To prepare for the month of March in our classroom, we made our March quilt.  Around the white square, we created an AABB pattern.  In the middle of that square, we glued on a shamrock.  On the green square, we glued on a kite.

 

We discussed the saying:  "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb."  We talked about the characteristics of lions and lambs and related those traits to the different kinds of weather.  On a graph, we recorded our predictions of what we think March will come in like this year - a lion or lamb?  Twelve of us think tomorrow will be a lamb day while 8 of us predict tomorrow will come in like a lion.  We'll check our predictions tomorrow.

Last week, we made lions and lambs.  They look great up on our wild and wooly bulletin board.

On Mondays, we pick out new books for our book boxes.  The students always enjoy choosing their own books to read through the week.  I love sitting down with the children and listening to them read their books.  What tremendous growth they have made through the year!  We are readers!

    

   Tomorrow is the last day of February.  In February, we celebrated 100's Day, Valentine's Day and President's Day.  We finished up our science unit, Balls and Ramps.  In math, we learned about 2-D and 3-D shapes.  We explored and built amazing structures with our geo blocks.

     Welcome to my Kindergarten blog!  I have moved to a new location.  Thanks for finding me.

     I am Rebecca Tempel, and I have been teaching kindergarten for 12 years in Loveland, Colorado.

     I am from Kansas City, Kansas and graduated from the University of Kansas.  I am a proud Jayhawk!  My husband and I located to beautiful Colorado over twenty years ago.  We are proud of our two sons - Nick is a teacher in Longmont and Micah is majoring in education at KU.

     I am an avid sports fan and faithfully cheer for the Broncos, Rockies and of course, my Kansas Jayhawk.  Rock Chalk!

 

     The kindergarten year is the foundation for your child's future in school.  They are learning so many things!  Your child is learning the names and sounds of each letter, learning to recognize numbers 0 - 20 and know their value, and learning fine motor skills such as writing, coloring and cutting.    Your child is mastering gross motor skills such as skipping, hopping, running and jumping.  Working together with other children  and cooperating in a group setting are important social skills.  This is a year of important social growth as well as academic development.

     This is the second year our school has offered a full-time Kindergarten program, and I am excited about the challenge and opportunity it provides.

     Our Kindergarten students participate in Music, P.E., Art, Library and Computer Lab classes each week.    


     This week in class we have been working with rhyming words.  Today we used the song by Raffi, Down By the Bay, to create our own class book using his frame, "Did you ever see a bear combing his hair?"

     Out of a group of given words, your child should be able to identify the rhyming words.  And given one word, your child should be able to name a word that rhymes with that word.

     Our math unit is Make A Shape, Build A Block.  This geometry unit focuses on two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes.  Students are creating, identifying, describing and comparing different shapes.

     We have been on shape hunts in our classroom and at home searching for things in our every day lives that are different shapes.