a persuasive letter to Mr. Shepard

Your words are important and can make an impact on our world.

The Kindergarteners have been concerned about our white fence all year long, as it continues to crumble and break. How will we hang out backpacks on a broken fence? What about the Kindergarteners next year and the year after that? What about having something beautiful when you first drive into our school? 

Honoring their concerns and connecting these conversations to our understanding of persuasive writing, we work together as a whole class to write a persuasive letter to Mr. Shepard, asking for a new white fence. If a new fence goes up, we will leave a plaque behind from this year's Kindergarteners - as I believe it is important for children to understand that as they move on, they always leave something behind.

To - Mr. Shepard

Our white fence is breaking. We need a new one!

 

 

 

It is where we hang our backpacks. 

We need a beautiful fence for all Kindergarteners.

For next year, then the next year, and all of the years!

 

If the fence is new and beautiful everyone will respect it and our outdoor space!

 

 




Thank you! We hope you like our idea, too.

Love,

The Kindergarten

 

 

planting seeds

With the days finally feeling more like spring, we connected our conversations about what our chicks needs to grow to what a young plant within a seed needs to grow. We noticed warmth, humidity (water), love and care are needed for the growth of both! 

The Kindergarteners recorded their ideas about what seeds need to grow in their nature journals. We then worked together to plant a collection of seeds for a little herb garden; cilantro, basil, and chives. Throughout the week we read different kinds of literature about seeds, from a seed poem with motions to a collection of non fiction texts!

What do seeds need to grow? Use pictures and words to share your thoughts.

 

 

 

 

Planting our seeds;

 

 

 

 

chick eggs - week two

Candling the Eggs

On Tuesday morning Lise-Anne and Anna helped to candle all of our chick eggs, inviting small groups of children to observe the egg with a bright flashlight pointed at the bottom - illuminating the egg. Kindergarteners noticed large, "white" circles inside of the eggs (the air sac) and small, dark "spots" within each egg. Anna helped to keep track of our findings, putting a check next to the eggs with a chick inside. Some of our thoughts about Anna's data and the experience;

TW - I notice there’s a question mark next to egg number 8, do we have a chick in that egg?

DM - I notice that a lot of them are in there!

KS - I’m surprised, because I thought the chicks would look different inside of the eggs.

We learned that 26 of our 27 eggs have a chick! We will check egg number 8 again next week. The Kindergarteners are very excited about the possibility of having 27 chicks in our classroom.

 

 

Measuring the Eggs

We revisited the children's question from last week - which egg is the biggest? Maeve recorded our seven possibilities - egg number 10, 16, 18, 19, 20, 24 and 26. We had discussed the different ways we could measure an egg, connecting our conversation to all of our previous work around measureable attributes.

On Thursday Lise-Anne joined us with her scale from home, taking the time to measure each egg the three different ways the Kindergarteners had recommended; length, how big around, and weight. While we used centimeters and ounces, recording official measurements and briefly talking about the decimal points, it was our graph that helped all of the children to visualize and understand our data. We talked about the parts of the graph, how to read it, and how to decide which egg is the biggest based on our information.

Looking at our three graphs, which egg is the biggest?

Two ideas;

Inez stated that egg number 26 is the longest and weighs the most, it is the biggest in two of our three categories. So, we should say it is the biggest.

Avery said we should take all of the measurements for each egg (length, circumference, and weight) and add them together. At the end, the egg with the greatest number should be the biggest egg.

We voted. The Kindergarteners excitedly decided to try Avery's idea - we have a lot of work to do during number corner on Monday!

Of course, combining numbers with decimals isn't part of Kindergarten curriculum, but we will use unifix cubes and what we know about grouping numbers to combine each measurement. Having chick eggs in our classroom has encouraged and provided authentic and meaningful questions, conversations, and investigations. As we move into our third week, we continue to learn from this rich experience, expanding on our work and developing deeper understandings!

 

 

tuesday - day zero

On Tuesday morning we welcomed a collection of eggs into our classroom. Each egg is numbered from 1 - 27 and has a place in our incubator. The experience of hatching eggs in our classroom comes with a lot of responsibility; having careful and calm bodies, remembering only three children at a time can be near the incubator, and ensuring the incubator temperature stays at 99.9 degrees and the humidity stays within 45 - 55%.





The Kindergarteners have embraced this responsibility. During academic choice some children helped to make signs for our chick documentation; our hatching calendar, questions for the community (which egg is the biggest?) and noting how many eggs we have. This work encouraged the making of predictions (many of the children think egg number 10 is the biggest) and conversations - how will we measure the eggs? 

