Mary Keller- Kinder Connections Teacher

Third Trimester Summary

We have begun the "My Environment" strand of the Interconnections Curriculum. With a theme of "The World Goes Around and Around," the children have been exploring different cycles and patterns in their world.

We are practicing with the calendar cycle: months of the year; days of the week; and, the seasons. The children have also explored weather in their environment learning and practicing skills of sequencing, observation, finding patterns and classification. The children experimented with the water cycle using cotton balls and water, and observing evaporation. We reviewed how snow is formed, and will learn what causes thunder and lightning (hopefully with an actual storm happening).

We began to explore various life cycles by planting a salad. Our "Kinder Garden" is planted with quick growing lettuce and other greens, as well as two types of radish. The children are excited to watch the sprouts grow and are charting the garden's growth. We are also watching our "Crazy Scientist" hair grow, and our lima beans sprout.

Continuing with our life cycle explorations, the children will investigate insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds, and animals that live in water, concentrating on ocean animals. We will learn about how animals use their senses, animal homes, how babies are cared for, domestic v. wild animals (with a visit from a petting zoo), all while working on compare/contrast, classification, sequencing, and observation skills. The children will also explore and learn about the role they play, and can play in taking care of our environment.

Contrasting life cycles and living things with non-living objects, the children will explore rocks and the rock cycle, and are having fun with magnets.

As we explore our amazing world, I continue to incorporate children's literature, reading and writing practice, math practice, music, and arts and crafts with various hands-on activities.

We will wrap up the year with a beach party. This will be the fourth year I have planned a beach party only to be rained or snowed out. Hopefully, the weather curse will end and we will be able to celebrate outdoors in the warm sun.

Kinder Connections
Second Trimester Update

The children have been busy with activities and lessons based on the World Strand Interconnections Curriculum. The children are working on developing critical thinking skills of observation, classification and comparing as we explore the seven continents. As we travel the world, the children have focused on comparing/contrasting their lives with children living in various cultures. We also continue with activities to bolster the Kindergarten Core such as reading/writing readiness skills, math skills, listening, and following multi-step directions.

In order to discover more about their amazing world, the children have been exploring maps, globes, and map symbols. We made Playdoh earth models, marking the poles and cutting the sphere in half to show the northern and southern hemispheres. We have practiced our cardinal directions with a "treasure hunt" that led us throughout the school and its grounds. We learned the seven continents using a song to help us remember and have identified the major oceans and made passports. As we prepared for our trip we learned and practiced sequencing tasks, and categorization as we packed for various climates.

The first continent we visited was Antarctica. We had fun being Emperors for a Day, making free-form penguins and painting Antarctic landscapes. We read and compared fictional and non-fictional penguins as I incorporated onset/rime practice, sight words, alliteration, story retelling, sequencing, categorization, penguin math, pattern practice and lessons about colors (e.g., warm and cool colors).

From Antarctica, we traveled to North America and Vancouver for the Winter Olympics. We had several fun activities and the children were really excited and knowledgeable about the games. We observed the world nation's flags in our lunchroom as the children tried to discover some of the symbolism of the Olympic Flag. We also ventured to the Arctic Circle and learned about the Inuits and read Jan Brett's "The Three Snow Bears" that we compared with the traditional "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." We made polar bears, discussed fact and fiction, and played Arctic Animal Match to improve memory and spatial skills. We also learned the differences with ice floes, glaciers, and icebergs, using shaving cream and our playground's snow and ice fields for hands-on activities. We also had fun comparing marshmallows and chocolate kisses, as well as the Arctic and Antarctic.

On to Asia and China, with a short trip to Bhutan (thank you, Carly) traditions, culture, symbols making "Year of the Tiger" lanterns. The children built the Great Wall of China using various building materials, ate Chinese noodles with chopsticks, and practiced their names in Chinese characters.

From Asia we traveled to the "Land Down Under." We learned about Australia's unusual animals and why many are found only in Australia. We made an Australian Animal book practicing writing at each child's level. We had fun with Aussie slang (kid friendly of course!), "built a doodle" koala, and made toy boomerangs.

From Australia we traveled to Europe and Ireland for St. Patrick's day. We explored rainbows and leprechaun legends, and had bubbly fun finding rainbows.

The people of the Village of Ouelessabougou, Mali sent us a trunk filled with authentic African articles including clothing, mortar and pestle to grind grain, wooden toothbrushes, water bags to use at the water well, a Malian doll, jewelry, money. We had a fabulous time exploring these items, dressing up in African clothing, grinding grain, making bracelets and dolls. We had fun with rhythm - dancing and drumming to music from the many African cultures. We learned about African Animals and the various landforms found on this diverse continent. We also visited Egypt and had pyramids of fun with marshmallows and toothpicks.