December Gingerbread Kids

We have had so much fun exploring and reading the Gingerbread Man books. We read 7 variations of the story! Can you believe there are that many? Below are some of our favorites!

 












During our social studies/theme time we read the books and then did various activities surrounding the  books. One of our favorite activities was reading "The Gingerbread Cowboy," making a beginning-middle-end chart and then building our own Gingerbread Cowboy. They turned out so great and the kiddos loved making them. We also worked on our writing skills during this time. I had the kindergarteners think about where their gingerbread man would run to first and then as a group we wrote about it. The sentence started out by saying, "He went to the..." The kiddos shared the marker and each wrote where their gingerbread man ran to. Some of the places were; the park, the lake, the toy store, school, the fox. They are getting so good at sounding out words!

To finish up our gingerbread unit we voted on our favorite book. It is a good chance for the kiddos to use their math skills to read data!

Little Red Hen

This week we started a small mini-unit on the "Little Red Hen." We first started by drawing and labeling a hen. To go with the draw and label we read "The Little Red Hen," by Paul Galdone.

On Wednesday we read an informational text (non-fiction) about chickens called, "The Chicken or the Egg?" We are working on answering questions using the text. It is an important skill for the kids to have and the earlier we start the better. Our question that we were trying to answer was, "What did the author say about hen's eggs?" We found out that hen's eggs are brown and white, they go to the incubator soon after they are hatched and brown and white eggs taste the same.


The following day we revisited "The Little Red Hen" by Paul Galdone and sequenced the story using pictures. The cut out the pictures and glued them in order.

Today we read a different version of "The Little Red Hen," by Jerry Pinkney. Then, we used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the Paul Galdone version and the Jerry Pinkney version. We used sticky notes to write down our thoughts and then put them in the diagram.

Next week we will be reading two more version of the story, work with Venn diagrams some more, and make a special treat!

November 5 - November 7

I have been bad about updating this blog lately and I apologize. Here is a little insight into what we have been doing and what we will be doing!

Last week we ended our Monster unit and the kiddos had so much fun! We learned a song called the "Monster Stomp," described monsters, made Big Green Monsters, and created spooky number 8 spiders. It was a hectic week, but we managed to get through! The Kennedy Fall Festival was amazing and I'm so proud of the Kennedy PTO and my fellow teachers. We've go so much Kennedy PRIDE!

This week in reading we will...

• Draw a gumball machine
• Meet Crazy Camel
• Draw a cat
• Write about cats, using informational text

This week in math we will...

• Practice using the equal sign and not-equal sign
• Learn and practice making the number 9
• Solve math stories

We also started our "Exploring Friends and Jobs in the Community" unit this week. We first read a book called "Whose Tools Are These?" and we guessed which community member would use those tools. Then we made a web and discussed what we would see in our community. Some examples of what the kiddos said are; Toy Store, animals, shelters, people, grocery stores. We will be using informational text and narrative text to explore this topic. Look for writing, story maps, and art projects coming home!
 

Apple Stamping

Last week we had so much fun with apples, more fun than I think I realized! We read loads of books about apples, made small books about apples, did some apple stamping, and made applesauce. Wow. The kiddos really like making their own tree branches using apples and paint. I thought that their creations turned out beautiful and all of them were so unique. I had 4 tables and at each table there was a different color. It all worked out so well and I hope that you enjoyed seeing your child's artwork.

  

Here are some photos of us doing some apple stamping!