Kindergarten Classes:
Every Kindergarten class comes to my room during the four day resource rotation. Every class begins with a gadget. The “gadget” is something I have found in an antique store that the class tries to guess what it is and what it does. This is also a great way to practice brainstorming. I have heard some very creative ideas so far this year. Brainstorming is one of the big focuses in kindergarten. We practice this with every activity we do. For Kindergarten I have a set curriculum (P.E.T.S.) the district purchased that I teach. P.E.T.S. is a systematized enrichment and diagnostic thinking skills program. Lessons are presented in convergent analysis, divergent synthesis, visual/spatial thinking, and evaluation.
Ms. Mary's Kindergarten Rocks Book:
Ms. Maura's Kindergarten Rocks book:
Ms. Katie's Kindergarten Rocks book:
All of the Kindergarten classes are learning the word Brainstorm and doing a lot of Brainstorming practicing!! We talked about the word Brainstorm and how it is made up of two different words.
The Kinders will be learning a new word this rotation...Brainstorming and we have been doing a lot of practicing using that new word. We listened to the story "Little Bear's Trousers" where little bear has lost his trousers and spends the day looking for them. He visits all of his friends to see if they know where they are. All of his friends have seen them and they have used them in a new way: as hump warmers (camel), a sail (sailor), a ski hat (rabbit), a two bone bone holder (dog), a backpack (zebra), a flag (duck), and frosting bag (Bromwell Brown). After the story, the class brainstormed more new ways to use a pair of trousers and they are working on creating a picture showing Little Bear using the trousers in this new way.
The kindergarteners will be working with K’Nex to build different items. The K’Nex building system consists of interlocking plastic rods, connectors, gears, wheels, and other components, which can be pieced together to form a wide variety of models, machines, and architectural structures. Each learner was only given a picture to look at when building our creations. They will be building a spinning top (it really will spin!), a helicopter, a swinging pirate ship, and a see saw. I have included picture of all of the items below. If there was time after the kit was completed, the learners were able to take their creations apart and made something brand new out of the pieces we used that day.
Ms. Molly's classroom Woozle Book:
Ms. Kata's classroom Woozle Book:
Ms. Maura's classroom Woozle Book:
Ms. Katie's classroom Woozle Book:
Ms. Mary's classroom Woozle Book: