Art: Something From Nothing

Hi! I’m Marissa Hiivala and I have had the pleasure to work with Kindergarten in the art studio. We recently read Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, a story in which the main character makes something from nothing.  So, we embarked on a journey exploring our “nothing” materials like paper towel rolls, straws, egg cartons, etc.  The girls first changed their materials repeatedly inspired by a quote from artist, Jasper Johns – “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something to it again.” They have started to combine the changed objects using ideas we got from our changes. Our final step will be to make a book about our progress! What ideas did your kindergartner come up with?

Catching Up

February may be the shortest month of the year, yet we somehow manage to pack quite a lot of activity into our time together! We have been busy celebrating several birthdays, Presidents Day, Valentine's Day and our 100th day of school. Enjoy some pictures of our classroom adventures!

We decorated bags to hold all of our Valentine goodies:

We exchanged our Valentines and thanked each of our friends for the special notes. So much love!

We had a scavenger hunt to find 100 daisies. It took all day, but we finally found them all!

We made 100th Day hats - 10 stickers on 10 strips of paper = 100 stickers

We organized our 100 things by groups of 10. It was such fun to see the many creative collections of 100. Thank you for helping your daughters create their collections!

We raced to 100 and complete 100 chart puzzles:

What fun to celebrate the February holidays!

This morning we enjoyed a special visit from Ms. Nothstein. She read two wonderful stories, including Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel. Ask your daughter if she can remember his full name - it is quite a tongue twister!

From the Library

We were excited that the winter book order had the last book in James Marshall's  George and Martha series, George and Martha Encore. We've been reading other old favorites too, including the Caldecott Medal winner from 1962 The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Some of us are still hoping for a very snowy day, while others are ready for spring. Ask your daughter about Tales for Very Picky Eaters. How did that father get his son to eat broccoli? What is Growing Oatmeal?! In keeping with themes of trying new foods, we also read Rosemary Wells' beloved book Yoko. If you are asked to pack sushi in a lunchbox, Yoko may be the inspiration.

LEARNING THROUGH GAMES!

What is better than having fun practicing 

what we have learned while playing games with our friends?

NOTHING

Winter Work in Technology

This month the students have been documenting a variety of winter activities.  Using either the Draw and Tell app or the My Story app, the girls took pictures of the snowflakes they created.  Next, they explained how to make these snowflakes by recording their voices.  The students also used BrainPop Jr. to watch a video about winter then create a book, complete with pictures and voices, in My Story about what we do in the winter.