On Wednesday afternoon everyone had a great time taking part in the Compass Cup.   They were split into mixed age groups and rotated through four stations, earning points for their teams.  This is a great opportunity for students to spend time with children in different grades.

Wishing everyone peace and joy for the holidays and the coming year!

We are fortunate to have several bird feeders just outside our classroom window, with many visitors throughout the day.  While we mostly see chickadees, we see a wide variety of other birds as well (and an occasional squirrel). To spark interest and help children learn to distinguish between the different species we have been tallying the birds we see.  While our counts are not entirely accurate (multiple children often tally the same birds) this provides an authentic way to practice tallying and counting sets of tallies-not to mention counting sets of moving objects!

On Friday we participated in the state-wide bird count.  The data for this is recorded differently and I carefully monitored it to make sure what we report is accurate.  This information is used to give a broad sense about bird populations around the state.  While it was rather chilly we did see quite a few birds- mostly chickadees, but also titmice, nuthatches, and goldfinches.  Thank you to Patti Haynes, our school's bird expert, for keeping the feeder filled and inviting us to participate in the bird count.

Last week we finished introducing all of the lower case letters, their corresponding sounds, and their formations (we will continue to practice these throughout the year until they are mastered).  During writing we are working on stretching words- saying them really slowly and trying to hear and write as many sounds as we can.  We are also working on making our writing readable.   Some strategies we've decided can help with this challenge are writing as many sounds as we can (and especially trying to get the first sound for each word), leaving spaces between words so the reader knows where a new word is supposed to begin, and including lots of details in our pictures.  This allows the reader to use picture clues to decipher tricky words, a strategy we use often when we are reading.  Needless to say all of this takes a lot of effort and concentration (which is often revealed in children's facial expressions during writing)!

We have greatly appreciated the fresh snow this week and the new options it brings for recess.  Sledding has especially been a hit, even with the snow wearing away to icy grass.  Thank you for sending your child prepared for the snow- it is far more enjoyable when they are warm and dry.

Just before Thanksgiving we created a mural representing our ECO space, including the safety circle with a fire and all of our nature name animals.  While we are not planning to return to the forest until spring, we are tentatively planning to have a short ECO session at school on the morning of December 21st.  We are hoping to make pinecone bird feeders.  I have a source for pine cones and can supply enough for everyone, but if you have easy access to any kind of cone we would love to have children bring some in as well.

One of the skills we work on in math is counting.  By the end of kindergarten we want children to be able to count fluently to 100, not only beginning from 1 and going forward, but starting at any number, which is often trickier.  The most challenging part of this for most children is turning the decade- remembering what number comes after 29 or 59 etc.  We also practice counting forward by 10's and counting down from 20.

Some of the ways we work on this include counting with movements during morning meeting, counting down before we leave the classroom to go to lunch, recess, or a special and playing "pop" before we leave the circle to line up or get snack.  This game focuses on practicing a small sequence of numbers, forward or backward, with a "pop" number. We repeat the sequence around the circle with the person who says the "pop" number leaving each time.  (If that sounds confusing I think your child could demonstrate!) Another simple game we just learned is elevator, a great way to practice counting forward and back up to 15.  Children count as they move a little bear up and down the elevator floors according to the number I roll on a die, being sure to make an elevator "ding" at each stop.  We will continue to build our counting fluency throughout the year.

A much anticipated part of each week is time with our third and fourth grade reading buddies.  While we don't always read together (our butterfly mobiles were created during this time), many weeks this is just what we do.  This is a great opportunity for kindergartners to form relationships with older children in the school and to foster a love of reading by sharing books with others.  We change partners periodically so children will get to know several buddies well and we are fortunate to have several siblings as reading partners!

On Friday we wrapped up our Structure and Function unit in science by designing and building paint brushes.  Students were presented with the challenge of creating a better paintbrush.  Their first step was sketching several designs and choosing the one they would like to make.

Then they were invited to go "shopping", choosing from a variety of materials to build their paintbrushes.  Some of these included dowels, craft sticks, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, foam, pom-poms, and feathers.  Once materials were gathered they set to work building, resulting in a wide range of new paint brushes!

At the end of the day they were given an opportunity to test their finished products.  Finally, after using their own brushes and observing the creations of their classmates they were asked to think about changes they would make in their design if they could make the paintbrushes again.