Koala Bears

One of my goals as a teacher is to make learning fun and relevant to my students based on their various interest. We are currently talking about animals in social studies,and one of my students, Aiden, requested that we learn about Koala bears, so of course this became an addition to our regularly scheduled lesson activities! We learned an interesting fact that Koala bears are in fact not bears at all, but marsupials. The children thought this was a very interesting fact to learn. We viewed a few short video clips about koala bears, found some books at the library to read and discuss together, and looked at a variety of photos online of koala bears. Here is one of the links we shared at school that you might want to explore at home with your child -

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/koala/.

Next,we will begin our next exploration to learn all about cheetahs, per a request by Keagan and Chloe. If your family has any videos, photos, books, etc. about animals that your child would like to share please feel free to send it to school with them while we are working on our Animal unit.

Valentine's Day!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day celebration on Monday, 2/14. We have had a lot of fun discussing this topic and participating in a variety of educational activities related to Valentine's. The children have written notes to family members, and enjoyed listening to the letters written to them by their parents as well. Thanks for sending in your love note for your child to help make this a special time and memory for them in kindergarten. We have also worked on sorting and shapes by comparing and contrasting various size hearts to make a special project. The students had to know their color words in order to complete the task successfully as well, or know to use the class color wall for assistance if needed. They did a great job on this project, and it is displayed in our art zone. The students also made special Valentine's Day cards to share with family or friends, along with a variety of other holiday related activities and worksheets to review various skills we have covered this year. Thanks again to everyone who sent in flowers, cards, gifts, and candy to me. Your kindness is truly appreciated!!

Web page

Don't forget to visit our webpage. New work samples have been added from our class to share their writing for our current science topic "Animals". Have fun reading!

Web page - http://www.liberty.k12.ga.us/dbanks/index.html

Career Day!

Our class had an opportunity to attend the school's Career Day in the gym on Friday. The children enjoyed having an opportunity to talk to parents and community members about their careers. They did a wonderful job asking questions and listening to each speaker. One question to a soldier was "Why do you have to wear a uniform?". Another question to a chemistry major was "What do you have to learn in school to do your job?". Another student asked "What do police officers do on their job?". They also enjoyed learning about how to care for horses, and having the opportunity to pet 3 different horses that were brought to our school by a parent. Take time out to share with your child information about your job as well,and what you had to learn in school to do your job, ex. math for computations, reading for following directions, etc.

Animals

We are currently talking about Animals in class. Special thanks to Amanda for bringing in an excellent narrated story on cd called "Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor". The children enjoyed listening to the story during our listening period, and learned important information about animals and plants you would find in the ocean, and about being responsible citizens by taking care of our ocean and the animals. Sharing time is an important part of our daily class room routine. It allows children to make meaningful connections to our topics, and take ownership of their learning experience. Thanks parents and students for all you do to help keep learning interesting and fun in our class this year!

Proud to be an American

Our current topic in Social Studies is proud to be an American. We are talking about different ways students can be good citizens, and contribute positively to their communities even as children. The children made their own flags, and added a sentence about how they plan to be a good citizen. Amanda said she will be a good citizen by helping to keep her room clean. Jada said she will help someone else learn to read. Keagan said he will give money to help others who need help,and he shared a photo of a child he has "adopted" from another country to help others. It's great to hear our students' ideas on ways they can contribute positively to our community even as children. Parents take time out to share with your child ways that you are a good citizen, and ways that you show that you are proud to be an American too!

Website

Here is a new website for you to explore at home-

www.starfall.com

This is a great site for practice beginning reading skills. Enjoy!