We had a great first three half days of Kindergarten!
On the first day of school we read the story The Kissing Hand. in the story Chester Raccoon wants to stay home with his mom and with his toys. We talked as a group about what it was like to come to Kindergarten and how sometimes we can miss our families, but that our families miss us too and that we can learn and have fun at school and still look forward to seeing our moms and dads at the end of the day! We also found out that even though we have fun toys at home, we have lots of fun toys at school too!
We also got to read several other books about Chester Racooon including A Pocket Full of Kisses where Chester is jealous of a new baby brother, A Kiss Goodbye where Chester has to move, and Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully where Chester learns how to deal with a bully at school. It was amazing how many problems that Chester faced that we face too!
Each child brought in a collage that they had decorated using things that they like. It was great to see all of our active boys and dancer girls get to make something that was very unique and very "them". Each child got to decorate these and we showcased them outside of our room so everyone could see how awesome our class was! Each student also filled out an all about me paper and had the time to share so that we could get to know them a little better!
All in all, a great start to Kindergarten!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Friday, April 3, 2009
Spring-y Friday
Today was such a beautiful day! We've talked about how all the rain is important in spring to help the flowers grow, but we certainly enjoyed the first sunny day all week!
Today we read Sky Tree by Thomas Locker and discussed the changes that take place in a tree over the four seasons. This book has beautiful paintings that show the tree through all the seasons and in between. We read the short stories for each tree and then discussed the pictures, noting how things have changed and discussing which season must be represented and why. After we finished this we did this week's graph: Which season do you like best: Fall, Winter, Spring, or Summer. The majority of our class likes summer because they like to go to the beach! A few people chose spring because they like to plant flowers and also enjoy seeing the flowers when they grow, and one chose winter because she likes to play in the snow!
Then we did our Let's Find Out for the week. We learned about the life cycle of a Dandelion. We learned that Dandelions start out as yellow flowers before they turn into the puff balls that we love to blow! We discussed other ways that the seeds could be blown such as the wind and animals walking by. Then we learned that the seeds go into the ground and the whole cycle starts again. I was really impressed because as I describe it the children said "It is a cycle!". They remembered that from science class :)
We also worked on a poem called Invite the Wind. We read the poem together and then discussed it. First we looked for rhyming words in each section and then we discussed the symbolism of the poem. In the poem it talks about asking the wind to come and play and asking the wind to say your name and we talked about how the wind can do these things. The children all had great ideas about the wind playing by moving things and blowing and the wind being able to say your name when it whistles by. Then the children got into groups and did "poem puzzles". I had cut the poem into pieces and the children worked together in groups to match the poem puzzles to the print out of the poem. Then we colored the poem picture. These poems will be in your children's poetry books that I will send home at the end of the year :)
The day flew by with all of our fun spring activities! I'm looking forward to next week when we start talking about eggs. We'll start on Monday by reading Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett and on Tuesday the children are each to bring a surprise in their eggs. The children will use vocabulary words to describe the things and we will all guess. Then we will look at different eggs and what animals lay them in the book An Egg is Quiet and also in our Let's Find Out. We'll also explore eggs in a poem, Batches of Hatches. Then after spring break we will actually be getting a shipment of Painted Lady Butterfly larvae to observe!
Today we read Sky Tree by Thomas Locker and discussed the changes that take place in a tree over the four seasons. This book has beautiful paintings that show the tree through all the seasons and in between. We read the short stories for each tree and then discussed the pictures, noting how things have changed and discussing which season must be represented and why. After we finished this we did this week's graph: Which season do you like best: Fall, Winter, Spring, or Summer. The majority of our class likes summer because they like to go to the beach! A few people chose spring because they like to plant flowers and also enjoy seeing the flowers when they grow, and one chose winter because she likes to play in the snow!
Then we did our Let's Find Out for the week. We learned about the life cycle of a Dandelion. We learned that Dandelions start out as yellow flowers before they turn into the puff balls that we love to blow! We discussed other ways that the seeds could be blown such as the wind and animals walking by. Then we learned that the seeds go into the ground and the whole cycle starts again. I was really impressed because as I describe it the children said "It is a cycle!". They remembered that from science class :)
We also worked on a poem called Invite the Wind. We read the poem together and then discussed it. First we looked for rhyming words in each section and then we discussed the symbolism of the poem. In the poem it talks about asking the wind to come and play and asking the wind to say your name and we talked about how the wind can do these things. The children all had great ideas about the wind playing by moving things and blowing and the wind being able to say your name when it whistles by. Then the children got into groups and did "poem puzzles". I had cut the poem into pieces and the children worked together in groups to match the poem puzzles to the print out of the poem. Then we colored the poem picture. These poems will be in your children's poetry books that I will send home at the end of the year :)
The day flew by with all of our fun spring activities! I'm looking forward to next week when we start talking about eggs. We'll start on Monday by reading Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett and on Tuesday the children are each to bring a surprise in their eggs. The children will use vocabulary words to describe the things and we will all guess. Then we will look at different eggs and what animals lay them in the book An Egg is Quiet and also in our Let's Find Out. We'll also explore eggs in a poem, Batches of Hatches. Then after spring break we will actually be getting a shipment of Painted Lady Butterfly larvae to observe!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
This Week's Centers
Alphabet: The children are using the word family eggs from last week, but this week they have to write the words that they make in their journals. After they write them down, they have to read them to me.
