Mrs. Patel's Solo Week

Our San Jose State University student teacher, Mrs. Patel, has been doing a wonderful job assisting student learning in Room 36.   She recently completed her PACT, which is a requirement for all teaching credential candidates.  She did a wonderful job teaching students about the letter T.  The students enjoyed her interactive and fun lessons and were very well behaved.  One of her last requirements in the credential program is to teach the class for two weeks on her own.  


Her first week will begin on November 1st.  Her second solo week will begin on November 28th.  I am confident that she will do a wonderful job.  She deeply cares for each and every student.  She will continue to follow the curriculum that I have laid out and will use the strategies and techniques observed in Room 36, as well as those taught at SJSU, to best meet the needs of your students during those two weeks.  


If you have any questions during the week of November 1st or 14th, feel free to direct them toward Mrs. Patel or email me.  I will be on campus and communicating with Mrs. Patel daily about student progress and behavior.

iPod Touches

This month, we began using iPod Touches in Literacy Centers.  iPod Touches provide students with tactile opportunities to learn penmanship, sounds, letters, and words.  The students are highly engaged by the colorful animations and immediate feedback that the iPod Touches provide.   Eventually, they will be part of our Literacy Center routine, and students will have 15 minutes of access to them once a week.  If you are curious about the iPod Touch program at Eisenhower, or want to know about the games that they are playing, feel free to visit the following website:  http://www.cupertino.k12.ca.us/eisenhower.www/.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?

Last week we asked, "How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?" On Wednesday, we looked at three different sized pumpkins and guessed which pumpkin had the most seeds. Most students guessed that the biggest pumpkin, had the most seeds. Which one would you guess had the most seeds?



We then cut open the pumpkins and dug out the slime, stings, and of course, seeds! We were left with 30 messy hands!  That afternoon, I washed all the seeds and placed all of the seeds next to their matching pumpkin.  The next day, students estimated how many seeds they saw.  Then, we worked together to count the seeds by groups of ten.  We learned that size may not matter.  The biggest did not have the most seeds.  The middle sized pumpkin actually had the most seeds.  Below are pictures of some of the results.  Unfortunately, I did not photograph the biggest pumpkin.

Animals 2 x 2

Eisenhower is lucky to have a wonderful hands-on science program, called FOSS, which is developed by the University of California.  Our first science unit was Animals 2 x 2.  In this unit, students are taught and expected to...

• Develop a curiosity and interest in the living world around them.
• Observe and describe the structures of a variety of common animals—fish, snails, earthworms, isopods, and chicks.
• Compare structures and behaviors of different pairs of animals.
• Observe interactions of animals with their surroundings.
• Communicate observations and comparisons.
• Acquire the vocabulary associated with the structure and behavior of animals.
• Handle animals carefully, and participate in the care and feeding of classroom animals.

As you may have remembered from a previous post, we started our unit by observing red worms, which we later put to work in our worm bin.  After the worms, we observed goldfish and guppies.

On day 1, we observed their structure and recorded our observations in our science notebook.  We also formed "I wonder..." statements (questions) about fish and read a non-fiction book to find some answers.

On day 2, we talked about what fish need to survive.  We learned about responsibility and made sure that our fish were comfortable and well taken care of.

On day 3, we introduced a tunnel into the fish tank and observed their behavior.

On day 4, we observed guppies and recorded our observations with sketches in our science notebook.  We noticed how they were similar to goldfish and how they were different.

After observing worms and fish, we decided to observe even more animals!  What about insects and spiders?  Fortunately, one of my father's past hobbies was to encase insects and spiders in plastic.  He was happy to share his collection with the kindergarteners so they could compare and contrast insects and spiders.  We are still studying the differences.  I was amazed at the detail that the kindergarteners included in their insect sketches.

Uesugi Farm Field Trip

On October 7th, we joined the other kindergarten classes for our first field trip of the year!  We excitedly loaded our bus for Usegui Farm in San Martin.  Being the first school bus experience for many students, this was a very thrilling part of the trip!  However, the farm experience eventually did outweigh the fun of the bus trip.  Below are pictures of some of the highlights of the pumpkin patch.

 The infamous pumpkin pyramid with the golden "Pumpkin King" on the very top.

 View of the corn maze.

 As we wandered through the corn maze, we stopped to read signs showing interesting facts about bees. Bees play a very important role in the life cycle of the pumpkin.

 No wonder we did not get any pumpkins in our garden this year!  We need to attract more bees!

 After the maze, students walked through a "lab" depicting all the different stages of pumpkin growth.

 First, there are the seeds.

Then, come the first leaves.

 Then, come the flowers.  A flower needs to be pollinated at least 15 times before it can grow a pumpkin.  That is why bees are so important! 

Then, comes a little green pumpkin.  Can you find it? 

Finally, the little green pumpkin grows into a big orange pumpkin! 

Below are some views from the train ride.

Words Their Way

We recently started word sorts in centers.  Word sorts, from the program Words Their Way, is a constructivist approach to teaching children reading and spelling.  It encourages students to discover and explore spelling patterns and irregularities (“oddballs”) in written English.  Students have a chance to compare and contrast words to help them strengthen connections between the sound patterns and meaning of words.  To get students used to the routines of word sorts, we have completed concept and rhyming sorts.  Students showed responsibility and understanding while sorting, so the next step is begin each student on a more individualized word sort program based on their pre-assessments.  

 Here is an example of a concept sort.  This is training them to sort by spelling pattern someday.

 Here is an example of a sound sort.

Here is an example of a rhyming sort.

Worms!

Last week, you may have heard from your child say, "I got to hold a worm today!"  Yes, it is true, we did a worm investigation last week to kick off our CA FOSS Animals 2 x 2 Unit.  Students learned how to observe various objects by using our senses.  We practiced by creating a small book in which students had to closely examine and record STILL everyday objects such as crayons.  

We then moved on to things that WIGGLED!  Students learned to treat all living things with respect and care as they picked up the worms to get a closer look.  Students were encouraged to be good scientists and create "I wonder..." statements and seek the answers through observation.  Finally, they were asked to record their observations in their science notebooks.

Once all the notebooks were complete with first day entries, hands were washed, and unanswered "I wonder" statements were recorded, we asked, "What should we do with all these worms?"  We decided to put them to work for us!  We shredded old newspaper and placed them in a worm bin so they could eat our garbage and turn it into compost!

If you are interested in our science curriculum, you can learn more at CA FOSS SCIENCE. 

Starry Night

Every week, we focus on a letter of the alphabet.  For each letter of the alphabet, our main objectives are to: 

1.  Identify the capital and lower case letter.

2.  Match the letter with the sound.

3. Distinguish the sound from other phonemes.  

Students who already show mastery of the above objectives will focus more on digraphs and short and long vowels.  Now that we have practiced center routines for several weeks, we can start to have more individualized instruction.  However, all students will still participate in various enrichment activities for the letter of the week to help review, extend, and internalize student learning.

An example of such an enrichment activity for the letter Ss can be seen below.  Students searched for Ss in poems such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and then painted their own version on Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night.  Students learned about lines, movement, and crayon resist.