Kinder-Whale Tales Dear Kinder-Whale Families, I hope you are having a wonderful start to the week of Spring Break, and I hope you are enjoying the much needed rain! This week's change in weather was PERFECT for our weather unit. A little while ago, the students learned the word, humidity: how much water is in the air. This past Thursday's weather helped the students to fully grasp, understand, and experience what it means when we say that it is humid outside. A few students even mentioned that it makes your skin feel sticky. We reviewed the water cycle and talked about what happens when there is a lot of water in the air? It rains! On Friday, one of our students even commented and said, "Mrs. Lorenzana! It's precipitating outside!" I LOVE IT! This past week, we had fair weather, which quickly turned into warm/hot weather with temperatures up to 90, then humid weather with gloomy skies but warm air, and finally ending the week with rainy weather! Featured above in this week's news are the writing/art projects that the students completed. Students were asked what they would do on a rainy day. Many of the students shared that they would jump or splash in the puddles. The second most popular thing that students said they like to do on a rainy day is to catch rain drops on their tongue. I love the way these projects turned out! This past week was one that had an emphasis on writing using proper mechanics, best handwriting, and best guess spelling. Please read on to see what we were up to this past week! Welcome Back, Ms. Waslif! The Kinder-Whales were so excited to hear that Ms. Waslif was coming back -- they were jumping for joy and could hardly contain their excitement! As a class, we created a book for her, titled, What Does Our Principal Do All Day? As Imagined by the Class of Mrs. Lorenzana's Kinder-Whales! The Kinder-Whales put their heads together to come up with things that our principal has done for us and for the entire school. We came up with things such as the following:
SEAL: Weather Categorical Matrix To summarize what we have been learning, we had collaborative conversations to discuss what each kind of weather looks like, feels like, as well as what we would wear, and what tools we would use to measure that kind of weather. Rainy weather looks like water droplets falling from the sky, puddles collecting on the ground, and a sky dark with clouds. Rainy weather feels wet and cold/cool. When it is rainy, we would wear a raincoat, rain boots, maybe a poncho, long sleeves shirts and long pants, and we would carry an umbrella. To measure rainy weather, we would use a rain gauge to measure how many inches of rain we've had. Cloudy/foggy weather looks like cotton candy in the sky (fair weather) or a dark gray blanket covering the sky (stormy weather). In cloudy weather, it might feel windy, hot or warm, or cool in the shade. We would wear T-shirt and shorts for warm/hot cloudy days or long sleeves and long pants for cold/cool cloudy days. To measure cloudy weather, we might use a barometer to measure the humidity or we could also use a cloud watcher to allow us to frame clouds in the sky and describe them. Windy weather looks like people and things being blown around in the wind. If we were outside, our hair might be blowing in our face and we might see leaves blowing in the wind. Windy weather feels cold or like a rush of air. On a windy day, we would wear long sleeves and long pants and a jacket. To measure windy weather, we would use a weather vane to measure the direction of the wind and an anemometer to measure the strength of the wind. We will continue to fill in our weather categorical matrix in a few weeks, as we compare and contrast sunny vs. snowy weather! Writing Sentences! A huge THANK YOU goes out to Ms. Nancy, Mrs. Sandra (Anthony's mom), and Ms. Stephanie (Marissa's mom) for helping with centers on Thursday and Friday this past week! Fog on the... Thank you to Ms. Nancy and Ms. Stephanie for helping the students out at this station. Ms. Nancy and Ms. Stephanie helped the students to brainstorm some things that fog might be on, such as fog on the bridge. Ms. Stephanie helped to list out students' ideas. Then, students practiced writing the sentences down in their notebooks, using a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, proper spaces in between words, and a period at the end of their sentence. After writing their sentences, the students were able to choose one of their sentences to illustrate and then add fog! Please see below! Rain on the... Thank you to Mrs. Sandra for helping the students at this station. The Kinder-Whales loved brainstorming ideas for what rain might fall on, including rain on the roller coasters, rain on the dinosaur, rain on the buildings, rain on the monster trucks, etc. Once students finished brainstorming, they wrote the sentences down in their journals. Students were reminded to capitalize the beginning of their sentence, to write with proper spaces in between their words, to use their best handwriting, and to have a period at the end of their sentences. Then, students chose one of their sentences to illustrate, and Mrs. Sandra helped the students to add on blue glitter for the rain! Weather Books Galore! The Kinder-Whales have been enjoying our weather unit! They have learned so much and continue to ask excellent questions as we get deeper and deeper into our unit. As part of our weather stations, the students also completed a few weather booklets, including one on Rain and one on Weather. The Kinder-Whales also completed a booklet called, The Wind Blows. The students read the