Math: The children are writing down the numbers that they make using their making number eggs from last week. After they complete four eggs, they read the numbers that they made to me.
Puzzles: In the spirit of spring, the students are working on a puzzle that matches up baby animals with their parents. This is leading into our life cycles unit that we will be starting after Easter.
Listening: This week the children are listening to There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick and filling out a listening center sheet about it. They have to write the title, draw a picture, and write about their favorite part. This book is hilarious and the children have enjoyed reading all of the Old Lady books!
Math: The children are writing down the numbers that they make using their making number eggs from last week. After they complete four eggs, they read the numbers that they made to me.
Puzzles: In the spirit of spring, the students are working on a puzzle that matches up baby animals with their parents. This is leading into our life cycles unit that we will be starting after Easter.
Listening: This week the children are listening to There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick and filling out a listening center sheet about it. They have to write the title, draw a picture, and write about their favorite part. This book is hilarious and the children have enjoyed reading all of the Old Lady books!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Everything We Learned ABC
This week we have been working on an alphabet book.
On Monday we read Library Mouse which is a story about a mouse who lives in the library and decides that he could write a book. The children all want to meet him so he makes a box that says "Meet the Author". When the children look in the box they see themselves in a mirror and then they all write their own books. I used this story to open up a discussion about who can be an author or an illustrator. We decided that anyone could be an author or an illustrator!
Then we started talking about what kind of book we were going to make. The children got to look at several different kinds of alphabet books, including many different ones by Jerry Pallotta (My FAVORITE alphabet book guy!). We read The Furry Animal Alphabet Book and Kindergarten ABC together and decided what to write our book about. The children came up with the title Everything We Learned because it is going to be a hodge podge of different things that we like and have learned about at school or at home or anywhere really!
Each child will make two pages for our book. We assigned the letters on Tuesday and completed one page each today. We'll finish up tomorrow and put our pages in order. Then we will get to read our very own book written and illustrated by us on Friday! Be sure to stop by and check it out :) So far it is REALLY awesome!
On Monday we read Library Mouse which is a story about a mouse who lives in the library and decides that he could write a book. The children all want to meet him so he makes a box that says "Meet the Author". When the children look in the box they see themselves in a mirror and then they all write their own books. I used this story to open up a discussion about who can be an author or an illustrator. We decided that anyone could be an author or an illustrator!
Then we started talking about what kind of book we were going to make. The children got to look at several different kinds of alphabet books, including many different ones by Jerry Pallotta (My FAVORITE alphabet book guy!). We read The Furry Animal Alphabet Book and Kindergarten ABC together and decided what to write our book about. The children came up with the title Everything We Learned because it is going to be a hodge podge of different things that we like and have learned about at school or at home or anywhere really!
Each child will make two pages for our book. We assigned the letters on Tuesday and completed one page each today. We'll finish up tomorrow and put our pages in order. Then we will get to read our very own book written and illustrated by us on Friday! Be sure to stop by and check it out :) So far it is REALLY awesome!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Dollar Store Find of the Week!
While I was at the Dollar Store (my very favorite place to find things for school) over the weekend I found two really awesome deals.
The first was a game of spider jacks. Same game as regular jacks, only instead of jacks it is spiders! I have had jacks on my shelf all year and they have been played only a handful of times... several different children wanted to play spider jacks today! Use it for hand-eye coordination, counting, number sense, etc...
Non-fiction animal books. These books were too great to pass up! I got Giraffes, Zebras, Lions, and Elephants. They are non-fiction with great, real-life photographs of the animals and sentences that even beginning readers can read!
The first was a game of spider jacks. Same game as regular jacks, only instead of jacks it is spiders! I have had jacks on my shelf all year and they have been played only a handful of times... several different children wanted to play spider jacks today! Use it for hand-eye coordination, counting, number sense, etc...
Non-fiction animal books. These books were too great to pass up! I got Giraffes, Zebras, Lions, and Elephants. They are non-fiction with great, real-life photographs of the animals and sentences that even beginning readers can read!
Friday, March 27, 2009
The rain isn't getting us down!
Despite the chilly rain, we had a great day today!
This morning we had our March Community Dialogue. First Mrs. McCachren's fourth grade students presented their Shakespeare masks that they had made in Dramatic Art and also did a short performance that explained Shakespearean theater. The masks were awesome and I think the children really enjoyed the performances because the fourth graders had put them together, so of course they were silly at times!
