A Blessed Thanksgiving

 

May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with your family and fully realize the blessings we have in our country!

Vision and Hearing Screening

All of the kindergarten kids received a hearing and vision screening today.  If the screeners noticed anything out of the ordinary, parents were notified and encouraged to take their child for further assessment.  It was fun for the kids to see the others raise their hands to indicate a sound heard.  The kids knew what they themselves were doing, they just hadn't thought of what they looked like doing the motions!  Here's a friend listening to sounds....he has great ears!!

This one raises his right arm indicating his right ear hears the beep.  Another example of great hearing!

Our school nurse, Mrs. Cordero, helped with the vision part.  This friend covers his right eye so that his left one can be tested and indicates which way the E is facing.  The E has been around a long, long time.  I remember doing it when I was little!!          

This sweetie steps up, covers her right eye, and prepares to show which way the E faces.

We are finished!  Our ears and eyes are doing the jobs they're supposed to!  Now it's time to relax!!  What a bunch of sillies!!

Artists

Below are some watercolor turkeys, pumpkins, farm landscapes, and a construction paper scarecrow created by our resident artists.  Please be sure to come to our hallway every few weeks in order to see the marvelous display of outstanding, creative artwork.  I love to display their work, it adds so much to our hallway.  Not  only do the kids paint, draw, and create, but also write about what they made!  There's been a lot of growth in the area of confidence in the quality of work.  The kids have been encouraged to compliment their friends on their work, too.  We spend time talking about an atmosphere of encouragement and building each other up; put downs and disparaging remarks are not allowed.  I'm sure many of you all remember hearing your mother say  "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"  and these kindergartners hear it from me, too!   I'm pleased with all the kind compliments I hear going around!!  I hope you enjoy looking at a few examples of art:

Sailing the Mayflower

We've been talking about the Pilgrims, coming to new, unknown land on the Mayflower, and their life in early America.   We read some books which described the journey to America, being sick and crowded on the Mayflower, then shared our ideas about the trip.  We compared sailing on the Mayflower to travel on a modern day cruise-type ship and how both were powered.  The kids came up with some questions and we decided to make and sail our own "Mayflowers" (styrofoam, straws, paper) on the "Atlantic Ocean" (Murphy and Tommy's pool!).  

The kids created their ships out of styrofoam (the ship), straws (the mast), and sails (paper).  They took turns "sailing" on the Atlantic Ocean.  The ships were powered by wind, strong, gusty winds which capsized the ships and gentle breezes which moved the ships along.

The height of the mast varied from ship to ship and the kids observed how each ship sailed as a result.  The ships with taller masts tipped over easily and were sent back to the shipyard for adjustment.....the child pulled off the mast, cut some off, and had me hot glue it to the ship!  They also observed the size of the sail.  The ships with bigger sails caught the "wind" and moved better than the ships with smaller sails.  They were able to figure out why the Mayflower had so many sails!          

The kids also noticed what happened when the ship had no sail....it didn't move well!

 
Leaning way over so her wind can move her ship along.


Discovering that without a sail, his ship doesn't move very far. The kids enjoyed experimenting to see how ships use the power of wind.  We had no sailors overboard in this activity!

Math Night

 
Tonight was math night and what a fun night for our Greathouse families!  Math night was designed to show parents a variety of math activities the children have in the pre-k through the 6th grade classrooms.  The teachers provided activities, games, books, and examples of problems the students have on a daily basis.  Below is our school counselor, Mrs. Heiting, posing with a kindergartner.  She is promoting the college-bound idea the district supports and the two are standing in front of the college pennant/team mascot display outside the office.  At this point, this one is still undecided as to where he'll attend college! 

Each grade level had a graph which asked each person's participation.  Below is a picture of the kindergarten graph.  This graph asked "What is Your Favorite Color?"  Each person wrote his/her name on a sticky note and put it in the appropriate column.  These sisters pose for a picture after adding their sticky notes.

Below are several of the graphs different grade levels had:



Here's  a kindergarten kid posing by the kindergarten graph.  He loves having his picture taken!

Now they are using a clock to make different times.  When he moves the big hand (minute hand), he can see how the little hand (hour hand) moves.

Playing a file folder addition game.  After he adds 2 numerals, he has to put each frog on the lily pad showing that number.  He was so proud to get all the problems correct....what a smarty!



Each grade level also had a estimation jar.  The jars were filled with different treats and everyone had a chance to put their estimate of the number of items on a piece of paper along with their name.  The "winner" of each jar will be announced the next morning during the daily announcements.   Here are sisters giving their best estimate.....good luck, girls!      


Below are the prizes to be won by 2 lucky kids!  Who will it be?!!

Autumn Leaves are Falling Down

I brought back several items from my Ohio trip, items I thought the kids might not see around here.  Here are the items....buckeye nuts:


rocks from a limestone quarry:


cattails:


field corn:


and a variety of leaves from Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas in which the kids posed.....I don't think too many allergies were stirred up!