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

Teachers

2008-03-21T22:34:00.002-04:00

Check out the teacher link on the right. I am documenting all the technology I am using in the classroom.

Benny's Message

2008-03-21T22:00:00.001-04:00

This was Benny's morning message on the Digital Notebook. I got a toy. There is pizza today. Love, Benny

Patricia's Writing

2008-03-21T21:17:00.005-04:00

My Dog and my Puppy
They love my moms flowers. They say they are pretty. They are very,very pretty.

March 18, 2008 Karlee's Message

2008-03-18T22:09:00.003-04:00

Karlee was the student of the day. She wrote the message using the digital notebook. We read her message and used it for a lesson.

March 14, 2008

2008-03-14T15:01:00.002-04:00

We did lots of reading and writing. We had peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Ms. Rosekrans even ate one and helped us describe what they tasted like. We made a graph of our favorite snack of the day. Eleven people liked them. We also played reading "game shows". Mrs. Sian brought back 2 new games from the conference. These will help us learn sight words, vocabulary, decoding skills and phonics skills. We went to virtual earth and looked at our school and some of our houses. Virtual earth has more close ups in Michigan than Google Earth. We could actually see our school and Mrs. Sian's swimming pool. Virtual Earth is a free download from Microsoft.

March 13. 2008

2008-03-13T15:05:00.003-04:00

Today we went to the new class blog in computer class (www.siansclass.blogspot.com). It was fun. We voted and decided the zoo site was our favorite. Madison read "Green Eggs and Ham" to us. we went for a walk around the school because we had inside recess and we wanted to get exercise. We had writing work shop. Cameron wrote about spiderman. Tyler wrote about his brother and the play station. Libby wrote about going to Snowsnake with Alexys.

Read Around the Planet

2008-03-09T22:24:00.003-04:00

We participated in Read Around the Planet for reading month. We were matched with a class in Texas. Kay Hauck from the RESD brought in the equipment to hook us up so we could see them and they could see us. We wrote a book and each child read their page. Then, we listened to their presentation and had a chance to ask each other questions. The other school was Rusk Elementary in El Paso, Texas. We learned that they are close to the Mexican border and live in a very large city. They told us that it was going to be 75 that day and they would be able to go home and go swimming. Of course, we aren't so lucky. It was about 30 here that day, but we were due for another cold snap and had lots of snow. We told them that we could go sledding or skiing. It was a great experience! For teachers, check the teacher page for lesson details.

Be My Valentine

2008-02-25T21:50:00.003-05:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by julisian

We had a great valentine party.

2008-02-25T20:30:00.001-05:00

We are learning to make thinking maps. This group worked on a circle map. Next week we will learn to make a bubble map.

Kindergarten Authors

2008-01-22T20:21:00.000-05:00

The students read the story they wrote during writing workshop.

Note: Some students were absent the day we videotaped. Look for another video from them soon. Also, if you are trying to view this at school, it may not load due to security settings. You can view it on teacher tube.

Even Snack Time is Learning Time

2008-01-22T13:31:00.000-05:00

Writing Workshop

2008-01-20T23:23:00.000-05:00

Check the teacher page for a detailed description of this writing workshop.

Our Christmas Pictures

2008-01-20T22:41:00.001-05:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by julisian

Our Letters to Santa

2007-12-05T13:05:00.000-05:00

Be sure to check the student page. Click the link on the right of this page to get there. We wrote letters to Santa and Mrs. Sian typed them today. Later, we will type our own, but after having 2 snow days we do not have much time left to get all of our Christmas things done

Julia read to the class

2007-10-28T09:29:00.001-04:00

Snow White-Click to play video

2007-10-24T21:24:00.001-04:00

Deputy Sheriff John Wilson talked to us about stranger danger

2007-10-15T12:14:00.000-04:00

On Friday, Deputy Sheriff John Wilson talked to us about stranger danger and showed the students his police car. After, we watched a video about stranger danger with McGruff.

