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!

Weekly News (April 30-May 4)

Kindergarten Musical

Click HERE for more photos and video clips of the show.

So proud of these kinders! What a great performance! 

Thanks so much for coming.

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend!

Weekly News (Apr. 9-27)

Spring has finally sprung! Looking forward to more warmer days ahead! Take a peek below to see what we have been learning in kindergarten.

Math
We finished Chapter 8, which focused on numbers up to 100 and place value. We introduced the "100 Chart," which is a great tool to help students see patterns and relationships in numbers. Students brought home their own laminated number charts with suggestions for how to use the chart at home. The suggested games and activities will help your chid continue to develop a good number sense.

This week we also began Chapter 12, which will focus on laying the foundation for addition and subtraction. Students have been learning strategies for counting on and counting back from a given number, and they have also been learning about number pairs that make ten--such as "8 and 2 make 10."

Literacy
Reading Workshop
During our reading workshop time, the students have been learning about different literary devices poets use to make poetry memorable and fun to read! We learned about repetition and onomatopoeia, as we read "The Frog on the Log" and found some examples of each throughout the poem. We also learned about alliteration and had a great time as we found examples of alliteration in the poem "Ten to One." We also had fun coming up with examples of alliteration using our own names.

The students have also been learning how we can use our senses to help us visualize, or make pictures in our minds, so that we can better understand a poem or story. Using the poems "How Do You Like to Swing?" and "Liberty," we practiced closing our eyes and using all our senses and our own connections to paint a picture of the poem in our minds. Then we read "Kids Rule!" and recorded our mental pictures after listening to the poem. They did a terrific job with this activity and loved sharing their ideas with each other!

Writing Workshop
To support our poetry unit and to encourage Mother Nature to send some warmer weather our way, the students worked on writing acrostic poems about spring. We think she may have heard us! :)

Earth Day
In honor of Earth Day, we read the book 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World and wrote about the many ways we can make a difference in our world. Check out some of our ideas below!

Art Appreciation
The morning class loved learning all about the Spanish painter Joan Miro and his painting Women, Bird, and Star. The students explored the concepts of color and shadow, and they even had time to create their own surreal works of art. Thank you Mrs. Nierman for a great lesson!

Volunteer Breakfast
A HUGE thank you to all of the parents who have volunteered their time this year to help the students and staff at Dryden. We truly appreciate all you do1

Kindergarten Musical Reminder
Just wanted to send along a friendly reminder about our upcoming Kindergarten Musical on Friday, May 4. All students, both morning and afternoon kindergarteners, should arrive by 8:55 and line up in our normal spot. The students will rehearse together, and then the doors will open for parents to come into the gym at 10:00 am. The show will begin at 10:25. We will have refreshments in the gym after the show, and then everyone is welcome back in our classroom after that. The morning ends at 11:50, but students are welcome to go home with families before then. We will have sign-out sheets available for you to sign your child out before you leave. We are looking forward to a great show!

Thanks for reading.

Have a GREAT week!

Click HERE to see some recent photos!