Mini-Garden

The Lorax

Horton Hears a Who

We created miniature gardens to supplement our Dr. Seuss Literature Unit. We used the garden to illustrate the lands of The Lorax and Horton Hears a Who. The AM focused on Horton Hears a Who, while the PM class focused on The Lorax. After reading the stories, each class discussed the characters and setting, so they knew what to include in the gardens. Once each student had a chance to plan out their garden on their own, we integrated the ideas from all the plans to create one design for our miniature garden. Then, it was time to get to work! Students were assigned different tasks. While some students enjoyed getting their hands dirty with planting, others preferred to contribute by making clay figurines, backdrops, and structures. The kindergarteners were very excited to see the book come to life in their design. We hope you enjoy!

Below are some pictures of the chart we used to brainstorm what to include in our garden:

SF Flower and Garden Show

To supplement our Dr. Seuss unit, we created a miniature garden to show the setting where Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who and The Lorax took place.  Our two mini-gardens will be shown in the SF Flower and Garden Show in the Children’s Garden section.  Below is a link about the Children’s Garden.  From that website, you can find more information  about the show if you are interested in attending.

http://sfgardenshow.com/index.php/the-gardens/childrens-gardens

The show runs from March 21-25th, from 10AM to 7PM.

Children are admitted for free.  Adults pay $20.

Attending the show is NOT REQUIRED, I am just telling you about it in case you want to see our classroom’s garden showcased.  If you cannot make the show, feel free to stop by Friday after school to take a look before I drive it over to the San Mateo Event Center.  We will also have it back in our classroom after the 25th.

Dr. Seuss Unit

We are currently having a lot of fun in our Dr. Seuss unit.  The students love the silly rhymes and creations of Dr. Seuss.  The predictability and use of high frequency words makes many of Dr. Seuss books more accessible to students.  They get so excited when they see that they can read a page or a whole Dr. Seuss book.  It is important to share their excitement and capitalize on each accomplishment, no matter how small, to build positive associations with reading.


Here are some of the things that we have been working on...

Silly Dr. Seuss Fish

We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and talked about what makes Dr. Seuss' illustrations so much fun.  We then created our own silly fish.  Thank you, Deep Space Sparkle for this awesome art project!

Guided Reading

In addition to learning phonics and rhymes in our Dr. Seuss unit, we are also learning reading comprehension strategies.  As we read Green Eggs and Ham and Horton Hatches an Egg, we learned to retell a story by stating the characters, beginning, middle, and end.  As we read The Lorax, we learned to find the main idea and look for the author's message.

Forming Opinions of Books

We have been reading many Dr. Seuss books.  Below is a snapshot of our class graph depicting our favorite Dr. Seuss books.  As you can see, most students liked The Lorax the best.  This surprised me, as usually Green Eggs and Ham turn out to be the favorite.

We will continue this unit through March, so check back later to see more projects!

Math Update

Students are continuing to work with numbers 0-20.  By the end of the unit, students are currently learning the following CA Content Standards in math... 

1.0 Students understand the relationship between numbers and quantities (i.e., that a set of objects has the same number of objects in different situations regardless of its position or arrangement): 

1.1 Compare two or more sets of objects (up to ten objects in each group) and identify which set is equal to, more than, or less than the other.

1.2 Count, recognize, represent, name, and order a number of objects (up to 20).

1.3 Know that the larger numbers are made of smaller numbers.

It is also our goal for students to see patterns in our number system and the 100 chart (i.e., number order, 7 and 10 more is 17, 7 and 20 more is 27...)

Standard 1.3, Know that larger numbers are made of smaller numbers, is a precursor to addition and subtraction.  You can help your child become more ready for addition and subtraction by describing groups or numbers in terms of parts and a whole.  For example: At the store, we are buying 10 apples (the whole).  6 are green (that is one part) and the other 4 are red (the other part).  You may even challenge your student with problems such as, "We need to buy 10 apples, I have 6 green apples, how many more do I need to make 10?"  

Students recently did a project where they explored how a number can be made of many different combinations of smaller numbers.  Each student was assigned a number, and had to create a design using only that number of shapes.  The then had to explain to the class how their picture showed their number and tell which smaller numbers were grouped together to make the bigger one.

100th Day of School!

February 2nd was the 100th Day of School!   It is school tradition to not only use this day to celebrate all that we have accomplished in 100 days, but also to explore numbers and further develop number sense.  Thank you to all the parents who helped lead hands-on activities for them to do on this day.


On the 100th Day, students...
-made necklaces out of 100 pieces of pasta.
-made 100th Day hats, in which they had to add 10 things to 10 strips of paper.
-ordered our 100 chart that the 100th Day Gremlins messed up!
-made a class mural of different things made of 20 handprints, or 100 fingers.

The flower has100 petals (100 fingerprints).

The caterpillar has 100 legs (100 fingerprints).

The grass has 100 blades (100 fingerprints).