Hello families to our precious kindergarteners!

Well, our first field trip was a success! The morning could not have gone any smoother. I have to say that the children were more excited about riding on the school bus then the actual performance. I could have told the bus driver to drive around Akron for ten minutes and the children would have been completely satisfied. It was fun for the children to look out the window and recognize the different landmarks or roads. Some of them said "This is the way to my house!" My favorite was when many of them said "This is where my mom and I stop to get donuts!" The children were also amazed at the appearance of the Civic Theater and how "fancy" it was. They especially loved the stars and moving clouds on the ceiling. The performance was great! It was about a cuckoo bird who was new to the area but all the animals were being unkind to him. At the end, a gentle and elegant swan showed kindness to the bird by helping him make friends. The children decided they all needed to be swans in the classroom. When asked what their favorite part of the trip was, they responded:

Kale- "The bus"
Nina- "When I sat by Sophia on the bus"
Gabriel- "I liked sitting by Sam."
Lucia- "I liked the girl with the tutu."
Avery- "Sitting by Drew and when the swan helped the cuckoo bird."
Isaac- "Sitting by Luke on the bus."
Rook- "Riding on the bus"
Sophia- "Everything!"
Evan- "The Akron Civic Theater and the bus."
Aurora- "The swan"
Jadon- "Sitting by CJ"
Luke- "Everything!"
Mackenzie- "Everything!"
CJ- "The school bus lady"
Kaiden- "The whole thing!"
Drew- "The stars and clouds up above"
Riley- "Everything!"
Sam- "Everything!"
Mrs. Bowen- "Seeing the children so happy."





















Nothing is better then teaching in spring weather. The transition from winter to spring is so refreshing. The children have been working on our class garden in order to prepare to plant our beet and lettuce plants. You  may think I am crazy for having the children plant beets, but guess what? They loved them! I brought in fresh beets, carrots, and onions for them to try. The best part of taste testing at school is that it is more likely for a child to try new things if they see their friends doing it. The children took a vote on what vegetable they wanted to grow and beets won! We are growing lettuce (Ruby Lettuce) so that the school can harvest and eat a salad before the year ends... so we need a lot of lettuce! The children really enjoy working in the garden, and they are very good at it!

In math, the children have been learning how to count by 5s, making tally marks, and measuring with nonstandard feet. The children loved the activity we did when it required them to take off their shoes to measure objects around the classroom. The children have also been introduced to the ruler and measuring to the nearest inch.

In writing, the children are busy writing their "How-To" books! To kick off the unit of study, I tied a ribbon around our chart and told the children we were going to have a "ribbon cutting ceremony" to begin our new unit of writing! Sarah was chosen to cut the ribbon, and the children followed that with an applause! We dove right in, and the children have been writing how to do something using a step by step process. Nina has chosen to teach her readers how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and Evan has chosen to teach his readers how to ride a scooter. If you would like to help your child at home with their writing, you can do this through cooking! Invite them to cook with you when you need to follow a recipe and have them pay attention to how the directions are given in steps. If the recipe forgot a step, would the food taste good?

Please remember that student-led conferences are coming up! They will be held on Wednesday, April 16th and Thursday, April 17th at the time you signed up for. I will be sending a slip home to you at the beginning of next week confirming your date and time. The children will be excited to celebrate their learning with you!

Thank you for your continued support,

Mrs. Bowen :)   

Happy Spring!

Dear Families,

Spring is such a fun time for young children, and I am trying to stay positive and thinking that we are finally towards the end of the bitter cold and snow! The kindergarteners are very eager for it to be warm out, and so am I! This upcoming week, we will be preparing for our garden by learning about the basics of gardening and the survival needs of plants. Thanks to you and the online school day, the children were able to be introduced to the concept of plants even before coming to school! It is one of my favorite things to teach and I am looking forward to having them try all the healthy, delicious, and fresh vegetables they plant! To celebrate the first day of spring, the children made butterflies out of coffee filters, markers, and water. After the coffee filter dried, they pinched the middle of the paper and wrapper around a pipe cleaner to make the body and antennas.  Take a look!