I find making meaningful and authentic connections across content areas and experiences to be essential. We have continued exploring story problems involving chicks in our math journals and have shown 27 eggs in a variety of ways; using numbers, words, pictures, and ten frames.

The questions around the size of our eggs connects to our work with measurement during number corner. Avery suggests we measure the weight of the eggs, comparing weight using our scale - the heaviest egg is the biggest. Inez thinks we should use a tape measure and wrap it around the middle of the eggs - the biggest egg around is the biggest egg. Oliver thinks a ruler should be our tool of choice, measuring the length of each egg - the longest egg is definitely the biggest.

Next week, we will use the children's suggestions and measure the eggs we have previously predicted to be the biggest. I will leave this open ended for the children to decide, based on our findings, which egg is the biggest. I'm looking forward to discoveries that will challenge their thoughts and predictions - I hope the longest egg is also the lightest or the heaviest egg is the shortest!

How will they decide which measurable attribute determines the biggest egg? Or will we combine all of the collected data? My initial thoughts are to encourage the children to represent their findings using a graph. Look for updates on our chick eggs - and all of the math and literacy work that is part of this experience - next week!

 

engaging in a literacy rich environment

We must continue to think about literacy development in connection to all of our learning experiences. A literacy rich environment encourages students to work with and explore language and sounds in a variety of ways, continually developing in complexity. While Fundations, Reader's and Writer's Workshop provide structure and routine, we must inspire and support the creativity of students - ensuring authenticity, joy, ownership, and pride in their literacy work and development.

We begin with a mini lesson, a specific teaching point shared through a read aloud or a model using a mentor text or student work. As the children take more and more ownership of their learning, from leading the choral reading of our morning message to leading the shares following academic choice, their voice must also be heard in the mini lesson.

On Tuesday afternoon, Calla, Avery, and Maeve took turns reading from a book I introduced to them the previous day. The book, The Loose Tooth, quickly became a favorite. They talked about how the characters were feeling and made connections to losing their own teeth - how it feels, the anticipation, the worry, the pain, the excitement.

I knew they would enjoy the book - losing teeth is part of Kindergarten - but the conversations they initiated shaped the following day's mini lesson; Readers feel what the characters are feeling.

I asked them to read their book and assigned turn and talk partners. There were specific parts in the book for partners to turn and talk about; how are the characters feeling, have you ever felt this way, how would you feel if this happened to you?

The lesson supported language development, encouraged deeper thinking and text comprehension, and allowed for the students to take control of their learning. Their peers were incredibly attentive, respectful and kind to the readers. Opportunities like these are part of a literacy rich environment.

 

Revisiting previous academic choices, such as letter stamps and names, has allowed for children to develop this work on their own - to use all of their knowledge and skills to enhance the experience and take initiative. Keith and Whitney thought to staple a collection of peer names together and make a name book.

But, what about the title?
I know! How about OUR NAME BOOK?
I wonder where you could find those words in our classroom to check your work?
THE POSTER! But, we want to write name not names, so we have to take off the ending.

 

We began our persuasive writing unit on Monday. I introduced the unit by revisiting our ongoing conversations about how our words are powerful, we can use them in ways to support or change our world. Writers see a problem, think about ways to help, and share their ideas. Children quickly started conversations about how trash on our playground is a problem and offered ways to help make it better - an authentic connection to Green Up Day!

For some of the writers, the behavior of a younger sibling is a problem and for others trading pokemon cards on the bus is a problem. In the below photographs, Grayson works hard to stretch the work pokemon - listening for the sounds he hears, building the word, and then writing the word on his paper.

Trading pokemon cards on the bus is a problem. 

Why is it a problem? 

Because you might lose your cards. 

Is there a way to help? 

Get rid of all of them. 

Well, that might be hard to do. Another idea? 

Maybe not bring them to school and just trade at home? Like a play date.

 

During April break I had the opportunity to sort through some of our more challenging leveled readers, offering a new selection to the Kindergarteners. There has been buzz about our new books this week - and an excitement to share important parts with a partner!

 

Children are reading in different ways throughout each day, from the morning message to the signs and labels around our room, we are actively engaged with text. Just as children need opportunities to read independently, they need time to share their reading and understanding with a peer or their whole learning community. While we are part of reading shares daily, we had two special shares this week - birthday celebrations - encouraging the development of speaking and listening skills. Community shares are an essential part of a literacy rich environment.