words carefully to figure out what to draw on each page so that their drawings would match the written words. Another booklet that students worked on was called, I Am a Weather Watcher; again, students carefully read the words on each page and then drew pictures to match the words. Students drew what they would see outside their window. Please see below as one of our Kinder-Whales reads aloud one of the weather books: The Wind Blows. My apologies in advance for the lighting as well as the background noise! All Eyes on the Water Cycle! With all of the humidity and heat that we've had this past week, the students kept a close eye on their Water Cycle bags. Take a look at all of that condensation, and at the tiny water droplets that have formed on the sides of the bag! Storm Cloud Collectors: A Review The Kinder-Whales were excited to finally finish their mini Storm Cloud Collector Booklets. We watched videos of fair weather clouds as they turned into storm clouds. More specifically, we watched as a cumulus cloud (puffy like cotton candy) grew taller and taller until it turned into a cumulonimbus cloud (storm cloud that can be taller than a mountain). A cumulonimbus cloud brings heavy rain, thunder, and lightning, but usually lasts for about an hour. We also watched as a stratus cloud turned into a a stratonimbus cloud (dark gray cloud that covers the entire sky like a huge blanket). A stratonimbus cloud usually brings rain that lasts an entire day or sometimes a week. We spent some time having collaborative conversations to compare and contrast a cumulonimbus cloud vs. a stratonimbus cloud. A cumulonimbus cloud is tall while a stratonimbus cloud is wide. Both are storm clouds. Next, we practiced looking at pictures of the sky and testing our own abilities to see if we can predict whether it is going to storm or not. In one of the scenarios, we see a large cumulonimbus cloud and so we would rush inside; however, some time passes, but still there is no storm. We discovered that wind plays an important role in telling us whether or not it is going to storm. When we see a storm cloud, we should also feel the wind to see which direction it is blowing in. If there is a storm cloud in the distance but the wind is blowing it away from us, that means there won't be a storm where we are. However, if the wind is blowing the storm cloud towards us, then we have to prepare for a storm. We practiced looking at pictures of the sky with various clouds that also had an arrow on them to show which way the wind was blowing. The Kinder-Whales did a fantastic job at working together to determine whether or not it would storm! | Reminders & Updates Next Week:
IMPORTANT: Spring Pictures! Spring Pictures arrived just in time for Spring Break, and their adorable photos were sent home with all students on Friday. Please take the time to look through the pictures and after deciding whether or not you'd like to keep the pictures, please place your orders and return payment/remaining pictures as soon as possible. Thank you! RECAP! April Calendars! At the beginning of the week, the students used cupcake liners, pipe cleaners, cotton balls, and blue puffy paint to create the picture for their April calendars to take home. The Kinder-Whales made little umbrellas, clouds, and rain drops. I encourage you to hang these calendars up so that students can practice their daily calendar routines at home! The week of spring break is highlighted to show that we don't have school that week. Please let me know if you have any questions about their April calendars! Daily Calendar Routine: As a part of our daily math, the students complete their daily calendar routines, which include singing our month song (April song), counting the number of days we've been in April, and working with the number of the day to practice number sense. For instance, on Friday, our number of the day was 8. The Kinder-Whales practiced making 8 using different strategies and methods, including using tally marks, ten frames, dots on dice, dots on dominoes, addition number sentences, and using number bonds. We have also added graphing using bar graphs to keep track of the birthdays, and circle graphs to keep track of the daily weather. We have also learned how to tell time to the hour! When we say 10:00/ten o' clock, that means the big hand (minute hand) is up at the 12 and the little hand (hour hand) is at the 10. Students are starting to notify me whenever our classroom clock is on the hour i.e. 11:00 is lunch time! 1:00 is afternoon recess time! With this month, another new page was added: A temperature page (not pictured below). Students recalled that temperature is how hot or cold something is. To measure temperature, we have been using the thermometer that came with our Weather Station kit. A picture will be shared the week we come back from our Spring Break! Pennies for Patients! