What a wonderful year we have had in TK! It's bittersweet that these kids will be moving on to Kindergarten next year. I'm going to miss this class!! Before we say goodbye, we had to pack in a few more fun times together. One of the ways we did this was with cool STEM challenges from Project Lead the Way. First, inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk, students worked to engineer "beanstalks" that could support an egg. It was hard but they didn't give up! Congratulations to these students for engineering the beanstalks with the highest egg supports! Our second STEM challenge, inspired by The Three Little Pigs, involved building houses out of "straw," sticks, and bricks with a partner. As a class, we discussed the function of a house and agreed that a house is a structure with walls around a center area. Students brainstormed how to make strong structures that would withstand a lot of huffing and puffing from the "big bad wolf" (AKA leaf blower). Afterward, we talked about what worked, what didn't, and what students could do to improve next time. Some of their take-aways were that they needed lots of glue and that sticking with your partner and using teamwork made for the most successful structures. Here are their finished products. All but one withstood the test with little or no damage! TK shared their favorite memories this week. In no particular order, our favorite memories were:
Students then chose a memory to write and draw about in their journal We made a new happy memory last Friday too! Mr. Love, the French and Spanish teacher and PFAA, led an amazing project that gave high school students the opportunity to write an original children's book and share it with primary students on our campus. Their whole class shared the experience with us via Google Hangouts. It was an extra special collaboration because Mr. Love is also a TK class parent! :) Speaking of high school students, I have to give a big shout out to Miss Lyndsie, a high school student out on summer break, who has volunteered in TK the past two weeks. What a HUGE difference it makes having a regular aide in the classroom. I'm SO very thankful for all her hard work. The little ones adore her!! I am confidant that this entire class of little ones is destined to do wonderful things. I'm so grateful our paths crossed this year. It's a wonderful life.
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AuthorHi! I'm Mrs. Benz and I want to welcome you to our TK blog! Here you can find weekly newsletters and fun posts about what is happening in our class. Archives
May 2020
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