Ahoy, Maties! Kindergartners board the Good Ship KinderPop!

This week presented a high seas mystery for the Kindergartners as well as others.  We had to swab the deck of towel and toilet paper streamers that covered our classroom furniture, toys, and walls.  Notes appeared at various intervals and upon further investigation, certain items were  missing in return.  This pilfering continued throughout the week with items disappearing and reappearing, and our list of suspects ever growing.

1. Shan  

2. Dr. George

3. Joanna

4. val

5. Marshall

6. Robin and Becky 

7. Penny

8. Elaine

9. Mrs. Carpenter

10. Everyone else who is not a Kindergartner 

11. Stephanie

12. A kid wrote this

13. Cara

Our first note stated, "I danced in the rain to steal from the K Class! :) Yo ho ho...
A small "leaf" stamp accompanied this letter so one of the Kindergartners commented, "Dr. George is a scientist.   Scientists deal with plants.   It's probably from Dr. George!"







Our next note appeared to come from a scallywag who sang, "I scoured your room for a treaaye and found what I was searchin' for-a cookie.   I took the critter holdin' it too."  Signed, Captain E-

P.S.  This Pirate knew all too well the art of inventive spelling- treaaye indeed!

The Kindergartners narrowed their search with names that began with "E."


  This note was just as tricky.

"Something shiny I have borrowed to brighten my day.  I'll return it on the morrow, unless you PAY!

We have so many "shiny things" in our classroom that we could not tell what was missing!

Days later, we were taunted by this same  "Scurvy Dog" attempting to to give us plunder from other stolen treasures no doubt (a skeleton key chain) but did not return our item as promised.  (Just like a pirate.)  And what was that business about Paying?


(Below)  This draped debauchery of a note simply said, " I have your friend.  He is black and white."

Ks  discovered this to be our beloved "Cat in the Hat" lovey and the last straw for Ks (especially Niccolo-he loves Cat in the Hat.)

A willing detective came in and took fingerprints and samples of evidence.  Other 1st and 2nd graders came by to express their sympathy and horror at the dastardly deeds.  Even Teacher Shan came by to lend a hand and offer moral support.  

Keen eyed Kindergartners pointed out that "X" marked this spot.

Kindergartners took their mind off of the mornings excitement with a (what else) pirate math game!  They took turns rolling dice and deciding if numbers were ""ODD" or "EVEN."  Number recognition, counting, cooperation, reading skills, and practicing patience were the bounty of this activity.


During Circle Time, Kai showed a map of a far away land across the seas called The United States of America.  He pointed out a mountain terrain, Ohio, and some homes of relatives who are probably Pirates, we think.

ARRGH!  Kindergartners write Angrrrrrrghy (we  mean angry) letters to Pirates and  Pilferers

Kindergartners used their emerging writing skills to express their displeasure at all of the recent hijinks in our classroom.  Ks cooperated with each other offering assistance with spelling, sounding out words, and forming letters.   Illustrations emphasized our sentiments. 

 

"Never, ever take cat in (the Hat)"-Mason

"Where is Cat and Hat?  Cat and Hat is lost."-Folu

An  undisclosed 1/2 Grader from Elaine's room offered a word of comfort to the Kindergartners.  However, because he said, "Nothing crazy happens here"  he was immediately thought to be a pirate and put on our list of suspects by the Kindergartners.

   

    The "Cat in the Hat" "cat"napping was confirmed by a note and (how low can you get) his classic book.  Then, quite unexpectedly, something or shall we say some furry things showed up in its place.  An attached  note revealed that our black and white friend had been said to have been turned into a black and white guinea pig!  Also, an "unknown friend" of ours was turned into his companion-  a Caramel colored  guinea pig named "Cinnamon."  We were told to complete a scavenger hunt of finding 10  paper "kisses" before our Cat (and friend) would be returned.   Of course, there were only 9 paper kisses (Just like a pirate to not know how to count we thought.)  The note increased our pirate-ese with language such as "matey"  and even included definitions.  Pirates are so tricky!

(below)   The Captain of our SK School Ship, Joanna was on hand to offer support.  She also admitted that she was not a pirate.  We could finally cross someone off our list.  

Several other notes sent us on an adventure around and into the belly of our  building shed-ding some light on several of our mysteries.  Who knew that we had so many pirates in our midst?  Talk of "heat waves" and rare "coins" aided our search.  We even received pirate booty for taking our "shiny thing".

K Buddies on Thursday, January 26th

 Kindergartners listened to a great poem designed to assist us in remembering the names of all of the 7 continents.  The 1/2 Graders confidently  chanted the words with Mrs. Carpenter as she read.  She also showed us a map that resembled an  unpeeled globe.  We then partnered up and attempted to reproduce maps using colorful play doh.  The resemblance was impressive!

 

 

Asian Lunar New Year and Chopsticks!

Kindergartners listened to a beautifully illustrated story entitled simply, Chopsticks by Jon Berkeley.  It is a story about a mouse named Chopsticks that visits a floating Chinese restaurant located on a busy harbor in Hong Kong.  He discovers an  ornately carved wooden pillar dragon while searching  for scraps of  food.  He also finds out one New Year's night that this dragon is enchanted.  Chopsticks is given a special task by the dragon and receives a special gift in return  for "on every full moon  it flies Chopsticks over the restaurant, over the mountains, and over the shining cities and the dark forests."

Kindergartners noticed illustrations of Chinese lanterns just like the ones that adorned our classroom. They also mentioned the mountain ranges depicted were similar to the ones found in our Japanese folklore and paintings.  We also found out the meaning of a  "sampan".  We briefly worried if the dragon woud have Chopstick as a meal, and later had our own experience with using real chopsticks.  Note our various techniques!