After learning so much about superheroes, we applied our knowledge to create our own! It was so much fun to come up with the stories about how they became superheroes! Also, it was exciting to think of all the ways we could help people as superheroes! We definitely got a lot of writing practice in while making our books. Many of us, including the teachers, were amazed at how much we could write! It was clear that we were very enthusiastic about superheroes. Additionally, we made plans for our costumes, then used materials in the classroom to create them. Not all of us had originally added capes to our plans, but as soon as we saw the fabric, WE ALL had to have a cape! We worked with the teachers to measure and create our capes, masks, belts, wands and crowns! Each one of us had a strong opinion about the shapes of our masks or how to fasten our capes! Next, we planned our fashion show. After watching a few sample fashion shows, practiced on a runway in the community room. We thought it would be best to walk down it and pose at the end to show off our costumes. We also decided to have music and voted on a song to choose. After our practice, we reflected on what we did well and what we wanted to do better on the big day! We also put some finishing touches on our costumes. Now, we were all really for the fashion show! The fashion show was such a great way to show off our costumes! Even though some of us were nervous before, all of us were brave just like a superhero and walked down the runway. We celebrated by reading our books to our families. Since we loved the books so much, we combined them all into one collection of superhero stories and made copies so each student could enjoy the stories! Our families and teachers were so proud of us. Most importantly, we were proud of ourselves! These super friends are definitely ready for first grade!!!
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Throughout the year, many of our students have shown an interest in superheroes. We thought that studying superheroes would be a great way to end the school year. First, our teachers asked us: "What makes a superhero? What qualities do they have?" Then, we brainstormed and determined that superheroes typically have special powers, are intelligent, strong and wear costumes, have symbols and sometimes wear capes and masks. Still, the most important thing is that they always help people. After Teacher Kyla and Teacher Kathleen shared about their favorite superheroes, we were all excited and brought in many resources from home to share. We continued to immerse ourselves in superheroes, especially in our play. We started making superheroes out of clay, designing superhero coloring pages with our teachers, building superhero forts and playing superhero family in the drama center. Teacher Carol even joined us for superhero drama play on one day! Additionally, we also discussed the qualities of villains. We concluded that villains are not very nice to people and they may do tricks or mean things. After reading so many books about superheroes, we realized that the superheroes always stop villains, but they never harm them. They have empathy for the villains and a hope that they can do good. Then, one day in our classroom, we noticed that had been tricked! All the numbers in our 100 chart had been mixed up. We used our number power to reorganize them. Then, another day, all of our "snap words" and names from our word wall were scattered around the room! We used our letter power to put them back in the correct spot. We also had a meeting about this situation and decided to write to this villain who had been tricking us. We asked him or her to say sorry and to stop tricking us. After a few more tricks, the trickster was revealed--it was the old lady puppet that quietly sits in our room. Since we were practicing being superheroes, we had empathy for her and understood that she wanted to be in kindergarten too. We invited her to be part of our classroom. Next, we decided to design our own original superheroes. We thought about planning costumes and writing books. Creating is of the highest forms of learning. By creating original superheroes, we are apply all our knowledge and observations of superheroes. We decided to visit the local Marvel exhibit in Roppongi Hills to get some ideas for designing our own superheroes. There were many costumes on display there, and we noticed that superheroes had symbols on their chests, many capes, gloves and belts. Also, many superheroes have "regular" identities and transform into superheroes. This definitely gave many of us ideas about designing our own superheroes. Next week, we will be working hard on our superhero designs, costumes and books! Stay tuned for updates about a culmination to show off our hard work!
