First round of pictures from the pumpkin patch

We have been learning about the life cycle of pumpkins in science.  It was amazing to see the students identify each sequence in the cycle and properly identify them while at the pumpkin patch today!  They were so excited to see the cycle "live" in the garden.  This make learning so meaningful and they will remember this experience forever.  It is our hope that they can transfer this knowledge to other life cycles they will learn about during their education.

 

Bloom

 

Green pumpkin

Mature pumpkin

Bud

Green pumpkin on the vine

Investigating pumpkins in the garden

Leaves

Bloom

Vines

Leaves

 

They also loved the turtles.  Some of the kids could not get enough of these little guys!  They had so much fun investigating these little creatures.  They wanted to adopt them as class pets!

 

Large mature orange pumpkin

Beans

Corn

Exploring the texture of the beans (and corn) with our feet

 

Seeds

The straw maze was a source of fun and fright for our students!  Some of the kids could not get enough of the maze after successfully navigating the dark maze.  It was very interesting watching the kids support each other when they were afraid and encouraging each other to try the maze.  They were actively engaged in problem solving and oral language skills as they talked about their experience, shared how to get through the maze, and comforted their friends that were scared.

Tractor

Toes

Curly vines on the pumpkin

Turtle studying us!

Exit of the straw maze.

 

We had a great day!  Thank you to all of the parents who gave up their time to spend time with their kids to support their education.  As teachers we can not thank you enough for volunteering your time to help us today.  Your help with the kids, loading and unloading the lunches, tying shoes, transporting our loot for our curriculum, helping to kill bees at lunch, interacting with all of the students and helping with snack made our jobs so easy today.  We are so lucky to have such supportive and involved families.  We look forward to many more fun times together this year.  Be sure to check back soon for more pictures. 

 

Important Dates and Mysteyr Readers

The rest of this month is going to be super busy for our Kindergarten students.  Dates to remember:

1. October 17th - Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch, PTO Meeting and Papa John's Night

2. October 18th- Trunk or Treat

3. October 23 and 24- Parent/Teacher Conferences

4. October 24, 25 and 28 NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

5. October 31 - Fall Party's start at 2:15

 

A special thank you to Mrs. O'Leary in Ms. Arrendale's class for coming in and reading I Am Invited To A Party by Mo Willems.  She came ready with party hats, fancy clothes, swimming floaties and everything else the book said you would need to attend the party.  A great time was had by all who got to listen to this fun book by one of the classes favorite authors and illustrators.  Thank you so much for taking your time to make reading so much fun for our student's.  They love Mystery Reader day and so do the teachers!  We get so many great ideas from you!

 

 

 

 

Ms. Boatright has a SCARY Mystery Reader!

Tis the season for scary books and costumes.  This Mystery Reader in Ms. Boatright's room definitely brought in the fall season by reading Room on the Broom.  Audrey Hendee even brought in a "dragon" to help tell the story (as you will see in the pictures below).  This books is all about team work!  We love our Mystery Readers and all of the work they go to in order to make reading a special adventure.  Thank you for taking your time to come in and read for all of the kids. 

 

 

More Mystery Reader fun! How Full Is Your Bucket?

Ms. O's class had a special Mystery Reader who taught us all about how to be a bucket filler!  She read this book, How Full Is Your Bucket to the class.  We learned all about our invisible buckets and how we each have one and everyone around us has one too.  We can either fill our buckets and the buckets of others or dip from them depending on how we act and what we say.  Part of the Kindergarten Experince is learning what kind of people we want to become.  Do we want to be positive, helpful and kind?  Do we want to become bullies and be mean?  We explore how those decisions make us and those around us feel.  We learn that we impact the world around us and we can make a difference in our own lives and the lives of others.  Remember the poem All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?  This book teaches in to that poem.  Character Education is an important part of our Curriculum at Peine Ridge and we thank you, our parents, families and friends for helping us develop the next generation of leaders.  Thank you so much for volunteering your time and helping the kids develop a love for reading AND their positive outlook on life.  We couldn't do it without you.  Have a great weekend and thank you again for giving some of your time to helping all of our students develop a life-long love for reading.  There is a video at the end of this post to help support the concepts taught in this book.  Please play it at home with your child to help them learn the concepts of bucket filling and bucket dipping.  How full is your bucket today?

 



 

Mrs.Clauss teaches us about how to fill a bucket.

Mrs. Clauss reading the story to us.

 



Mrs.Clauss shows us our "bucket" and teaches us about filling and dipping our buckets.

 

Mystery Reader Pigeon Style!

This week Ms. De Stephano's class had a special guest.  Pigeon from the books by Mo Willams!  The kids were thrilled when Pigeon (actually it was special parent reader Jill Sutton) came in during Reading Workshop.  Thank you so much for making reading so memorable and special for the children.  We have been learning that reading is exciting and you certainly made sure reading the book Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus and exciting adventure.  Being involved in your child's early education makes learning so much more meaningful for your child.  We can't thank you enough for taking your time to volunteer in the classroom during the year.  Enjoy this special picture of this special parent sharing a special book.  Thank you to all of our Mystery Readers.  We look forward to sharing more pictures of our volunteers on the blog this year.

 

Mystery Readers have arrived!

We just wanted to take a small moment and thank all of the Mystery Readers who came to our rooms to read on Friday.  Our Mystery Readers are such an important part of our reading curriculum and they make reading so much fun for our young readers.  It always amazes us how hard our parent readers work to make this time exciting and meaningful for the students.  We appreciate all you do to support Peine Ridge and us as teachers.  We are looking forward to many more parents reading in our classrooms this year.  Please make sure you have filled out your Volunteer information and have had your criminal record check done so you can spend time in the classroom.  If you have any questions just contact Mrs. Reese or Mrs. Force in the office.  They can tell you if all of your paper work has cleared. 

We are almost ready for Room Parents, Copy Parents and other Parent Volunteers to start.  We will be contacting you soon if you offered to help.  Believe it or not party time will be here before you know it and we would love to have some parent volunteers put together these classroom celebrations.  The students are so excited to see their parents and families spend these special times with them during the school year.  Every one of the teachers appreciate your time, expertise and willingness to help with these projects! 

Our Field Trip to Pumpkins Galore will be coming up in October and we will send more information to you as soon as we have the final conformation.  We have already done our Bus Safety lesson (on the actual buses) with the children to get them ready for this great adventure.

We leave you with a picture of one of our parent volunteers acting as a Mystery Reader in Ms. Arrendale's class.  He read from the Frog and Toad book and used great character voices (complete with an English accent for both Frog and Toad).  We are learning how reading is an adventure and all of our Mystery Readers made reading a special adventure for the students on Friday.  Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day Weekend, stay cool, and as always, read at least 20 minutes a day with your child.  We will see all the students again on Wednesday.  Make sure you go through the new Kindergarten Binder that came home with your child on Friday while on break.