Reading Fair and End-of-Year Party

A few (OK, well maybe more than that!) photos from our last day of school. It was fun celebrating but so hard to say goodbye!

Pretty party dresses

Waiting for the Reading Fair to begin. We were the "Storytelling" area. The kids helped make the entire background! After the festivities I took some individual shots of the kids posing in front of their hard work . . . 

And then they insisted on taking one of me :)

Unfortunately not everyone was in attendance, 

so a few faces are missing.

We still had a great time at our party!

I was too busy serving cake to take many pictures! 

I also let the kids take turns with my camera for a while. 

Here are a few of those shots:

I'd say they did a great job! Whenever I take photos throughout the year, I make a point of letting the children try out the camera, too (anyone who wants a turn can have one), so I guess you could still consider this "Review and Assessment" ;)

And a quick note . . . Families are welcome to keep in touch. Email me at emy.krauspe (at) gmail.com. I'd love to hear how everyone is doing! All the best, and have a great summer -- Mrs. Emy

Class Schedule

A fantastic organizational tool that we've utilized all year has been our picture schedule. It hangs on the far left side of our whiteboard at the front of the room. I typed out the word for each subject/activity alongside a corresponding image (using a mixture of clipart, Boardmaker icons, and actual classroom photos, based on what I thought would resonate), then cut them into strips. I laminated each one and attached a magnet to the back. 

Sorry, I know these photos aren't the best quality!

At the start of the year, the pictures helped me explain what we were doing and assisted with transitions. For example, say I was teaching on my own and it was time for snack. Attempting to gather up 23 little ones that have no idea what you're saying feels like an impossible task! It was incredibly helpful to simply pull the "Canteen" strip off the board and walk around the room (while doing the Signed English motion for "eat" and showing them how to clean up). And of course, the children loved seeing themselves and their friends in some of the photos!

Later in the year, the schedule became much more about time and the sequence of events as the children's awareness of these grew. If one of the kids asked me if it was time to go home, I could say, "Soon --  here is Bus Time, but first we have Music and Wrap Up. So first we will go to Abla Geehan, then I will read you a story, and after that it will be time for the bus." I'd show them 1, 2, and 3 with my fingers as I explained. It's amazing to see children understand all of that, especially given what things were like in September! 

I could also connect the picture schedule with our nearby wall clock. Say a student wanted to go out to play, but we had 10 more minutes of Numeracy centers -- I could reference the schedule, point to the clock, and explain that when the big hand reached the 6, it'd be time to go outside. Seemingly without fail, the asker would nod his or her head and get back on task.

Finally, I personally loved our picture schedule for my own organizational sanity! Prepping it first thing each morning allowed me to think through the day ahead, and it was nice to have an at-a-glance way to see where we were/needed to be during the day.

"C" is for "Colorful Cotton"

First . . . the children used a paintbrush and white glue to make a large "C" on a half-sheet of construction paper, then tore small pieces of cotton batting and attached them to the glue. (Tearing batting, as opposed to using cotton balls, was just an extra way to work on those ever-important fine-motor skills.)

Next . . . they used dot markers to add a little more color to their letters.

Finally . . . we strung them on our clothesline for a fun and bright classroom display :)

Firsts and Bursts

I love "firsts." It's one of my favorite things about teaching very young children.

The first time Alya used, "Help me, please!" without any prompting. The first time Majed strung the sounds S-O-N-Y together to read, "Sony!" on the MP3 player. The first time we had a successful English-only brainstorming session.

No matter how many "firsts" you have, they never get old. Take today: A little boy identified a letter in environmental print for the first time:

"Ms. Emy! Ms. Emy! LOOK! O." 

I was instantly flooded with so much excitement and pride I thought I might burst. (This is frequently true about so much of what my students do!)

Here's the letter on our carpet:

I wrote before about how we tape and walk our letters. Since then, the children have started helping me construct the letters, which has been a great way to work on critical and spacial thinking skills, as well as team work.

The letter "O" love didn't stop there. The same student that identified it on our "Colors" poster during whole group decided to write it out during centers - another amazing first!

Do you see his pink "O's" in the center? And the yellow one to the right?

From across the room he called to show me what he'd done, and when he realized I didn't understand right away, he showed me:

:)

Now, of course, all the children are extra busy finding and writing letters they know (and some they're not so sure about yet!). Not only do I love the "firsts," but the whirlwind domino effect is pretty spectacular, too! Here's to many a few more of these learning bursts as we enter these final weeks of KG1.

