Sewing Work Update

I wanted to give you a look into where we are at as far as our sewing work goes.  We are slowly but surely coming along.  Some children have started stuffing already!  Take a look at the pictures below to see how it's going.  I wonder how they'll look in a few weeks!

Guinea Pig Research

We have recently concluded our formal guinea pig research.  As you know, when we started this process we asked many questions of things we wanted to learn about guinea pigs.  We wrote some of those questions down as stated in this blog post.  We would go back to those specific questions often and ask ourselves if we knew the answer to it yet.  We used books, internet, videos, and observations.  Our original questions were in a book, so we decided it made sense that we put our new information in the book as well.  

We started drafting our responses to our questions.  We conferenced as each child decided what words to use to answer their own question.  On lined paper, we wrote our sentences.  The next day we talked about how to use a computer to type.  We then sat in front of the computer and typed our writing. 

Once our pages were typed and printed, we illustrated them.  Deciding what illustrations best conveyed our words to the reader was harder than we thought (you will see many eraser marks).  We talked about a table of contents, title, introductory page, and book cover.  Check out a few pages below and stop by to see our finished work!

No they do not hibernate.
(the author wants you to pay special attention
to the guinea pig outside of a cave- unlike a bear)

Where do they hibernate?

What do they do?

They popcorn.
(popcorning video link)

This is a guinea pig.  Why do they have floppy ears?

Yes they do.

No.  But they do have a tailbone.
To blend in with the surroundings.

Do they have tails?
Why do they have stripes?

No they do little jumps!

Can guinea pigs jump on heads?

No because they don't have tails.

Why do guinea pigs' tails look like rabbits' tails?

Yes but they can scratch.

This is a guinea pig sitting (in a) lap?

Sewing work

A while back I was looking through the school library.  I found a craft book and brought it in the classroom for the children to see because it seemed like something they would gravitate toward.  It was a book about creating creatures out of fabric.  After looking through it for some time and making prototypes out of paper, the children were committed to the idea of investing more time.  They started their work with Ms. Amy on making plans.  We wanted to make stuffed animals!

Starting the work with discussing how toymakers come up with the ideas to make toys, the children were ready to work.  Drawing on paper, they sketched out creatures inspired by the book or by their own imagination.  This took a day.    Ms. Amy then went home and made up patterns for each child's drawing.  The next time they met with Ms. Amy they had the very important task of choosing fabric and textures to use.  With so many choices, I imagine it was hard to narrow down what would work best!

From there Ms. Amy did most of the fabric cutting (children's scissors are not made for fabric) and collected what was needed.  Some children needed extra fabric for ears, a tail, eyes, a collar, or a shirt.  

Then came sewing! 

Ms. Amy brought up the importance of needles, how to thread them, how to make a knot, and strategies that work best.  Peeking across the room, I would see patient purposeful movements, focused eyes, and intentional fingers. 

Each time a group met with Ms. Amy they would take their bag of supplies, thread a needle, and get to sewing.  This was their time to continue on their project at their own pace.  Each child is at a different place in their sewing work.  This has been a great opportunity to talk about the importance of long-term work.  Yes, we could spend the entire day working on this, but it is good to give your eyes and brain a break so you can do your best work.  

We are all very excited to see how this project evolves, so look for updates soon!

Our classroom map

The past few weeks we have been focusing a lot (among other things) on maps.  We have explored world maps, discussed compasses, used our directions, and followed maps to get to places.  Noticing the map of the school posted by the door showing fire exits, we started discussing our immediate environment.  If we were to make a map of our classroom, what would it look like?


We started by using a large piece of paper.  We decided where our directions would be and tried to focus on furniture as much as possible.  Where would the door be?  How about the technology table?  How far away should the drawing and creating table be from there?  We outlined important parts with pencil after careful finger measuring and an "okay" from the group.  What was difficult was deciding on how to draw our objects.  
In the map, you view it as a bird would- looking straight down.  What does a chair look like from above?  Would you see the triangle on the back side?  Would you see the seat?  How do the tables look from above?  What we see and what the map shows are two different things.  What a map shows is a view from above.  North often doesn't mean "up."  It can mean forward or backward.  

