Kindergarten Kapers: May 2016

Over the month of April we finished up our zoo study learning about zoo animals and started an author study of Mo Willems. We started off reading many Gerald and Piggie books. Through these books we have been talking about how an illustrator makes it look like things are moving in a book, focusing on facial expressions and how a character is feeling and making connections to what the author writes that might make us think about something we have experienced. As well, we have been listening for volume changes by the size of the font that we can see in the book. Sometimes Gerald and Piggie whisper and sometimes they yell! Over the next few weeks we will learn about Mo Willems through videos and his writing through the Pigeon books.

Below here are some pictures from April to give you an idea of what the students have been up to!

Fine motor work with our bunny pictures.

J is sorting objects to their letter sounds.

Morning center time is spent building with all kinds of 3D objects. Sometimes the students are given a challenge to make things taller than, longer than or into a given structure. Most of the time they imagine, create, test, change and test again their own ideas.

M made a space helmet.

Hmmm, what do I see?

The giraffe art work was a multi step/direction creation. The students have improved their abilities to following multi step directions and look at visual cues to see what they need to do next!

The tongue is as long as their arm!

Afternoon center time at the kitchen. Looking after babies, cooking, cleaning, ironing and communicating.

The block center with cars is always a place to find ramps, parking garages, jumps and much more.

A lot of measuring opportunities with cup building. The students are always trying to make it taller than themselves or an adult and then making it even taller with just one more cup.... before kaboom!

Amazing weather to be hanging around in this month!

Sharing time is one of the students favorite times. Such a good opportunity to speak in front of their peers.

Morning Chit Chat and data gathering always lets us practice and build on our literacy and numeracy skills.

3D shape building. We have been talking about balls, boxes, cans and cones and learning the correct Math names. As well, we have talked about whether the object can roll, stack or slide.

Working on gross motor skills and building those muscles that help us move easily in the day.

Working on shape pictures with Mrs. Maris. The students came up with some interesting creations and then had to identify the amount of 2D shapes they used in their pictures.