For the past few weeks, the Kinders have been studying maps, globes, and then comparing the two. Along the way, we learned about what symbols on maps represent, what the different colors on globes stand for, and we even learned an awesome song about our continents! 
  To cap off our learning, we create our very own model of the Earth! Using paper lanterns, tissue paper, and a whole lot of glue, we were able to hold the whole world in our hands, complete with labels and a compass rose!

The Kinders decided to test their observational skills with their very own Silent E Sound Safari! We came into school and discovered that there were lions, cheetahs, elephants and even warthogs hidden all over our room. Each animal also had a hidden word, waiting for the Kinders to solve the puzzle!
  Once the Kinders found an animal, they had to sound out the word and figure out what long vowel was used. It was an epic adventure!

One of our favorite units in Kindergarten is when we study weather and transform into meteorologists! During this time, we are also transported to the land of Chewandswallow, the setting of the book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. During this unit, we forecast the weather each day, make predictions for the next, and even make some of our own weather instruments!
   This year, our favorite was the windsocks that we created. We were even able to test them outside to see how strong the wind was blowing and which direction it was going! Check out some of our pictures below!

Around St. Patrick's day, we always spend some time reflecting on just how lucky we are. We discovered that we have SO many things to be thankful and grateful for, from our families, to our school, to some of our favorite toys! We then decided to write all about it as well.
  We are also extremely lucky for our amazing problem solving skills and our abilities to think like a scientist. On St. Patrick's Day, we did an experiment to see if we could create a rainbow that held an entire pot of gold using just pipe cleaners and play-doh. The results were amazing!

So much celebration had to happen this year. We've made it through 100 days of in person learning. That alone is a massive cause to celebrate (and the 100th day is a big deal in Kindergarten to begin with!) We are beyond blessed to have been able to be in school during this season of life when others are learning from home. 100 days of memories, laughter, Kindergarten stories, books, and so much learning!
  To celebrate our 100th day, there are so many activities planned that we even sent a few home this year since they didn't get completed (those sticker pizzas were a big project!) On our 100th day, we counted to 100 all day, we talked about 100 things that make Kindergartners happy, we wrote all about the number 100, we created a picture using the numbers 1, 0, and 0. We also tried to see how tall of a tower we could build with 100 cups and even searched around our rooms for 100 Hershey kisses (all with a number from 1-100 on them.) We then matched the number on the bottom to the number on our 100's chart. It was such a special day! Look below for so many pictures from our amazing celebration!

One of the big goals that we have in Kindergarten is to be able to identify/learn about nonfiction text features and learn all about the needs of animals! So, the past few weeks...we became rocking researchers! With the help of our guitars, microphones, glasses, and a little bit of classic rock, we researched all about Emperor Penguins! The Kinders learned about their size, habitat, diet, and how they are able to survive in Antarctica. Each day, we wrote about a different part, added labels to our pictures and overall, rocked our research! The Kinders were SO excited to write each day, share what they knew about Emperor penguins, and have a few wiggle breaks with their guitars/microphones of course! Check out the pictures below to see some of our favorite pages from our research along with pictures of us rocking out!

Want a glimpse at the Kinders finished Snowmen at Night books? Enjoy the video below, where each Kinder reads a page from their book. It looks like snowmen are really busy at night!

Has your Kinder told you about the spectacular writing project that we are working on? If not...oh boy! It is such an exciting time in Kindergarten! In Kindergarten, we have been working on building our writing stamina and our writing muscles. In order to do this, we are creating our very own book, based on the book "Snowmen at Night." We read the story, brainstormed all sorts of different things that we think snowpeople do at night and then we are writing about it!
  Not only are we writing a sentence, we are creating an entire book! We have making sure that our sentences have capital letters, punctuation, and even finger spaces. At this time in the year, phonetic spelling is really developing and the Kinders are becoming writing machines. In order to practice our "proud printing/handwriting", we have also started writing rough drafts of our sentences on white boards first. We cannot wait to share our final projects with our families and friends because there are some truly amazing authors in our room!

To cap off our week of Gingerbread stories, the Kindergartners were challenged to complete their own epic escape adventure. A social distanced escape room in a way! In the stories, the Gingerbread person had to escape several different characters on his way to freedom. In our adventure, the Kindergartners had to escape the oven, the house, the pig, the cow, the crowd, and the final challenge of escaping the fox!
   Each character had a special skill that they Kinders had to practice from rhyming to reading CVC words to even writing a sentence! Over the course of 2 days, the Kinders amazingly escaped all the characters and celebrated with their very own gingerbread playdoh and a gingerbread cookie!
   When we they had the cookie, we also compared who liked gingerbread and who didn't along with what they bit off first. We discovered that nearly every Kinder bit the head off their Gingerbread cookie first!
   It was such an epic adventure and the Kinders were able to show off just how much they know!