 
This past month, the students have been exploring weather and seasons. This is the perfect time to teach and learn about weather because the weather has NOT been consistent... so the children are able to experience it all! The children designed a weather station for the classroom, where they can become meteorologists and give the weather forecast for the day. They have explored wind by blowing through straws at objects and making wind socks. They have learned about the water cycle by conducting multiple experiments re-creating the process. They are recording the temperature and their observations in their weather journal on a daily basis. Mr. Tom was kind enough to set up a "green screen" for them so they could experience how a meteorologist does not really stand in front of a map, but rather in front of a green screen. Not only are they learning about science, but they are also practicing writing larger numbers, comparing length, height, and weight between objects and classifying objects into given categories. Whenever the weather channel is on at your home, please encourage your child to watch it and discuss any familiar vocabulary they may hear. This week, the children will be learning more about the water cycle and digging deeper into an investigation on clouds.

Above (Left:) Rook and Jadon are putting together their water cycle re-telling bracelets. (Right:) Kaiden and Drew are creating their own wind by blowing through straws and making masterpieces with paint! 

 

 Above (Left:) Kale worked hard to try blowing the rock and making it move. The children were blowing different objects and comparing the distance they traveled. (Right:) Mackenzie measures the streamer for her wind sock.

The students have also been busy learning how to read informational texts closely. When students "read closely,"  they are determining what the text says explicitly and making logical inferences. Close reading involves reading for deep understanding. The goal is to enable an interpretation or explanation that includes the details as well as the bigger ideas. The students went on a scavenger hunt with a partner to find the different parts of an informational book, such as the main topic and table of contents. Using a venn diagram, we compared and contrasted two different non-fiction books about weather. We looked at the difference in things like the pictures, the length of each book, and whether the books had a table of contents or labels within the book. They also learned that it is okay to ask questions when reading a non-fiction book, and the more we ask questions, the more we learn. We looked at the different resources we have that could help them answer their question, such as the internet, another book, or a friend.

Above (Left:) Nina and Isaac work together to complete their "Informational Text Scavenger Hunt." (Right:) Our completed venn diagram comparing and contrasting two different non-fiction books.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Mrs. Bowen :) 

Happy Friday!

On Wednesday, the children at SCOPE Academy celebrated World Read Aloud Day, which is an awareness day advocating for literacy as a right that belongs to all people. It is celebrated around the world annually on the first Wednesday in March.World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another. By raising our voices together on this day, we show the world’s children that we support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world. Our kindergarteners studied the book Snow by Uri Shulevitz, which is a book about a small boy who wishes for snow in Belgium. The students made berets to wear and snowflakes to hold for their performance. We were lucky to perform for Miss Dunaway's fourth grade class. The kindergarteners were so nervous! Kale and Luke took turns reading the words, while the rest of the class acted out the story. I was so proud of them! Mrs. Dodson's class performed for us and boy, was that a treat! Each 3rd grader had a different multicultural book and were dressed up like the main character. The kindergarteners moved in groups from reader to reader and were able to listen and experience six different books. Below are pictures that captured this spectacular event. 

In reading, we have also been learning a lot about word families, which are groups of words that have a common feature or pattern- they have some of the same combinations of letters in them and a similar sound. For example, at, cat, hat, and fat are a family of words with the "at" sound and letter combination in common. The 37 most common word families are: ack, ain, ake, ale, all, ame, an, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, aw ay, eat, ell, est, ice, ick, ide, ight, ill, in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, ore, ot, uck ,ug, ump, unk. When reading with your child, point out the word families that are found in the book and have a discussion with your child about all the other words you could make with that word family. What would happen if they substituted the word for another word with the same pattern? Would it be a silly sentence? "Playing" with words is one of the most favorite things children like to do!

Have a great weekend! 

Mrs. Bowen :) 

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

 

Happy Cold Day!

