Anderson mill elementary ib world school pre k classroom!
Ms. Blossom welcomes everyone to our school as you walk in. Come on in and see what's happening!
Welcome to Ms. Adams' ib pre kindergarten class at anderson mill elementary. We are a community of love and acceptance where learning happens!
building a scarecrow
We have had a wonderful semester together! We are learning not to hurt anyone on their body or in their heart and to respect our earth and everything in it!
In this photograph, we were building a scarecrow for our garden to scare the birds away. The children wrote a story and told me how we built the scarecrow and then illustrated it with marker and watercolor.
This is a great language experience as well as team building as we learn about the garden. I hope that your child is telling you each day about what they are experiencing. We don't always bring home worksheets and paperwork because we do many hands on activities!
In this photograph, we were building a scarecrow for our garden to scare the birds away. The children wrote a story and told me how we built the scarecrow and then illustrated it with marker and watercolor.
This is a great language experience as well as team building as we learn about the garden. I hope that your child is telling you each day about what they are experiencing. We don't always bring home worksheets and paperwork because we do many hands on activities!
the garden
The Students enjoy working in our school gardens. We planted lettuce seeds and seedlings. We also planted collards and cabbage. The students weeded, planted and watered. We work with Ms. Rugerio's class and also with our reading buddies in Ms. Stillman's third grade class. Later, we made a salad from the garden and ate it!
fingerpainting
We fingerpainted with red and yellow paint. You may have known which day it was because we all came home with paint all over us! The children discovered that red and yellow make orange. We wrote our names in it and talked about what it felt like. We made shapes in it and drew faces with various expression.
glittering
When the paint dried, we added glitter! The children love these hands on activities and their vocabulary is soaring!
carving a pumpkin
We voted and graphed what kind of face we wanted for our pumpkin and we voted on a happy face. The students took turns scraping out the inside of the pumpkin and came up with many words to describe this experience!
we made a pumpkin pie
Each student participated in making a pumpkin pie. We passed around and smelled spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. We measured and counted together. After the pie cooked, we tasted it with cool whip on top! Ask your child how to make a pumpkin pie!
The PTA gave us these picnic tables and the afternoon classes love to eat lunch on them when the weather permits.
The PTA gave us these picnic tables and the afternoon classes love to eat lunch on them when the weather permits.
making popcorn
We made popcorn but we had a little problem. I couldn't find the top of the popcorn popper! We used binoculars to observe the popcorn fly up in the air.
Ask your child to tell you the popcorn chant:
Says the popcorn in the pan, POP, POP, POP! You may catch me if you can! I'm fluffy white and yellow, I'm quite a noisy fellow. I make a tasty treat! You will find me good to eat!
Ask your child to tell you the popcorn chant:
Says the popcorn in the pan, POP, POP, POP! You may catch me if you can! I'm fluffy white and yellow, I'm quite a noisy fellow. I make a tasty treat! You will find me good to eat!
making playdough
We made koolaid playdough! The students can tell you what ingredients and how much of each ingredient they used. We use this playdough each day to make letters in our Handwriting Without Tears curriculum and at centers to make letters, numbers and seasonal items. Ask your child how to make playdough. You can also ask them what happens when we don't put the top on it after we use it! This purple playdough took 8 packages of grape koolaid.
Greeting
We love to greet each other every day with a handshake. When a student is new, we love to introduce ourselves with a handshake, looking at them in the eye and smiling at them.
outside learning
We play on our tree covered playground! Playing outside helps develop social skills, large motor skills, and helps our brain develop. Being outdoors helps us stay healthy and connected to the earth. We try to do as many lessons as we can outside. Our school has a lovely amphitheater under a canopy of oak trees where we can learn. We went there for a nature walk and to find shapes in nature while wearing our new shape necklaces.
Community workers
We studied community workers and the students graphed what they would like to be when they grow up. We acted out community workers in centers. Do you know what your child wants to be?
pulley lesson on force and motion
The students worked together to experience force and motion using a bucket, pulley and rope. We discussed friction as we experienced going down different slides. We also build ramps at the block construction center inside to learn about force and motion, friction, and other science concepts.
voting
We had a November presidential election in our classroom and schoolwide. Each student circled who they voted for and we counted the votes. Obama won in our classroom and in our school.
guess what this is?
