Kindergarten

We had a wonderful trip to Hancock Shaker Village last week. There were baby lambs, goats, calves. There were exotic hens. There was even a mother pig and her eleven two-day old babies!

Such peaceful piggies!

During our visit, the children also had an opportunity to observe a blacksmith and a woman spinning yarn.  In the Discovery Room, the class was able to try on Shaker clothing, card wool, “milk” a cow, and observe bees in a hive. We also enjoyed traveling with PS and Grade 1 on the bus.  Below are a few more photos.  It was a wonderful trip!

In a Shaker horse cart

Good buddies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun in the barn!

We’ve begun to make a farm mural in the class.  After we finish reading books to learn about individual animals, each child creates one to add to the wall. So far there are chickens, duck, and sheep.  Stay tuned over the next week as we gradually create a full farm.

Max turned six years old today and his dad Noah joined us in the classroom (sadly, little sister Zora was not feeling well and was at home with mom).  Noah and Max shared the reading of a great book called Anatole and the Cat and after lunch we enjoyed delicious cupcakes.  Thank you, Noah, for making Max’s birthday so much fun!

On a personal note, Teacher Appreciation Week was a highlight for me.  I want to thank you all for the beautiful flowers, cards, chocolate treats, and fabulous lunch, and I’m very excited to eat the delicious dinner that awaits me tonight!  Thank you all so much – your children are great, and so are you!

We’re hard at work preparing for our Poetry Assembly.  Just a reminder that it is Friday, May 17, at 11:00 in Furey Music Room.  Grandparents and special friends are welcome to attend as well.  At the conclusion of our presentation, all are invited back to the classrom for a potluck lunch.  More details will be forthcoming in the next week.

Enjoy Spring – it seems to have finally arrived!

Andrea

This week in the library, Kindergarten noted Earth Day. In honor of our appreciation of this special day, we shared the book, The Girl Who Hugged the Trees, by Deborah Rose. In this 300-year-old tale from India, a village comes to recognize the importance of the trees, only when they are threatened by a cruel Maharaja who wants to cut them down to build a fortress. The heroine of the store, Amrita, implores the village to hug the trees in protest and for all to see that in the harsh landscape of their village, trees protect them from sandstorms, give them shade from the desert sun, and show where water can be found. Students also created Earth Day necklaces, and had an opportunity to check out books. Happy Reading!

Spring is here – well, almost!  But here in our classroom, much is alive and growing.  We have finished out unit on the ocean.  The children made beautiful dioramas (which have hopefully made it safely home!)  We’ve started a new unit on the farm.  There’s much interest not only on the different animals that we’ll study, but also on all the heavy farm equipment necessary to run a farm.  Next Thursday we’ll travel with Preschool and First Grade to Hancock Shaker Village to see their baby animal exhibit.  While there we’ll have the opportunity to observe a blacksmith and other traditional jobs that were done when Hancock was an active Shaker community.

In math, we’re finishing up a unit comparing numbers.  The children learned to use the symbols <  and > (“is lesser than” and “is greater than,” respectively).  They had a lot of fun using dice and counting the dots on dominoes to find different numbers to compare, and all did a great job with this unit!

Yesterday we had  great time with Second Grade during Peer Reading.  And today, the First Graders came over to read us their completed “How-To” books.  There were many great titles, including:  How to Make A Bed, How to Take Care of a Dog, How To Get Dressed, and my personal favorite How to Make Chocolate-Covered Strawberries.  (I think I’ll go home and make some this weekend!)  It was a fun ending to a fun week.

It was too rainy/snowy/sleety today to play outside.  Below are some snapshots of our indoor play!

Enjoy the long weekend!

Andrea