Mrs. Sian's Kindergarten

New Webpage

2009-07-02T12:43:00.003-04:00

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...

2009-06-24T00:26:00.006-04:00

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!

2009-03-02T20:15:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

NEWStudent's Writing

2009-02-08T18:32:00.004-05:00

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

2009-01-14T22:15:00.002-05:00

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

2009-01-14T22:09:00.001-05:00

Students share their writing.

Lucy checks her e-mail

2009-01-14T22:02:00.002-05:00

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

2009-01-06T21:20:00.001-05:00

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

Bee Wards Fun

2009-01-06T20:46:00.001-05:00

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

5 Senses Writing

2008-11-06T20:25:00.006-05:00

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

2008-11-02T00:22:00.003-04:00

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

2008-11-01T23:54:00.000-04:00

BubbleShare: Share photos - Craft Ideas

We made applesauce

2008-11-01T21:10:00.002-04:00

This week we compared apples to pumpkins. We made a double bubble map to compare and contrast apples and pumpkins. We made applesauce and made a flow map to show the sequence to make applesauce. We ate the applesauce at our Halloween party.

2008-10-30T21:32:00.000-04:00

I use the webcam to record students reading to the class. When viewing the video, I am able to quickly observe many reading skills. I look for directionality, one-to-one correspondence, sight words the student knows, what strategies students use to decode unknown words... Currently, we are working on getting our mouth ready and checking the picture to help us figure out unknown words. We also watch the video in class and discuss what we notice about the student's reading. It is a great way for students to think about their reading.

Wide Mouth Frog Retelling

2008-10-30T21:15:00.000-04:00

We read the Wide Mouth Frog story and acted the story out with puppets. Everyone had a chance to participate in the retelling. We also made bridge maps (on display in the media center) to show what each animal ate.

Brayden Reads a Book

2008-10-20T22:28:00.000-04:00

Bee-Wards Fun

2008-10-20T22:26:00.001-04:00

Halloween Buddies

2008-10-20T22:24:00.001-04:00

Fall Walk

2008-10-20T22:22:00.001-04:00

September Writing Workshop

2008-09-21T21:38:00.002-04:00

This is one of our writing workshop sessions. We have writing workshop everyday and the students are writing independently for 15-20 minutes at this time of year. I use the videos to assess writing behaviors and to evaluate writing workshop with the students. After I take the video, I show the students and we discuss writing workshop. We talk about "stars" (things we saw that were great)and "wishes" (what we think we could improve next time. The students saw many "star" behaviors and our wish was to improve the noise level during writing workshop.

September Reading Workshop

2008-09-21T20:09:00.002-04:00

I took this video so parents can see what we do during reading workshop. The students are "reading" independently for about 15 minutes at this time of year. I try to take videos periodically to use for evaluation purposes. I look at the videos and can tell who knows "how books work", how the students "read" and other reading behaviors.
I also show the video to the class right after I take it. We watch it to evaluate our reading workshop. The students look for "stars" (things that are going well or students doing an exceptional job) and "wishes" (what isn't going so well and how could we change it). They are used to the camera and usually don't change their behavior because it is on. When we evaluated this video we had lots of "stars" and we decided we needed to work on the background noise. We will see if that improves in the next video.

My D'Nealian Fonts Answer

2008-09-21T09:40:00.009-04:00

I have been asked about programs for D'Nealian fonts. There are some free fonts out there, but I tried a couple and got some adware put on my computer. I went to fonts4teachers and bought one to put on my computer. I have it and you can check it out. If we like it, maybe we can get the site license. I also found a good sight for letter activities and tracer pages. Go to www.kidzone.ws and check it out. You can make tracer pages for students names, sight words, etc. It is very easy to use. This is also a good site for parents to go to. You will find lots of activities and ideas to hep your child learn their letters and sounds.

Welcome to the new school year

2008-08-30T22:30:00.003-04:00

I am looking forward to the new year. The turnout at the Open House was AWESOME! 20 out of 23 families came to visit and look around. This is a sign of a great year with lots of involved families and excited students. This is going to be a great year!

Some changes were made in the classroom this summer. I turned one wall into a dry erase wall. We hung 2 sheets of melamine board and the whole wall is now a dry erase surface. This will allow the students to reach the board without using a step and it is also a great projection surface and works with the mimio interactive device. I added storage, cleaned out and organized and added lockers. The social studies committee ordered colorful rugs of the USA for each of the kindergarten classrooms. Everything is set and we are ready!

Student Self-Portraits

2008-08-30T00:43:00.000-04:00

Kindergarten Writing

2008-08-30T00:08:00.000-04:00