Upland Hills Farm

Friday we had our first field trip to the Upland Hills Farm in Oxford.  Even though it was a bit chilly and muddy, the kiddos had a fantastic time!  We got to watch a farm show and see different animals that live on the farm and what kind of food they give us.  We also got to take a bumpy hayride through the woods and go on a storybook forest walk.  The kids had lunch under the pavilion and got to explore the farm a bit.  they played on the playground and saw horses, bunnies, pigs and other animals.  We all got to pick out a pumpkin to take home.  Thank you so much to those parents that braved the cold and wet to come along with us!  We really couldn't do it without you!  Enjoy the pictures of our farm adventure!

4th Grade Buddies

Yesterday we met with our 4th grade buddies from Mrs. Clay's class.  We got to do a fun math and art project.  Children were given 5 different colored squares and directions for how to turn the squares into different shapes to make a scarecrow's body.  They learned how to compose a circle, triangle and rectangle from the squares.  Then they had to complete a graph and illustrate thier scarecrow.  It was a great learning experience for all involved!

Wonderful Worms

Today the boys and girls learned all about Worms.  We read a nonfiction story and a fiction story about worms to get some background information about these wiggly creatures.  We then put both the red worm and the earth worm up on the Smart board so that we could all see them up close.  We did a Thinking Routine called I See and I Wonder.  First the kids made observations about the worms.  We talked about how they are the same and different.  We then made "I Wonder" statements and children thought of questions that they had about our worms.  We will spend time next week researching the answers to our worm wonderings.  During quiet time the boys and girls each had the chance to come over to my table for an even closer look at the worms.  Some kids preferred to simply look at the worms. (I am like them! :) Some of our brave kindergarten kids were totally comfortable picking the worms up and holding them.  What a fun science experience!

Jog-a-Thon

What a fun day at Bemis!  Today was our Jog-a-Thon and the boys and girls had a blast!  We got our blue shirts on and headed to the track around 10:00.  The other kindergarten classes participated at the same time as us.  We ran around and around for 15 whole minutes! It was hard work but the kids did great.  When we came back in we got super cool blue jog-a-thon bags as a prize.  We want to thank all of the parents that worked hard to put the Jog-a-Thon together, it is a lot of work and they did such a fantastic job!  If you came and cheered our kiddos on today- it was great to see you there! One of the things that we will be using the jog-a-thon money for is expanding our Kindergarten playground.  The money raised will put up a fence around a larger area for our kids to play.  We are also hoping to get some playground toys.  Enjoy the pictures!

 

Coloring Rubric for a 3 Star Paper

 

Today at school we talked about what made a ***Paper when it came to coloring. We used the rubric below to guide our discussion to see what they noticed about the different pictures that were colored. We talked about how it is important to stay in the lines, use colors that make sense and to not leave white space. Using this rubric really helped children to see what their work should look like when they are done coloring pictures for their book boxes, story sequencing, writer's workshop like when completed. After we went over the chart we did a sight word book . Students had to color 3 of the pictures, circle the sight word MY and read the story with funny glasses. Even though MOST children did not finish coloring (which was fine) my main objective besides reading the book correctly, was to get them to slow down and color using our ***Paper rubric. Please show the picture below to your child and ask them to tell you about it today. Please also ask them to explain the different faces and their meanings.   The book is coming home today. Please go over the rubric and ask to tell you whether they thought they had a***Paper with what they colored and why. Possible follow-up at home would be to have them finish the remaining pictures and using our rubric.
Hopefully seeing this rubric will help you discuss future with your child.

Red Wings Assembly

 

Friday we had some coaches from the Red Wings visit Bemis School to bring us their message about the importance of eating healthy and exercising. They also talked about the importance of education, dedication, setting and reaching goals. Some students participated in some trivia questions and mini-teacher versus students hockey shootout. The Red Wing Foundation also donated a hockey net, sticks and goalie equipment to Bemis School. Everyone had a lot of fun hearing this important message! By the way all the kids looked great in their RED! Have a great weekend! Checkout some photos from the assembly on the Class Photos Link under Favorite Links.

Here is a the link to the article regarding the assembly.

http://troy.patch.com/articles/photos-red-wings-school-assembly-program-visits-bemis-elementary#photo-11530324