Apples, Apples, and More Apples! This week the kindergarteners learned about apples. We started by learning a few facts about apples. Did you know that there are more than 7,500 different kinds of apples? We found out that apples start as seeds, grow on trees, and are flowers before they are apples. Ms. Torborg brought in 4 different kinds (a Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Fuji.) We had a chance to try each one. Then we made a class graph of our favorite. Fuji won. With a few of our apple slice, we did a little science experiment. We put different liquids on them to try to keep them from turning brown. This week we also brought an apple from home. Everyone’s apple was a little different. We counted, measured, and weighed our apples. We also checked to see if they would sink or float. We ended the week with learning about Johnny Appleseed (He was a real person who planted many, many apple seeds across the USA).
Monday:
Our bible story this morning was about Cain and Abel. Cain killed his brother and then tried to lie to God. God already knew what Cain did and their was a consequence for his actions.
During morning meeting today, we talked about the word respect. After defining our word, we broke up into different group to brainstorm about different ways to show respect in different situations. Each group was given one area or subject. As a group, they had to write down what respect looks like and what it sounds like. Then we shared them with the whole group.
In reading, we were introduced to a new sight word, the. After using our word in a sentence, we spent some time quietly reading. It was a great opportunity to look for our new word in our books. We were even able to flag it and show our friends.
After snack, we started getting ready for our standardized test that starts next week. First we watched a video together about the test. Then we did several different practice tests on the SMARTboard together. Ms. Torborg walked us through how to answer each of the different types of questions and what to do when you get stuck. After lunch, we were off to the computer room to try for our self. We each got a chance to take part of a practice test reading and math test.
This week we are learning about apples. Today we read a book about different kinds of apples. Did you know that apples can be red, green, yellow, and any combination of those colors? Did you know that each apple has a special name? We also listened to/watched a couple of songs about apples. I Love Apples (Kid’s Song) was cool because it taught us different facts about apples. The Apple Song was fun to hear and watch because it taught about all of the different kinds of apples in the world. Have you ever tried to balance an apple on your head? It's not easy. And if the apple falls, it could be bruised. Today we read the story Ten Apples Up On Top. Throughout the story the characters are balancing apples on their heads. They start with one and work their way up to ten. In the end, everyone has ten apples on their head. Our project today was to create a picture of us balancing ten apples on our head. We started by drawing a picture of our face/head. We tried to get the colors just right. Then we had to glue ten (paper) apples on our head. Next, Ms. Torborg wrote the words. Now they are hanging in the hall. At the end of the day, we each practiced trying to balance and then walk with an apple on our head. Just like they did in the story, 10 Apples Up On Top. It was a fake apple, but it looked and felt real. We decided that it was harder than it looked. Some of us were even able to balance it for a little while with no hands.
Tuesday:
Our bible story today was about Noah and the great flood.
In reading, we were introduced to a new reading strategy, Identify the Front and Back of books. When we read a book, we want to make sure to start at the beginning of the story. That means we need to identify the difference between the front and the back of a book. Together we were able to identify things we would find on the front of a book such as the title, author, illustrator, etc. Then we used new strategy as we spent some time reading the books in our reading bin. Next we rotated through 4 different reading stations. 1st: iPad letter identification game 2nd: letter magnets 3rd: alphabet game on the SMARTboard 4th: alphabet order game. We ended our reading time with a coloring page. We each had an apple with words on it. We had to color our apple according to the color words. If we didn’t know the words, we had to try to match the words to the color words on the wall.
In math, we played a new game, Gotcha. We had to try to catch Ms. Torborg making a mistake. She tried to trick us as she counted, identified the number of objects in a group, and counted a group of objects. We were able to catch her every time!
After lunch, we headed up to the computer room again. Today we took a NWEA screening reading assessment. It was like practicing to take our standardized reading test. When we got back to our classroom, we colored invitations for our grandparents to our Grandparents’ Day Celebration.
Wednesday:
In our Bible story this morning, Abram was asked by God to leave his home and travel to a new country. Even though Abram didn’t know where he was going, he trusted God and did what he asked.
Apples, Apples, and More Apples! We continued our study of apples by learning about how apples grow. We started our exploration by reading two different books about apples. As we listened to these stories we noticed that they didn’t tell a story, instead they gave us information. We found out that an information book is called a nonfiction book. We found out that apples grow on trees and a group of trees is called an orchard. Apples start out as flower and awhen you turn an apple over you can see part of the flower parts. We also explored the life cycle of an apple from a little seed planted in the ground to the seeds you find in an apple.
