We've officially adopted our class tree- and the tree nurturing and TLC from our class has also officially begun. When I asked my group of five and six year olds what it means to 'adopt' a tree, they told me: 'You love it forever'; 'You take care of it forever'; 'You keep it safe and you never forget about it'. Sounds to me like our tree has been adopted by very good 'parents'. We'll be living the rhythm of the school year as we watch the changing seasons reflected in our class tree.
Kindergarten has a spring semester planting schedule, but that didn't stop our class from pitching in to clear rocks from the garden so our older school mates (3rd-5th) could begin their fall planting. Lindergarten took their assignment very seriously and left no stone unturned or left in any garden plots. We enjoyed being part of the beginning of a beautiful fall garden. It's hard not to notice the symbolism between the growth in the garden and the growth in a classroom. Both are amazing to observe!
What do you get when you put a ramp and a marble together? You get lots of excited young scientists making discoveries about force and motion. My young learners were creating some very dynamic ramps to prove that ramp height impacts force and motion. Talk about kinetic energy! Studying colors in the kindergarten curriculum is much broader than recognizing colors. It's important to note that color words are some of the earliest sight words your child will need to read. Additionally, all the color words will be found on first and second grade spelling tests. Studying color words provides great opportunities for reading connections (i.e. brown and yellow / 'ow' can make two different sounds in words; blue / when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking, etc.). Being 'word detectives' means we search for and identify high frequency words hidden in color words (i.e. orange contains 'or' and 'an' / pink contains 'in'). Colors can be a great springboard for higher level thinking (i.e. similes and analogies). Simile: His hair is as white as snow. Analogy: Fire truck is to red as pumpkin is to orange (straight from the SAT test!). Student familiarity with colors is precisely why so much additional learning can be attached to our study of colors. Beautiful! |
Lindergarten Blog
Karen Linder
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