Kindergarten Team

Pumpkin Experiment

In Kindergarten we celebrated the fall season by having a pumpkin lab in all the classes! The students were excited to use their five senses to investigate a pumpkin with their class. They applied both math and science in their investigations.

Students used their knowledge of properties to describe and draw a pumpkin just like a scientist!

Students estimated how tall a pumpkin was using blocks. They then measured the pumpkin to find the actual height.

“I learned how to measure it with blocks and string.” – Jasmine
“I guessed it would be 5 blocks tall, but it was really 10.” - Rex

The kindergarten students then peeked inside, once again using their knowledge of properties to describe what they saw and felt.   Students estimated how many seeds were inside and the teacher helped count them all! Wow! There were a lot!

“The pumpkin, it has lots of seeds. Ours had 454!” – Paiton
“We dug in it and got the seeds out. It felt slimy.” – Angelito
“The pumpkin was slimy and gross.” – Mady

Students also got to estimate the circumference of their pumpkin with string and then checked it to see if they were just right, too long or too short.

The last lab the students participated in was to see if the pumpkin would sink or float. Most of the kindergartens were astonished that the pumpkin actually floated!

“Our pumpkin didn’t sink!” – Jacob
“Pumpkins can float.” – Erin

The students recorded all their observations and discoveries in their pumpkin notebook! After that they discussed their findings with their friends.

Rhyan, 1st Grade Student

Katie The Bus Visit

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 we had a lesson about Katie the Bus.

Mrs. McCarthy took us to the cafeteria and 2 ladies told us about bus safety. They used a bus puppet. They acted out all the important things about riding a bus safely. They sang a poem to us about bus safety. The song was: “Bottom to the bottom, back to the back, hands on your backpack, hands on your lap”.

Then they told us to line up. We walked out of the building. We stood by the bus and they explained about the “special sound” which goes “psssss”. This means, the bus has stopped you can get in now.

Then, we got on the bus and they told us to sit three on one seat. They explained things about the bus. 

• Never sit on your knees
• Never stick your head out of the bus
• If there is an emergency, we can use  the emergency exits
• Never sit on edge of the seat
• Voice level 1

Then, we were ready to ride the bus. She drove us around the parking lot. While she rode us around, we sang “The Wheels on the Bus” song. Then, we parked. We got out. She asked for a volunteer.

She picked Ethan. Ethan grabbed a tissue box pretending it was a lunchbox. The lady taught us what to do if we ever drop something in front of the bus. She walked a few inches into the street. Then, Ethan dropped the tissue box. She taught us that if we ever drop something to wave to the bus driver so she doesn’t run us over.

We then practiced crossing the street in front of the bus. We practiced freezing like a popsicle when we heard the honk. When the driver moved her hand, we walked. When she showed her hand to stop, we would freeze again.

When the lesson was done she told us we did a great job. She gave us a coloring book about everything that she taught us.

It was awesome to learn about safety rules on the bus!

Pam Brissee, 3rd Grade Teacher

Shaping Up in 3rd Grade

The year is “shaping up” for 3^rd graders!  Partners have been playing games and practicing math skills at workstations while small groups meet with teachers to focus on specific concepts.  One of the first topics of the year was sorting two-dimensional shapes by using attributes.  In this photo, two students are sorting quadrilaterals from other polygons and 2-D shapes.  Having shapes to examine makes it easier to understand more abstract definitions, like a parallelogram has 2 sets of parallel sides.  Having a partner makes the job easier and more fun, and it allows students to communicate their thinking.  

Emily said:  We were sorting them by quadrilaterals/not  quadrilaterals.  I like working in a small group because if you get something wrong, your partner can help you.

Maci said:  It helps to have the shapes because when you are sorting you can see the shapes.  I liked working in a small group because you can learn from your mistakes.

Elizabeth Kratz-Counselor

No Bullying Allowed!

A group of students formed a committee called No Place for Hate. Our students come up with activates that help teach acceptance of others and how to put a stop to bullying. October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Like any other months, we teach that bullying is not allowed and that there is no place for bullying in our lives. During the month of October we show case the importance of being kind to others. We ask that people treat others the way we want to be treated. Some children have even shared that “it” is the golden rule.

 

We share with the students video clips that they are able to relate to their lives. The videos are called The Tough Kid – Bully Blockers Shorts, and The Green Kid. We will continue to show these videos during our school year to remind students of our expectations on bullying.

The No Place for Hate website gives good information to parents to help their children in the event that Bullying may occur. Please follow this link to find out more about bullying and what you can do to help us promote a better environment.

http://houston.adl.org/noplaceforhate/

Mayte Dilla, 4th Grade Teacher

4th Grade Writing Celebration

Students were thrilled to publish their first piece of writing. They truly enjoyed reading each other’s stories and discovered they had many things in common.  

For the last 4 weeks, they worked hard generating ideas, collecting entries, and finally selecting that “one” seed they wanted to write longer and better.  As they took their  piece through the writing process,  one important fact they learned was that a writers job is never done.