Classroom News

The first day of fall has officially arrived, and it looks like some cooler weather is on its way! Looking forward to celebrating the change of seasons with the students in the weeks ahead. It's been a busy two weeks. Keep reading below to see what we have been learning!

Math
It's official! We finished our first unit in math which focused on an in-depth understanding of the numbers 1-5 as well as the concepts of same and different. Our kindergarten mathematicians not only learned how to read and write the numbers 1-5, they also practiced counting different collections of objects while using their math words to explain their thinking. In one activity, students used cubes to show the numbers 1-4. It was great for us to see that there is more than one way to solve a problem!

In this math activity, students worked to create a set of "Spot the Difference" pictures. Students colored 5 small differences between the two pictures and partners had to find and explain them!

In this activity, we focused on the numbers 1-5 to create pretend animals. From a 5-eyed zebra to a dog with 3 arms, our kinder friends were very creative!

Jolly Phonics
The students continue to do a great job learning their Jolly Phonics sounds, and they are gaining more and more confidence labeling their pictures. I am encouraging them to "give it a go" when they work to label their pictures as they listen for the sounds and match the letters. They are definitely rising to the challenge! Thank you again for your support at home helping your child add one more example to their notebooks each night.

Blue Book Bags
This week the students added one more item to their blue book bags---a ring of Jolly Phonics sounds. They have also been adding to their growing collection of sight words and sight word books. It was fun to see so much excitement as the children added their new sight word to their baggie. Please continue to practice reading the sight words and sight word books with your child and reviewing our Jolly Phonics sounds. The extra practice at home helps students build confidence as they work to apply and use these skills in the classroom. Thanks so much for your support!

Zones of Regulation
The children were introduced to the Zones of Regulation this week. We learned that we all have many different feelings and emotions and that these emotions can fall into four zones. These zones can be compared to traffic signs like the ones below. We talked about how it's okay to have many different feelings, but our goal at school is to be in the "green zone," which is when we're feeling happy and we're ready to learn! We read the book The Way I Feel and then sorted different emotions into the four zones. We'll continue to practice identifying our emotions, and we'll also learn strategies to help us get back to the green zone when we feel ourselves moving away from green.

Centers
The students loved working in centers over the last two weeks. For our latest round of centers we focused on learning the names of our classmates while practicing our alphabet skills at the same time.  The play-doh center was definitely a class favorite! Check us out in action below!

While our center games and activities are often more academic based, the children also have time to play in free choice centers. Take a peek at some of our favorite playtime activities below!

LMC
The students were eager to use computers to do some research on Pebble Go. Not only did students learn about the season of fall, they also learned how to open up a web browser, navigate to our LMC homepage, and use the audio feature in Pebble Go.

All About Me
We kicked of our kindergarten version of show-and-tell this week with our first round of "Me Bag" presentations. In the morning class, we were excited to learn all about Joseph and his favorite things. We learned that Joseph enjoys playing soccer and building with Legos. He is a big fan of cars, and he also loves animals and visiting the zoo. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends and cuddling with his favorite stuffy!

The class was in stitches while Josephs' mom read
The Book with No Pictures. Always a class favorite!
Thanks so much for coming in to read!

The afternoon class loved learning all about Dominik and his favorite things too. We learned that Dominik is an avid car collector and a Star Wars fan. He also enjoys collecting fidget spinners and using binoculars to go bird watching.

A big thank you to Dominik's mom for coming in to read
Duck for President by Doreen Cronin. One of our favorite
authors in kindergarten!

We had another special guest reader this week--my mom! Many of the students were surprised that I had a mom too! 

Thanks Mom for coming in to read Suzy Squirrel.
Such a cute story. Loved your costume too!

Cultural Literacy

Our afternoon friends were so happy to have Khalil and his mom help us learn more about the holiday of Eid with an interactive read aloud of the book Nabeel's New Pants. We even learned some words in Urdu. What a GREAT lesson! Thank you!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Sept. 4-7)

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I have been so impressed with how well our kinder friends have been learning all of our classroom and school routines. We are beginning to find our rhythm! Take a peek below to see what we have been learning this week!

Math
This week we continued to explore the numbers 1 and 2 and began learning about the number 3. We practiced counting groups of 3 and writing the number 3. We also continued to explore the concept of same and different while we worked to make "matches" and identify attributes that were not the same when comparing objects.

Literacy
We read several ABC books this week written by Audrey Wood, which was a great way to review both upper and lowercase letters. We also played a game where students had to follow the clues to identify different letters of the alphabet. Next week students will get to know the names of their classmates and the letters of the alphabet even better as they engage in several name center activities!

Jolly Phonics
The students learned several more letter sounds this week. We added the following sounds to our notebooks:

Nn as in "noise"
Cc as in "cat"
Kk as in "kite"
Ee as in "elephant"
Hh as in "happy"

LMC

The students enjoyed listening to a story in the library this week and taking a tour. Next week we will begin our technology lessons, which the children always look forward to!

Chester Centers

Students rotated through several Chester-themed centers this week as they practiced their math and literacy skills. Take a peek at some of the games we played below!

Upper and Lowercase Letter Match

Chester and Friends Memory

Roll-and-Cover Number Match

Number Match

Listening Larry

Mrs. Rebsamen, our speech and language therapist, came to the kindergarten classrooms this week to teach a lesson on whole body listening. She read an engaging story titled Listening Larry, which helped students understand that we use our entire bodies to listen and learn.

For a few more photos from the week, click HERE.

Looking forward to the upcoming week!

Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Aug. 27-31)

Another great week in kindergarten! Take a peek at what we have been learning!

Math
We continued taking a closer look at the numbers 1 and 2 this week, and we also talked about "making a match" as we described how objects are the same and different. We reviewed these concepts in our math workbooks, and we also practiced writing the numbers 1 and 2 in our handwriting workbooks.

Literacy
We enjoyed reading several Pete the Cat books this week that helped us learn all about being flexible and going with the flow. Pete helped us understand that it's okay when things don't go our way or when a challenge arises, and that it's helpful to keep a positive attitude and keep moving on. Click on the pictures below to listen to these great stories!

Jolly Phonics
We introduced the first several Jolly Phonics sounds this week! We learned the sound and motion for each of the following letters:

Ss as in "snake"
Aa as in "apple"
Tt as in "tennis"
Ii as in "igloo"
Pp as in "pig"

Thank you so much for all your support at home helping your children with their Jolly Phonics notebooks. It's exciting to see all of the children's different ideas, and they love sharing their examples with the class!

Handwriting

We began our formal handwriting instruction this week using the Handwriting Without Tears program. One of our first handwriting lessons involves building "Mat Man," which helps students see that we can use simple lines and curves to form letters, numbers, and even simple pictures!

Blue Book Bags

We learned our first two sight words this week--I and can--and added these words to our new blue book bags. We added our first sight word book to our bags too! Please carve out some time each day to practice reading the sight words and sight word books in your chid's blue bag. We will be adding new words and a sight word book each week, so if you could remember to keep the book bag in your child's backpack, that would be great! Thanks so much for your support at home. It really makes a difference!

Coloring Rubric

We have been using color opportunities as the students' first self-reflection experience using our kindergarten coloring rubric. It's amazing to see the students taking such pride in their work already and feeling good about the work they produce!

Can't wait to see our kinder friends again!