Kindergarten Recognition Program

Today was our kindergarten recognition program. It was a bittersweet day. It's hard to say goodbye to a wonderful class but we know they'll  do great things.

Our recognition theme was Dr. Seuss' Oh the Places You'll Go! .

The students did a lot of the decorations.  They used paint and glitter to make the sign and used glue/shaving cream to make the clouds.  My dad built the bridge and my step dad made the mountains.

The students got their pictures taken in a "hot air balloon".  They also got to make their own picture frames.

We had special t-shirts  made for the students to wear today.  It had the students high school graduation year on the back because this is just their first big step! Everyone did a great job and it all came together at the end.

Of course we had to have a dance party today!

This is not the last post for the year! I will post about our art investigation and museum soon. It was such a big investigation, I want to make sure you get to see it all!

Thank You Mr. Yu!

Every year, once a month, a group of people from the Rotary Club of Dayton come to read to our students. This year our reader was Mr. Yu. He is the CEO/President of 88.1 which is a classical radio station. If you know Mr. Yu... He definitely has the voice for radio. The kids LOVE to hear him read.  His last day in our classroom this year was this past Wednesday so we wanted to make him a special gift. Mr. Yu loves music so we found a poem about music that we learned and the kids rewrote. Then we took pictures holding each stanza of the poem which we compiled into a collage the Mr. Yu could hang in his office.  I did not get a picture of the final product... But here is the poem. Mr. Yu seemed to really love it and the kids were so excited to give him his surprise!

Mother's Day

Just wanted to do a short post to show what the kids worked on for Mother's Day. We have been super busy this week practicing for our recognition program, preparing our gift for Mr. Yu and making final touches on our art museum... But yesterday and today we took some time our to think about our moms. This year since we were learning about plants we planted flowers in a pot and of course made cards.

We had a fun discussion as students wrote a poem about their moms. Line 1 said "My mom is as pretty as..." Some responses were a rainbow, a rose, a flower, a butterfly and even a kitten. Line 2 said, "My mom is as sweet as..." The responses were a cupcake, candy, strawberries and even lemonade. Line 3 said, "My mom is as smart as..." We heard the president, a teacher, a scientist and my personal favorite BATMAN! And then they told what their mom was as special as.

To make their planter, students painted cans.

Today since it was so beautiful outside, Ms. West helped the kids put soil and their flower into their pot all while having a discussion about the parts of the plant.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful Mother's out there!

Learning About Shapes!

This will be a short post but I just wanted to post a few pictures of our kinders working with shapes this week.  Although we have discussed and used shapes throughout the year, especially during play based learning and our art investigation... This week we officially started learning about 2D shapes.

Here are some pictures.

Students explored different ways to sort the shapes.

We used shaving cream to practice drawing shapes.

Students have been using pattern blocks to create insects.

They also practiced tracing and describing shapes.

Students also have been using loose parts to practice symmetry in both the clay and loose parts areas.

A Trip to the Art Museum!

On Wednesday of this past week, we took a trip to the Dayton Art Institute! We have been investigating art and artists for the past few months and will be having an art show in May- so this was a perfect trip for the students to get a chance to see what an art museum looks like as we begin to create our own.

Before we went to the museum, we read a great book called: Meet Me at the Art Museum. It explained a lot of what the students would be seeing.

The program we did was called Color, Shape and Line. It was a great connection to what we had been doing but was also age appropriate. Students engaged in hands-on activities at every station.

Here the students are discussing the colors in this painting and used color transparencies to make colors.

Here the students are discussing the shapes they see and then used shapes to make their own pictures.

At this station our docent is reading about lines. Students used pipe cleaners to make their own lines.

This artist used recycled materials to make her masterpiece. We looked for the materials and then the students made 3D art with blocks.

The students also participated in a workshop and made their own masterpiece to take home.

First they used primary colors to draw and mix.

Then they used shapes to make designs.

 Last they used pipe cleaners to make their own lines which were kept in a nifty pocket.

The students did an excellent job on the trip and enjoyed the activities. We will be moving on to study butterflies and caterpillars but we will still be working on our art museum. Our art show will take place on May 11th before our spring concert!