Category: Kindergarten

Before the Thanksgiving Break, the kindergarten class concluded their study about apples and apple trees. After learning about apples, their life cycle, the parts of an apple, taking observations of apple trees at Moraga Gardens and the tree on the ECE playground, and interviewing experts, the students answered their essential question: “How can we help our apple tree thrive?”

Kindergartners learned that they needed to move the wood chips away from the base of the apple tree, so they created kindness rocks and arranged them around the tree to keep the wood chips away.

The class also learned that local wildlife was continually eating the apple tree’s buds, so they put a decoy owl by the tree to try to keep squirrels away!

Since the apple tree is on the playground that the kindergartners share with the Preschool and Pre-K students, the kindergarteners thought it was really important to talk with them about how to keep the apple tree thriving. The kindergartners did an amazing job of sharing their project-based learning with the PS and PK students.

#SaklanPBL

To encourage a growth mindset throughout the year, the Kindergarten class has been reading The Magical Yet, written by Angela DiTerlizzi. This is an encouraging and uplifting story that reminds us that we all have things we haven’t learned or can’t quite do… yet! It teaches about perseverance and the importance of trying, and about what is yet to come.

Each kindergartner was asked to imagine their Yet. They then sketched and colored their Yet. Next, students used clay to bring their Yet to life. They used paint, and then added feathers, googly eyes and glitter glue to further define their Yets.

All of the Yets are now on display on the windowsill in the classroom. They serve as a reminder to keep trying and you’ll reach your goal because that’s the Power of Yet!

#SaklanCourage #SaklanSEL

The Kindergarteners have been studying force and motion. The class began their unit learning about force and motion on the playground. They learned about pushes and pulls, and then had fun pushing and pulling each other on the swings. Next, the class discussed the force of gravity. The students were divided into groups of four and given a large piece of cardboard, a selection of toy vehicles, and told to have fun. That they did!

The noise level went up as students built ramps of various heights, trying out different inclines. During a class discussion afterwards, the consensus amongst the students was that: gravity made the cars go down the ramp, but the incline helped to make the cars go faster, but too much of an incline made the cars fall off the ramp.

The Kindergarteners next learned about different types of force. After a discussion about the power of wind and watching a video about hurricanes, the class had fun using a straw to blow a feather. Eventually, they challenged themselves to blow a feather stuck all the way into the straw. There were many red faces and bulging eyes, but the mission was accomplished!

Another force learned about was magnets. Using large magnets the children walked around the classroom finding objects their magnet was attracted to. They were challenged to move a paperclip without it touching the magnet. It was magic!

Finally, there was the discovery of the force of water. The class watched a video of water going over Niagara Falls. Then they screamed with delight as Mrs. C moved foam pieces down a ramp using water from a hose. The screams may have been more from the surprise of getting wet, but it was still a lot of fun!

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What does a song about frogs and a ruler have to do with subtraction? The Kindergarten students recently enjoyed hearing a song and watching a video about frogs jumping one by one, into a pond. Then using a paper cut out, the class acted out the song. Next, the children worked with a partner. One child set up markers and told their partner how many to take away. The other child knocked over that many markers to get the answer. The Kindergarteners used a ruler to knock over the markers. Using a ruler, which looks like a minus sign, helped give the students a concrete experience of subtracting. Finally, the cut out was used to solve equations. The Kindergartners practiced using different paper cut outs to help them gain experience with subtraction.

If you walked by the Kindergarten room recently and it sounded like the students were being loud and having fun, it was probably math time!

#SaklanAcademic