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!

Weekly News (Aug. 21-24)

We did it! We made it through our first week of Kindergarten! The children have already been making new friends, and they are doing a TERRIFIC job learning our kindergarten routines. I have really enjoyed getting to the know the students this first week, and I am super excited about the school year ahead. Take a peek below to see what we have been up to this week!

Morning Kindergarten

Afternoon Kindergarten

On our first day of kindergarten we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, which is a sweet story about a raccoon named Chester who is nervous about going to school until his mother tells him a story about a special "kissing hand." After placing a kiss in the palm of Chester's hand, she tells him that he will always have his mother in his heart no matter where he goes. After reading the story, we found a letter from Chester with some clues that sent us on a scavenger hunt around the school. We had fun following the clues and seeing many new places and meeting many new faces. We were also thrilled to find special hearts left for us by Chester!

The children also loved listening to two other Chester stories this week that helped us learn about sharing, being a good friend, and the importance of trying new things even if they seem challenging! We even had special guest readers from the LMC--Mrs. Kenney in the morning and Mrs. Kovacic in the afternoon!

We began our calendar routine this week which provides time for us to practice many math concepts including: counting and identifying numbers; recognizing numbers that come before and after a given number; identifying the days of the week and the months of the year; and beginning to understand the concept of place value as we keep track of the number of days we have been in school. We also introduced our "Hello Helper" routine. Each day we will have a new helper who will guide us through our calendar routine and act as our line leader for the day. The children always LOVE when it is their turn to be the special helper! We've been using the videos below during calendar time too!

Math

We began our math lessons this week using our new Math in Focus program. Our first unit will focus on learning about the numbers to 5 and identifying similarities and differences between objects. We took a closer look at the numbers 1 and 2 this week and used our interactive white board to find pictures that represent 1 and 2.

The class was thrilled to spend some time in our interactive play centers too. It was a great opportunity for them to practice cooperative learning skills such as turn-taking, teamwork, and sharing!

We also had a chance to attend some of our specials classes this week, which include: Music, Art, Physical Education, and time in the LMC to check out new books and engage with technology.

I hope you all enjoyed our first kindergarten blog post!

Click HERE to see more photos from our first week or use the "Photos" tab at the top of the blog!

Looking forward to another great week!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Hello Kindergarten Families! I am SO excited to meet all of you, and I'm looking forward to working withy you and your children. We are going to have a GREAT year! Hope you enjoy the pics below. See you soon!

Happy Summer!

Wishing you all a fun and relaxing summer vacation!

Click HERE for more photos from the last week of school!

See you in the fall!

Field Day

It's official! Field Day 2018 was a big success! The children had a great time playing a variety of outdoor games, and they LOVED watching Mrs. Riesing get drenched in the "Pitch and Burst" event. Eek! That was COLD! What a great day! A huge thank you to all the parents who volunteered to lead a group or run an event. This day is only possible with volunteers like you!