After our trip to the zoo, we were very interested in frogs! We had many questions about how they grow and where they live. One of our classmates and her family brought in many tadpoles for us to take care of! We thought this would be the best way for us to see how frogs survive in their environment. First, we researched what the tadpoles need to survive. We found out that they survive best in shallow, warm water, which helps them grow. Since the tadpoles have gills like fish, they need to be in water all the time to survive. Additionally, we discovered that they like to eat spinach and bonito flakes. We made sure to feed them twice a day so they could grow. Whenever we fed them, they wiggled furiously with delight! Also, we had to clean their tanks often. They got really stinky if we didn't. We all helped to care for them--it was our responsibility as scientists to provide a good environment for them. We had so many questions about the tadpoles, so we read many books about them. We found out that frogs are a type of animal called amphibians. The baby amphibians live in the water like fish and breathe underwater with gills. Then, they go through a process called metamorphosis to become adults. When grown, they can breathe with lungs and live on land and the water. We were so excited to have this information. We anxiously waited for the frogs to grow back legs, then front legs, just as the books we read explained. Finally, the tadpoles grew legs! We documented the tadpoles' changes by completing observational drawings. We also told our teachers how we noticed the tadpoles were changing. One day, at Robot Park, we were thrilled to see an amphibian crawling around. We observed it and some of us even touched it (and washed our hands after)! We noticed that it was crawling instead of hopping and that it was not close to any water since it was at Robot Park. After reading and researching more, we concluded that this creature was a toad, not a frog! We learned that toads have bumpy, dry skin and plump bodies. They also live on land and crawl instead of hop. We also researched the life cycle of toads and discovered it was just like frogs. Some of the tadpoles of toads looked JUST like our tadpoles! We would have to wait longer to see if our tadpoles turned into froglets or toadlets. After a long weekend, we came into our classroom and discovered that we had some tiny frogs! Their skin was smooth and they definitely liked to hop, so they weren't toads. One even hopped out of it's tank! We gently put him back in and made sure the tanks were covered. Additionally, we had to research what the frogs need for their environment. We made sure there were many rocks for them to rest on and plants for them to climb on. They needed to be out of the water now that they had lungs instead of gills. While we were excited to have tiny frogs, we realized that we had a problem. The frogs were not eating the food that they liked to eat as tadpoles. All animals need food to survive, so our frogs definitely needed food! A few frogs died because they were not eating. We knew from our research that frogs like to eat small insects. Some of us thought that we could catch insects to feed them, but we also realized that the frogs needed space to hop around. We concluded that it was our responsibility to release them into their natural environment as soon as possible so the frogs could survive. We took a walk to a nearby park and found a stream with many flies and determined that this would be a great spot to release our amphibians. While we were sad to say goodbye to our frogs, we knew that they would be better off living in this environment!
We began exploring measurement more in depth this week. One day during our small group time, we had a fun lesson about the importance of using consistent methods of measurement. We read How Big is a Foot ?, which is a story about a King who orders a custom-made bed for his wife, the Queen. Unfortunately, in this story, no standard form of measurement exists! When the King orders a bed that is 3 feet by 6 feet and the carpenter measures 3 feet by 6 feet with his own small feet, the final product is not big enough for the Queen! We experimented by using our own foot lengths to measure the Queen's bed. We traced, cut and used our own foot shapes to create a bed for the queen- 3 feet by 6 feet. Teacher Kathleen was kind enough to act as the queen, so she tested out the small bed we made. Unfortunately, the bed was not big enough! Many of us predicted that the King had bigger feet, so he must have measured a bed that was larger. We read more and sure enough, the king had bigger feet! We measured a bed using the size of the King's foot (12 inches) and we discovered that the bed was much bigger! Teacher Kathleen played the role of the queen again and tested out the bed. It was just right this time! Now, we could definitely see how it is important to have standard forms of measurement! We will continue to talk about measurement, discussing attributes to be measured and comparing these attributes using informal and formal methods!
All through the year, we have been exploring Japan's culture. Starting in January, we began to read Kamishibai, which is Japanese paper theatre. We immersed ourselves in these traditional Japanese tales and soon, we had read all of the Kamishibai in the library! We even read our favorites AGAIN. Some students even brought Kamishibai from home or from local libraries. When some of us started making Kamshibai stories during choice time, we thought it would be a good idea for all the kids to experience creating a Kamishibai story. Creation is the most complex level of learning, and through this project, we would be able to show a complete understanding of the storytelling and performing required in Kamishibai. The teachers organized us into small groups, and from there, we chose characters and planned a story with a problem and a solution. Most of us chose characters which had appeared in the Kamishibai we had read before, such as princesses, onis, talking animals and old people. We also had the characters go on an adventure, and we tried to incorporate magic, which we had noticed in a lot of the Kamishibai stories. After dictating the story to our teachers, we did a quick sketch of what our slides would look like. After we sketched, we carefully drew the scenes on large, thick watercolor paper and carefully painted using water color paint and water color pencils. We noticed that the background in the Kamishibai we read was brightly painted, so we made sure to fill in most white spaces with bright colors. We also noticed that the figures in Kamishibai slides were outlined in black, so we traced our drawings in black marker so people could see from far away. After the slides were painted, we had to put the dialogue and small slide copies on the back of each slide. It was tricky because the small pictures and dialogue had to go on the preceding slides. Then, we rehearsed and rehearsed! We performed for the Pre-K students and the Nursery students so we could practice performing in front of an audience. It was really fun to read our lines (from the pictures and words) and to make different noises and sounds, which we had noticed in the traditional Kamishibai tales we read. Our teachers also videotaped one of our performances, and after watching it, we reflected on what we did well and thought about what we wanted to improve for the parent performance. The ability to reflect and evaluate oneself indicates a high level of understanding and learning. Finally, we were ready for the big day! All of our hard work paid off! We were so happy to have our families come to appreciate all the effort we put into making and performing Kamishibai. Working on this project was a great way for us to practice many important Language Arts skills. We proved that we could notice trends in the characters, settings, and themes in Kamishibai, compare and contrast Kamishibai and books, and use our knowledge of Kamishibai stories to create own own original stories! We hope you enjoyed our performance!
