Using Our Imagination to Explore Chemistry and Analyze Oobleck

This week, our class learned about chemistry from our newest Quirkle, Kitchen Chemistry Kal.  Chemistry impacts everything we can smell, taste or touch.

For this lesson, the students pretended NASA had sent us a substance they collected with a space probe from a strange planet, in a far away galaxy.  The scientists from NASA named the substance, Oobleck, after the Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  We were told the substance was safe to handle, but we should not eat it.  Our job was to help the scientists by discovering and recording the properties of Oobleck-  and boy did we have fun doing it!   It had many properties that seemed like they were opposite of each other.  It was definitely a strange substance.

Today was the second day of our 7 Habits of Happy SAGE Kids unit.  In this lesson, we learned Habit #1 - Be Proactive.  The students realized that they are in control of their mood and actions.  The next time they're bored, they shouldn't come to you looking for something to do.  It's not your job to solve their boredom!  They learned how to take control of their own feelings/actions and if they're bored, how to be proactive and find something to do. 

In the afternoon, Senora Gates helped us practice our new Spanish words.  This week, we worked on color words, numbers and greetings.  Check out our numbers, music video!

Next, the students worked at their Exploratory center.  Ask your child about their current task.

 

 

 










We ended our day working on our math problem solving skills.












When the kindergarten students finished their math, they had a little time to play, "Spot It," a great game that strengthens perceptions and spatial relations skills.
 

What a busy day!

Taking Off with Jazzy Jet

Last week, we welcomed two new kindergarten students who have moved into our class.  They are great additions to our group!

We started our day by sharing a little about ourselves so the students could get to know each other better.

Next, we worked on our math problem solving skills. 

 
After lunch, we had our first Spanish lesson with Senora Gates.  Each student had a chance to choose a Spanish name and worked on the following vocabulary:

1.    Greetings - Hola, Buenas días

2.    Names - Me llamo… ¿Cómo te llamas? Mucho gusto.

3.    Colors - rojo, azul, blanco, negro, amarillo, verde, anaranjado, rosado, morado, gris, café o marrón.  Game-Levántense- Siéntense

5.    Numbers 1-10

  

Next, we met our newest Quirkle, Jazzy Jet.

From Jazzy Jet, we learned about Bernoulli's Principle and how it helps our Frisbee and huge airplanes fly!

In the afternoon, we began a new unit for our Affective Skills curriculum unit.  The unit is called The 7 Habits of Happy SAGE Kids.  Our unit is based on the book, The 7 Habits of Happy Kids, by Sean Covey.  (Sean Covey is the son of Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.)   As an introduction to our unit, we discussed what a habit is, then took a pretest to see what we knew about habits we have that make us happy. 

Through this book, we will have ten lessons focusing on self-awareness (perfectionism, giftedness, task commitment, dealing with stress, risk-taking, valuing yourself, goal setting, and underachievement) and social awareness (peer relations, ethics, empathy, conflict resolution, leadership, and self-advocacy).  The students will discover how the choices they make can affect their day, their relationships, and their future.  Each of the stories within the book introduces a positive habit.

It is good to be back from our break!  We had an exciting day!