A New Year and More Fun

Happy New Year! It is exciting to feel the energy the Whales bring to the ELC. The Whales have been getting right back into it. They have been exploring the new nature table. They are creating small hibernation sites with sticks, bark, rocks, mud, water, snow, and more. As we start our study on hibernation their knowledge on hibernation sites will grow. On Friday the Whales chose a Pacific Northwest Animal (Oregon Black Bear, Little Brown Bat, Common Garter Snake, Northwest Painted Turtle) that they will research and be experts on. Next week they will dive into their research.

On Friday, the Whales were engineers. They built domino chain reactions, marble runs, Lincoln log structures, and so much more. It was so fun to see the creativity and team work in the Whales classroom. After all that hard engineering, the Whales had a mystery reader. Ms. Liesl! The Whales listened to a hilarious story about a crab. All the Whales had huge smiles on their faces!

To finish off their Friday, the Whales took a trip to the library. They picked out some amazing books that they were able to share with their Sea Lion Buddies. The Sea Lions and Whales are becoming great friends, and the Whales love listening to their buddies read them their library books. What special memories!

2023-2024 Whales production of The Gingerbread Cowgirl

Enjoy the 2023-2024 Whales production of The Gingerbread Cowgirl!

Gingerbread Cowgirl Prep, Snowball Fights, and Math Games!

This week the Whales have been deep in play practice and prep. On Monday, we voted for what rendition of the Gingerbread Man we wanted to do as a class. Of course, the Whales voted for the Gingerbread Cowboy. It is so great to continue on this Whale tradition of performing the Gingerbread Cowgirl to students and families at the ELC. The Whales picked characters and this week have been all about practicing the motions and lines. Next week, we will start working on our set design. The Whales will create their very own set/backdrop for the Gingerbread Cowgirl. We have a parent volunteer, Ms. Natalie, who is helping create some amazing costumes for our Whales, to make them feel like stars on stage. Every Whale is shining during our practices, and they are all super excited to perform to students and parents at the big University auditorium.

The Whales have been getting ready for our Read-In/Authors Celebration. They worked hard on designing some gorgeous snowflakes that will decorate our classroom, and have worked so hard on publishing their books. We have amazing authors in this classroom. Ms. Aimee, and I are so proud of all the hard work these Whales have done from the beginning of the year to now. At the beginning of the year, teachers were writing the words for the Whales, and now all the Whales are writing their own words for their stories. They challenge themselves everyday and are fantastic story tellers.

During wiggle time this week, we have been celebrating the soon to be arrival of winter by having snowball fights. Snowballs were flying everywhere, and every Whale had a smile on their face. The fun did not stop there, the Whales had a math game Friday morning. They learned a new game named make ten. In this game, Whales got a stack of playing cards. They flip over cards, one at a time, and try to add cards together to make ten. They also played bump, color by number, and checkers. After our Math morning we had a very special visitor, a Mystery Reader! A big shout out to Ms. Meghan for visiting our classroom in a Santa beard, and hat, and reading a wonderful story to the Whales.

Whale Photography, Leaf and Seed Exploration, and Tree Folk Art

The Whales continue to grow as a community. The love, happiness, and learning is shining in our classroom. This week the Whales continued with their unit of study on trees. They focused on leafs, seeds, and an exploration on tree bark. We went on a field study and played tree bingo. The Whales identified leaves, seeds, and different types of trees on our beautiful campus. They were shining with pride when they could name the trees they were seeing, and the types of seeds they were finding. We had a conversation during our field study on why there were not a lot of seeds to find on the ground. We made a scientific prediction that it could be the animals taking the seeds to get ready for the winter. Although there were not a lot of seeds on the ground the Whales were able to find some Maple seeds (helicopter seeds), Oak seeds (acorns), and Chestnut seeds. On our field study, we also took a trip to the large Sequoia tree on campus. The Whales made observations that the bark on the Sequoia was thinner, and softer than the bark of some of the other trees we see. We are going to explore this more in the following week.

This week we started our Whale Photographer of the week. Each week a different student will have the opportunity to take photos for our classroom blog. The students will learn camera functions (on/off, snapping photo, viewing photos taken, video recording, and more). They will also learn how to hold a camera, and stillness to take a clear photo. You can see some of our first Whale Photographer photos in this weeks blog. It is so fun to see this students perspective during classroom choice, outdoor learning, creative expression, and wiggle time. A new Whale will take our blog photos this next week.