This afternoon was the Mr. Al concert! I had never heard of Mr. Al... I've been missing out! The children were really excited to get to "ride on the school bus" and head to Barium Springs to hear Mr. Al. We got there and we were the only group there, which meant much more audience involvement! Mr. Al did all kinds of songs and the children got to do all kinds of dancing. The children got to reach in their pockets and pull out "their groove" and do all kinds of wild dancing!
After Mr. Al we got back in school just in time for ice cream :) Overall, a fantastic rainy day!
This morning we had our March Community Dialogue. First Mrs. McCachren's fourth grade students presented their Shakespeare masks that they had made in Dramatic Art and also did a short performance that explained Shakespearean theater. The masks were awesome and I think the children really enjoyed the performances because the fourth graders had put them together, so of course they were silly at times!
This afternoon was the Mr. Al concert! I had never heard of Mr. Al... I've been missing out! The children were really excited to get to "ride on the school bus" and head to Barium Springs to hear Mr. Al. We got there and we were the only group there, which meant much more audience involvement! Mr. Al did all kinds of songs and the children got to do all kinds of dancing. The children got to reach in their pockets and pull out "their groove" and do all kinds of wild dancing!
After Mr. Al we got back in school just in time for ice cream :) Overall, a fantastic rainy day!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Spring has Sprung!
This week we are talking about Spring! We're all glad it is here :) We're loving the warmer weather!!
This afternoon we did a lesson that incorporated Math, Science, Music, and Art. Basically... Everything!
We started out discussing what season we are in and what the different seasons were and the order, etc... Then we sang a song, "The Seasons Song" that described each of the four seasons and then had the chorus:
"Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
I like ____________ Best of All
Winter, Fall, Summer, Spring
_________is the one that makes me sing"
After we listened to the song in pieces and discussing each different season and the differences in each one (for example: In Summer you put on your sandals, in Spring you put on your rain boots), we listened and sang the whole thing. We talked about how each season had cool things that we could enjoy and brainstormed some of those.
Then I gave each child the chorus of the song in a poem and they had to choose which season was their favorite (it was hard for some of them because there are such good things in all the seasons!) and write the word in the blanks and make a picture of their favorite season inside the seasons border--They were illustrating the poem.
They did a fantastic job with these! (They will be sent home at the end of the year in their poetry books we've been working on).
We are going to continue talking about Spring this week with a Spring mini dictionary and then talking about the story When Will It Be Spring using a retelling cube. We tried out the retelling cubes last week and really liked them. This activity helps the children not only retell the stories, but also with their language and higher order thinking skills.
This Week's Centers:
ABC: Hatch-a-word. In this center the children are pairing up and reading eggs put together with different word families. For example, an egg might have "at" on it and then you turn the egg to make "Cat, Bat, Rat".
Math: Hatch-a-number. Similar to hatch-a-word. Eggs with the number families 1's-90's are in the bucket for the children to sit and read the numbers to each other.
Writing: Students complete the writing prompt "I wish I could grow". They copy this and then use inventive spelling to finish the sentence. I did not help the group today with any of their spelling and they all did a fantastic job! I'm going to try not to help the other two groups either
:-p
This afternoon we did a lesson that incorporated Math, Science, Music, and Art. Basically... Everything!
We started out discussing what season we are in and what the different seasons were and the order, etc... Then we sang a song, "The Seasons Song" that described each of the four seasons and then had the chorus:
"Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
I like ____________ Best of All
Winter, Fall, Summer, Spring
_________is the one that makes me sing"
After we listened to the song in pieces and discussing each different season and the differences in each one (for example: In Summer you put on your sandals, in Spring you put on your rain boots), we listened and sang the whole thing. We talked about how each season had cool things that we could enjoy and brainstormed some of those.
Then I gave each child the chorus of the song in a poem and they had to choose which season was their favorite (it was hard for some of them because there are such good things in all the seasons!) and write the word in the blanks and make a picture of their favorite season inside the seasons border--They were illustrating the poem.
They did a fantastic job with these! (They will be sent home at the end of the year in their poetry books we've been working on).
We are going to continue talking about Spring this week with a Spring mini dictionary and then talking about the story When Will It Be Spring using a retelling cube. We tried out the retelling cubes last week and really liked them. This activity helps the children not only retell the stories, but also with their language and higher order thinking skills.
This Week's Centers:
ABC: Hatch-a-word. In this center the children are pairing up and reading eggs put together with different word families. For example, an egg might have "at" on it and then you turn the egg to make "Cat, Bat, Rat".
Math: Hatch-a-number. Similar to hatch-a-word. Eggs with the number families 1's-90's are in the bucket for the children to sit and read the numbers to each other.
Writing: Students complete the writing prompt "I wish I could grow". They copy this and then use inventive spelling to finish the sentence. I did not help the group today with any of their spelling and they all did a fantastic job! I'm going to try not to help the other two groups either
:-p
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)