Common Courtesies in Kindergarten

How did our class earn 93 marbles in these early weeks of kindergarten? (Yes, we really did count all those marbles together!) Why, by "doing the right thing!" We can be very proud of all the many acts of kindness displayed by our students' behavior. We have been talking about the many ways we can show each other common courtesies, beginning with "thank you," "no, thank you," and "please." Being considerate and trying "to do the right thing" makes for a more pleasant atmosphere for everyone. Keep up the great work, everyone!

Since last week our class has been exploring how to make up stories using sequence cards that have no words. We are talking about studying the pictures for clues as to how the story might go. We need our stories to match the pictures. We are giving the characters names to help us with our storytelling. We use our imaginations to create stories, which is also a great language building activity. Developing storytelling skills is a great way to help us with both reading and independent writing.
Next, we will expand storytelling to include wordless books and pictures.

This Tuesday we started our writing workshop. Each day we begin with a mini-lesson which introduces the focus for that day's session. We brainstorm ideas from our lives. Once topics are chosen, the pictures are drawn next. Then the children are encouraged to either write a sentence or labels about their stories using phonetic spelling. The children are enthusiastically sharing their stories with each other. What great stories they have to tell! Stories about their pets have been most popular.

Day 6 of school finds us exploring the vast world of things that are round. As a class we have named and counted 59 round things! Now we are busy making our individual books about things that are round.
We have meet seven of the twelve crayon puppets and can't wait to meet the rest. So far Greedy Green is our favorite one; although, we have a lot to learn from Tan Tattle and Wiggly White!
We all look forward to our daily private reading time and are enjoying the many great books in our class library. We have learned how to study the pictures in books and that we can learn so much about books by "reading" the illustrations. Yesterday we shared books with partners, which was very successful. We'll do that again today.
"The Student of the Day" is a great way for us to learn about our classmates. We practice reading and spelling their names and discuss how their names are different and alike. So far, Genesis, Vinh, and Luke have had turns. Each child draws a picture of today's student and tells something about them after he or she has been interviewed. These are assembled into a book for that student. We wonder whose name will be picked today?

Our First Day of Kindergarten

Even though it was only a half day, we were very busy greeting old friends and meeting new ones. We had art class, drew pictures of ourselves, and played both on the playground and in the classroom. A special favorite was learning to march to the song, "The Morning Time March." We can't wait for Day 2 of kindergarten.

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Mr. Hutton and I can hardly wait to meet all of our students at kindergarten orientation this coming Tuesday, August 18, at 10:00. We have been working so hard to get our room ready for our students. The classroom looks terrific, but... it is so quiet without the boys and girls. Soon, the room will be bustling with activity as our 19 students arrive!
We are looking forward to a great year in kindergarten! See you soon!