It's the start of a new year....

 The pencils are sharpened, the books are in place, the classroom is clean and now it is complete with all my new crew members.

We jump in on day one building our identity as readers, writers, mathematicians, play experts and friends.

We do this hard work in and out of our classroom.  We build relationships through play!

I am so excited for a year full of learning, laughing and having fun!

Reflecting on a Great Year of Kindergarten

 All we really need to know, we learned in Kindergarten!  

This was an amazing year of growth in SO many ways. 

 

We learned the power of CREW by spending lots of time together playing, solving problems, doing hard work, failing and spending LOTS of time outside.

We learned the importance of high quality work and making the world better by integrating service learning in our learning expeditions and celebrating EL Better World Day!

We built great relationships with our YO (Younger and Older Buddies) from Ms. Chelsea's 3rd grade crew.  We learned about listening to feedback, revising, and learning from others!

Our Crew learned so much about field work and experts. Students learned by doing the authentic, hard work of scientists.  We appreciated ALL the time we spend outside!

We practiced, reflected on and persevered to collaborate together.  We collaborated to solve problems, teach others, create, play and have fun.  We learned we are better together.

Most importantly, we learned to take care of each other and show compassion.  We learned to ask questions to understand how and why we are different.  We learned to be kind, respond instead of react and listen.  

I hope this year in kindergarten was a great start to a great life because "All your really need to know, you learned in kindergarten!"

Collaboration

 

Alone we can do so little,

Together we can do so much!

~Helen Keller

Collaboration is one of our seven Habits of Character.  It is one of my favorite habits because it leads to so much engagement, perspective taking and seeking to understand.

In all of our learning expeditions, students have time to collaborate through discussions, asking questions and responding to different ideas.

In our morning Crew meetings, students problem solved how to work together to get our entire crew across the classroom using only 9 lily pads (circles).

It was so fun to see who took on leadership roles, how the students communicated and how they problem solved after failure.

Trees Are Alive Learning Expedition

We are becoming dendrologist!  Our kindergarten crew has embarked on our next learning expedition, Trees Are Alive!

We started this expedition by going on field work outside to observe, record and ask the question "What makes something living or nonliving?"

   

While we were there we explored trees and enjoyed the outdoors.

We then began our research to answer the question "How do trees meet their needs?"  

Local experts came from HRCA Backcountry.  We learned so much from the hands on research from these experts.

After field work, researching using mentor texts and experts, we again ventured to the field to observe parts of a tree and how they help the tree survive.

 

  

We also began started thinking about what living things depend on trees to meet their needs.  We are having such a wonderful time doing the authentic work of a dendrologist.

YO Buddies

What a special relationship with our YO (Younger and Older) Buddies.  We have teamed up with a 3rd grade Crew in our school.

We meet every Friday to learn new games, work on reading, writing and math.

The 3rd graders take on a leadership role and help their kindergarten buddy complete tasks, learn new skills and mentor the younger student.

We have started our nonfiction writing unit.  The 3rd graders helped us research our animal using our Chromebook.

The 3rd graders helped us take notes to use to write our high quality sentences.  What a fantastic mentor program at such a young age.

Winter!

You only get to be 5 one time in your lifetime!  This is one of the sentences that drives my beliefs and daily intentions for kindergarten.

 Playing in the snow and enjoying the outdoors is one of our favorite past times in kindergarten.

Students love to explore, collaborate, problem solve and have fun in the outdoors.

We work hard to go outside three times per day to practice hands on, real life skills.

We are prepared for the weather each day so we can get outside and PLAY!  No wonder our crew mates are growing so much academically, socially and emotionally!

Ending Our First Learning Expedition

We ended our learning expedition, Toys and Play.    Ms. Fantastic Faythe gave us a mission to become Play Experts!  We learned how to make playing together fun by creating Play Commitments and playing together EVERY DAY!

After we became Play Experts, we were charged with becoming Toy Experts.  Each student reflected on his/her favorite classroom toy.  We studied the attributes of toys.  Each student wrote several sentences to name his/her favorite toy and describe it.

Finally, we collaborated to donate toys to a local children's cancer center.  Each kindergarten family donated a toy.  Our crew members wrote several sentences to name the toy, tell how to play with the toy and then gave each patient a heart print or well wish to help spread compassion on a high quality toy tag.

 

What a special way to end our amazing study of toys and play!