During reading, we were introduced to two new Reading stations, Listening to Reading and Word Work. After listening to how to do each of the stations, we got a chance to do them. It took a little bit of practice to run the CD player. It’s a good thing we had a partner to help us.
We listened to the Story of Creation again today. This time the story came from a different bible. Even though it was a different book, it was the same story. When we were done, we colored a picture to remind us what God created each of the 7 days.
After lunch, we headed up to the computer room again. Today we took a NWEA screening Early Numeracy math assessment. We had to do things like match, count and identify numbers, identify more and less, and answer questions moving objects.
During Math time we used our apples for a little discovery project. First we used cubes to measure how tall and long our apples were. We recorded our answers on our paper. Then we used a pan balance and cubes to measure how heavy it is. Next we created an AB pattern on the bottom of our paper. Finally we checked to see if our apples would sink or float.
Thursday:
Our bible story today was about how Abraham and Sarah finally had a baby and then they were asked to sacrifice him.
During reading, we reviewed our sight words, I & the. Then we received our first emergent reader book for our reading bin. This is a book we can read all on our own. Before we started reading it, we each received our own reading finger. (This is a monster finger with a long nail.) We use our reading fingers to point to the words as we read them. The first time we read the story together. Then we took sometime to read it by ourselves. When everyone was reading, it got really loud in our classroom. Ms. Torborg introduced us to whisper phones. When we whisper into the phone, only we can hear it. When everyone uses the whisper phones correctly, it is really quiet in the room. During reading, we also completed 2 different reading stations. After we picked our station, we completed it on our own. Then we hung our tag up on our chart. We need to complete all of the stations before we can do them again.
Today we ate snack and did a little math at the same time. This week we have been studying apples. Our focus has been on four different kinds of apples (Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Granny Smith & Fuji). During snack, we had a taste test. We got to try each different kind. First, we tried the Red Delicious and then the Granny Smith. When we were done with those two, we had to pick which one we liked best. We created a graph on the smart board to see which one we liked the best. Most of us liked the Granny Smith the best. Then we tried Golden Delicious. We created another graph marking which one was our favorite. Golden Delicious won that time. Finally, we tried the Fuji apple. Once everyone had a chance to mark the graph, we determined that Fuji was our favorite apple. When we were done graphing, we got to eat apples for our snack (any kind we wanted).
During snack, we noticed that after Ms. Torborg cut an apple up, it started to turn brown. We decided to see if we could find something to help slow down the process. After making a few predictions, we put apples slices in a bowl full of water, full of milk, full of lemon juice, and full of soda. Throughout the day, we took turns checking to see what was happening. Our apple slices turned really brown in the soda, had brown spots in water, and really white and mushy in the milk. Our apple slice in the lemon juice had no brown spots on it. We determined putting lemon juice on our apples would help keep them from turning brown.
During religion, we gathered together as a whole school in the assembly room for birthday prayer. This is a time for us to celebrate all of the people who have birthdays in September. Father Jeff gave a blessing and we sang Happy Birthday.
Our math lesson today involved hunting for numbers. We went all over the school looking for numbers. We had to make sure to find numbers not letters. We found a bunch of numbers in Mrs. Lenz’s and Mrs. McGraw’s rooms. After looking around the whole school, we went back to our classroom to create a list of the different things/places we found numbers.
Friday:
Our morning started out with a ride on the blue bus to Mass at the church. Then on to reading time, music class, and calendar.
During reading, we reviewed the different kinds of books, “real” or non-fiction or “make-believe” or fiction. Then we listened to three different stories about Johnny Appleseed. We determined the first story was a “real” or non-fiction story. We learned about things Johnny Appleseed really did and how he got his name. We determined the other books had parts that were real and parts that were make-believe. Since parts or make-believe, there were fiction stories. As we read each book, we tried to figure out if it was real or make-believe. We compared it to the book we know was real. We found out that Johnny Appleseed was a real man named Johnny Chapman. He lived a long time ago and went around to different states planting apple seeds. Next, we worked on reading our emergent reader from yesterday, The Farm. First, we read it together as a class using our reading fingers. Then we read it by ourselves using our reading finger and whisper phone. Our last activity was a game on the SMARTboard. Together we had to put the alphabet in order. We took turns putting letters up.
In the afternoon, we watched a movie about Johnny Appleseed. We also had a Marathon rally. We started by praying for all of our marathon intentions. We found out we have raised just over $8,300, so far. Then we divided into groups for an activity. Each person in the group got a toothpick. As a group, we had to work to get our lifesavers (candy) from the “shore” to the boat using only the toothpick.