Winter Games

 Here are some fun winter games!

Starfall: Build a Snowman

Starfall: Gingerbread

Math Playground: Holiday Games

PBS Kids: Winter Games

Hour of Code

 Millions of students around the world are celebrating Computer Science Education Week by participating in the Hour of Code. There are activities for all levels of experience. Here are some fun places to start:

Pre-readers: Code Monkey

Grades 1-2: Beaver Achiever

All ages: LightBot

Check out the Hour of Code site for more fun games!

Hour of Code

Winter Stories

 Here are some of my favorite stories for winter time!

Froggy Gets Dressed

by Jonathan London

Winter is Here

by Kevin Henkes

The Snowy Day

by Ezra Jack Keats

Plimoth Plantation

 Happy Thanksgiving!

You can go on a virtual tour of Plimoth Plantation. 

Visit the 17th Century English village.

Explore the Wampanoag Homesite.

Virtual Field Trip of Plimoth Plantation

The Maidu Museum

 The Maidu people lived in Northern California over 3,000 years ago. There is a museum and ancient site in Roseville that is dedicated to preserving the history of the Maidu people. You can go on a brief virtual visit here:

The Maidu Museum

Acorns

 November is Native American Heritage Month.

When  you go to the park, do you ever see acorns?

You can hear one of the naturalists from East Bay Regional Parks explain how the Ohlone collected acorns here: 

Cultural Connections: Acorns

Native American Heritage Month

 November is National Native American Heritage Month.

National Geographic has information about the people who lived in California 20,000 years ago:

Native People of California

You can also learn about Native People from all over the United States:

Native Americans

Happy Halloween!

 Even though we're missing the parade and class parties, we can still have some Halloween fun!

PBS Halloween Games

34 Halloween Games for Kids

Halloween Stories for Kids

 I'm Not Scared!

by Dan Crisp and Lee Wildish

Froggy's Halloween

by Jonathan London

Skeleton Hiccups

by Margery Cuyler

All About Bats

 Have you ever seen a bat?

Listen to one of our East Bay Regional Park naturalist talk about bats we have right here!

Bats of the East Bay

Want to learn more about bats?

All About Bats for Kids

Explore Mars

 Today the planet Mars is closer to the Earth than it will be for another 15 years! 

It will be visible in the East each evening and in the West at dawn. 

You can learn more about Mars here:

All About Mars

National Poetry Day

 Today is National Poetry Day!

Here are some places you can read poems. 

Maybe this will inspire you to write your own!

Starfall: Poetry

Classical Poems for Children

Poetry Corner

Observe the Moon Night

Saturday Sept. 26 is International Observe the Moon Night and Astronomy Day!

Here's a great place to learn about our Moon:

NASA: All About the Moon

You can learn more here:

 NASA Space Place: Moon

The Princess and the Warrior

The Princess and The Warrior 

by Duncan Tonatiuh

Read by San Francisco's Rosa Parks Elementary School librarian Ms. Windell

In honor of Latin American Heritage Month

Nocturnal Animals

Rangers from the East Bay Regional Parks share some of their favorite nature stories.

Songs and Stories: Nocturnal Animals

Welcome Back

 Dear parents,

Welcome back to the new school year! Even though it looks very different than we hoped, I know that lots of exciting learning is happening. 

Since we’re not having in-person computer lab, I’m helping support the K-3 teachers. If your student is using Let’s Go Learn or Typing.com and is having issues, please email me. I can usually get things fixed quickly.

I’ll be updating the computer lab blog at least weekly with fun and interesting things for our K-3 students. There are also links to all the sites we’ve used over the past few years: great math practice games, phonics and reading, science activities (and list of science fair project ideas), as well as coding. 

I miss seeing your kids in the computer lab in person!

Summer Reading!

We all know that Kensington Never Stops Reading!

While you are reading, check out Contra Costa Library's Summer Reading Program:

Summer Reading: Dive Deep

Learn to Draw Totoro

Studio Ghibli has provided some resources for kids while we're all stuck at home. Here is a video with  Toshiro Suzuki with a quick and easy tutorial on drawing Totoro.

Learn to Draw Totoro

Zebra Story Time

We can't go to the Oakland Zoo in person right now, but we can learn how the zebra got its stripes with some help from one of the keepers and the Oakland zebras!

Greedy Zebra by Mwenye Hadithi

Slime in Space

What happens when you take slime to space?
Thanks to the astronauts on the International Space Station, Nickelodeon found out.
You can find the space virtual field trip here:

Slime in Space

Nature Scavenger Hunt

You can explore nature with the scavenger hunt. Can you find these things in your own yard?

