We Are Land Snail Scientists ...Observing the Body and Behavior of Land SnailsConducting Fair Tests to Answer the Question ~ What Do Land Snails Like to Eat? | Meeting Caldecott Award Winner Javaka Steptoe!We are SO lucky to have had an opportunity to hear Javaka Steptoe visit our school and tell us about his life as a writer. We read his book that just won the 2017 Caldecott Award, "Radiant Child", before going to the assembly and loved this biography of artist Jean-Michel Basquait. After the assembly, we were so inspired by Mr. Steptoe that borrowed another one of the books he wrote to read together, "Jones Family Express". We loved it, too! Learning about the |
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Last week we learned how Scientists use a box and T-chart and then used one to compare our goldfish to our platy fish. Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles!Last week, we talked about reading books with more words and pages, and reading independently for longer periods of time ~ really giving our reading muscles a workout. We used reading mats to make a reading plan and we started using a stamina chart to measure how long we can read. We set a lofty goal of 20 minutes, and will be work hard every day as we get closer and closer to meeting this goal. We read for 9 minutes the first day, and 10 minutes the second. Not a bad start! At Queen Anne Elementary, we are Aware, Safe and Connected...
Coming Up Soon!
Celebrating the Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Since the first day of school, we have been talking about what it means to be kind, safe, and fair in our Kindergarten Classroom. We have also been noticing and appreciating how each of us are the same as and different from the people in our lives and from people all over the world. Last week, we started talking about the concepts of social justice and peace. We re-read the book, "Ron's Big Mission" that we read earlier in the year and talked about the civil rights work young Ron McNair did to peacefully change the segregation rules of his community library. I then introduced the kids to the civil rights work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by watching a Brainpop Jr. video and reading some great picture books and poems. We will continue learning about this important leader this week, reading more books, watching a video of him speaking and having discussions about how our world has changed for the better because of brave and persevering people like Dr. Martin Luther King. On Friday, our fifth grade student leaders will be performing a MLK assembly for the K-2 classes at 8:45 am in the cafeteria. Please join us if you are able. If you are interested in extending this important learning at home, here is a great resource: Teaching Tolerance - http://www.tolerance.org/. At QAE, I am AWARE, I am SAFE and we are CONNECTED
Last week, they asked us to think about what agreeing to be aware, safe and connected mean. We talked about how these concepts are a lot like our Kind, Safe and Fair, but are more big kid in that they really push us to think about how our actions and behaviors help or hurt the people in our learning community. And not just in our classroom, but in our whole school! Here is the poster we generated with our initial ideas. Next week, we will be creating an art/writing piece that will allow us to reflect on these concepts more. We will be sharing our results with the big kids, but will also be sharing it with you. Stay tuned! |
Written by Ms. Cryan LearyCoaching kindergarten compassion, confidence and competence @ QAE. Archives
June 2017
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