Fall, Leaves, Fall!

Today we read the book Why Do Leaves Change Colors?  Prior to reading the book we asked the children what they thought the answer was.  Replies included, "Because they have to.", "Because they're old.", and "Because the weather is colder."  As we read through the book, we learned about words like "chlorophyll" and how some of the colors we see in the fall are hiding under the green color the whole time!  Ask your child why leaves change color in the fall and see what he/she says!  After we read the book, we went on a leaf walk on campus and collected some beautiful leaves.  Of course we also needed to run, jump in piles, and throw leaves in the air!

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

Kindergartners are becoming honeybee experts! We have been studying honeybees the past few weeks in anticipation of seeing a hive during our trip to the pumpkin patch.  The children learned about the parts of a bee's body (5 eyes!), the different bees in the hive and their jobs, and how bees make honey.  The children learned that the worker bees, who are all female, do all of the work in the hive and take care of all the other bees!  After learning how honey is made, the children taste tested three different kinds of honey and represented their preference on a graph.  By a very close margin, Wildflower Honey was the favorite!

 Community Day

Wednesday, October 7th was our annual Community Day at SSFS.  The day began with Senior Buddies picking up their Kindergartners and walking with them to the Sandy Spring Meeting House in the town of Sandy Spring.  It was a beautiful fall walk through the woods and fields.  After Meeting for Worship with the whole school, we rode the bus back to school for snack and a little playground time.  We then spent the morning working in our gardens and prepping them for the winter.  We also finished  

our pinwheels that we have been working on in relation to The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.  

After a fun pizza lunch in our classrooms, we rested quietly for a while before heading back outside.  We rejoined the entire school on the field for an aerial photo of our community.  Everyone helped form the letters SSFS and the year 15-16 and we waved as the helicopter flew over us and pictures were taken.  By the end of the day we were tired, but happy from a fun day of community and service to the school! 

Check out the photo gallery on the school website!  Click on the link - Community Day 2015

Curriculum Highlights 

* Language Arts - Beginning the Reading Horizons program, vowel A /a/, consonant B /b/, and sliding sounds from consonant to vowel, looking at Richard Scarry books and adding labels to our pictures, writing about Community Day,  handwriting A and B, fall, honeybee, and pumpkin books.

* Math - Numbers 3, 4, and 5 - representing quantities on the 5 frame, writing the numerals and words, patterns on the calendar, graphing honey taste testing results and interpreting the graph

* Science  - Honeybees - parts of the body,

learning about the drone, worker, and queen bee, how honey is made, honey taste test.  Field trip to the pumpkin patch!  Working in our gardens on Community Day. 

* Social Studies - Roots - Artin, Gavin, Emmi, and Katie M, spiritual theme of "community"

* Special Events - Special playground time with Senior Buddies, Community Day, Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch!

Friday, October 16 was a beautiful, cool fall day.  Perfect for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  We visited our friends at Sharp's at Waterford Farm in Howard County for a fun morning on the farm.  Farmer Chuck taught us how important honeybees are and we impressed him with our knowledge.  We then fed feed corn to the goats and cows, went on a hayride, picked pumpkins, and went into a patch of popcorn and picked an ear to take home!  To pop the popcorn, put it in a brown paper bag, place in the microwave, and cook it on the "popcorn setting".  Enjoy!  Thank you to all of the parents who came with us.  We are collecting pictures now for a photo gallery - please send Erin any pictures to add to the gallery.

              Welcome October!

It's hard to believe we are in our second month of school!  September was a busy month spent getting to know one another and our school.  The children learned new routines, created rules for their classrooms, met Senior Buddies and Reading Buddies, went to assemblies, and even went on their first field trip!  As we have now settled into our new schedules, we are beginning to introduce more structure into our days and have begun many of our academic routines as well.  During the past two weeks we have introduced Writing Workshop, our Go Math workbooks and program, and our  handwriting workbooks.  Next week we are excited to begin our Reading Horizons reading program with the   children as part of our Reading Workshop.
                                                                                   

 Life Skills in Kindergarten   

Our Life Skills lessons in KA/KB are an important part of our curriculum.  We use the lessons from the Connected and Respected curriculum guide, but also do lessons based on the daily goings-on of our class.  Recent lessons have included discussions about self-expression and allowing everyone to be themselves, and the diversity of  families.

Roots - Getting to Know our Families

Mary Anne and Erin shared their Roots last week!  Both teachers shared posters of pictures of their families, places they like to travel, and even a few baby pictures!  Remember - your family Roots can be anything you want it to be!  We do ask that you bring pictures to share, either on a poster or on a computer that we can project onto the screen.  Let us know if you have any questions!

Curriculum Highlights

* Language Arts - Introducing Reading Workshop, sharing our favorite books, making a list of the many things people read, Introducing Writing Workshop, drawing and labeling pictures, adding to our work.

* Math - even and odd numbers, addition and subtraction with the Morning Message, using Go Math workbooks, introduction to a 5-frame, writing the numerals and words for "1" and "2"

* Science - Honeybees - what do we know about honeybees?, learning how to take care of Fred's habitat

* Social Studies - Meeting our third grade reading buddies, Erin and Mary Anne's Roots, family diversity

* Special Events - Field Trip to Olney Theatre to see "Caps for Sale", Spirit Week and Pep Rally.