Reduce, Reuse, Recycle We have continued with our unit on Reduce Reuse and Recycle. To reuse something, you use it again. We can use the second side of a paper. Trash can be reused to make an art project like we did. Another way we reused was to swap books with one another. The Sparkle Bottle project also reused plastic bottles. We can reduce by using less of something. We can reduce the use of electricity by turning off the lights in an empty room. We can reduce the use of water by using less water in our bath or turning off the water when we brush our teeth. We watched a couple of videos about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. One showed us how they made new things from old things. We should throw as much as possible in the recycle bin. We can recycle cans, paper, plastic bottles and glass. bottle. We sealed our bottle closed with hot glue. Raina s mom did that part for us so we didn t get burned. Finally, we added the ribbon to the bottle if wanted one. We shook our bottles at the end to blend everything together. Mother s Day/Father s Day We painted varnish on a frame to go around a recent picture of us for a combination Mother s Day and Father s Day gift. The clay project we made in art was also a gift for our ohana. Sparkle Bottles Raina s and Keola s moms came to help us make sparkle bottles. Each of us used a smoothsided bottle for this project. We wrote a special message about how to take care of the earth on a piece of laminate and put it in the bottle. Then we added water, corn syrup and food coloring to the bottle. Next we put sequins and decorations in the 1 Boys Day Mrs. Ulansey and Mrs. Kaniho came to celebrate Boys` Day. Mrs. Knutson taught us how to make Samurai Hats. The samurai hats represent strength. We also had a special snack which Keola and Sydney brought. The girls pulled out the chairs for the boys and let them get their food first at lunch.
rolling pin to flatten it and get the rest of the water out. It was a fun activity. Most of us liked the shaking part the best. Marine Debris Each child was given a net with directions to put 5 or more pieces of trash which might become marine debris on the net to make a Marine Debris Monster. Many children went to the beach and found their items. Others put trash from home on the net that would become marine debris if it were to go into the ocean. All the monsters that were brought in were put on a bulletin board in the classroom. It looks like one big trash heap! Recycle Art As a part of our recycle unit, we brought in trash to reuse in an art project. We really used our creativity in this project. Two people made hamster towns. Three people made B.B., the Bible bookworm. One person made a building. Another made a slingshot. Two people made guns. It s amazing the variety of things we created. Making Paper We have been studying how glass, paper, plastic and cans can be recycled. To simulate the recycling of paper, we recycled clean toilet paper and made it into new paper that was used in the making of a thank you book for Kahu Cathy. First we put 8 squares of toilet paper in a jar. Then we poured water up to a line on the jar. After that, we closed the lid and shook the jar really hard for three minutes. The next step was to pour the pulp over a screen that was sitting on a dish. We put another screen on top of the pulp and moved the pulp to a pad of newspaper. Then we pressed the pulp with a sponge to soak up water that was still in the pulp. Next, we took off one screen and laid the paper on a piece of waxed paper. Then we rolled it with a Progressfolio There were LOTS of things to do for our progressfolio at the end of the school year. First, we did a math reflection, reading reflection, writing reflection and kindergarten reflection. Next, we drew a picture for This is Me. Then we did our writing sample for the end of the year and chose a book we could read at the end of the year. We put lots of pictures in the back of our progressfolio. Finally, we did a kindergarten web and a math web. What a lot of work! 2
and a graphic and typed a message. When it was printed, we folded it in half and then in half again. Math Lately we ve been doing story problems, both addition and subtraction. It was fun acting out some of the problems! Another fun activity was making addition and subtraction problems using dominoes for the numbers. One day we had a contest, boys against girls. Mrs. Knutson held up a domino. The first to tell the total number of dots on the domino won a point for the team. It was a lot of fun! Swimming Our class has been swimming in P.E. on days 1 and 4. At first we learned to do bobs and blow bubbles. Then we used kick boards. We also used life jackets. We were very busy in the pool! Mrs. Nash s group went in the 14 ft. water wearing a life jacket and jumped off the diving board. Mr. Hanson s group jumped off the diving board without a life jacket. Both of these groups also did a back float. Mr. Tschillard s group hung onto the side of the pool and kicked their feet. One day Mrs. Harrell substituted for Mr. Hanson. We showed her all of the things we could do. Another day we did surveys in math. A survey is a question that you ask a lot of people. Our survey question had to be answered by yes or no. Here are some of our questions. Do you like the sun? Do you like to eat? Do you like mice? Do you have a pet? Do you like computer lab? We found out it was easier to use the paper that had the names on it instead of the one that had two spaces for yes and no. We enjoyed taking the surveys! Computer Lab We made cards for Teacher s Appreciation Day in the last computer lab using Print Shop. The first step was to go to cards. Then we chose Start from Scratch. We chose a header, a border Hi ilei Media Center/Computer Lab We took all of our books back to the Hi ilei Media Center. Now we re going to Computer Lab. A poster about how we ll take care of the Earth was our first project. We made a card to teachers to thank them for teaching us using Print Shop. It was fun to make a self-portrait using Photo Booth to take our picture. We used KidPix to make the rest of the picture. 3
Science We ve been learning about water in science. First we discovered things about water at pools outside. We put pipes together so water could go from one tank to another. There were gutters and pipes to make a long slide for the water. We tried to make the water move to different places by scooping up water and pouring it in the gutter. Later we worked with pipes at fish tanks. There were cups and funnels and lots of connectors to hook the pipes together. We poured water into the pipes and watched the water go through the pipes. The last class we went to the pool and explored how water can move things. Music We ve been playing rhythm sticks in music and marching to The March of the Toreador. During the month of May, we ve been singing Imua Kamehameha, Sons of Hawai i and a good-bye song for teachers who are retiring. Hawaiian Language and Culture We made packs of cards with Hawaiian letters so we can learn how to say the letters in Hawaiian. Classroom Science In the classroom we continued our study of water drops. The water drops were a hemisphere shape. We planned out our own experiment with water on different surfaces. The next lesson we compared two colored liquids. Some of us determined which one was the water by its shape. Others noticed that one liquid had a lot more bubbles than water. The last day we worked with water on nature. When we put water on eggplants, the water rolled right off. Birthdays May was a BUSY month of birthdays! We celebrated the birthdays of those born in May AND a summer birthday. That s a lot of celebrating! 4
The May birthday child was Makau. Miss Blackburn s birthday was also in May. The summer birthday children whose birthdays we celebrated this month were Ku uwainohea, Piper and Rhye. Birthday Blue was very busy! We enjoyed the delicious snacks and goodies. Hau oli la Hanau to all! children are still in school. They will be cleaning on May 26 and May 27. Just let Mrs. Knutson know when to expect you, as there are times when no one will be in the classroom due to meetings or other events. Mahalo for any help you may give! Book Swap The final activity of our Recycle, Reduce, Reuse unit is the Book Swap, which was on Tuesday, May 20. We brought chapter books, toy books, Star Wars books and a book about the months. Mrs. Knutson put the books on the carpet so we could choose an equal number of books as we brought in. Some people brought one book. Others brought eleven & thirteen! The rest brought between two and seven books. This was our way of reusing books. Last Day of School Friday, May 28 is the last day of school. This is the day of our class picnic. Please send food and drink for your child on that day along with a bathing suit and towel. Sunscreen is also advisable. Each child may bring two sand toys. Help in the Classroom Parents are welcome to help clean up in the classroom at their convenience on June 1 or June 2. Those who have clearance may also come while the 5