The Human Body

Kindergartners began our Human Body unit with a poem, "Me" by Karla Kuskin then wrote one of our own to the tune of "Aiken Drum."  K's were only given the prompts to 1) Name a part of the head and 2) Name a food.  The end result was a funny delicious piece of prose that we sung together.   We then illustrated our "face" collectively.

There was a man who lived in the moon, 

in the moon, in the moon,

There was a man who lived in the moon 

and his name was Aiken Drum.

"His hair was made of macaroni cheese..."(Lilith)

"His mouth was made of cereal..." (Mason)

"His brain was made out of cotton candy, licka-licka..." (Niccolo)

"His eyes were made of salad..." (Eleanor)

"His nose was made of a lollipop..." (Maia)

His eyelashes were made of  ice cream..." (Olivia)

"His ears were made of broccoli..."  (Alexandre)

"His tongue was made of M & M cookies... " (Ava)

"His teeth were made of chocolate M &M brownies..." (Folu)

His forehead was made of  cucumber..." (Kai)

     and his name was Aiken Drum! 

On last Monday, the Kindergartners learned about standard and non-standard measurements.  We talked about our ruler measurement exercises as "standard" methods (something that is agreed upon universally.)   We used rulers to measure manipulatives, books, our bodies, and toys.  We afterward traced our own hands.  We then predicted whether we would get the same measurements using our various hand measurements versus ruler measures on the same object.    We then traced and cut out our hands and compared them with found items around our room that had the same (non-standard measurement.)  We were later led further into the lesson by Ava.   She showed everyone (step by step) how to change their ordinary hand tracing into something quite extraordinary

We also traced our foot (See upcoming "Weights and Measures" blog for details.)

On Friday, Mr. B. and our new 5th/6th Grade Buddies came back (last time, they gave outstanding presentations on the Human Body)  to share specially selected stories.  They went to the library and hand-picked various books just to read to us!  We listened to fictional tales about pigs and dogs; and non-fictional stories about whales and the tallest woman in the world.   Kindergartners were once again a wonderful and attentive audience!  Before departing, our Buddies even hung our snowflakes (made by Chris' 3rd and 4th Graders)  to decorate our room.  We can't wait for them to return!

We afterward took our own trip to the Mallett's Creek Library for browsing, table toys,  fish gazing, and computer games and stories. 

 12/7  I introduced  the Kindergartners to a tradition my Mother shared with me at the age of about 5-  drawing,  in particular, drawing portraits.  She and my subsequent art instructors would explain to me the many options of facial shapes then approach the rest of the features as if their placement were a math problem.   They said "Divide the head in half horizontally....  Draw features in the lower half only....  Divide the half in half- that's where the nose goes...   Place 2 circles over three circles over four circles over two circles....  Ears are placed between the corner of the eye and bottom of the nose etc."    I treasure the memory of that one- on- one time with my Mom and appreciate her (and others) instilling the love of Art in me!

Kindergartners afterward tried their hand at creating portraits.  Amazing!!!!!

"This one is a human."-Mason

"This one is a pig."- Mason

Masons portrait after applying the portrait drawing lesson (same day) 

12/20 Shan provided an activity right in line with Monday's Circle Time discussion and story, Me and My Amazing Body by Joan Sweeney.    The Kindergartners worked as a team to assemble a "Human Body" floor puzzle and afterward exercised their human bodies with a brisk walk!  

Other literature compared human skulls to animal skulls.

The Kindergartners learned that the word that means to give a human attribute to an inanimate object or animal is called "personification"!  

Asian Lunar New Year with Kai and Mom

Kai's Mom came in on 12/21 (Alexandre called it the "smallest" (shortest) day of the year.)  She explained Kai's family tradition of celebrating the Asian Lunar New Year.  She told of the event being celebrated with a special cake and  (uncut) noodles (long noodles symbolize long life.)  Specially shaped dumplings are also traditional menu items.  Kai's Mom also discussed the use of fireworks which Kai explained to be "cans of gun powder that catches fire and goes phew, phew, phew."

 She also shared some Asian mythology telling of  a problem of a monster eating the villages crops.  The solution was that on the day before the monster's expected arrival, the people would lay out gold and food with the hope that it would leave their harvest alone.  In the meantime, two discoveries were made.   The monster was afraid of the running children's red clothes and the sound of loud noises.  Thus the holiday of wearing red and using firecrackers during the Asian Lunar New Year celebration was born.  We were intrigued by the story and grateful for the oranges (abundance), red envelopes (wealth), beautiful bouquet of flowers and Kai's sharing.  One last thing that Kai's Mom wanted to leave with us, "Don't take advantage of what we have and the importance of family!"  

Well said!

On Wednesday 12/21, Kindergartners took a trip to a Saline Bowling Alley to meet Shan for P.E.!  We were accompanied by our 5th/6th Grade Buddies who assisted with shoe sizes, instructions, and an all around physically good time!   5th/6th Grader's also supplied an abundance of cheers and encouragement to our Kindergarten class.  Thank you Shan and your awesome, user friendly Physical Education program!