Stranger Danger-Click on our pictures to hear what we learned

2007-10-15T12:12:00.000-04:00

Click on our pictures to find out what we think about Fall

2007-10-02T12:32:00.001-04:00

Partner Reading with Mrs. Lewis' 2nd Grade Class

2007-09-29T11:16:00.000-04:00

September Writing Workshop Video

2007-09-29T11:09:00.001-04:00

Our Fall Nature Walk-Click to play video

2007-09-29T09:30:00.000-04:00

Mad Cap Puppet Show

2007-09-20T20:15:00.001-04:00

Mad Cap Puppet Show
Originally uploaded by julisian

Mad Cap Puppets came to our school Wednesday. The show was 50 minutes long and the students LOVED it! They liked the dragon, princess, treasure chest, goblins and all the other puppets and props used to tell stories. It was a great performance.

Our Class

2007-09-09T14:07:00.001-04:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by julisian

We are off to a great start. Check back often to see what we are doing.

We Can Read-Click to play video, Click for sound

2007-09-09T11:17:00.000-04:00

Our First Day Video-Click to play video, click for sound

2007-09-05T22:32:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the new school year!

2007-08-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the new school year. I just want to give you a quick overview of this blog. I think of this blog (or web log)as the door way to our classroom news. On this page, you will find lots of photos of things we do, kid postings, a podcast, links, and updates.
If you click on the parent link on the right side, that will take you to my webpage on teacher web. The web page stores all of the classroom information. This is where you will find classroom newsletters, calendars, announcements, homework, forms, a place to e-mail me, a place for kids to e-mail lucy, and other general classroom information.
Clicking on the student link on the right side, takes you to my blog for students. This is the page that will be kept on the screen in our room and the place for kids to go for all their stuff. It has a countdown for various activities, games, puzzles, coloring pages, a virtual pet and other items they have requested or we need for class.
The teacher link takes you to the page where I am going to record teaching resources, lessons, links and a photo documentation of technology I am trying in the classroom.
I have put a lot of work in to my sites this summer and hope everyone will take time to explore them. We are going to be incorporating lots of technology this year (blogging, podcasts, digital storytelling, skype, movie making and so much more). If the technology overwhelms you, I will be having a parent information session one evening in September. Watch for the announcement to come home. Food and child care will be provided.

Tyler reads his writing

2007-06-12T09:21:00.001-04:00

Thanks for a great year!

2007-05-30T09:10:00.001-04:00

Sadly, this year has come to an end. I will miss all the students and I hope everyone has a great summer. I want to thank all the students and parents for a great year. All the students made so much progress this year. Parent involvement and support makes a huge difference in your child's learning. Thank you for sharing your child's first year of school with me!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think about this site. If you have any suggestions for things to be added or deleted, please comment and let me know.

Thanks!

What I learned in kindergarten

2007-05-16T09:58:00.000-04:00

In Kindergarten I learned how to do math and write. I learned how to count to 100. I learned that it has to be 100 degrees to hatch a egg. I learned how to spell. Luke, 5

In kindergarten I learned how to rit and I learned how to red. I learned how to be in aredist. Tyler, 6

I learned how to play. Faith, 6

I learned to red and maf and I learrned the ABCs and 123s. Hugh, 6

I learned to reed and the wrd red. Keelyn, 5

I learned huw to rit and to red and math and to cownt to 100 and wrds. Colin, 5
.,,,,,;';'
I learned math. I learned reding. I learnned to shut duon the computer. Mikey, 5

I techd evrone to spel poop. I lrnd to stik my tung out. I lrnd how to say the pleg. I lrnd how to do mash. I lrnd how to red and riit. And I lrnd webkinz. Abby, 6

In kindergarten I learned how to do math and write and draw. I learned to be nic. I learned how to tipe on the compter. Rachael, 6

I learned how to rit and rad. I learned how to cont. I like to fed Holly and Lucy. Stephanie, 5

I learned how to red and rut. Corbin, 5

I learned how to rit and I love to rit. Kylie, 6

I learned my letrs. Sarah, 5

I learnd how to count to 100 and math and I learned about chickens and spiders. I learnd how to read and write. Wyatt, 6.