Nature Scavenger Hunt

SF Ballet Storytime

The San Francisco Ballet is doing storytime every Wednesday. The first story is read by my friend Caroline, with help from her goats. Here are the stories so far:

Caroline Lee, Ballet Orchestra Violist, reads The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin, with help from her goats Tomato and Potato:

The Philharmonic Gets Dressed

Dancer Nathaniel Remez reads Ballerino Nate, written by Kimberly Brubaker:

Ballerino Nate

Principal Dancer Esteban Hernandez reads Here We Are: Notes From Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers. Hernandez reads the story in English and in Spanish:

Here We Are: Notes From Living on Planet Earth

Jasmine Yep, Associate Director of Youth and  Community Programs,  reads If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Felicia Bond:

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Create a Paper City

You can create your own city out of paper! The British architecture studio Foster + Partners has created a series of templates for kids to create their own buildings.

Here's an article about the project with a link to the templates:
Architecture From Home

Lunch Doodles

Children's author Mo Willems is teaching kids about drawing on YouTube.

Here's an article about Mr. Willems and his drawing project:
Bestselling Children's Author Is Teaching Kids Drawing on YouTube

Here's a link to all of his lessons so far:
Lunch Doodles

Science at Home!

I know everyone is missing science lab.
Here are some cool things you can do at home with your families:

50 Easy Science Experiments Kids Can Do At Home With Stuff You Already Have

Enjoy Nature Safely!

Here are some great ideas from Friends of Five Creeks, one of my favorite local environmental groups:

• Take walks and bike rides. You can run, climb trees and discover bugs!
• Take time to look at the flowers and listen to the birds
• Plant or tend a garden
• Learn about nature with traditional guidebooks, online resources, and free phone apps (Note from Cathy: some favorites in our family are iNaturalist and BirdNet)
• Do a citizen science project

Nature Videos and Web Cams

Here are some more cool nature videos and web cams!

Kansas City Zoo: Penguins

Inside a Beaver Lodge

Live Stream the Northern Lights

The National Aquarium

Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a wonderful place to visit in person. Since we can't do that right now, here's how you can go there virtually:

Tune in To a Web Cam 
(you can watch the penguins and the otters!)

Animals A to Z
Learn about the different animals at the Aquarium

Habitats
Explore animals' ocean homes

Earth Day - April 22

April 22 is Earth Day!
Here are some fun ways to celebrate:

National Geographic for Kids: Earth Day

National Parks Service: Games and  Challenges

National Parks Service Park Cams

Live Virtual Bee Hive Tour on Instagram! Apr 21 and 23 at 1pm

Virtually Experience the Inside of a Live Bee Hive!

Watch Planet Bee educators suit up and open a honey bee hive from the comfort of your own home!  They explain the inner workings of the colony, explain why bees are important for the environment, and give tips and techniques about beekeeping. Local students will give an entertaining Q&A at the end. This all-ages broadcast is the perfect way to celebrate the natural world during Earth Week! 

Earth Week Hive Dive Lives

April 21 at 1 p.m. PST - aimed towards a younger audience

April 23 at 1 p.m. PST - for all ages

How to Watch

🐝Follow @planet_bee on Instagram🐝

At 1 p.m. PST, go to @planet_bee and click on the top left circle (our logo) to view the Instagram Live broadcast!

It's National Library Week!

Even though we can't actually go to the library right now, your family can help you visit the library online. Here are some great places:

Kensington School Library - go to the Follet Destiny Library
Select Kensington and login

Contra Costa Library - if you have a library card, you can check out e-books

Berkeley Public Library - if you have a library card, you can check out e-books

Digital Public Library of America

New York Public Library

Story Time

This is one of my family's very favorite books! We read it so many times we wore it out. Now you can hear Grover read it:

Grover Reads The Monster at the End of This Book

And here are astronauts reading science books from space (warning: this one has lots of ads. Be sure to have your kids click on the pictures of the astronauts)

Astronauts reading from Space

Jackie Robinson Day

Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color barrier when he made his MLB debut on April 15, 1947. He's always a favorite pick when we do biographies in the computer lab.

Here are some sites to help you learn about him:

Jackie Robinson Museum: Jackie Robinson Day

MLB Community: Jackie Robinson Day

East Bay Regional Parks

We're missing our field trips to Tilden Park!
Now you can explore the East Bay Regional Parks through their Digital Learning Activities:

EBRPD Digital Learning

Be sure you scroll down the page to the videos - you can check  out the pond in Tilden!

