Author: zurfluhe

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Moths

At the beginning of our “Sharing the Planet” unit of inquiry, KZE adopted some caterpillars. We enjoyed observing them and taking care of them. They turned into cocoons. Last Tuesday, some of them hatched. We were all so excited about seeing the moths. We wanted to find out more about the moths. We shared our questions and then we tried to find the answers. We researched books and on internet. Our reading buddies helped us. We learned a lots about moth:
Tim: “First they lay eggs.”
Alexandra: “Then when the eggs hatched, they become caterpillars.”
Julia: “Then they built a cocoon, and then they waited and wiggled, they come out from the cocoons and become moths or butterflies. Some moths have patterns on their wings.”
Tomasz: ” I learned that they need to dry their wings after hatching from the cocoons. Sometime they hatched at night”
Mali: “If you touch the wings of the moths, they may not be able to fly. Some moths don’t need to eat.”
Altai: “I learned that their home is the world. After we release them, they will try to re-produce.”
Alex: “Moths like to fly at nights. And they land on light.”
“When the cocoons hatched, they have some liquid to help them get out. It smelled.”

We shared all our knowledge about moths with our reading buddies and parents. One of the things we learned about moth is that we need to release them. So they can return to nature – find a partner to re-produce more moths. So we had a release party. Other Kindergarten classes joined us. We shared our learning with other K students as well.

Excitements last till the end in KZE! We created this video to share with you. Hope you will enjoy our learning experiences.

https://animoto.com/play/Uf4GKDAKAKQZD5Dkl8FhWQ

This will be our last KZE blog post of the year. Thank you for visiting our class blog. Wish you all a wonderful summer!!!

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Opinions…

KZE students learned to observe and share their opinions about art during our “How We Express Ourselves” unit of inquiry. Then they used what they noticed and extended to the learning of “Opinion Writing” – share their opinions (thinking) and tell reasons why. Following is the link to the folders (they worked with their book buddies) where they documented their opinions about “reading buddy”.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1Lt1fpkOoxHS0Z1VmxNWGM2X3c&usp=sharing

Please leave us a message and share your OPINIONS about our learning!!!

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How The World Works

As we are getting closer to the end of the school year, we try to help students reflect on their learning experiences from our year-long “How the World Works” unit of inquiry. KZE students observed changes over time.

They noticed that:
Ada: “The snow is gone. Everything was white and now everything is green.”
Alex: “Animals changed too. Because when they grow, they get bigger”
Alexandra: “The temperature changed. Then the ducks go away and come back.”
Altai: “The pond is not frozen. The ducks came back.”
Emmi: “It is warmer so the worms can come out. There were no worms when there was snow.”
Gabi: “The seasons changed. It caused the temperature changed.”
Julia: “We changed too. We grow.”
Mali: “The weather changes and gets warmer so all the animals and birds come out.”
Nick: “I noticed that houses get older and it can change too.”
Safir: “I noticed it is warmer and when it is warmer everything grows like the flowers, trees, grass, bugs and birds.”
Soeun: “I see that before we were bit smaller and now we are bigger.”
Tim: “We changed. Last time we were small. Now all of us grew.”
Tomasz: “Leaves changed colors.”

After sharing our noticing, students tried to make connections between earth’s cycles/changes and behaviors in living things. They can explain what living things do when changes occurred.

KZE students demonstrated their understanding of an earth’s cycle with drawings and writings.

As we wrapped up this unit, KZE students demonstrated a better understanding of how the Earth’s cycles/changes influence the activities of living things.

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Taking action

During our “How We Organize Ourselves” unit of inquiry, KZE students started doing different jobs to help take care of ourselves and our learning environment.

One of the jobs is playground monitor – to make sure everyone in KZE is making good choices and playing safely at the playground.

Last week, we noticed that there were too many students playing at the slide. A couple of them got hurt and were crying. Some people stayed at the bottom of the slide and didn’t move. When other students came down, they bumped into each other. “It was dangerous!”

We had a discussion on how to solve the problem. We decided that the playground monitors will help ALL students to make good choices, not just KZE students.