It has been very busy in Kindergarten this January. The children have been transformed into engineers and are investigating bridges, which all developed when I brought out Popsicle sticks for the children to explore with. The first thing they did was make bridges, so I knew right away this could develop into a neat project. We went outside to observe and explore our own playground bridge. We were examining the materials it was made out of, how it was attached, and what was over and under the bridge. The students then investigated the different types of bridges and the shapes found in the structures. We wonder... "what is the strongest shape?" Many of the children predicted rectangles and squares to be the strongest, but there was only one way to find out! The children made three shapes out of toothpicks and marshmallows. They counted the sides, the number of marshmallows, and recorded what they saw. After they drew what they made, the children pressed down on the square and rectangle, and they both collapsed! However, when they pressed down on the triangle, it was strong and sturdy! The children discovered that structures were built with more triangles then they thought after close examination to different photographs that were taken from around the area. If you look at a truss bridge, you can see the triangles very clearly. Thank you to Mr. Chesnic for donating the beautiful photographs! Next investigation.... "what can we do to make squares and rectangles stronger?" Stay tuned to find out our results! The children have also been investigating bridges in our block center, through water colors, fairy tales, and songs. Again, if you have any model bridges in your home, such as from a toy set, we would love to borrow it!

The children have also been working hard on learning their color words, and knowing that a color has a name and they can read and write the names of the colors. They completed many matching activities, as well as learned similies using color words. They worked so hard, I thought it was important to celebrate all the wonderful learning happening in the classroom! The children put on their safety goggles, made their predictions, and observed what happens when dish soap and food coloring come into contact with eachother in a bowl of milk. The colors dance all around the milk! This experiment is very simple to do and the children loved it. Fill a pie pan up with whole milk. Place a few drops of food coloring in the middle of the pan. Dip a q-tip in dish soap, and then dab the soaked q-tip gently in the middle of the colors. The results are beautiful!

Above: Aurora, Avery, Sophia, Riley, and Charles are fascinated with the dancing colors!

In writing, the children have been using what they learned when writing informational books to now writing narratives (stories.) The most important thing an adult can do to support a child's literacy is to immerse the child in a culture of storytelling. The Common Core State Standards emphasize the importance of narrating a sequence of events and describing a reaction or feeling in response to the events of the story.  The children learned that the first step in writing narratives is to tell their story to a friend first. The second step is to plan out their pages of their booklets by pointing to each page. The third step is to start writing, illustrating, and adding DETAIL!  Narratives include characters who speak to each other, and any feelings that the character might have. The children have loved learning how to incorporate speech bubbles into their stories, just like the books in their library have! They are currently writing narratives about a time when they got hurt. They call them their "ouch" stories. I can't wait for you to see.

I am very excited for this Friday. The children will be making snowmen out of shaving cream, glue and recycled materials! The project is inspired by the book "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert. I am looking forward to it, and I know the children will have a snowball of a good time!

Brrrrrr... It's cold outside!

Happy New Year to the Kindergarten families at SCOPE Academy! I hope everyone had a magical holiday and spent your days with fun, laughter and joy. My favorite part of my break was spending time with my family and friends, and of course sipping hot cocoa by a warm fire :) Monday and Tuesday are NOT required online school days but are official severe weather days. If your child is missing school activities, here are a few ideas that I know will keep your child engaged!

1. Spread shaving cream on the table and have your child practice writing their sight words in the cream!
2. Pour a cup of milk into a bowl. Then squeeze 2 drops of red food coloring at the top of the bowl, yellow at the bottom, and blue at the opposite side (to form a triangle.) I squeezed a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid into the middle of the bowl, and observe the changes!
3. Subtraction bowling! Set up a bowling ally in your hall way by using plastic cups as the pins. Have your child roll a small bowl down the hallway. Remind your child of how many pins they started with, how many pins they knocked down, and how many pins they are left with.
4. Have an indoor snowball fight! Have your child write sight words on a piece of white paper. Crumple the papers up and on the count of 3...... 1....2....3   THROW! After the paper has been thrown, you and your child find a snowball and open it up. Your child reads the sight word. Use the same snowballs over again so your child can become fluent with those words!
5. If your child wants to relax by the computer, try these programs!

• Starfall.com
• abcya.com

Remember, these are just suggestions, not requirements!

Looking forward to seeing the children on Wednesday! It has been FAR to long! Stay safe and warm!

- Mrs. Bowen :)