New Webpage

I have been taking a computer class and made a new webpage. The address is www.larsonk.pbworks.com. I think this page will be easier to use. Unlike the blog, everything will stay in one place and won't move down every time I enter something new. Feel free to explore this webpage, but if you are looking for current classroom news, you will need to go to the new site.

What I am doing this summer...

I am working on a new project. I have started another blog about using the Cricut Expressions die cut machine. Go to:
www.jscricut.blogspot.com
to see what I am working on this summer.

Have a GREAT summer!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

***NEW***Student's Writing

Click on the student writing link on the left hand side. This will take you to the place where student writing will be posted. We are going to begin to blog this week. The students will be typing their own entries and will be doing their own writing. The spelling and grammar will be typical of kindergarten writers. Their writing will not be edited by me. As they post more blog entries you should begin to see them grow as writers. Please feel free to leave the students comments that will encourage them to write.

Using the interactive board

When Ethan was the student of the day he used the Microsoft Keys program and the interactive board to do his writing in front of the class. Molly and Erin were helping him. Microsoft Keys is a scholastic program by Tom Snyder and it makes Microsoft Word easy for students to use. We all use Microsoft Keys in the computer lab and students write their messages in Word and insert pictures. They can insert clipart or pictures they make in Paint.

Student writing

Students share their writing.

Lucy checks her e-mail

The students didn't believe that Lucy really checks her own e-mail. So, I set up a webcam and caught her in the act (of course, she checks it at night when we are sleeping). Kids can send an e-mail to Lucy at julisian@gmail.com. She answers all of her own mail.

Our Christmas Pictures

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Bee Wards Fun

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5 Senses Writing

We had a great writing session this week. We tried sardines (one of our student's recommended snacks). We used our 5 senses to talk about our experience. We filled out our 5 senses chart and made a bubble map describing sardines. We also made a graph to show how many students liked/disliked them. After mapping and graphing, we wrote about sardines as a class. Then, the students did their own writing.

Pumpkin Seed Project 2008

We participated in an online project this week. We had to get a pumpkin between 1-5 pounds, estimate and count the seeds. Classrooms from around the world participated in this project and posted their results. Our pumpkin weighed 4.5 pounds and we counted 376 seeds. We put the seeds into groups of ten to count them. Our estimations ranged from 1-275 seeds. As an extension in our classroom, we carved an 11 pound pumpkin, counted the seeds and compared the results. The bigger pumpkin had 578 seeds and our estimates ranged from 100-1,000,000. Before we counted the seeds, we made a graph to see how many students thought pumpkin 1 or pumpkin 2 had the most seeds. Most students thought the bigger pumpkin would have more seeds and they were right. Mrs. Keyser carved the pumpkins and we had a drawing for the pumpkins at our party. Ron Lee and Molly won the pumpkins.
We also read Pumpkin, Pumpkin and did other related lessons. We made a bubble map to describe the pumpkin and made a double bubble map to compare the pumpkin and an apple. We read the Five pumpkin poem and each student illustrated the poem. We read how a pumpkin grows in the book and each student made a flow map to show how a pumpkin grows. We also used the recipe in the book to make pumpkin seeds and we ate them with our applesauce we made at the Halloween party. We made flow maps to show how we made the applesauce, too.
This was a great project and I would encourage other classrooms to participate. Thanks to Marilyn Western for telling the computer class this summer about the site. We are definitely going to participate in more of the online projects.

The address for the internet project site is www.jenuinetech.com.

Halloween Pictures

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