So we go straight to work: creating signs, brainstorming playground rules, discussing how playground monitors can help, sharing at the Kindergarten community meeting, taking turn doing the playground monitor job, and training other students to do the job…

When we notice a problem, we don’t ignore it. We take action and help solve the problem.

https://animoto.com/play/tkZX8QZlX111Ym3gEZhB9A

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Authentic Learning Moment

kaymbu-image2-20160315-1011Yesterday, Nick noticed something about the book “What the Sun Sees.” By Nancy Tafuri – the back cover was upside down. He told Mrs. Zurfluh about it. Mrs. Zurfluh asked: “What do you think about that? I wondered WHY?”kaymbu-image1-20160315-1011

Some students said: “the author made a mistake.” Some said: “No, it is not a mistake.”

So we decided to read the book and try to figure out why. After reading, students had a conversation about the book and all agreed that it is not a mistake. The author put two books in this book: the first part is “What the Sun Sees.” The second part is “What the Moon See.” This book is similar to the book we read last week which the author put three books into one book. KZE students shared their noticing and thinking about the book:

Alexandra – “When the sun is shining on this side of the earth, the moon is shining on the other side of the world.”
Safir – “Day and night has something to do with the way the earth moves.”
Nick – “There are two stories in this book. One is about the sun and one is about the moon. The way the book can be flipped over shows the difference between day and night.”
Mali – “At night the sun shines on the other side of the world. The sun and the moon sees some of the  same places in the book.”
Veronika – “The moon sees that the owl is not sleeping.  The moon sees places when they are quite.  The sun see places when they are noisy.”
Julia – “Sometimes it is daytime in one place but night time in another place.”
Altai – “The earth spins.  The moon and the sun are part of the cycle system.”
Tomasz – “The owl sleeps during the day – he is nocturnal.”
Amie – “The rabbit comes out at night and the lamb comes out in the morning.  The sun does not move.  The earth goes around the sun very slowly.  It starts in the winter in January and finishes in next spring. And it starts again and again.”
Some students disagreed with Amie’s thinking.
Ada – “There is a pattern in the book. It changes from what the sun sees to what the moon sees.”
Gabi – “The sun sees the playground when it is busy during the day time and the moon sees the playground when it is quiet at night.  The earth is turning around so we have day and night.”
Alex – “When the sun is out people are playing and when the moon is out people are sleeping. The earth moves and the moon and sun are part of a cycle.”

This is one of many examples that KZE students take advantage of the spontaneous learning opportunities. WAY TO GO, KZE learners!!!

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Mixing Colors

One day, Mrs. Zurfluh read us the book “Little Blue and Little Yellow” by Leo Lionni. After the story, we talked about what we noticed:
“If you hug each other, you change color.”
“So if two people hug each other, you change color?”
“No, people don’t change color.”
“If two colors hug each other, they change to a new color.”
“You mix two colors and you get a new color.”
We decided to try.

Here is what we noticed…
Julia: “I noticed that when I mix paint the colors change. I can make new colors when I mix paint.”

Seok: “I like to mix paint! Yellow and blue makes green. Green and yellow makes blue.”

Safir: “I noticed that when I mix paint the colors change.”

Alexandra: “I noticed that when you mix colors sometimes the darker color can still be seen and the lighter color cannot be seen. Mixing colors makes new colors.”

Alex: “I can explore different colors by mixing paints. White and red makes pink, white and black makes grey so adding white makes colors lighter. You can make colors that don’t even have names. All colors mixed together make a splendid color!!!”

Amie: “When I folded the paper with my colors mixed, the pattern was copied. When I added brown to green, green got darker, adding brown to orange made the brown lighter. I created a new color by mixing yellow and blue – green!”

Emmi: “Orange and white make a pinky orange color. Mixing colors makes things more beautiful. If I mix 2 colors I end up with 3 colors, the 2 colors that I mixed and a new color!”

Mali: “I mixed pink and red and it turned into pink. If I add white the color is lighter. I used yellow and green and made a whole new color.”

Altai: “I noticed that when I mixed orange with black because I used lots of black the orange became black. If I add black to any color that color gets dark.’

Gabi: “I had fun mixing colors. Two colors together make a new color like red and yellow makes orange.”

Ada: “Yellow and blue makes green. I think that mixing colors is fun and red and white can make my favorite color – pink! Mixing orange and black makes a dark color.”

Tim: “I mixed red and yellow and it made orange – it looks like fire! Then I mixed blue and black and made very dark blue. ”

Soeun: “I can make different colors when I mix colors together. I make new colors. I like mixing colors.”

