What have you done to be kind today?

International Random Acts of Kindness Week was last week. It is one of my most favorite weeks to celebrate! The children and I brainstormed kind things that we could do during the week of February 10th to fill the buckets of the people in our school. Here is what they came up with:
Monday: In a bucket, I put all the children's names in it. The children pulled a name from the bucket. The child then had to write their favorite thing about the child they chose. Kaiden said that Riley was funny, Kale said that he would like to get to know Rook a little bit better, and
Tuesday: The children wrote a kind letter to another teacher in the school. Luke and Aurora were kind enough to write a letter to Mr. Curtis, our night janitor!
Wednesday: The children and I walked around the school and straightened up all the student's boots in the hallway. Some of the children decided to look in the restrooms to make sure there were not any loose paper towels on the ground.
Thursday: The children learned that with only a few simple words, they can fill someone's bucket and make someone smile. We talked about what it might feel like for someone to say "Goodbye. Have a good day!" to them. The children tried it as they left the school building to go home. The staff was SO impressed by all their kind and sincere words! The children and I talked about it the following day, and how it makes them feel to know that the teachers were proud of them.
Friday: We made a "s'more" kit for Mrs. Adams' second grade class. The children packaged the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate into a bag, put a twist-tie around each bag, and personally delivered the bags to the second graders. The second graders were so excited!

Here are some pictures showing the children in action!

The children and I decided that kindness week should not only be one week out of the year. With that said, the children will say a kindness pledge every morning until the end of the school year to remind them of how it makes others feels when we are kind to them, and how it makes us feel when we are kind to others.

More good news....

We have a new student! I would like you to meet Kale Eckman.

He is a sweet, polite boy who loves to learn! Here are a few things about Kale:

Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Animal: Mouse

Favorite Holiday: Christmas

Birthday: July 6th

For fun, he likes to: Go to Chuck E. Cheese's

 We are so happy to have you, Kale!

There are so many wonderful things happening in Kindergarten... I just don't know what to write about! I will start by congratulating Sophia and her family on their new addition! Sophia is so excited to have another little brother. We were so happy for Sophia and her family, that we decided to write a class book on advice we had for what  to do with a new baby. Being experts, the children were very excited to do this! Here were some of the children's ideas:

• Luke: Rock the baby
• Sophia: Care for it
• Sarah: Hold its head up and give it a pacifier 
• Gabriel: Don't forget to change its diaper!
• Aurora: Give the baby a nap
• Sam: Give the baby a bumbo
• Mackenzie: Give the baby a rattle 
• Riley: Feed it 

Our bridge project has really kept the children engaged in their learning. A couple of weeks ago, the children discovered that the triangle was the strongest shape because the weight is balanced when you press down on the point of it. This led us to wonder how we can make a square (or a cube) become as strong as a triangle? They explored with gumdrops and toothpicks and built squares and cubes. They then added triangles within their shapes to make the shapes stronger. It worked! The children were so excited. I let them do more exploring with the materials, and they loved creating sturdy sculptures.

Today, the children made bridges from cups and paper. They predicted how many pennies it would take to make the bridge collapse. Working collaboratively with a partner, the children tested their predictions. All 18 students found out that the unstable bridge could only hold 1 or 2 pennies. Shortly after, however, the children started to make some discoveries on their own. Luke discovered that if the paper is layed on the cups a certain way, that affects the stability of the bridge. Sam discovered that if you drop the penny rather then gently place the penny, the bridge is more likely to collapse. Most of the children also discovered that if they put the pennies on the edge of the bridge (on the bottom of the cups) and not in the middle, the bridge would not collapse. We came together as a group and shared our results. We talked about how when structures collapse, fall, melt, sway, etc... engineers need to problem solve and change the sculpture in some way.  Instead of using a flat piece of paper, the children folded a piece of paper accordion style. They put the folded paper on top of the cups as done before, but they discovered that the bridge never collapsed when they put the pennies in the creases! They were independent problem-solvers and had a blast during the process!

 I would also like to remind you about the 7th Annual Family Reading Festival will be held Saturday, February 8, from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. at the Main Library.  The library is excited this year to once again be headlining Jim Gill who will be joined on stage by members of the Akron Youth Symphony. Last year about 1,500 folks visited the event and enjoyed the many activities.  Please see the link below for all of the great activities available at the event.

http://www.seisummit.org/1family-reading-festival-annual-day-of-reading