The Whales began their tree folk art. They added small details to their folk trees, and had to think about sizes of their different trees. We talked about the shape of their folk trees, and the resemblance to Conifer trees. These trees start thin on top and get wider at the bottom (looking like a triangle). Their folk tree art, is creative, colorful and so fun! They will be finishing their tree art this coming week and will be up to view soon! This group of Whales supports each other during every part of our day. They are constantly giving each other compliments and filling their friends buckets.

Feelings of Gratitude and Stone Soup

Every week the Whales are growing more and more. Their hearts are bursting with gratitude for one another, and kindness for our community. With Stone Soup happening on Friday, the Whales spent the week talking about gratitude and what it means to feel and show gratitude. The Whales each wrote on a paper maple leaf one thing that they are grateful for. We put those leaves together, and created a gratitude tree. The gratitude did not stop there. Before we went to Stone Soup we turned the classroom lights off, turned our candles on, got into meditation circle and shared with each other what we are grateful for. The Whales each had so much to share. The Whales were extremely kind when hearing what others had to say, and we all agreed at the end that we are grateful for our classroom and ELC community. One Whale said, “I am grateful for the people who take care of me, the people who make me smile, and the people who teach me.” Everyone felt the love in the air.

As we continue on our unit of study of trees and leaves, the Whales spent the beginning of the week exploring different trees on campus and collecting the leaves that had fallen. The Whales collected Maple, Gingko, Oak, Dogwood, and Chestnut leaves. The Whales noticed that so many trees are losing their leaves however, they also noticed that some trees are being really brave and holding onto their leaves. Later in the week, the Whales split up into groups and worked together to sort their pile of leaves. One group sorted by color, another group sorted by type of leaf, and the last group sorted by size. Each group communicated to each other where each leaf fit. When they finished sorting, they worked together to count the leaves in each section and wrote that number down. When everyone was finished we walked around to each groups work. Each group shared with the class how they sorted their leaves and what their outcomes were. The Whales are mathematicians and are practicing talking about their study in front of a group.

The Whales curiosity for different art mediums and practices continues to flourish. This week the Whales practiced creating leaf prints of the various deciduous leaves they collected. They used orange, red, yellow, brown to create leaf prints that were unique and vibrant in color. Their leaves are hanging alongside their beautiful poem that they weren’t together as a community to write. The Whales truly are an artistic and creative bunch.

We ended our week visiting the library to pick out books to read with our Sea Lion Buddies. The Sea Lions were able to visit are classroom this week. The Whales were excited to listen to their Sea Lion buddy read their library books. They also got to practice reading their book bag books to their buddies as well. At the end, the Sea Lions showed the Whales a new activity/song. It is so spectacular to see the Whales grow connections with the 3rd and 4th graders.

Trees, Leaves, and Whale Wishes

The Whales classroom felt very quiet this week. The Whales noticed that many Whale friends were not here. We sent Whale Wishes to friends who were either traveling, or not feeling too good. Whales even took it upon themselves to write get well cards for those friends. We are hoping our Whale Wishes made it to everyone and we will see everyone feeling better and back on Monday.

This week we started our unit of study on trees and leaves. We learned that there are two main different types of trees. We learned that Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall and winter when it starts to get chilly outside. However, Conifer trees keep their needles on through the whole year. The Whales were surprised to learn that leaves have mouths! The Whales noticed that just using our eyes, you cannot see the mouths on the underside of a leaf. However, if you have a very strong and powerful microscope, you would be able to see those mouths. The Whales also learned that these mouths open to get air, and they close when they don’t want to lose moisture (on hot days). The Whales examined Conifer cones and made many different observations. Whales noticed that cones are hard and sometimes sharp so that animals don’t eat them. Conifer cones can come in different shapes, and sizes. When we were looking at our cones, the Whales found a ladybug inside one and let it go outside in our piazza.

During our creative expression time this week, the Whales told puppet show stories. Some friends were audience members while other friends were puppeteers. The Whales thought about a story to tell with puppet characters before they began their puppet shows. These stories included a beginning, middle, and end. There were stories about wizards, princesses, animals with magic, and much more. The Whales are creative and imaginative story tellers!

Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and Reading Buddies

What a busy and spectacular week the Whales have had. Dressing up for Halloween, marching in the ELC costume parade, creating sugar skull art, and starting our buddy reading with the Sea Lions are just a few of the highlights.

