Let's Fill The Sky With Music!

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Making Clay Alligators

Over the last two weeks our class has been learning from a potter who has been teaching us about working with clay. 

Our class has been learning about alligators so we decided that each student would make their own alligator in it's habitat.

Along the way, we learned that:
Clay is made out of mud. 

We have to scratch the clay and add water or else the clay will not stick.

Clay can be broken if you do not scratch it and add water. 

Clay is really heavy. We cut it with a special wire. 

When you play with clay too much, it dries out.

You put it in a fire oven called a kiln.

It gets as hot as a volcano.

We can paint on the clay. The paint is called glaze. It is made out of crushed glass and sand. 

When the paint dries it changes colour.

We can't wait to show you the finished projects!

This post was written by the students of Room 8!

Children's Museum Field Trip

We had a great day today at the Children's Museum!

We started the day with a program all about how paper is made.  The students were able to tell the presenter all of the parts of the tree including the crown, leaves, trunk, bark and roots! He was very impressed.

Then we used our bodies to act out all of the steps of how trees get made into paper.

Then we got to make our very own paper!!!

After our program we got to explore the museum.  I heard several children saying "this is the best day ever!"

Thanks again to our many volunteers. Without you we would not be able to explore such great places!

New Reading Traditions

In our class we have been learning our letters and sight words since the beginning of the year. We also read and write together every day. Now we are ready to read all by ourselves!

One new tradition in our room is reading books when we come in after lunch. Every table gets a basket of books and the students sit at their desk to read whichever book they choose.  

We often use the document camera show our book to the whole class.

Mrs. Lowe goes from table to table to read with the kids.  Every day she chooses 4 students who have been doing their job, practicing their books, or have learned a new word, to come to the front and share their book with the class.  When they are done reading everyone gives them a round of applause.

We often use the document camera so the whole class can see the words and pictures.

Today some of the students were so proud that they wanted their parents to know. We decided that each of those students should take their book home for the night to read to their families.

Sometimes we wear the microphone so everyone can hear us. 

When we read books in kindergarten we use several strategies that you can try at home:

1. Look at the pictures of the story first and talk about all of the things you notice. Parents can introduce new words that their children may not have heard before. For example, today one of our books had the word "ladybird" instead of "ladybug" that we're used to. 

2. Point to each word as you read it so you don't miss any words.

3. If you don't know a word you can look at the picture for a clue.

4. Make a good guess and check the letters to see if your guess makes sense.

5. Skip the word and see if you can figure it out when you've read the rest of the sentence.

Students are now able to read most of the words in these books independently. It is important to keep reading fun and for it not to become a chore. If your child is becoming frustrated have them take a break or switch to a different book. Listening to stories being read to them and making up their own stories based on the pictures are also VERY important steps to becoming a reader.