Letter formation

The alphabet is one of the most important things any child can learn.  It is the key to understanding written language. Along with letter recognition, proper letter formation is an important skill that we help Kindergarteners acquire through various fun and innovative activities. Often it is the children that come up with the ideas.

During their “Choice Time”, Sania, Shelby, Hayden and Jade decided to form some of the letters of the alphabet using their bodies. Wow!  Not only is this a way to asses letter recognition and formation, but this activity also helped these children learn about body awareness and the use of their limbs. This seemingly simple and creative activity required the use of spatial, linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, and interpersonal intelligence!

Los Números: 1-20

¡Bienvenidos familia, amigas, y amigos! During our recent clase de Español, it was Neil’s turn to choose our destination to a Spanish speaking country. After our traditional morning greeting in Spanish, he had us go to Cuba en avión. Upon our return, we settled into this Spanish speaking country and gathered in a círculo.

During their Morning Meetings, the Kindergarteners have been practicing saying the numbers in Spanish as they add days to their 100 School Day chart. Therefore, I decided to focus this class on reviewing numbers 1 through 20. One way to incorporate language practice is through games as they keep the children entertained, interested, and on task. To help the Kindergarteners to contextualize the vocabulary for numbers, we played an enjoyable game of Bingo.  As I drew a random number card, I called out the number so that each Kindergartener would hear the number. I encouraged them to listen for the number and look for that number on their card. Then, I would hold the number card up so that they could match the sound to its corresponding symbol.  What fun we had! Go ahead. Give us a try! Choose a random number from 1 to 20 and ask us how to say it in Spanish.

Los Números:

one - uno

two – dos

three – tres

four – cuatro

five - cinco

six – seis

seven – siete

eight – ocho

nine – nueve

ten – diez

eleven – once

twelve – doce

thirteen – trece

fourteen – catorce

fifteen – quince

sixteen – dieciséis

seventeen – diecisiete’

eighteen – dieciocho

nineteen – diecinueve

twenty - veinte

We finished our class with our traditional ¡Adios. Hasta luego! song and Neil squeezing la vaca. ¡Gracias, Neil!

¡Hasta nuestro proximo viaje! (Until our next flight.)

Paz,

Alicia

Assembly Invitation - Buster Williams

Please join us next week for an assembly featuring Jazz bassist, Buster Williams.  Buster is this year's featured Artist in Residence at AFS.  He will be working throughout the campus with students in their music ensembles on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.  Buster has played, recorded, and collaborated with jazz musicians including Chet Baker, Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, Elvin Jones, Miles Davis, and Count Basie, to name a few. We will gather in the Muller Auditorium at 10:25 a.m. on Wednesday, January 30 for a thirty minute assembly presentation.  Please read more about Buster's life and work here:  http://WWW.BUSTERWILLIAMS.COM

Over the past few weeks, our lower school students have been introduced to the double bass, they have had the opportunity to pluck the strings (pizzicato).  We have watched a few short clips of Buster's performances and have started to talk about how important it is for musicians in Jazz to be able to improvise, or create their own music.  

Students in third and fourth grade had the opportunity to create 8 beat melodies in C pentatonic on our barred instruments to further extend their beginning foundation of the concept of improvisation.  We are all very excited for Buster to be coming to our community and sharing his talents.  We hope to see you at Wednesday's assembly!   

The joy of winter!

It’s been said, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.” It is so important for Kindergarteners to get fresh air and active exercise even if for a short period of time. The outdoors has so much more to offer than just physical benefits. Cognitive and social development are impacted just as much.  As soon as they get outside they begin to invent games and experiment with their physical and social environment.  They engage in collaboration and compromise,  sharpening their decision-making and organizational skills. Here we see some of the Kindergarteners as they went “ice skating” on the outdoor stage, made “snowangels” on the Playscape, ate "strawberry" flavored snow and “dug out the animals” from the frozen pond.  Oh, the joys of winter!

How big is a foot?

Last week we had fun learning about measurement. We read the book, “How Big Is A Foot?” by Rolf Myller.  The story is about a King who wants to give the Queen a bed for her birthday. Because beds at that time had not yet been invented, he wanted to have one crafted for her. His problem began when he realized that no one knew exactly how big a bed should be, prompting him to figure out what size the bed ought to be. He finally figured it out and used his own foot to measure the Queen. He then asked the carpenter to make a bed to that size. But when the carpenter measured using his own feet, the bed turned out too small. After much discussion of shared ideas for why the bed was too small we finally concluded that it happened because the King’s foot size and the carpenter’s foot size were different.

After the story, the Kindergarteners were introduced to the standard measuring tool, a ruler. They were then grouped in pairs and worked cooperatively to measure each other’s feet.   We will continue to study measurement in the coming week.  Within the context of this study we will introduce the concept of fractions.

Our "Hospital"

Our theme of study on “Our Body” continues to grow deeper and stronger.  By unanimous vote, the Kindergarteners have decided to turn the Dramatic Play Center into a hospital. What a fantastic idea!

For the inside of our hospital we have added a pair of crutches, a couple of (needleless) syringes, a (needleless) IV, a few lab coats, x-rays prints, charts, stethoscopes, and much more.  We even added small skeletons in our Sensory Box. The doctors and nurses have been working around the clock putting all these materials to use as they care for the sick ... and healthy too!

On the outside of our hospital, we have added a roof as well as a door entry made out of cardboard. The Kindergarteners have decorated the outside “wall” to include a Red Cross logo by using red tape. There has been talk about naming our hospital and many have contributed their ideas. Soon, we will be taking a vote.

Have a headache? Something hurts? Need a hug? Make sure to stop in and have our professionals help you feel better.

If any of you would like to volunteer to come in to our classroom in the role of Body Expert, let us know and we can schedule a fun activity/question and answer session.  Also feel free to bring in medical supplies (child-friendly, of course) to donate to our hospital.