!

More tweezer transferring fun!

Observing skeletons to compare and contrast differences and similarities!

Labeling the bones of our Skeletal System.

Getting ready for Cosmic Kids skeleton yoga with Mr. Bones!

My apologies Aspen families; we have had quite the cold making it’s round through the Aspen Classroom, and I got behind on blog postings. Therefore, this week’s blog will contain two weeks worth of Aspen Room fun! Our thematic topics were Pumpkins and Living or Non-living, and we had so much fun exploring both of these units! Here goes our blog(s)!!

The week of 10/03/22, Aspen learned all about Pumpkins! We explored the life cycle of a pumpkin, discussed the parts of a pumpkin, and then reviewed fractions and took a look inside a pumpkin. The Aspen children used all of their senses (except for taste) to explore and observe a pumpkin up close! At the same time, we practiced our estimation skills by guessing how many seeds were inside our small and large Pumpkins. All of the children had some great guesses! In order to check our estimated guesses we spent the week gooping out our pumpkins and then sorted the seeds from the pulp! We definitely discovered our larger pumpkin contained a greater amount of seeds; however, we have not arrived at a number as we are STILL counting pumpkin seeds! During the work period, the Aspen students engaged in a variety of pumpkin themed follow up work, such as pouring pumpkin seeds, spooning pumpkins, washing a pumpkin, sequencing the stages of a pumpkin life cycle, and exploring a Halloween themed classification activity. We also sang some pumpkin themed songs together!

During the week of 10/03/22, Aspen also had their ASL (American Sign Language) lesson with Ms. Lauren! We learned how to sing the Hello Song in sign language. We also learned how to sign No, Yes, Thank You, and how to sign some of our favorite animals! We had so much fun! Ask your child about their ASL lesson! They learned their signs so quickly that we impressed Ms. Lauren!

In Kindergarten during the week of 10/03/22 , the Aspen children learned all about land and water forms. They learned how to identify, name, and define island, lake, cape, bay, peninsula, gulf, strait, and isthmus. The kindergarten students also engaged in a variety of follow-up work where they practiced what they learned during lessons. For example, the Aspen students were given a presentation on how to use the land and water forms in class so that they could use water to create an island and a lake, gaining hands on experience with geographical definitions. In Readers Workshop the kindergarten students continued to explore the rules of the English language. The Cardinals reviewed their sight words (puzzle words), read liteary passages to find and circle sight words, reviewed number words, and then they used their knowledge to complete a pumpkin life cycle booklet. With these booklets, they had to read and then color the pictures the color specified in the text. Cardinals also discussed the concept of letters that create blends and learned new phonograms. The Chickadees reviewed decoding skills and then played the “Guess It, Write It” game! We had a basket of objects and each child got to choose an object . We then said the name of each object, sounded it out (decoded it), and then wrote it on a dry erase board! They were super sleuths! I couldn’t trick them at all! I am so proud of both groups and all the progress they are making! During Writers Workshop, the kindergarteners shared the books they have spent the past few weeks creating and then read them to their classmates!

This week (10/10/22 -10/14/22) our thematic topic was Living and Non-Living. The Aspen children have been discussing all of the spooky Halloween decorations they either have at home or have seen throughout their neighborhood. Some of the children expressed that some decorations were so scary that they were afraid! As a result, we decided to determine just how scary these decorations actually are. We learned what characteristics classified a living Organism or a non-living thing! Aspen’s overall assessment was that the Halloween decorations were non-living; they do not eat or drink, produce waste, have movement, respond to stimuli, develop and grow, reproduce, or breathe (respiration). Therefore, they are not as scary as we originally thought! They are fake replicas and are non-living things! After learning the above, we tried classifying objects and pictures by categorizing them into two groups, living or non-living! We had so much fun determining how to classify things into these groups. We had many laughs trying to apply living characteristics to non-living objects.

During kindergarten lesson this week the kindergarteners explored the five animal kingdoms: mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and amphibians. As they discovered the characteristics of each group, they also learned how to label the parts of an animal in each of these groups (horse, bird, turtle, fish, and frog). In Readers Workshop the Cardinals played the “Change It, Say It ” with phonograms, reviewed sight words from previous weeks, learned new sight words, and received a reader for their Book Buddy Bags! While reading the book together in Reading Group, we found our new sight words/high frequency words in the text, and began reading comprehension work and sequencing. The Chickadee Group continued their exploration of phonics with the “Guess It, Write It ” game and worked on activities in their Book Buddy Bags. In Writers Workshop the kindergarteners continued to explore literary concepts, brainstorming ideas , and refined their handwriting skills!

Next week our thematic topic is Skeletal System! We will learn how to name the bones in our body and will discover why having a skeleton is so important!

Scrubbing Pumpkins!

Using tongs to transfer pumpkins.

Using tweezers to sort and count pumpkin seeds.

Practical Life fun pouring from cup to cup!

Sorting objects into two categories, living or non-living!