We've finally reached the 100th day of school! Each day, we have kept track of the number of school days. Some of us thought we were going to first grade after 100 days, but the teacher assured us that we had some more days in kindergarten before that! During choice time, we had some fun play options to celebrate the 100th day. We made "100 Dots" artwork in the art center and played "Roll to 100" in the math center. Later, we counted out 100 small pieces of snack! Each table had ten types of snack, and we organized the snacks in groups of ten as we counted. We know that ten groups of ten is 100! Later, we make necklaces with 100 beads! We marked the beads by groups of ten with special white tags. This was great for our fine motor skills, one to one counting skills and extra practice in number order and counting by tens! Finally, we've been working on a massive 100 chart for our wall! Everyone is getting excellent practice in recognizing, writing and placing numbers to 100. We're almost done--please check it out in our classroom soon!
Today, Teacher Hisako led us in a Japanese Tea Ceremony! She is an expert in this, so we learned a lot from her. First, we prepared for the event by wearing Kimono. Next, we went down to the community room to watch Teacher Hisako perform the tea ceremony. She showed us the pots and bowls used for the tea ceremony. She wiped everything carefully with a little cloth, spooned matcha into her tea bowl and carefully added hot water. She used a chasen to whisk her tea until it was frothy and showed us how to turn the tea bowl properly before drinking! Then, it was our turn to participate in the tea ceremony. We started by eating a sweet treat called okashi to prepare our tongues for the bitter taste of the green tea. After, we tucked our napkin into our kimono to save for wiping our tea bowls later. After that, we used the chasen to whisk our tea until it was frothy, then turned our bowls and properly sipped our tea! We all agreed that the sweet treat was delicious, but only some of us could handle the bitter taste of the tea! Thank you for this wonderful experience, Teacher Hisako!
Valentine's Day in kindergarten is always a blast for the kiddos AND teachers! We prepared for this special day by tracing, cutting and "sewing" our heart shaped mailboxes. Everyone got some good cutting practice and fine motor work from stitching the hearts together. On Valentine's Day, we delivered our handwritten valentines to all of our classmates' mailboxes. We got a lot of practice reading each other's names. When some of us had trouble reading the names, our classmates helped us! After all of the valentines were delivered, we waited patiently to open and read our cards until AFTER lunch time. The teachers were really proud of us. All of us appreciated the thoughtful messages written by our friends and many of us traveled around the classroom to thank each other for the cards. Additionally, we made thoughtful cards for our parents. We practiced using lowercase letters and spaces between our words when writing our messages.
Sumo Day is always a great way to start the week! In skills class, we have been preparing for our matches against the sumo wrestlers. Each of us was very brave and defeated the sumo wrestlers by pushing them out of the dohyo! After, we thanked the sumo wrestlers and presented them with some treats made by our room parents. We had a few questions for them as well. Our Japanese speaking students were helpful and translated our questions. First, we asked "Why do you wear mawashi?" and found out that this is the uniform of sumo wrestlers and it is a tradition to wear this type of uniform in the sport. Next, we asked "How much do you practice?" and we found out that they train for six hours a day--wow! Finally, we asked "How much do you eat?" and discovered that they eat ALOT. Instead of eating one bowl of rice at a meal like the average person, they eat ten bowls! That is how they stay strong and maintain their sumo physique. We ended our sumo experience with a class picture--can you tell how excited we were?
Today, we celebrated Setsubun in our kindergarten class! According to the old lunar calendar of Japan, February 3rd is the day before the first day of Spring. We experienced some of the traditions of Setsubun that bring good luck and ward off bad luck! First, we made eho maki sushi rolls. We spread rice out on the nori, added our choice of fillings (cucumber, sausage, corn and egg) and used our hand muscles to roll up the ingredients with a bamboo mat! After, we ate the sushi roll facing the lucky direction, which was north northwest this year. We also ate it without talking, which is supposed to bring good luck as well! After eating our Eho Maki we participated in lucky bean throwing! Some Oni's snuck into our classroom and we threw roasted soybeans at them, shouting "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!" (Out with the devil, in the with good luck!). They quickly retreated! Next, it was our turn to be the Oni's! We designed and cut out our own Oni masks, then snuck into another kinder classroom. After they scared us off, we ate a soybean for every year of our age, which was also good luck! Overall, Setsubun was an exciting and lucky day!
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