This week started off with high energy going into Halloween. The Whales decorated masks, played Halloween math games, created spooky stories at the story telling table, and even had a magical and spooky sign in. There were some creative and fabulous costumes. We had Whales dressed up as spaghetti and meatballs, superhero’s, princesses, ghosts, Pokemon characters, pirates, Elton John, dragons, fairies, Cauliflower, and Power Rangers. The Whales brought their amazing energy to the parade and they were so excited to see so many smiling faces about their costumes.

The day after Halloween, we relaxed our bodies. We spent lunch time listening to soothing music, and thinking about all the things we have in our life. The Whales went around the room and each shared one thing that they are thankful for. The following are some of the statements they made.

“I am thankful that my mom gives me hugs when I am sad.”

“I am thankful that I have friends who make me laugh.”

“I am thankful for my dad who cooks me dinner.”

“I am thankful for my Grandma for doing my laundry.”

After everyone shared, one Whale said they felt that their bucket was really full. It was such a gift to hear the thankfulness that Whales feel for the people and things that they have in their life.

On November 2nd, Ms. Cynthia came into the Whale classroom and gave a special lesson on Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Ms. Cynthia talked to us about how the holiday is a time to celebrate ones ancestors and people who have passed from our lives. We talked about some of the items that might be on an ofrenda including photos of family or friends that have passed, and food or other things that those people loved. She even brought paper marigolds to show the Whales the flower that is typically placed on an ofrenda. After listening to Ms. Cynthia talk about the Day of the Dead, the Whales designed and painted their own paper sugar skulls. They are now hanging in the atelier.

On Friday, the Whales had a special Mystery Reader visit. Our Mystery Reader was Claire, a sibling of one of our Whales. She read “If you Give a Mouse a Cookie”, and even dressed up as a mouse. Not only that! She also brought delicious cookies to share with the Whales along with the book. The Whales ended there Friday, visiting the Sea Lion classroom. During the week, the Whales filled out book interest forms that they gave to the Sea Lions. The Sea Lions used that information to check out special books from the library that related to the Whales interests. How great! The Whales each got paired up with one or two Sea Lions. The Sea Lions read books to the Whales and started to create relationships and bonds together. The Whales are so excited to visit the Sea Lion classroom every Friday.

Creativity and Imagination Run Wild

This week the Whales started using number bonds to decompose different numbers. They began to create addition equations using plus, and equal signs. This group of Whales loves everything numbers. They also focused on teen numbers. We played teen bingo and did a teen counting circle. Along with our unit of study on pumpkins, the Whales sorted our pumpkins by size. The class decided on creating 3 groups. The groups being big, medium, and small pumpkins. After we sorted the pumpkins into those groups we worked together to create a bar graph that shows how many pumpkins we have in each group. We talked about how bar graphs help us easily see information. Visitors in our classroom can easily see that we have more small pumpkins in our classroom than big.

Our unit of study on pumpkins is coming to an end. This week we acted out the pumpkin life cycle. We used our bodies to show a pumpkin seed planted in soil. They were “watered” and turned into germinated seeds. They showed a plant with sprouts and roots. We learned about how pumpkins then grow vines, flowers, and then pumpkins like apples grow from those flowers. We talked about the similarities and differences of the different plant life cycles of sunflowers, apples, and pumpkins.

This week the Whales created some spooky monster art. We decided to hang them in our cubby space to add some spookiness to our classroom in perfect time for Halloween next week. The students worked exceptionally hard to shape their monster, cut their monster out, and to create some different accessories to go on their monsters. Looking at the group of spooky monsters, shows the creativity and imagination that these Whales have.

We ended our week, playing math games, listening to a mystery reader, and taking a trip to the library. The students were so excited to listen to Ms. Cynthia read Interrupting Chicken. There were many laughs and smiles during our mystery reader time. At the end of our trip to the library, we decided to stop at a bench on campus and take a group photo. We took a silly photo, and a smiling photo. Check them out at the end of the blog.

Pumpkin Exploration, Celebration of Community, and More!

This week the Whales dived into their unit of study on pumpkins. On Tuesday they explored and investigated their own pumpkins. They drew scientific illustrations. They measured the height and circumference of their pumpkins. They also made predictions about how many pounds their pumpkin would weigh and how many seeds they would find inside. They then weighed and opened up their pumpkin. The Whales did some big math, counting all of the seeds in their pumpkins. Some Whales counted each seed individually, and other Whales made groups of ten and counted by tens. Whales discovered that some pumpkins had just a few seeds, whereas some pumpkins had up to 100 seeds. They were so excited to take home their pumpkins and share their findings with you.