Ocean Bottle Word Cards

Lately the children have really been enjoying making word cards (index cards with a vocab word on one side and a drawing to represent the word on the other). 

During our Under the Sea unit, we worked together one morning to create "ocean bottles." We filled empty plastic bottles with water, then added a few drops of blue food coloring, glycerin, and glitter. The glycerin helps to suspend and slow the glitter as it travels through the water. Then we added various ocean-related objects, like seashells and plastic fish.

The cool thing about these bottles is they're easily cross-curricular. We put them together as part of a science activity, and we incorporated math by measuring, tracking, and counting what we added (i.e., "We need 2 drops of blue food coloring. Maitha, will you add 2 drops?" and "Let's put in ten fish! Can you count out ten for me?" or "How many red fish can you find swimming in this bottle?").

On this particular day, I put our bottles in the writing center to use for word cards.

The children tipped the bottles around and observed for a bit. They then selected an item from the bottle to use for their card. I'd placed several completed example cards in the center: ocean, fish, frog, and seashell. As I said, each card had the written word on one side and a drawing on the other.

Here, a little boy has selected the seashell card to work on:

Not every student is 100% comfortable writing letters/words just yet, so one way I adapt our word cards is with alphabet stamps. I'll write out a card with the word "fish," for example, with a blank line underneath each letter. The children then match the correct stamper to each letter, filling in the blanks until they've finished the word. Sometimes I set out the full set of stamps; other times I limit the stamps available based on what's needed to complete the word card. It really depends on the student (and the day and the time and . . . so on :) ). Many students enjoy working on both types of cards (written and stamped).

One nice thing about our stampers is that they are pretty small - meaning the children have to pinch them and place them carefully, building up fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Finally, I'd like to point out that I never force a child to do anything s/he is adamantly opposed to or disinterested in, especially at this age. I certainly do my best to engage all of my students, and if something isn't working, I change my approach. That said, the majority of the children LOVE making word cards and approach the task enthusiastically.

More Recycling and Fishing Fun

We explored the concept of recycling in conjunction with our Magnets theme, and they actually complemented each other very well in many ways (just watch this video for proof).

During Numeracy one day, we had a (lighthearted!) can-stacking competition, which the children dedicated themselves to completely. It was a great way to practice counting, as well as comparison words like "tall" and "short".

Earlier in the week we'd gone fishing amidst the trash (including cans, paper, and plastic bottles) using a magnetic pole. We discussed how hard it was to find and catch fish with all the garbage in the way. Removing it from our pond was only the first step; the next day we sorted everything by type to practice proper recycling.

Our magnetic fishing game was a lot more fun without all that trash in the way!

As for the fish . . . they're simply made out of craft foam with paper clips attached. Each is marked with a different number of dot stickers, 1-10. After catching a fish, the children count the number of stickers, then match it to the correct numeral card.

I have several sets of numeral cards; this "counting" version allows the children to self-check when they're working independently.

I'll admit, it surprised me how excited the children were to engage with this activity on their own (and for quite an extended period of time), and it was excellent to watch several of them demonstrate mastery of the task. We've certainly come a long way since September!

Impromptu Book Club

One of my favorite parts of the day is greeting the children as they arrive in the morning. Technically, they're supposed to put their bags away and head straight to the Hall to wait for assembly, but I never mind having them congregate in the classroom for a little while first. It's in those early, unplanned moments that some of the best discoveries and connections take place.

Take last Sunday: I had just pulled a new stack of books on transportation from the library. As the children arrived, a most magical thing happened, and I realized I needed to get my camera, and quick!

Look at that exchange of information! Text referencing! Page turning! Social skill building! Not to mention the looks of pure joy on their faces. As I've said before, I live for these unplanned, authentic moments of learning. Bliss.

Ordering Fish Integrated Activity

In addition to our large-scale bubble backdrop, we also made personal bubble paintings using the same method. The children dipped cardboard tubes in white paint, then stamped them on blue construction paper to make an "ocean":

They then ordered different colored fish by length (they glued them on their backgrounds and even drew eyes and mouths in many instances. But as usual, I have more photos of the process as opposed to the product!)

We did this as a Numeracy-meets-Art activity, in conjunction with Literacy, as it was inspired by our study of the book Blue Sea.

Blue Sea is yet another book the children want to read on repeat! They understand all the vocab and just love to participate in telling the story. It's a lot of fun to watch their facial expressions change these days as they become more and more wrapped up in read alouds :)

I also set aside an extra set of fish + background (made by a student helper) to use for retellings. I used the set first during whole group story time, and the children loved interacting with it on their own during centers.