Math, Mystery Readers and More!

Another fun and busy week in Kindergarten at Stamping Ground! We've been working hard practicing our letters in different ways. Above we're doing "Wet, Dry, Try" which is a method taught through our Handwriting Without Tears program. Students wet a sponge and write the letter, dry the letter with a towel and then try to write the letter independently with chalk. They thought it was so cool to "write" with the little sponges.

We were able to get interactive with our math this week and have fun using our interactive board. Students counted different objects to match the number given.

 Journal writing was a big hit this week! Students wrote about what they did over the weekend, what they like to do with their families and what they liked to do outside. I was impressed as everyone was engaged with each other while they shared their journal writing with friends. Below Williams dad joined us on Friday as our Mystery Reader. This has quickly become a class favorite as well!

 This coming week should be lots of fun as we study weather, new letters as well as comparing numbers to ten. We're also starting some new centers! Be sure to check back for updates!

Kentucky Kids Day Fun!

We had a wonderful time last week celebrating Kentucky Kids Day! A big Thank You to all who helped plan and to our PTO for our colorful, cute shirts! Check out these fun pictures of all we did throughout the day!

Swinging into September

This week in Kindergarten we've been working in small groups to practice putting letters of the alphabet in order. Students were able to work with partners to accomplish this skill. We've also been talking about colors all week. One of our favorite color books we read was "Pete the Cat: I love my White Shoes." The kids loved getting to make their own Pete the Cat and retelling the story to one another.

 Retelling stories has been a skill we've worked on quite a bit this week. Below Zaiden, Cate, and Morgan show off their retelling strips from the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."

 

We took a fun walk this week to discuss and practice bus safety. Students were able to get on the bus and practice what it looks like to ride a bus. We talked about the rules of the bus and everyone was excited that we might all get a chance to ride the school bus for a field trip later this year!

Practicing our letters with playdough was another hit during writing workshop and of course, everyone enjoyed our Friday Mystery Reader, Mrs. Penn. More fun is to come this coming week as we celebrate KY Kids Day amongst many other events at school! Be sure to check back!:)

 

Mystery Readers Begin!

We've had a great week in Kindergarten! Our alphabet hats continue to be a hit as we learn about a new letter each day. Unfortunately, we've been so busy I've forgotten to take pictures some days! :) This week we've read many books by author Kevin Henkes. Our favorites were "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse," "Owen," and "Wemberly Worried." On Friday we wrote a letter as a class to Kevin Henkes and sent him a picture of us to go along with it. We're hoping to get some mail back from him! :)

 

A new fun Friday activity we started this week was our Mystery Readers. A big THANK YOU to Landen's grandmother and Jackson's aunt who came to read to us!

Jackson's aunt, Karen Angelluci, is a published author and even brought us all a book to keep! Thanks so much! :) If you're interested in being a mystery reader, please contact me! We'd love to have you visit our classroom!

This upcoming week is full of lots of fun as we explore books about colors! Be sure to check back for updates next week about our week in Kindergarten!

Another fun filled week at SGE!

We've had another fun filled week in kindergarten! This week we read numerous books written by the author Laura Numeroff. The students loved each one from "If you give a mouse a cookie" to "If you give a cat a cupcake." Each day we're also reviewing a letter and sometimes even making some super cute letter hats :) Here are our K for "King" hats

During whole group we've been practicing a game called "Quiz Quiz Trade" where students get a letter card and ask their partners "What's my letter?" Students answer then trade cards and find another partner. The students have done excellent with this new game and are having fun with it too!

 One of our new centers this week is the library center. Students have learning how to sit quietly and look at books in the classroom library and even how to put them back in the correct place.

One of our favorite activities was working with shaving cream! We practiced writing our names, numbers and letters in this fun Friday activity!

 Next week we look forward to reading books by the author Kevin Henkes and comparing numbers to five. Be sure to check back for more fun in kindergarten! :)

Our first full week of school

What a busy and fun first week of school we have had! The students current favorite activity seems to be centers. You'll see a lot of pictures below of the different centers we've been working on this week. As the year progresses, these centers will have more of an academic focus. Currently we're working on staying in our center and having quite voices.

We have worked a lot on our names this week and I've seen good progress in handwriting as well! This was a fun name collage we made after reading "Chrysanthemum" and talking about how each persons name is special and unique, just like them.

 Another fun part of our week has been making letter hats for our different letters of the day. Check out our cool frog hats for the letter Ff.

 We also got to go to the library earlier this week to practice on the computers. Starfall is a new favorite website for many! This was good practice as we prepare to get on the computers Monday for the MAP assessment.

I hope you've had a good experience in kindergarten so far! We're always busy learning and experiencing new things! It is my hope this blog gives you a little peek into our week of Kindergarten!

 

Welcome to Kindergarten 2015!

Summer time is coming to a close and school is starting in just a few days! I'm so excited to get this year started and get to know your kiddos! Kindergarten will be lots of fun! Learning to read, write, and exploring the world around us are just a few of the things we plan on doing this school year! If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me! In the meantime, take a look at these tips I posted for my families last year as well to help ease the transition into Kindergarten!

 

 

1. Make sure you have all necessary paperwork turned into the office or your child's teacher.
2. Go shopping for school supplies with your child. Help him/her pick out what clothes he/she will wear the first day of school. While many children are nervous for the first day of school, your reassurance and involvement in these tasks are helpful in easing their fears. 
3. Plan ahead! Whether it be packing lunches or picking out what clothes to wear each day, a plan will help begin the year on the right foot.
4. Get back into a routine. I know I'm guilty of staying up later in the summer! If you've fallen out of your bedtime routine, now is a good time to get back into a solid routine!
5. Accidents happen! Prepare a change of clothes in advance and bring it with you on the first day of school for your child’s teacher to keep in the classroom.
6. Talk to your child about what they can expect at school. Reassure them you will be there when the day is done to talk about all the fun they had at school!
7. Get involved! We love volunteers in the school and classroom! Be sure to get involved with our PTO. Sign up for emails and "like" them on Facebook for updated information!

 

 

I'm looking forward to a great year in Kindergarten! See you in a few days!  :)

Celebrating Earth Day and Arts and Humanities Day

 What a busy week we have had!! Several of our students shared Science projects to be displayed at our Family Science Night on Wednesday. I was impressed with the hard work they put into their projects!

We also celebrated Earth Day this week by planting flowers for our Kindergarten area outside our classrooms, writing about ways we could help take care of the earth and even visiting a life size version of our earth! The kids loved going inside and exploring the different continents!

 The week concluded with Arts and Humanities Day on Friday. Students were treated to a performance by dancers from United Talent and Ms. Kentucky spoke to us and demonstrated her wonderful fiddle skills!

 

We learned the art of quilting as well as practiced being actors for a song from "The Lion King" and were entertained by the musical talents of Nathaniel Price. Overall it was a very busy but fun week!

This next week will be cramming a lot of instruction in as we're preparing to take the last MAP test of the year! I'm excited to see how much these kids have learned and grown throughout their Kindergarten year!

Spring time Fun!

Spring is in the air and we've finally been able to enjoy some time outside over the past few weeks! Don't forget to send your child with a jacket each day as it still is a bit chilly some mornings!

With only 32 days left of school.......We've been practicing being first graders at centers  and in everything we do in Kindergarten lately! Centers have focused on sight words and even addition!

 

The life cycle of a butterfly has been a big topic of conversation lately. The kids have done an excellent job and I'm sure you've heard we even have our own caterpillars we've been observing! Just this Wednesday and Thursday they started their transformation into being a chrysalis. We can't wait to see them transform into beautiful butterflies!