The Whales finished their Matisse Apple art. They used shadow to make their apples look like they are coming off the page. Their Matisse Apples are now hanging in Kinder Corner, right outside the Whale classroom. Make sure to check them out!

It was lovely to see so many families back at the ELC on Thursday evening for the Celebration of Community. It was exciting to see friends and families come together to play games, read our Whale Authors published books, create community art, and celebrate what we are together. Each of you are a huge part of making our community a loving, kind, and exciting place to be. The Whale classroom looks forward to more moments of celebration!

October Fun!

When you step into the Whales classroom, you see artists, scientists, authors, mathematicians, and team mates. The last two weeks the Whales have been finishing up their apple unit of study. The Whales picked apples from around our piazza apple trees, and worked with partners to do some scientific investigating. Whales cut open their apples and made observations. Some Whales noticed that they had worms in their apples, other Whales noticed that their apples had more seeds compared to other apples in the classroom. The Whales made the noticing that every apple that we cut into was different in its own way. The Whales have also been working on finishing up their Matisse apples using concepts of light, and shadow.

Thanks to the help of Mr. Derek (an Otter dad), we collected enough apples to make a large batch of apple sauce. The Whales worked as a team to chop up the apples for the apple sauce. The apple sauce cooked all day in a slow cooker, and the classroom smelled of fall spices. At the end of the day, the Whales used their senses, and described what the apple sauce smelled like, tasted like, looked like, felt like, and even how it sounded. The Whales said the apple sauce tasted sweet. They noticed that the apple sauce looked chunky, and wet. We also noticed that it tasted DELICIOUS! To see more of the words the Whales used to describe their apple sauce, take a look at our apple sauce senses chart next to the nature table in the Whales classroom. A huge thank you to Ms. Colette for helping the Whales chop up all those apples.

This week to celebrate Pumpkin Day, the Whales began their unit of study on apples. Friday morning Whales got to explore many different pumpkin activities. At our engineering carpet Whales used magna-tiles to make strong structures that could hold up pumpkins. At our story telling table, Whales told pumpkin patch stories. Whales created scientific illustrations of some of our sugar pumpkins. They included the small details that they noticed on those pumpkins. At our literacy table, Whales created VCV words, sounded out each sound, and blended them together to read the word they made. At our mathematics table, Whales practiced counting and writing the missing numbers. At our nature table, Whales used magnifying glasses to observe the different types of pumpkins. They noticed that some pumpkins have bumpy skins, and others have Smoot skins.

On Friday, we also had many visitors in our classroom. A big shoutout to Mr. Cody for being our Mystery Reader. The Whales had a blast listening to a story about a bear and a ranger. The Whales got to end their day with a trip to a library, and some treasured reading back at the classroom. A thank you to Ms. Katie, for assisting the Whales to the library and helping Whales find some spectacular books.

The Whales are looking forward to investigate more about pumpkins in the coming week!

Apples, Apples, and more Apples!

The Whales have begun their unit of study on apples! The week started with the Whales setting up a science experiment. We talked about what experiments are and what it means to make educated predictions. The Whales made predictions about what material would make an apple rot first. They used vinegar, oil, water, and air. On Friday, we took the apples out of their jars, and made scientific observations. Some Whales think that the apple with just air in the jar dried up because it had too much air and no wind. Whales also thought that the vinegar made the apple rot first because vinegar stinks.

The Whales talked about the apple life-cycle and learned that apples like other fruits start from flowers. They noticed at the bottom of an apple you can still see the left over sepals. We talked about how bees are very helpful workers to apple trees. They fly from apple tree to apple tree to help in the fertilizing process of an apple. After talking about pollen and bees, the Whales noticed that there is pollen on the nature table that has fallen from the sunflowers. The Whales said, “The bees would love all of that pollen”.

We ended our week with an engineering Friday, and a trip to the library. For our engineering Friday, Whales engineered structures with apple pieces and tooth picks. They put their math hats on and measured their structures with rulers. One structure was 8 inches tall and stood strong. At the end of the day on Friday, the Whales took a walking trip to the Forest Grove library. They picked out great stories, and got to spend a few minutes reading their books at the library. While we were checking out, the librarian said, “you have a pretty great group”. The Whales were so kind to the community by cleaning up after themselves and thanking the librarians on their way out.

