Kindergarten

This week in the library, Kindergarten shared some African folktales. We began with two adaptations of Anansi the spider stories. The Anansi tales are originally from West Africa, but are also familiar in Caribbean culture, where Anansi is a beloved folklore character. Our first two stories, Anansi and the Talking Melon and Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, are adaptations by Eric Kimmel, an award-winning author and Professor of Education at Portland State University. Our third story, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears is by Verna Aardema with lovely batik-style illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon.

We concluded with book browsing and checkout. Please make sure to return your library books so you can take out new ones! Happy Reading!

We’ve begun a new unit on penguins.  We’ll learn a little bit about many different kinds of penguins (there are 17 in all), but our focus is on the Emperor and Adelie penguins that live in Antartctica.  Our current chapter book is Mr. Popper’s Penguins (of course!) by Richard and Florence Atwater.  This coming Monday, the class will have a special visitor.  Photographer Sally Meade traveled to Antarctica and will be coming to share her photos of the penguins, walrus, skua birds and ice bergs that she saw while there.  The class is looking forward to her visit!

Our new unit in math involves sorting by one and then by two attributes.  The class is  using a wide variety of materials to practice this skill and are making good progress.

To reinforce the sound of the letter /s/ and

to hone math skills in learning to read bar graphs, the class tasted foods that are salty, sweet, and sour (pretzels, strawberries, and pickles).  Everyone then got to choose their favorite and mark it on the graph.  The class also brainstormed a list of descriptive words – crunchy, hard, juicy, etc.  One of my favorite aspects of teaching this age group is how so much of our learning (math and language arts) is intertwined.  And, just in case you were wondering, sweet won this year – a first in all my years of teaching – usually pretzels are the favorite!

We also celebrated Jackson’s sixth birthday during our first week back from vacation.  Sarah joined us in the morning and read a great picture book by Aldous Huxley to the class.  At lunch, we enjoyed delicious chocolate treats.  Thank you, Sarah, for making Jackson’s birthday so much fun!

It seems like winter is here now.  Please remember snow pants, waterproof mittens, boots, and dry shoes for inside every day.  Thanks, and have a good weekend!

Andrea

It’s frigid outside, but this week it was cozy with the Kindergarten in the library. We chose books this week all with a snowy theme. Our first selection was Caldecott-Award classic, The Snowy Day, by Jack Ezra Keats. We all practiced crunching our snow by turning our feet in and out as we marched around the library. Next, we shared Audrey Wood’s Little Penguin’s Tale, a light and playful romp across the polar cap, and lastly, we enjoyed Snow by Uri Shulevitz. This story celebrates how the first snowfall of the season can transform a whole village.
Each student also made a small wooden snowman to display in the library.

Please make sure to return your library books so that the students may check out new ones. Happy Reading!

Kevin Henkes became an author-illustrator when he was nineteen years old, working at a card table in his bedroom. Today he’s the creator of more than a dozen children’s books, a New York Times best-selling author, a winner of the Caldecott Award for children’s picture books AND the Newbery Honor Award for children’s fiction. Today in the library, Kindergarten students were introduced to just a few of Henkes’ magical stories: Owen, Kitten’s First Full Moon and Lilly’s Big Day. With a wit and realism that is appealing to children of all ages, Kevin Henkes’ books and illustrations are a joy to read. We concluded with book browsing and checkout. Happy Reading!