New Year's Learning Targets

At the beginning of this week, we talked about the New Year and how many people take this time to think about goals that they want to reach.  We discussed the goals that they have been working on in Kindergarten.  We call those goals "Learning Targets."  They each picked a learning target that they wanted to reach more than anything and wrote it down.  Some even checked their portfolios to help make their decision!   They used the collage method to make themselves wearing a party hat to display with their New Year's Learning Target.  Here is the display:

My New Year's Learning Target is to tie my shoes.

My New Year's Learning Target is to read a level 4 book.

My New Year's Learning Target is to write all my numbers to 100.

My New Year's Learning Target is to write like David Shannon. 

They really reflected on what skills they still needed to work on.  Others Learning Targets  they mentioned besides the ones shown above were: Recognizing numbers to 100, reading all of the sight words on our list, and reading all of the color words.  

After our long break, this was a great way to get the kids back into the mindset of thinking about where they are, where they want to be, and how they are going to close the gap!  

The kids have decided that they would like to do an inquiry on snow.  Stay tuned to find out where this investigation may lead us!

Our Room: An Environment Created for Investigating

I have worked very hard to create an environment that  beckons kids to explore.  I love the Reggio Emilia philosophy of the environment being the third teacher.   Here is a little tour of our room.

Our Listening Station

Our Meeting Area

From the back by the cubbies

From the front of the room looking back 

In my effort to create a calming environment for all of us, I took down anything that was commercially made and replaced it with things made by the children.  No more "store bought" alphabet or anchor charts.  I have found that the kids make things that are much more pleasing to the eye than anything I could buy!  It also gives them ownership of their environment and pride in using something they had a part in making!  Here are some examples:

Our Color Chart

The Letters for our Word Wall

Our Class Rules

Our Number Line

Tools for kids to refer to when writing and reading.

I also use items from nature and loose parts for art, science and math.  Again, things like pine cones, buckeyes, sweet gum balls, acorns, rocks, pebbles, etc. are fun for the kids to use and they are free!!  The kids can measure or weigh things with buckeyes just as easily as anything I could buy at the teacher store.

Natural Materials at the Building Area (Paper blocks have been replaced by wood blocks).

Small Sample of our Loose Parts Collection

We use art a lot in our projects, for fun, and to document our learning.  Tempra paint, water colors, oil pastels, collage, clay and many other mediums are used in our art studio!

Part of our Art Studio- Lots of important work goes on here!

This is our sand table.  I have a lot of natural materials such as shells, rocks and pebbles, but not as much sand as I would like.  The kids have not complained though and are enjoying it as is!  I put an old balance scale underneath for them to explore weight using the sand and natural items.

Documentation of the children's learning can be found all over our room!  This gives the kids a chance to reflect and remember past inquiries!

Documentation of patterns we found in our shell collection.

Documentation on a project celebrating our differences

Music Inquiry Documentation

Our Exploration table sometimes explores, science, sometimes explores art, and sometimes explores both at the same time!

Exploration Table

Here are our exploration shelves.  We keep tools that we may use for exploration (Microscope, Magnifying glasses) and materials to explore.

This is our Math Area.  I would love to replace the trays with more natural materials.  Someday!

Math Stations

This is our Writing Area.  It holds anything we may need to write and make books such as writing paper, construction paper for covers, scrap paper, colored pencils, markers, crayons, scissors and glue.  Sometimes this becomes an art area also.

Writing paper and materials for making books

Any art that decorates our room is also made by the kids!  Here are some samples:

Working together to create art.  They named these Fall Nature and Friendship

Creating beauty while strengthening our fine motor skills

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our room! 

The Gingerbread Man: Project Style

In our class we had been doing a study during Writer's Workshop about an old story called "The Gingerbread Man."  We read many different versions of this story and kept track of the similarities and differences between the retellings.  We recorded the Characters, Settings, Problems and Solutions to each story.  It didn't take long for the kids to want to retell their own versions of The Gingerbread Man.  They learned that the characters they chose had to match the setting of the story, they had to have a beginning, middle and ending to their story, and they had to include a problem and a solution.  These smart cookies did such a great job!  We had Gingerbread Monkeys running from jungle animals, Gingerbread Superhero's running away from Villeins, and many more creative retellings. 

While we were studying this story, we had a friend visit.  His name was Gingy.  Of course, our special friend Gingy ran away (as all Gingerbread Men do).  As usual, when we have a problem, we brainstorm ways to solve it and a project is born!  The kids came up with the idea of creating posters and posting them all over the school. We studied different posters and had a discussion about what a good poster would look like and what information needed to be included in the posters.   Their amazing writing skills were used to make posters describing Gingy and asking anyone who saw him to please send him our way!  Some even added directions to our room!  (I wish I had thought to take pictures)

Another idea they came up with was to create traps to catch Gingy.  Collaboration and problem solving skills were used as they worked in groups of 6 to first come up with a plan, then to create a trap that would catch Gingy!  They made a list of materials needed, gathered the materials and went to work.  The cooperation that took place was amazing!  I loved watching how well they problem solved and worked together!  They had very creative ideas!  Some traps had ramps, some had trap doors, some had glue for him to get stuck in and they all used candy as bait!

This one has a lot of elements to it!

He plans on Gingy climbing to get the marshmellows.

Adding finishing touches

Testing out a snare to see if it works.

As they were finishing their traps, they came up with the idea of making signs to put on their traps to lure Gingy in.  

Free Candy
Free Candy you get to have today

Candy Store

Before they set their traps, they used speaking and listening skills to present their traps to the rest of the class and show how their traps worked.

The traps were set and of coarse, Gingy could not resist!  

The kids do not want him to go home with Santa!  Maybe when we come back, they can persuade him to stay!  We will see!  Happy Holidays everybody!  We will see the kids back on Jan. 7th!