April!

We have been enjoying the last bits of winter over the last few weeks. Mr. Deyo started some pick up soccer in the mornings outside, and we are finally seeing signs that we will be able to do some planting in the raised garden beds! We will plants some veggies that like the cold and will hopefully be ready in time for the end of school (kale, lettuce, peas, radishes) and then start some things inside that we can plant for next year's kindergartners and for students to take home (pumpkins, cucumbers).
Inside we have done several lessons based on the Changing Perspectives program that our school is piloting this year. The idea is to promote disability awareness as well as inspire empathy. We began with defining what it means to have a disability, and what the word empathy means. Through the lessons so far, we have learned about some types of physical disabilities that make it hard for people to move their bodies in the same way many of us can. We have read books, watched videos and had discussions. Many conversations have been around how we all have so much in common regardless of disability, and how we can connect and be friendly to all people. I have been blown away by the empathy, understanding, and great questions the students have and have found the unit to be incredibly inspiring both personally and professionally.
We recently finished up our writing unit and shared our true stories with second grade friends from Mr. Lake's class. Students loved reading their books to so many familiar faces! In reading we have been continuing our learning with word families, cutting up word sorts from Words Their Way and sorting them by their endings, or word families. These help students recognize chunks of words as they read and write, and help when learning vowel sounds. We have also looked at consonant clusters, or blends, as we continue practicing our sound power for our reading. Kindergartners are reading harder words, long books, and feeling so proud.
In math we are working with 2D shapes and will soon revisit 3D shapes. We are working not only on recognizing them, but being able to sort and describe their attributes, fit them together in different ways, and more. We are also mixing in number sense skills that we are continuing to practice and learn (counting to 100, flashing numbers on our fingers in two different ways, understanding and writing teen numbers, etc).
In the next couple of weeks we will be launching a life cycles unit that will take us through the end of the school year. We will be learning about plant life cycles, frog life cycles, and the life cycle of chicks that we will be hatching in May!
Many students are navigating their new sense of independence and as the end of kindergarten is so very different from the beginning of kindergarten in terms of student responsibility and maturity! What students are able to do all on their own is truly remarkable when compared to their first days of kindergarten! We are trying to balance that with continuing to follow the expected rules and routines of the classroom like listening and following teacher directions, being responsible to clean up after themselves and manage their own things. :)