Story Time with the Contra Costa Library

Virtual Story Time

The Contra Costa County Library is launching new storytime content in two different platforms aimed at providing families with library programming during the COVID-19 health crisis.

Online Storytime is a series of videos created by some of the Library’s best storytellers. Each storyteller films a 10-minute video, from home, that includes reading books, singing songs and having fun. A new video will debut every Tuesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. on the Library’s Facebook page (@ccclib).

Video Storytime is an ongoing series for the library and the first episode of season two is live on the Library’s YouTube channel (theccclib) right now. Video storytime includes singing, rhymes, finger plays and more. A new playlist will debut every Wednesday. Video Storytime was created in partnership with Contra Costa Television (CCTV) with funding provided through a Pacific Library Partnership Innovation Grant. The segments are produced and edited by library staff.

Spring Break - Ranger Rick is online

Can't go to the Parks on your Spring Break? Here's a way to stay engaged with the outdoors.

The National Wildlife Federation is making their Ranger Rick program available free until June. Check out the online magazine, animal videos, and cool activities:

Ranger Rick 

Let's Go Learn

Is your child using Let's Go Learn as part of their distance learning?
Here's some helpful information:

Let's Go Learn provides personalized and adaptive instruction in math and language arts. It starts with an assessment to discover exactly what the students know and where they are struggling. Students are then enrolled in the instruction and activity piece.

It's important that your student do the assessments without help since the activity piece is based  on these results. Remind your child that they aren't expected to know everything already! There will be things on both assessments that are hard and things they haven't learned yet, especially on the math assessment. It's OK to guess when it gets too hard.

Once students finish the assessment they will be enrolled in the activity section. I'll be checking daily to be sure all students get enrolled quickly, but feel free to email me with any questions.

March 30 - Reading List Links for Parents

Some information from Anne Forrest about Reading Sites:

The Library of Congress reading lists for kids:  http://read.gov/kids/

American Library Association Newberry Winners: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal

Reading is Fundamental (RIF): http://www.rif.org

James Patterson’s Read Kiddo Read: http://www.readkiddoread.com

ALA Notable Children's Books for 2017: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/notalists/ncb

Contra Costa County Library System:  http://ccclib.org/ebooks

Diverse Books for your School from Welcoming Schools Site: http://www.welcomingschools.org/resources/books/

Reading list from Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/children

Reading list for older kids from Good Reads: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/young-adults 

Great websites for kids this summer: http://gws.ala.org/ 

Reading Rockets - https://www.pbs.org/launchingreaders/

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/teaching-tools/home.html

KENSINGTON NEVER STOPS READING!

A new tally sheet has been created to keep track of your reading minutes while at home.

March 30 - Math Sites for Teachers and Parents

Here are some links and information from Anne Forrest:

Math Sites for Teachers and Parents

Jo Boaler’s Youcubed out of Stanford has set up a new at home program.

https://www.youcubed.org/

For math support in particular areas, when parents aren’t enough

https://www.khanacademy.org

Great problems at all levels that can become a family discussion.

Math Problems at Bedtime – http://bedtimemath.org

The best card game around for keeping brains (young and old) math fluid.

The game of SET - http://www.setgame.com/set/daily_puzzle

Another good game for number sense and money is Monopoly Deal Card Game

PBS has family friendly games for kids

PBS - https://pbskids.org/games/

Puzzle Baron has “Who done its”  favorites of the Math Olympiad crowd

https://logic.puzzlebaron.com/

Cooking with kids is a great way to do math in real time!

https://www.pbs.org/food/theme/cooking-with-kids/

Youtube Schoolhouse Rock! Multiplication Facts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSRRAHvSQBo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3PojOwjHcc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgjCLhoI9Mk

March 24 - Women's History Month

Here are some sites with biographies of important and interesting women:

Ducksters: Biographies of Women Leaders

Biographies of Notable Women

Biography.com: Women's History

If we were at school in the computer lab, I would have  you pick a person and find the following information:

The person's name

Date and location of their birth and death

At least 3 interesting facts

This person's major accomplishment (why they are famous)

March 21 - World Poetry Day

Today is World Poetry Day!

Here are some collections of poems for kids. Read a few and then try to write your own poems.