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED to Pennies for Patients! Every penny counts! The Kinder-Whales have done a magnificent job with using all of the money that we've collected as a wonderful opportunity to do counting collections! The students worked together to sort all of the pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and other coins (we had a half dollar coin in there, as well as some Sacagawea dollar coins!) and the dollar bills (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, etc.). Our class total was $449.13 + $16.19 for a grand total of $465.32! Way to go, Kinder-Whales! Letter of the Week: Yy On Tuesday and Wednesday, I was out for SEAL training, and the Kinder-Whales were fortunate to have Mrs. M. as their sub! She introduced/reviewed the letter Yy to the students and worked diligently to make sure students understood the difference between the letters Yy and Ww. Yy makes the /y/ sound like in yellow or yes. The Kinder-Whales worked with a partner or small group to come up with as many words as they could think of that begin with the letter Yy. Then the students completed their stations with the letter Yy activities. Sight Word of the Week: He Last week's sight word was she. This week's sight word is he! We reviewed how the letter Ee has two sounds, the long vowel sound /e/ as in eat, and the short vowel sound /e/ as in eggs. In the sight word "she", the /e/ makes the long /e/ sound and it says its own name. This week's sight word was "he", where the /e/ also makes the long /e/ sound and says its own name. The Kinder-Whales practiced coming up with sentences using both he and she. Chorus Concert: No Bullies! Get Real! On Thursday, our class attended a chorus concert with an important theme: No Bullies! Get Real! Throughout the chorus concert, Spangler Chorus students reminded all of us that it is never OK to be a bully. When you see someone getting bullied, put a stop to it, stand up for the person, or go and find a teacher to help. Sometimes you can also be the one who is doing the bullying. Get help for other bullies or for yourself. A genuine apology can go a long way towards taking the right step to becoming an anti-bully. If you think something is funny, it might not be to the other person and can be considered bullying. Instead of being a bully, be a peacebuilder:
Please see below for a few videos of the songs performed by our wonderful Spangler Chorus! Aashni and Austin Turn 6! On Thursday, we celebrated TWO birthdays! It was a busy whirlwind of a day! Please read on! Happy Birthday, Aashni! To celebrate Aashni's birthday, we all sang Happy Birthday to her, and each student shared reasons why Aashni is so special, including how Aashni is super helpful to her friends, Aashni is a fantastic peacebuilder, and Aashni shares her wonderful ideas, etc. Students were encouraged to continue to use our "big kid" words. We all created a page in Aashni's birthday book and read it aloud to the class. Thank you to Aashni and her family for celebrating her birthday with the class! We enjoyed the awesome beach/sand toys and the delicious fudge treats! We hope your birthday was a blast! Happy Birthday, Austin! All throughout the week, Austin was looking forward to celebrating his birthday, and his face would light up at the mere mention of it! The Kinder-Whales all shared reasons why Austin is special, including how he is an excellent student, he always listens and pays attention, he is kind to everyone around him, etc. We all created a page for Austin's birthday book and read his book aloud to the class, after singing Happy Birthday to him! Thank you to Austin and his family for celebrating his 6th birthday with the class. We enjoyed the delicious treats and the fun birthday horn in the goodie bags! Yum! We hope you had a lovely birthday! Next Starfish: Annie! As mentioned in a previous weekly news post, since I was out for two days this past week, there was no Starfish of the Week. We will resume having Starfish of the Week on April 18th. Thank You! As always, thank you for taking the time to read through the weekly news! We now only have 31 days of school left... and another new SEAL unit to tackle in late April/early May! Get ready! When we return from Spring Break, we will hit the ground running and learn as much as we can to prepare for FIRST GRADE AND BEYOND! NOTE: For this week's news, please leave a quick comment about what your plans are for Spring Break! Are you going anywhere? What's the weather like where you'll be traveling? Have an amazing Spring Break! See you on April 18th! Best wishes, Mrs. Lorenzana |
7 Comments
Stephanie
4/10/2016 06:13:20 pm
We're staying close to home for spring break. We plan to do Happy Hollow tomorrow and might check out Gilroy Gardens some time this week.
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David Knick
4/10/2016 06:40:17 pm
Austin and his younger brother love getting out and spending the night in a hotel, watching a movie and ordering a pizza. We will take a couple days during the break and visit the Train Museum and other activities in Sacramento.
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Jennifer
4/10/2016 07:05:09 pm
We will be hitting the cinema for Zootppia, visiting Happy Hollow, and meeting up with Shannon's BFF since they were 9 months old.
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Jeongmin Jeon
4/10/2016 07:31:53 pm
Camping was canceled due to weather. Instead we go to Reno for swimming pool, kids arcade, and some hiking if possible. Some snow is still there.
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Jayne
4/10/2016 09:40:44 pm
Still determining plans based on weather. ..have a great break! Nice book for Mrs. Waslif.
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Mohamud
4/14/2016 12:23:34 pm
Ahmed and family will headed down south to visit Disneyland.
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Sandra
4/15/2016 04:01:35 pm
We went to Hawaii for Spring break. The weather was great! It was in the 80's with mostly clear skies. Anthony enjoyed looking at the clouds from the airplane and told us all about the different types of clouds!
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Mrs. LorenzanaKindergarten Teacher at Spangler Elementary Archives
June 2016
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