A Magical Week

The Whales felt the magic in the air this week after Felicity the handwriting fairy dropped off a surprise gift for the Whales. At first Whales weren’t sure what to think, but they quickly became excited about the magic of penmanship. Each Whale got a Felicity penmanship book, a colorful pencil, and a funky eraser. The Whales are excited to practice more Felicity writing next week.

Continuing with our sunflower study, the Whales started to use a ten frame to count some of our seeds by 10’s. On Friday, during math morning, we brought out many ten frames. Laid them all out on the carpet, and separated each seed out. Working together as a group, the Whales counted by tens to count 610 seeds from our giant sunflower. We had 5 extra seeds left over. So our total sunflower seed count was 615 seeds. WOW! That was some tricky counting but the Whales used their prefrontal cortex to help them not give up!

On Friday, we had our first Mystery Reader of the Year. A huge shoutout to Ms. Dale for coming in to read a lovely book about kindness and forgiveness to the Whales. Many Whale friends even knew Dale from swimming class.

The Whales are stretching themselves during our meditation time of day. It is heartwarming to do a kind and loving meditation where Whales reflect about who they love and are thankful for in their lives. Going around the circle afterwards many Whales mentioned they were thinking about their moms, dads, Grandparents, Aunty’s, Cousins, siblings, pets, friends, and many others. The Whales are such a community with huge hearts and are leaders of kindness. This week we also took advantage of the sun and did a meditation outside. Whales listened to hear for the wind causing the leaves to rustle, or the cars on the street passing by. They are growing in so many ways and should be so proud of themselves.

The Whales are Scientists, Authors, Artists, and Engineers!

Wow! The Whales have been doing some incredibly hard work this week. This week started with the Whales going on their first field study in the Piazza. They talked about how to use materials like a scientist, and the responsibility that researching has. The Whales noticed that some sunflowers growing in our Piazza have grown to adult plants, but some are still adolescent plants and have not fully bloomed yet. The Whales are still watching to see if the remaining buds will open to show the sunflowers pedals and florets.

On Tuesday, the Whales had their first authors share out. After some hard working on illustrations, the Whales went around in a circle as they each got to share with the group what their story is about. It is such a delight to see the Whales celebrating each others creativity and triumphs. Each Whale had a huge smile on their face as the other Whales gave them a Whale round of applause for their hard work. During this time, the authors got to practice using a strong voice to convey their stories to a larger group. The Whales are truly stretching themselves!

The Whales began their art study on Vincent Van Gogh. The Whales read a book about how Vincent Van Gogh was treated poorly because he was different. The Whales thought Van Gogh’s art work was beautiful. One student said, “If we had a $100 we could buy Vincents painting”. The Whales began their own paintings and interpretations on Vincents sunflower paintings. Check out the pictures below to see the amazing sunflowers our Whales are creating.

On Friday, the Whales started their day with an engineering morning. Some Whales created spectacular structures with Lincoln logs, while others worked on creating long domino runs. This group of Whales actively try to include others and they know that by working as a team they can create bigger and stronger structures. The Whales ended their Friday with sharing. The Whales got to practice using a strong voice to share their important picture, book, stuffy, etc. Whales are so excited to have sharing again next week.

The Whales First Week of Kindergarten

The Whales First Week of Kindergarten

The Whales had a busy and fantastically fun first week of Kindergarten. The Whales have shown this week that they are an incredibly kind, and hard working group of kindergartners. This week the Whales have begun their first unit of study on sunflowers. They explored giant sunflower heads with our pro-scope, investigated what happened to the sunflowers in the Piazza that fell over (the squirrels got to them), and started to measure different sunflower parts. We even researched a time lapse and watched the life cycle of a sunflower. Next week we will continue our exploration of sunflowers by going on our first field study.

This week the Whales began to learn about the brain and specifically parts of the limbic system. The Whales learned about the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and the amygdala. We have explored how being mindful can help our brain grow, and can help us learn, think, and make good decisions. The Whales practiced being mindful by going on a listening walk. On Friday the Whales talked about how important it is to fill others buckets. Talk to your Whale about how to add drops to other peoples buckets.

We started work on our self-portraits. The Whales are almost finished and they are looking amazing! Check them out next week when they on the cubbies. Friday ended with a fun trip to the quad. The Whales learned how to play freeze tag, and even got to climb the big tree. Every Whale is making new friends and stretching themselves in and outside the classroom.