A Hoot of a Kindergarten Class!: this week's snapshot

this week we learned all about why winter happens. we learned that on December 21 North America will have fewer hours of sunlight than any other day in the year. that is the day of the winter solstice, the official first day of winter. we learned that as the earth travels around the sun, different regions receive more direct sunlight than others. the tilt of the earth on its axis is responsible for the different seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres. in the summer, when the North Pole is tilted toward the sun, the northern hemisphere gets more direct sunlight and the days are longer than during spring, fall and winter. in winter, the tilt is away from the sun and sunlight strikes the northern hemisphere at a lower angle. we also learned about precipitation and the water cycle! we learned that we get snow when there is an area of disturbed weather, usually associated with a low-pressure system. the water vapor in the clouds creates droplets and those droplets keep getting bigger and bigger until they fall. when temperatures get below freezing, it creates snow!

the pictures below are us demonstrating the sun and tilting of the earth on its axis

in math this week, students acted out mini-math scenes that represented addition and subtraction. they had a ball!

example: 9 ducks paddling on a pond. 4 ducks fly away. OR 5 fish swimming in a pond. 2 fish join them. K-OA-1

we have some very special visitors from China that we are preparing for next next week.

the students are preparing the school and doing an excellent job!

during Chinese with Mr. Bowen, the students made Chinese flags and looked at the map of China. Mr. Bowen showed the students where he was born, where he worked, and how the map looks like a rooster. :)