Ms. Carlson joined the KinderKids on our last Wednesday Woods Day so we could have our music class outdoors.This video shows some of what we did with her.
What Can This Little Monster Do?
At the project table, we made monsters during activity time. We used lots of different materials to create and decorate our monsters. During shared reading, we read a book called The Monsters Party. The monsters did many different things at their party. We thought about the things our monsters could do and we wrote about them. You can see pictures of our monsters and read our writing on our blogs. Ms. Taber helped record a video so we could tell about what our little monsters do.
Wednesday Woods Day
On Wednesdays, we go into the woods. We spend most of our day outdoors. We hike and collect things. We build things with sticks. We make things. We explore the stream and look for critters. This week we had a fire and we cooked hot dogs for lunch. Ms. Carlson came outside and we had our music class in the woods. After music we roasted marshmallows. Then it was time to go home. Then we put out the fire with buckets of water.
Big and Little Buddy Hike
We had a wonderful day with our eighth grade big buddies. Before we left school, they made a waffle breakfast for us. It was very exciting to go all the way upstairs to the “big kids” room. They waited on us just like in a restaurant. Then we went outside and learned a celebration cheer called Jazz Hands. Our big buddies even sat with us on the bus.
Once we got to the beginning of the trail, our big buddies helped to make sure we were always safe. They held our hands on the trail, encouraged us when it got hard and guided us up the fire tower. When we went to Little Baldy, they found good places for us to eat our lunch so we could be out of the wind. We love our big buddies and can’t wait to get together with them again.
We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed doing the hike.
We Like Making Things
Making Applesauce
We picked apples from the trees at school.
We brought them back to our classroom and cut them up.
We put them in a big pot to cook.
Then we strained them to get out the seeds and skins.We added sugar and cinnamon. Then we ate our applesauce.
Making Grape Jelly
Mrs. Knee’s friends gave her lots of wild grapes so we could make grape jelly. Everyone got to take a jar of the jelly home.
Apple Cider Pressing
Mr. Bioteau and Mr. Jack came to school with lots of apples and a cider press.
We put the apples in the box and turned the crank to crush them.
We pressed the juice out of the crushed apples and after we strained it, we could drink the cider.
Raising Monarch Butterflies
We started the year with some very tiny monarch butterfly caterpillars. They ate and ate and ate all the milkweed leaves we had for them. We observed the caterpillars as they grew bigger and fatter. We read many books to learn about how the caterpillars would change. We learned that the monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico in the fall and stay their until spring.
When our caterpillars were ready, they shed their skin and became a green chrysalis and after a week or so, it changed 
to black. We could see the wings inside. We even got to see one butterfly emerge from the chrysalis.
When the wings were dry, the butterflies were ready to fly and we released each butterfly so it could fly to Mexico.
Needle Felting Project
We learned how to needle felt and make a picture with wool fleece
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All of the kindergarten classes worked on this needle felting project so we could enter it in the Deerfield Fair. We made an apple tree in the different seasons. Our tree was the fall tree.
The judges liked our project. We got a blue ribbon for our work. It was fun to go to the Fair and see our project.
Meeting Mrs. M from Australia
Mrs. M. is a teacher friend of Mrs. Knee’s. She sent us Smarties for Dot Day so Mrs. Knee told us a little bit about her. She skyped into our classroom this week to meet us. Now she is our friend too. Mrs. M. read a book called “The Bush Book Club”. The story had different Australian animals in it. We didn’t know much about them. We thought the bilby looked like a rabbit. Mrs. M is going to send us the book so we can have it to read. Maybe we will learn more about the animals.
Read with a Friend
We each choose a book. We sit side by side, knee to knee and elbow to elbow. We take turns reading our book. We talk about the pictures and the words. When Read with a Friend is over, we put our books away.
Daily Activities – Part 2
Math Workshop
We count to find out how many.
We say each number and touch each object once. We have to keep track.
We double check to be sure we counted correctly.
Read to Self
Pick your books.
Find your spot.
Look at the pictures and the words.
Tell the story to yourself.