Reading to ourselves and our partners

One of the first things we learn about in kindergarten is the joy of reading! Each student gets their own book box filled with 10-15 picture books, and every day we spend 20 minutes doing "Read to Self" or "Read to Someone" time. We learn that there are three ways to read a book:

1. Reading the pictures
2. Reading the words
3. Retelling a familiar story

I emphasize this so that even students who can't read the words (which is most kindergarteners at this point in the year!) are able to enjoy books both new and old. Eventually, we will add easy reader books into their book boxes, which are small books that I use to teach reading skills and are filled with predictable, repetitive text that will allow students to read the words. The students also have poetry binders in their book boxes, which I fill each Friday with the poem of the week. 

Here are some pictures of our class reading to themselves and to their partners!

Forest Friday: Our sit spots

We've been learning all about looking closely and observing like scientists this month. Every Friday we have "Forest Friday," since we are lucky enough to have an amazing school forest right on our playground! Each kindergartener picked a spot in the forest to call their own, and we visit these same "Sit Spots" every Friday afternoon. For about 10-15 minutes, the kids sit and listen, observe and draw what they see in their science journals. We have been asking the question "What has changed in my Sit Spot since last week?" Afterwards, we share with the class what we observed. Below are some pictures of us in our Sit Spots:

And here are some of our observations. It was fascinating to see what each child noticed!

Raising caterpillars in kindergarten!

We've had an amazing start to the school year, and one of the highlights has been our unit studying monarch caterpillars! Below are some pictures of our studies.

When we first got the caterpillars, they were large and ate TONS of milkweed! Here are our scientists taking notes and drawing what they observe in the caterpillar cage:

We used the book Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons to teach us about the process our caterpillars were going through. We also had quite a few students who had already raised caterpillars before, so we looked to them as experts!

Here we are demonstrating the life cycle of a butterfly:

Before we knew it, our butterflies had formed chrysalises and then began to emerge!

 

When their wings were ready, we took the butterflies out to the school forest to let them go. It took a few tries, but eventually they all flew away! (Except one who had a damaged wing - we kept him for a while and then eventually let him go as well.) The kids were cheering as the butterflies flew away to go on their long journey south.

Thanks to all the parents who helped support our studies by bringing milkweed, offering advice, and talking about the butterflies with your children!