We talked about coloring in our map because it was too hard to see.  One thing the children discussed was including miniature versions of ourselves.  Normally on maps you would not see people or animals, but we wanted our map to be a bit interactive. As you can see, most of the children are sitting at meeting time, but a few are working on something else!

Come in and visit our classroom map with your children and discuss what it shows.  The picture below doesn't detail as much as it does in person.  

It's our 100th day!

Hip hip hooray!

It's our 100th day!

What an exciting milestone!  We have been in school for 100 days.  10 groups of 10.  20 groups of 5.  One more than 99 and one less than 101.  We are 100 days taller, smarter, and more excited.  Here is how our day went:

We started the day off by thinking of ourselves as 100 year olds.  There were pictures of our faces covered in wrinkles!  The children made sure to point out that when they are 100, I will be waaaay older than them.

We then went over the list of things to do during the day that were "extra" special.  

When the children met with me, we started off by creating structures using 100 cups.  It is a lot harder than it seems!

We also were tasked with the job of writing 100 words.  It sounded impossible at first, but when we worked as a team, we could do so much!

A question was posed, "how long is 100 minutes?"  With the help of a timer, we waited 100 minutes and found that we were in art class.

100 can be a beautiful number, so we got a bit creative.  What can we make with those three numerals?  Well, a whole bunch of things!

"glasses"

How about some glasses?

And how far would you get in 100 steps?  We went from the classroom door to the doorway of the HUB.  We were surprised at how perfect that was.  So imagine walking to the HUB and back.  That's 200 steps easily done.  I wonder how many steps we take in a whole day?

And on a reflective note, we thought a lot about what we have learned and accomplished in 100 days of kindergarten.  Here are some of our quotes:

"I learned guinea pigs eat apples, spinach, and carrots."
"I know 10 + 10 = 20."
"I learned how to make friends."
"I can take 100 steps!"
"I didn't know how to count to 100 when I came to school."
"Guinea pigs have teeth and don't suck your blood."
"I know how letters make sounds... like th!"

Just imagine what answers we will have at the end of the year!

Welcome Alex!

As I am sure you all know, Alex the guinea pig has come to visit.  We spent time answering and researching some questions, and we were ready to see a live subject.  One thing that is very cool to see is how much we can learn from observation.  

"I can tell Alex is used to people because she is walking up to them and sniffing them."

"She keeps walking over to me because I have her igloo and she wants to go to her igloo."

"She must get itchy because she keeps scratching her nose."

"She is shedding her fur!"

Even though we didn't look up answer to these questions using the internet, we discovered new things just by watching and getting to know Alex.  There are many ways to answer a question, and that a conversation I am starting to have with the children.  We will revisit our initial list of questions and see what we can answer already.  How did we get to that answer?  

North South East West

If you have looked up when you walk into the room, you may have noticed words hanging from the ceiling.  We have been using these words a lot lately to identify places in the classroom.  I will often ask the children to name the direction they are facing, tell me something on the east side of the room, or to pass the ball in different directions.  










We started this process with the turtle in the maze.  We ran into problems when everyone's interpretation of "this way!" was different.  Direction words like "right, left, forward, straight, north, down, east, etc.." are something everyone can understand.  We decided to play the turtle-in-the-maze game... with people!

I first took a willing child and had them close their eyes.  We hid a stuffed teddy bear in the classroom.  When the child opened their eyes, we had them start in the opposite side of the room.  I gave them directions (forward, turn east, move straight, stop!) until it was found.  We got so good we invited Ms. Keri in the classroom one afternoon and tried it on her, but this time I didn't say a word.  The children did all of the work- using the direction words on the ceiling.  

We have had so much fun with this and are excited to keep it a part of our classroom learning.  
If you are looking for a project to do at home, make the direction words and put them up in your house.  This is a great way to take this learning home and extend it further.  Talk about it while driving.  Take a look at a map (this will be our next step).  You might be surprised at how much the children know!