Tomasz: “I like painting and I learned today that if I mix white and red I get pink. White and purple makes light purple. White makes dark colors lighter.”

Nick: “I mixed black, red, brown and blue. I can only mix colors with paint and not with color pencils.”

After our experiment, we shared ideas on how to display our artworks.
We put them together to create a class collage. This is one of the ways that KZE artists express ourselves.

https://animoto.com/play/mDVQ3TYB21Aq071ju7I60Q

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100 days celebration

KZE students celebrated 100 days of school on Friday, February 5th. Students came up with ideas to celebrate this important milestone of their learning journey. They made hats with 100 decorations, created pictures with 100 dots/stickers/pompoms, made paper chains with 100 strips, made necklaces with 100 beads, counted 100 words, read 100 words, and wrote 100 words. They all said that they are 100 days smarter because…

Julia: “I am 100 days smarter because I can write stories and do math problems.”
Safir: “I am smarter at math – I can compose and decompose numbers.”
Veronika: “I am better at math – I can count to 100.”
Gabi: “When I came to school I didn’t know too much. Now I can read and write.”
Emmi: “I am 100 days smarter because I can write my own books now.”
Amie: “I have learnt more math and PE, reading and writing. I have learnt a lot of things!”
Nick: “I am 100 days smarter because I can do many new things. I know nearly all my sounds.”
Ada: “When I came to kindergarten I was not so good at math. Now I can do math and I can count to 100.”
Alex: “I am better at reading and writing – I can read really difficult books now.”
Alexandra: “I know how to read and write now and can do more than I could at the beginning of Kindergarten.”
Seok: “I can read more and know my letters.”
Altai: “I am 100 days smarter because I can count to more than 101 and I can count to 1000 in 10s.”
Tomasz: “I am 100 days smarter. On my 1st day of Kindergarten, I just knew a little bit math. But now I know a lot of math like how to compare length, height, and weight.”
Mali: “I am 100 days smarter because I learned so many things in so many days like math and PE. I wasn’t good at drawing and math before. Now I am good at them.”

KZE students not only are 100 days smarter. They continue to grow as reflective learners!!!

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Beautiful Things

We started a new unit of inquiry “How We Express Ourselves” this week. As a connection to our own lives, KZE students brought in beautiful things from home. They had a chance to explore and share their noticing:

Julia: “They are beautiful because they have beautiful colors.”
Alexandra: “Some of them are sparkly, some of them are not. But I still like them because I love all the stuffs.”
Ada: “They are beautiful because some of them have pictures on it.”
Tomasz: ” They are beautiful because they are shinny and sparkly.”
Amie: “They are beautiful because they are all different.”
Safir: “They are beautiful because some of them have patterns.”
Altai: “I love beautiful things because some of them are big, some of them are small. I like them because they are different sizes.”
Alex:” I love them because some of them are shinny, some of the are toys, some of them are marbles. You just don’t know what they could be.”
Gabi: “I noticed that some of the things are soft, some of them are not soft. They are all different.”
Nick: “They are beautiful because they are different.”
Mali: ” They are beautiful because some of the shells are painted and sparkly.”
Veronika: ” They are beautiful because they are different and are from different places.”
Seok: “They are beautiful because they have different shapes.”

What are we going to do with these beautiful things?
We can
make a pictures, hang them up, create a art piece, make pattern, show them to other people, and create things.

We can’t wait to share with you what we will create with these beautiful things.

https://animoto.com/play/5JvV11uuALt891vaGTPEqw

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Field Trip to Kadashi Russian Culture Center…

In support of our unit of inquiry, KZE students visited the Kadashi Russian Culture Center to learn more about the past.  For the past several weeks, through different ways (interviewing people, researching books, internet, field trip etc.), students gathered lots of evidence that help us identify how life has changed:

Alexandra: “Back then they used big tea pot to make tea. Now we use smaller one.”
Veronika: “People eat different kinds of food.”
Julia: “There was no electricity back then. People used candles. Now we have electricity.”
Tomasz: “Back then people made toys. Now people buy toys.”
Alex: “There were no cars, buses, or trains back then. People walked to school in all weather. Back then there were wooden toys and feather pens.”
Amie: “There were different kinds of toys back then. Now toys are made of plastic.”
Nick: “Back then people lived in big houses. Animals lived at the back of their houses.”
Gabi: “Back then people cut sugar for their tea. Now people don’t.”
Ada: : People walked to school back then. They skated to school in winter. Now people take buses or cars to school. But if they live close to school, they walk to school too.”
Safir: “Back then the clock is bigger than our clock now.”
Altai: ” Back then most people built houses by themselves.”
Mali: “Back then there was no telephone. Now we have telephone.”
Seoun: “People made books back then with paper.”
Tim: “Back then there was no TV. Now We have TV.”

