IPADS Come to Bemis!

Today was a very exciting day because our Kindergartners were able to experiment on the new Ipad's that Bemis received as a the result of a bond that was passed about 5 years.  The last of the money was put towards purchasing 1 class set of them per elementary school.  We were very excited to get to test them our with our buddies.  The Ipad's are going to be a wonderful tool that will be available for all grades. 

 Last year I passed on an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal regarding handwriting and how tools such as the Tablet, Ipad, Droids, etc were giving practicing handwriting a boost.  I have attached the link.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html Wall Street Journal Handwriting Article

Today we mainly just explored with our buddies in Mrs. Clay's class.  I know that many of the students have had practice already on Mom and Dad's at home. 

Parade Company!

Today we went on our first field trip to the Parade Company in Detroit.  Prior to the trip we watched a short video clip on Youtube of the Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit.  They boys and girls were amazed at all of the costumes, floats, balloons and other characters in the parade.  They were so excited to go and see these things up close. 

At the Parade Company we were led around the warehouse by a guide.  We learned about how the floats are designed, and watched as workers carved different pieces of new floats out of styrofoam.  We got to look inside floats to see how they are driven down the road.  We got to touch many of the fabrics, plastics, and other materials that are used to make the floats.   Some of the floats had parts that moved, some were designed by students, others had familiar characters from fairy tales.  We saw hundreds of paper mache character heads that weigh up to 50 pounds and are worn by volunteers in the parade.  Many of the floats are rented out by other cities to be used in their parades.  Some of the floats are several decades old and have to be repaired over and over.  The boys and girls were able to take home a clown noses and an activity book from the Parade Company.  It was so interesting learning about all of the work that goes into making the Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit so spectacular.  Don't forget to watch it on TV on Thanksgiving Day!

Halloween Parade and Party

Happy Halloween!  We did lots of fun Halloween activities and games in our classroom on Friday!  We read a Halloween story, played games on our smart board and did some Halloween math in the morning.  In the afternoon we listened to spooky music during rest time.  The boys and girls were very wiggly in anticipation for our Parade and Party!  They loved getting dressed up in thier costumes and looking at all of the other kiddos!  We had lots of princesses, superheros, animals, and more!  We were towards the front of the parade and got to go through all of the classrooms and around the track.  After the parade was over we came back and had our first party in Kindergarten.  Both all day kindergarten classes shared the party and the boys and girls had lots of games to choose from in each room.  We had yummy treats and played lots of fun games.  There was a spider fishing game, pumpkin bowling, donut eating race, drop the skeleton into the house, and a bat race game.  We also made pumpkin lanterns, skeletons out of Q-tips and tootsie pop ghosts.  I think our first party was quite a success!  Thank you to all of the parents that donated supplies for our party or volunteered!  We could not pull it off without your help! :)