I have been fortunate enough to be a part of a two and a half million dollar science research grant through UT called BLOCKS. We have been researching for three years what four year olds know and can do it science. We have thousands of dollars of materials to use in our classroom such as an I Pad, an incubator, magnifying glasses, a computer and even a digital microscope. The students like to use the digital microscope to look at all kinds of things. We took pictures of a few of our observations. Here are six photographs that we took with the digital microscope. Can you guess what they are?
Could you guess?
Photo 1. a tiny flower that Hannah brought in Photo 2. deer antler (where it shed) Photo 3. popcorn Photo 4. deer antler near the tip Photo 5. an old saddle Photo 6. deer fur
Photo 1. a tiny flower that Hannah brought in Photo 2. deer antler (where it shed) Photo 3. popcorn Photo 4. deer antler near the tip Photo 5. an old saddle Photo 6. deer fur
stay tuned for next semester. we will do a pill bug project!
I hope to present our project to NAEYC in Washington D.C. next November. This is a national organization for the young child that focuses on the latest research in early childhood.
dress for the weather!
Thanks for sending your children dressed for the weather! We will go outside unless it is thundering and lightning or very extreme temperatures. It's always a great idea to label coats and other outerwear. A change of clothing has been a great idea for many reasons.
Volunteers
We have had several volunteers this year. Parents and community volunteers enhance our program so much! Ms. Bost and Ms. Heiner come each week and are helpful in so many ways! THANKS!!! If you would like to volunteer, please fill out a form on the district website to get cleared.
Happy new year!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Winter Holiday! Thanks to everyone for supporting our Winter Party! The children enjoyed celebrating by making gingerbread men, ginger bread houses and eating healthy food!
creating memories!
Students used candies and icing to make their own gingerbread man after hearing the story and singing the song!
the talking stick
Children took turns holding the talking stick to tell the class about their winter break! It is amazing the language development that goes on during this school year!
reading is fun!
We have a rich collection of wonderful literature for the students to read at centers and at group time. We voted on some of our favorite books and made a graph of our results. This book that Dominic likes was written by a RRISD District employee, Lucy McVey. The book that had the most votes was our new Weather book. We are spending the next couple of weeks talking about the weather.
Books! Books! Books!
Dezmon loves The Little Engine that Could.
Morgan loves The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children act these common stories out in the Library center with our puppets.
Madelyn loves the Chicken Soup With Rice book that we read everyday at group time.
Ask your child to tell you the January Chicken Soup with Rice Poem! We ice skated to this one using wax paper:
In January it's so nice.
While slipping on the sliding ice,
To sip hot chicken soup with Rice.
Sipping once,
Sipping twice,
Sipping chicken soup with rice.
We use our bodies to spell words and to talk about rhyming words!
Morgan loves The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children act these common stories out in the Library center with our puppets.
Madelyn loves the Chicken Soup With Rice book that we read everyday at group time.
Ask your child to tell you the January Chicken Soup with Rice Poem! We ice skated to this one using wax paper:
In January it's so nice.
While slipping on the sliding ice,
To sip hot chicken soup with Rice.
Sipping once,
Sipping twice,
Sipping chicken soup with rice.
We use our bodies to spell words and to talk about rhyming words!
compound words!
We put words together to form compound words. Can you believe all that we are learning! What smart kids you have!
how many syllables are in your first and last name?
We beat the drum to each syllable in our names and counted them. We also clapped to the syllables in our names and in our friend's names.
early literacy!
We have lots of literacy going on in our cozy classroom! In this photo, Kairi made a card for our volunteer, Ms. Bost. Look how happy they both are! Would you like to see the card up close?
counting
We counted how many boys and how many girls are in our classroom. We do simple math problems on the board to help us learn. How many boys? How many girls? Do we have more boys or girls? How many more girls than boys do we have?
way to go! High five!
Ms. Erin is a Westwood student that comes to work with us once a week in the afternoon through the PRO's program.