Students have so much to share about their new learned knowledge, they decided to create their own books. They are in the process of writing the book of “How Life Has Changed.” They can’t wait to share with all of you. So stay tuned…

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Inquiry into volume…

https://animoto.com/play/4PDcme0BxO9uG0SRiYfhNA

One of our math objectives is comparing volume using more than, less than, the same as (with units).
Mrs. Zurfluh and Ms. Tracey set up a sand table with different kinds of containers. KZE students had the opportunity to explore and share their noticing:
Ada: “The more sand you have, the heavier it is.”
Seok: “I can make shapes in the sand.”
Tomasz: “This cup holds more sand because when I pour the sand in this cup, the sand come out.”
Safir: “I can make shapes in the sand.”
Alexandra: “This jar can hold more sand then the little cup.”
Alex:” There are more sand in the bowl and less sand in the jar. Because the bowl is wider.”
Soeun: “The little cup is lighter than the yellow cup because the yellow cup holds more sand.”
Amie: “You can make marks in the sand.”
Altai:” The sand can stick. The jar can hold lots of sand.”
Julia: “Sand can be hard, and can be soft.
Veronika: “There are lots of sand here. They are very little.”
Nick: “The bowl hold more sand than the cup because it is bigger.”
Mali: “The yellow cup holds more sand than the pink cup. The pink cup and the blue cup hold the same because they are the same type of cups.”

The next day, Mrs. Zurfluh showed students two containers – a jug and a water bottle. She asked: “Which one holds more? Why you say that? And how can you find out?”

Our exploration continues. Students worked in groups to try to find the answer.
Group 1A – Alex, Soeun, Ada
We think that the bottle can hold more because it is taller.
Strategy: we will put sand in the bottle and the jug, then we will weigh them with a scale and see which one weighs more. The one that weights more will hold more sand.
Action: Finding out using our strategy.
Afterward: “Oh no, the jug weights more than the bottle. It is totally different than what we had predicted.”

Group 1B – Mali, Nick
We think that the jug will hold more because it is wider.
Strategy: We will put sand or water in the bottle and jug. Then we weigh them with the scale. The one weights more is the one that holds more.
Action: Finding out using our strategy.
Afterward: “I KNEW IT. The jug is heavier and holds more.”

Group 2 – Altai, Veronika, Amie, Julia, Tim
We think that the bottle holds more because it is taller.
Strategy 1: We will fill the bottle with sand. Then pour the sand into the jug and see if the jug is full.
Action: Pour sand from the bottle to the jug. The jug still have some room.
Afterward: Julia/Altai still think the bottle hold more. But Amie, Veronika, and Tim think the jug holds more.
Strategy 2: Fill both with sand and see which one is heavier.
Action: Finding out using our strategy.
Afterward: We all agreed that the jug is heavier, and thus the jug holds more.
Strategy 3: Fill them with sand and weight them with a scale.
Action: finding out using our strategy.
Afterward: The jug is heavier and holds more.

Group 3 – Alexandra, Tomasz, Safir, Seok, Emmi
We think that the bottle holds more because the bottle is bigger.
Strategy 1: We will put sand in the containers, then we talk about it and see which one holds more.
Action: Finding out using our strategy.
Afterwards: We still think the bottle holds more.
Strategy 2: We put sand in the jug and then put sand in the bottle. Then we put both on a scale to see which one is heavier. The heavier one holds more.
Action: Finding out using our strategy.
Afterwards: Tomasz, Emmi, Seok changed their mind because the jug is heavier than the bottle. So the jug holds more.

After the exploration, we all agreed that the jug holds more sand than the water bottle. We noticed that we can’t say which container holds more just because they are either taller, or bigger. We need to measure them.

KZE students continue to explore comparing volume using unit of measure (cup). They found it easier to see how much each container holds. And it is easier to compare which container holds more.