Learning About Maple Syrup

Mrs Knee makes maple syrup at her house and she taught us all about it. We read books about maple syrup too. One day, after it snowed, we collected some fresh, clean snow in bowls and Mrs. Knee cooked the syrup until it was thick. Then we had sugar on snow – just like the kids in a story we read. On another day,Tim and Wyatt’s mom made pancakes for snack and we put Mrs. Knee’s maple syrup on them. Some families went to visit Mrs. Knee’s sugar house to see how Mr. and Mrs. Knee make syrup. They had syrup with donuts and pickles.

Describing, Making and Combining 3-D Shapes

We looked for 3-D shapes around the room and learned to name them – sphere, cube, rectangular prism, cone and pyramid. We used Geoblocks to explore various 3-D shapes. We looked carefully for 2-D faces on the 3-D shapes. Our favorite 3-D activity was combining 3-D shapes to make a block that looked the same as the largest Geoblock. We worked carefully to find as many combinations as we could. Take a look at some of our work.

Our Important Work in Blocks

We have lots of time to work in the block area during our afternoon activity time.  There are so many wonderful benefits to working with the wooden Unit Blocks. The blocks are called Unit Blocks because they are proportional in size.

When working in blocks, the KinderKids learn counting, comparison of length and width, names of shapes, and how to combine some geometric shapes to make other shapes. They are learning the basics of addition when they discover that two short blocks are the same length as the next size block.

The KinderKids learn science when they experience gravity as their constructions fall. They learn the use of simple machines such as ramps when building. Their language skills and vocabulary improve as they talk about their creations and tell the stories that they are representing with the blocks. Children learn to write as they make signs and as teachers help them write stories about what they are building.

 Children learn cooperation and sharing when they work together with the blocks. They develop problem-solving skills and learn good work habits since they are responsible for picking up when they finish.

So, when your child tells you they played in blocks at school,  they actually were learning math, science, and literacy while enjoying themselves through working with blocks.

 

Our First Days and Weeks

Our days and weeks are filled with lots of activity. The KinderKids have adjusted well to their classroom schedule. There is a variety of work through the day. Here are some examples of the work we do. As you can see, we have very busy days.

Read to Self

Read to Self

Everyone does Read to Self

Everyone does Read to Self

Read to Self

Read to Self

Writing Workshop

Writing Workshop

Math activities – sorting and counting

counting counting junk boxes IMG_5454 jewels more counting sorting sorting rocks more sorting

Science

caterpillar science more science science

Outdoor Time

new friendships in the woods IMG_4664 more woods  and Lunch Lunch

Activity Time

blocks2 drawing getting ready to paint2 IMG_4636 IMG_5624 multilinks    Sand    tech    white shelf 3