Starfall: Poetry

Popular Children's Poems

Poems for Kids

Poems for Children

What to do during the School Shutdown

During the shutdown, I'll share links here that might be useful. Stay healthy everyone!

Have a library card? You can still download e-books and audiobooks:

Contra Costa Library

Berkeley Public Library

British Museum: Museums of the World

12 Museums From Around the  World

30 Virtual Field Trips

20 Virtual Field Trips to Take with Your Kids

Live Streaming Scheduling: Children's Artists

Metropolitan Opera Live Stream

Seattle Symphony Live Stream and Broadcasts

WCC: eLearning

Scholastic: Learn at Home

100 Things to do At Home With Kids

100 Activities to do At Home During School Closures

Week 23 - March 9

Kindergartners will do activities with geometry and shapes:

Harcourt: Loading Shapes

Harcourt: Solid Figures and Plane Shapes

Starfall: Puzzles

Ms. Landau's class will do the STAR reading assessments.

Ms. John's class will practice adding and subtracting in FunBrain:

FunBrain: Tic Tac Toe Squares

Week 22 - March 2

Third graders will practice typing.

Ms. Cason's and Ms. Ruff's class will finish the assessments in Let's Go Learn.

Ms. Hilton's class will start typing their poems.

Kindergartners will do phonics in Starfall:

Starfall: Learn to Read

Ms. John's class will do geometry puzzles in Starfall:

Starfall: Geometry and Measurement

Ms. Landau's class will do Hour of Code:

Star Wars

Minecraft

Flappy

Week 21 - Feb 24

Friday we are celebrating Read Across America!

Seussville

Children's Storybooks Online

Starfall: Poetry

Popular Children's Poems

Poems for Kids

Poems For Children

Ms. Ruff's and Ms. Cason's classes will do Let's Go Learn

Kindergartners will do phonics in Starfall:

Starfall: Learn to Read

Ms. John's class will work on telling time:

Harcourt: Telling Time (hours)

Harcourt: Telling Time (half hours)

Sheppard Math: On Time

Sheppard Math: Clock Splat

Ms. Landau's class is working on place value:

Fruit Shoot: Place Value

Scooter Quest Junior

Place Value Matching

AAA Math: Place Value

Room 14 is doing research:

Windows to the Universe: Biomes and Ecosystems

Kids Do Ecology: World Biomes

Blue Planet Biomes

Radford University: Biomes of the World

Earth Floor: Biomes

UCMP: The World's Biomes

Defenders of  Wildlife: Wetlands and Rivers

Wek 20 - Feb 10

Kindergarten and First Grade classes will do Valentine's Day activities in Starfall:

Be My Valentine

Ms. Hilton's class will practice money:

Sheppard Math Money

Ms. Ruff's class will finish the Let's Go Learn assessments

Let's Go Learn

Ms. Landau's class will finish their biography research:

Ducksters: African-American Biographies for Kids

Fact Monster: African-American Biographies

Kiddle: Biography

Students who are done may play math games in Sheppard

Sheppard Math

Third Graders will complete the Youth Truth Survey:

Youth Truth Survey

Week 19 - Feb 3

Ms. Billings' class will practice multiple addition and subtraction in AAA Math:

Addition

Subtraction

Ms. Hilton's class will work on money skills:

Sheppard Math Money

Kindergartners will work on reading in Starfall:

Starfall: Learn to Read

Ms. Landau's and Ms. Stephens' classes will work on Black History month biographies:

Ducksters: African-American Biographies for Kids

Fact Monster: African-American Biographies

Kiddle: Biography

Biography.com

Room 6 will work on telling time:

Harcourt: Telling Time (hours)

Harcourt: Telling Time (half hours)

Sheppard: On Time

Sheppard: Clock Splat

Ms. Schroeder's and Ms. Ruff's classes will do Let's Go Learn

Week 18 - Jan 17

IT'S THE 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL ON THURSDAY!

We will play 100's games!

Starfall: 100th Day of School

Starfall: Pop Bubbles from 100

ABCYA: Number Chart to 100

ABCYA: 100 Snowballs

Third graders will practice typing.

Room 6 will practice measurement in Harcourt Math:

Longer and Shorter

Length Strength

Ms. Landau's and Ms. Billings' classes will practice multiple digit addition and subtraction in AAAMath:

Addition

Subtraction

Ms. Ruff's class will work on the Let's Go Learn assessments

Ms. Hilton's class will learn about money in Sheppard Math Money:

Fruit Splat Coins

Fruit Splat Coins 2

Enough Money