Olivia reads her writing

2007-05-13T22:52:00.000-04:00

Rachael reads her writing

2007-05-13T22:45:00.001-04:00

Kylie reads her writing

2007-05-13T22:27:00.000-04:00

Cameron reads his writing.

2007-05-13T22:14:00.000-04:00

Abby reads her writing

2007-05-13T22:01:00.000-04:00

Keelyn Reads-to view video click on the arrow

2007-05-10T20:02:00.001-04:00

When I grow up...

2007-05-04T09:04:00.000-04:00

When I grow up I wont to be Sooprman becuse I wont to fli. Jared, 5

I wont to be a policeman becuse I can erst pepl. Tyler, 6

I want to be a rme gi bekos I want to shot guns. Colin, 5

I want to be the President because I want to end the war. Luke, 5

When I grow up I want to be a vetunairyin because I think it is fun. So I askt my Mom and she said yes. Rachael, 6

When I grow up I want to be a bildr because I want to werk 4 my dad. Hugh, 6

When I grow up I want to be a pilot because I want to fli. Mitchell, 6

When I grow up I want to be a ballerina. I love being a ballerina because it is fun bellerinas are grat and thea are prte. I love ballerinas. Kylie, 6

I w to b a truck driver and actor. Sarah, 6

I love to be a policeman. I am a rle good grl. Keelyn, 5

I want to be a hairstylist like my mom. Kira, 5

I wot to be a teacher becuss tha tech class. It is fun. I like it. I rile like ben a techr. Abby, 6

I wot to be a teacher wen I gro up. I wil tec. I wil tec reting. Hailee, 5

When I grow up I want to be a President. I will get a cooke. Mikey, 5

I wot to be a store worker because my mom works at the Omish frnichr store. She got a job thar. Olivia, 5

When I grow up I want to be a paleyintollogist because they find dinosor bones! Wyatt, 6

When I grow up I am guna wrk for the rme. I wil bild guns. Cameron, 5

When I grow up I want to be a policeman. Remi, 6

I E m g be a fireman. Jeremiah, 6

I wot to be a nrs. Stephanie, 5

I want to be a cop. Corbin, 5

I want to be a vatnren. Joelle, 6

I want to be a fireman. Alec, 5

I want to be a mom. Faith, 6

Welcome

2007-05-03T21:32:00.001-04:00

Kindergarten is a great place to be!

Mrs. Sian's Kindergarten

New Webpage

What I am doing this summer...

***NEW***Student's Writing

Using the interactive board

Student writing

Lucy checks her e-mail

Our Christmas Pictures

Bee Wards Fun

5 Senses Writing

Pumpkin Seed Project 2008

Halloween Pictures

We made applesauce

Wide Mouth Frog Retelling

Brayden Reads a Book

Bee-Wards Fun

Halloween Buddies

Fall Walk

September Writing Workshop

September Reading Workshop

My D'Nealian Fonts Answer

Welcome to the new school year

Student Self-Portraits

Kindergarten Writing

Teachers

Benny's Message

Patricia's Writing

March 18, 2008 Karlee's Message

March 14, 2008

March 13. 2008

Read Around the Planet

Be My Valentine

Kindergarten Authors

Even Snack Time is Learning Time

Writing Workshop

Our Christmas Pictures

Our Letters to Santa

Julia read to the class

Snow White-Click to play video

Deputy Sheriff John Wilson talked to us about stranger danger

Stranger Danger-Click on our pictures to hear what we learned

Click on our pictures to find out what we think about Fall

Partner Reading with Mrs. Lewis' 2nd Grade Class

September Writing Workshop Video

Our Fall Nature Walk-Click to play video

Mad Cap Puppet Show

Our Class

We Can Read-Click to play video, Click for sound

Our First Day Video-Click to play video, click for sound

Welcome to the new school year!

Tyler reads his writing

Thanks for a great year!

What I learned in kindergarten

Olivia reads her writing

Rachael reads her writing

Kylie reads her writing

Cameron reads his writing.

Abby reads her writing

Keelyn Reads-to view video click on the arrow

When I grow up...

Welcome

NEWStudent's Writing