Observing the sky
We read IT LOOKED LIKE SPILT MILK and made our own class book that is similar. We made binoculars to observe the clouds.
Weather center
Children acted out being the weather person on the television. We made a weather wheel and a wind sock.
shadows and reflections
One unit was over reflections and light. Students enjoyed making animals out of their own shadows. We also traced each other's shadows at different times of the day and discussed the changes.
ice experiment
We froze water in a balloon and then pealed the balloon away. We tried adding salt, sugar, kool-aid, and food coloring. We placed it in water to see if it sank or floated. We talked about why some of the ice is white, while some is transparant.
camping out in the classroom
We had a camping center where we read books, observed science/earth materials and experimented with flashlights, tunnels and tents.
What a great language experience!
Rosemary is opening up and learning English!
Writing our names in shaving cream!
We all practiced writing our names and writing letters and numbers in shaving cream.
D for Dantes!
We are learning to care for our earth
We picked up trash around the school grounds. This photo was in the Round Rock Leader!
raking leaves
We raked and gathered the leaves from the garden.
building skyscrapers
At block center we measured, designed and built skyscrapers
We looked at skyscrapers around the world and spelled the word skyscraper
We even acted like skyscrapers!
morning class skyscraper study
Skyscraper is a compound word!
building skyscrapers out of recycled materials
Volunteers and family members donated materials so that each student could build a skyscraper. Thank you!
Each child build their own skyscraper on their own
They designed and painted their skyscrapers.
painting our skyscrapers
Some of the paint really ended up on the skyscrapers! Please wear clothing that can get messy. We use washable paint!
on Display
These skyscrapers on currently on display (February, 2013) at the Round Rock Public Library!
Which one is your favorite skyscraper? Which one is the tallest?
We will send these home when they are returned from the library.
it's a zoo in here!
One of our OWL curriculum units was zoo. We had a zoo set up at the pretend and play center. We created animal habitats in the blocks center, and read many excellent animal books.
THE PILLBUG PROJECT
During our bug unit, the students focused on pillbugs. Some people call them doodle bugs or rolly pollys. We learned that they are really Isopods, not insects. We learned many facts about them. Ask your child how long they live, if the molt, how many babies they have, what the babies look like, what they eat, and where to find them? In this photo, the students are acting like pillbugs.
we read!
There are some great books on pillbugs that I found on Amazon.
we hunted and gathered
We found that the isopods liked moist, dark places. We hollowed out a potato and left it overnight outside to see what we would find the next day. We found several pillbugs and lots of babies!
Some students even brought some from home.
Some students even brought some from home.
Experimenting
Students experimented to see what kind of soil the pill bugs liked, if they prefered damp or dry soil, no soil at all, and dark or light.
graphing
We graphed their guesses.
we looked at the pill bugs with the magnifying glasses and digital microscope
Students could see all that parts close up.
Students illustrated and labeled the parts of the pillbugs. These illustrations are currently displayed in our classroom and hallway.
Students illustrated and labeled the parts of the pillbugs. These illustrations are currently displayed in our classroom and hallway.
pillbug races
Students grouped together to cheer their team's pillbug. We saw how far the pillbug walked in 30 seconds. Then, we measured with blocks how far they each went. We counted the blocks. Along with non-standard measurement, we used standard measurement using the yardstick. It was so exciting!
chicks!
The students placed 8 fertilized eggs in the incubator and helped turn them daily for 21 days. Seven out of eight of the eggs hatched into healthy chicks! The students watched them hatch and have been helping care for them daily. Our BLOCKS PK research shows that young children need to be exposed to three different life cycles to learn the concept.
illustrating observations and labeling
Students closely observed the chicks, read stories, then illustrated and labeled their observations.
Physics focus
Students experienced how things move as one of our IB Units. In this photo, the students are making marble tracks and collaborating together to see if the marble can travel to the end.
scholars copied words from the word wall!
We wrote down some of the words that we were learning about.
ping pong ball races
Making things move in different ways.
wind makes things move
Painting by blowing into straws.
marble art
We painted with marbles.
FLY HIGH!
We have had a great year! You are off to a good start! May all of your dreams come true and may you FLY HIGH!