Hello to the families of the curious Kindergartners!

I hope everyone has been enjoying Fall as much as we have. The weather has been incredible. The children have been so excited to get their "wiggles" out at recess because the sun has always been shining! To take advantage of this weather, we have been investigating outside as much as we can. We boarded the "leaf express" and went searching for leaves, comparing what they looked like in September, for we have an ongoing leaf comparison chart hung in our classroom. The departure of the next leaf express will occur in about 2 weeks, in order for the children to compare, yet once again, what the leaves looked like in October.

Here are a few pictures of our young scientists outside with their science notebooks, making observations about their surroundings and the fallen leaves:

In math, the children have begun to investigate different ways to measure objects. They used different materials, such as cubes and counting kangaroos, to measure their finger, big toe, and foot. There was a lot of stinkiness going on in the classroom! They loved taking off one sock and shoe and lining up cubes to match the length of their foot and big toe. At one point, I looked around the room and just took a minute to take in the moment. It was so amazing; with a partner, they were all around the room, sitting with their clipboards and pencils, using different objects as a means for measurement. I wish you could have seen it in action. They also learned about the beauty of symmetry. We observed symmetry in nature, symmetry when we paint, and our faces as being symmetrical. The children were given each a mirror where they could look at their face and draw the symmetrical parts they saw, such as their eyes, nose, eyebrows, and mouth. Here are pictures of each learning experience:

The children have been having fun with their sight words, or "heart words," as we call them. Sight words are the words that they should know by heart, looking at the word and reading them automatically. They used homemade pumpkin play dough and wiki sticks to build the words on their own, then using their finger to say each letter and then the word.

The children have also shown in interest in learning about Africa. How did this come about, you ask? As I called out a number, they were showing me different ways to show that number using their fingers. The Africans have a completely different way of holding up their fingers to represent a number. When I was showing them, they were in awe. They had so many questions for me, which lead me to show them where Africa is on the map. Using the book that I read to them titled "A if for Africa," they have been building villages out of blocks and cardboard on their own during centers.

This upcoming week, the children will be investigating more, learning about similarities and differences between this culture and theirs. What do they live in? What games do the children play? What do they like to eat? Alexis raised her hand at one point and said "Because we are reading an alphabet book about them, what if we made an alphabet book about us and sent it to them." This is why I love my job! I am looking forward to the month of November. Time is really flying.