Our Class Marble Jar

What is a marble jar? This special jar fills with marbles as individual children or the whole class "do the right thing." A marble is added to the jar when children are cooperative with each other and with their teacher. A marble is earned when a child tries a skill for the first time that is challenging. Other marbles are earned by cleaning up quickly, helping a friend or a teacher without being asked, and generally by being a good role model for the other children. This helps build community spirit and reinforces positive behavior.

How many marbles has the class earned so far? The children are very proud of the 54 marbles that our class has earned over the first six and a half days of school. Natalie suggested that we make a chart to record the number of marbles we have earned as far. When the jar is full of marbles, we will plan a party to celebrate our accomplishments.

How do we know how many marbles are currently in the jar? The class asked to count the marbles to find out. The marbles were dumped in a big pile, and I started to point and count. Avery suggested that this was not a good way to count our marbles. Julian said a better counting plan was to move the marbles from one place to another as each one was counted. In this manner we were able to accurately count out the 54 marbles.

Great Work, Class!

Back to School Night!

This Thursday, starting at 7:00, our parents are invited to join us for "Back to School" night. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about our school, as well as about our kindergarten class and your child's teachers. Mrs. Kiernan and I will talk with our parents about our procedures, activities, curriculum, and policies, as well as opportunities to sign up to volunteer in the classroom and for our class parties. We'll be looking forward to meeting all of you again and sharing our passion for kindergarten with you.

Every Monday we will publish an update in the Blog of some of the highlights of life in
kindergarten. Most often there will be current photos of our students busily involved in a variety of activities. These Blog entries will be a great way to stay in touch with our lesssons and activities. If your child comes home saying that he or she did nothing at school today or they just played, by reading our Blog, you'll have some specific questions and statements to get them started talking about what they really did at kindergarten.

Things to ask your child:

Tell me about the "Morning Time March."
What about your personal calendar folder?
What is the Marble Jar?
What was the Question of the Day?
Tell me about pattern blocks.