Music Around the World--Week 5--America

Wow! What an exciting day we had today at our fifth morning of our Music Around the World Club! Today we learned about our country--America! We focused on how Texans like to put a country twist on American favorites. After reviewing "It's a Small World", "Kye Kye Kule", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", and "This Little Light of Mine." We were treated to a special guest, Miss Todd's Dad, Mr. Todd. He played his guitar for us and sang, "Sneaky Snake", a song that he and Miss Todd sang together when she was our age. If you watch closely, you can also see a sneak peak of Gus, Miss Todd's dog, who loves music and enjoys singing along to Mr. Todd's playing. After enjoying Mr. Todd's presentation, we had the opportunity to create string things and washboards. We used these instruments to accompany our song, "You Are my Sunshine!" You can listen to our rousing rendition in the show we made below. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about our fun day!

Don't forget to join us on Thursday night, May 18th at 7:00 P.M. for our presentation of our Music Around the World Celebration Night! You are going to enjoy seeing all of the instruments that we have created and songs that we have learned on our musical journey around the world!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CGJElEYcj8YVhUVjJkX2ZnX3M/view?usp=sharing

Super Scientists

We recently completed a study of wood. During this unit, we were introduced to five different kinds of wood--pine, redwood, and basswood, which are made from nature, and plywood and particle board, which are made by man. We observed these wood samples and then explored ways that we could change them. We participated in several experiments with wood including a challenge to sink the pine and plywood. We also learned how to change wood using sandpaper. We recorded our wood explorations in the show below. We hope you like it! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! Thanks!

                                                         https://vimeo.com/201378427

Music Around the World--Week 4--Native America

Wow! Where do I begin! We had a wonderful time in our Music Around the World class today studying some of the beautiful music that came from Native America. After reviewing "Kookaburra" and "La Raspa", two of our songs from last week, we had the opportunity to learn about the legend of The Flute Player by listening to an old Apache legend. We learned that the flute is a special instrument to our teacher, Miss Todd, who plays it in a local orchestra. She had brought her flute with her to class today and shared a Native American song with us called "Wind Song".  We also learned that the Native Americans used to play a sister instrument of the flute called a panpipe. Their panpipes were made out of reeds that had been cut different lengths and tuned to play various notes. Miss Todd showed us how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on the panpipes. Then, she taught us to play them and allowed us to create our very own panpipes. We had so much fun exploring the panpipes and can not wait to share "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" with our families at our Music Around the World Celebration Night! Here are some pictures from our exciting day and a video of our experiences. We hope that you enjoy them! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CGJElEYcj8ZndMWDdoa25xbm8/view?usp=sharing

Amazing Mazes

Today our Kindergarten students participated in a STEAM challenge (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) where they built mazes. They were grouped in partners and given popsicle sticks, 50 cm of painter's tape, and a pair of scissors. Then, they were allowed to be creative and work together to build the fastest maze with at least ten turns. We all started this challenge at the same time and completed this challenge without any adult assistant. I was impressed with their hard work and determination! There was a lot of critical thinking and active problem solving going on as they worked together to build their mazes. We have included some pictures and video from our challenge below. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about our mazes.

https://vimeo.com/200427267

I am proud to announce that these amazing girls were our STEAM challenge winners! They will represent us in the district competition!

STEAM Night

Wow! What a night! In order to prepare for our Maze Challenge at school, we had the opportunity to participate in STEAM Night last night where our Kindergarten families competed to build the fastest maze using popsicle sticks, 50 cm of painter's tape, and scissors. Their maze had to have ten turns and be able to be completed in under 180 seconds. Here is video of our challenge event and some pictures from our fun night! We hope that you had a wonderful time!

https://vimeo.com/200427435

Music Around the World--Week 3--Latin America

What a fun day we had in our third day of Music Around the World! We learned about Latin America and the exciting music that this country has to offer. We were introduced to two of their favorite instruments the guiro and the maracas. We also enjoyed two of their favorite songs, "La Raspa", and a traditional Latin American song, "De Colores." Check out our video from our fun day and some of our favorite pictures.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CGJElEYcj8Zml2cHI4NmNnT3c/view?usp=sharing

Bear Day

This week we studied bears during our science unit. We learned nonfiction facts about bears such as where they live, what they like to eat, and what they look like. Then, we studied fiction stories such as Corduroy, Going on a Bear Hunt, and A Pocket for Corduroy. Below you can see pictures from our fun "Bear Day." During "Bear Day," we brought our bears to school and allowed them to learn alongside us for a whole school day. We also enjoyed a special "paw print in the snow" snack. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about our special day!

Pictures from Bear Day: https://animoto.com/play/DKBSf0OSzy5D3dGcmMdVGg

Bear Day

We recorded what we knew about bears, what we wanted to learn, and what we learned from our bear 

stories. 

We used this double bubble map to record the things that were the same and different about real bears and stuffed bears like Corduroy. 

Paw Print in the Snow Snack