October was full of fun events! The students did such a great job working together to earn their first classroom celebration. They chose to have a pajama day! What a cozy way to celebrate!
A definite highlight from this month has to be Halloween! What fun the students had during our Halloween parade and party. Thank you so much for Mrs. Bradtke, Mrs. Conklin, and Mrs. Lamb for coming to help during our party! We had so much fun with you! Please hit play on the slideshow below to see some of our Halloween fun!
Reading
We have finished our first unit of our Reading Workshop! During this unit, the students have been introduced to many different genres of books, while getting to know themselves as readers. Each student now has their own book bin, where they have selected books that they are interested in reading. During each reading workshop lesson, students have the opportunity for independent reading time. I am so proud of each of them as they continue to build their stamina and stay focused on their books. Their excitement about books is contagious!
Writing Workshop
The kindergarteners have been working so hard on their latest writing project. Each student is writing their very own "Ouch Story" about a time that they got hurt. Each writer had to THINK of an idea, DRAW a picture with details, LABEL that picture, and then WRITE a sentence that matches the picture. As a class, we came up with a rubric to help the students know what to include in their writing. It was great to see the students go back to their story to add more detail! What fantastic authors they are becoming!
Handwriting
The kindergarten handwriting curriculum we use is called Handwriting Without Tears. This program has a variety of materials to help students learn the proper formation for upper and lowercase letters, as well a numbers. The students have loved using different wood pieces to create the letters, while learning the different strokes needed to make each letter correctly. They especially like using the small chalkboards, chalk, and sponges for our routine called Wet, Dry, and Try. During this routine, students use a wet sponge to make a letter, then a cotton ball to trace the wet letter, and last, they use the chalk to write the letter. These routines help the students build their fine motor skills in a fun way!
Math
The kindergarteners have been exposed to so many math concepts lately. We have been working hard with our ten frames. A ten frame is a simple graphic tool that allows students to "see" numbers. Understanding that numbers are composed of tens and ones is an important
foundational concept, setting the stage for work with larger numbers. A strong
sense of "ten" is a prerequisite for place-value understanding and mental
calculations.
We have also been hunting for patterns! It was fun to find patterns right on some of us! The kindergarteners are doing a great job of finding, making, and explaining patterns.
Centers
Our center time remains a class favorite! The students love listening to stories on the computer, using manipulatives to practice math, playing fun games to practice sight words, and using blocks to create amazing structures!
Art Appreciation
We were so fortunate to have Mr. Turcotte come in for our first Art Appreciation lesson of the year! He introduced the painting titled, "The Cave". Students had fun drawing their own version of this painting!
All About Me Bags
We loved learning more about Ellie when she brought the Me Bag to share. We learned that Ellie loves to travel and play. We also learned that Ellie is a big fan of Barack Obama! Ellie's mom was a guest reader and shared the very inspiring book, Of Thee I Sing, written by Barack Obama.
We also learned about George when he shared the Me Bag. We learned that George loves the Beatles, playing soccer, and the Boxcar Children books. George's dad was a Guest Reader and read the book, Home, to us. The students loved this fun book!
