Pocket Days

     It was Pocket Day in Kindergarten.  We counted and graphed how many pockets each person was wearing.  Vanessa had nine pockets on her clothes and that was the most.  The students brought something in their pockets to share.  They gave us a clue about the item, and we took several guesses to see if we could figure out what was in the pocket.  We then made a class book titled, Pocket, Pocket, What's in Your Pocket?   

     Our focus letter is P.  The students came up with many words that begin with the sound of P.  We laced up a construction paper pocket and then had to find pictures on a worksheet that began with the letter P and cut them out.  Then they placed the P pictures in their P pictures.

     The students brought home a Petey Penguin project tonight.  Petey only eats foods that begin with a P.  If he eats food that doesn't start with a P, it makes him sneeze.  The children are to find P foods from different media or they can draw pictures and place them on Petey's plate.  The project is to be returned to school tomorrow.  I can't wait to see them.

     Besides are letters and sounds, our class is learning "by heart" words (words that we know on sight).  Our list as of today includes:

         I    name     see     a     yes     no     like

      Any practice you can provide on letters, sounds and by heart words will help your child meet our kindergarten learning targets.

      In math, we are practicing every day on counting.  Today the students were given a counting plate and we practiced counting out a given number of bears to place on our plate.  This is another area that can be easily practiced at home.  Have your child count spoons, hangers in the closet, books, toys, Legos, or whatever is available.  

 

Teddy Bears

     Most of my Kindergarten teaching centers around themes.  I find themes, besides being familiar and fun, provide us with many opportunities for learning.  For the last couple of weeks, our theme has been Teddy Bears.  Using bears, we practiced colors, directional words, patterns and counting.

    The unit was started by reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. We sequenced the characters in the book using magnet pieces.  We cut and colored our own pieces and placed them in a bag to keep so we could retell the story at home.  The most fun was chanting the story frame using the students' names.  "Mary, Mary, who do you see?"  "I see Johnny looking at me."

     Using circles, we learned how to draw a bear.  Drawing builds confidence while improving fine motor muscles.

     We learned our first nursery rhyme of the year - Fuzzy Wuzzy.

     Our color word for the month of September is brown.  We listed things that are brown and learned a song that helps us to spell the word.

     The first letter to come to class was the letter B. Bubba Bear brought the letter.  We worked very hard all week to identify words that started with a B sound.  We practiced writing both the capital and small letters.  When forming our letters, we always start at the top and "dive down".

     We made Bubba Bear out of a capital B.  We made another bear using B items - buttons, beans and bows.  And one more bear we made was a 5 senses bear.  After learning about our sense of sight, hearing, tasting, feeling and smelling, we created this bear.  (Growing Kinders blog)

     We couldn't have a bear theme without reading Goldilocks and The Three Bears.   We read different versions of the story and retold the story using magnets, drawings, and acting.  The concept of big, medium and large was reinforced by cutting and pasting a matrix using chairs, bowls and beds of Papa, Mama and Baby Bear.

     A Kindergarten standard is to distinguish fact from fiction.  We used the bears to help us with this standard.  Discussing the differences from real bears and story book bears was quite interesting.  Our class participated in a Family Project to find three facts about bears, write them down using a source at home and return our findings to school.  

     We concluded our bear theme with a Teddy Bear picnic.  Students brought their bear to school for the day, and the bears participated in many activities during the day with us.  This little bear was so active that she had to visit the nurses office and receive stitches for a torn seam.

     At the end of the day was our picnic.  We started by singing and acting out Dr. Jean's Cool Bear Hunt.  Then we took our bears and went on a honey hunt around the room.  Baggies with Honey Comb cereal were hidden around the room.  The students and their bear had to find their honey and gather together outside for the Teddy Bear picnic.  At the picnic, we had our Honey Comb, teddy grams and glasses of milk.

     Pictures were taken of each student holding their bear.  I will make a class book with the pictures and frame, "I see Jenna with her bear."

     Tomorrow is Pocket Day!

                                  



  

Rosie's Walk

     Last week, the children enjoyed the story, Rosie's Walk.  Ask your child who was in the story, what happened and what was their favorite part.  We practiced directional words by cutting out animals and gluing them in a specific, given location on a barnyard scene.

                             

          We read, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate.  We discussed what the students did to get ready to come to school.  They wrote their first stories in Kindergarten (using drawings) to tell what they did. 

         We learned our first by heart words, I and name.  These are sight words that we know "by heart" when we see them.  

      In Math we are working in small centers, exploring with the math manipulatives.   We are not only learning how to use the manipulatives in the appropriate way, but we are learning how to work and share with each other.

        Thursday night is Back to School night at 6:30.  I hope to see you then!

Welcome to a New Year of Kindergarten!

     I welcome 19 new friends to our 2010-2011 Kindergarten  class.

     This year is the foundation for the students' future in school.  They will be learning so many things this year.  The students will learn the names and sounds of each letter, learn to recognize numbers 0 - 100, and learn fine motor skills like writing, coloring and cutting.  The crafts the students bring home will have academic value.  They will be learning 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 year is as important to the child's social development as it is for the academic development.

     We began our first week of school reading, The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.  After reading the book, our class participated in the following activities:

                    * Shared Reading of pocket chart and mini book, Chester Loves School.

                    * Traced hand and placed heart sticker in the middle

                    * Made a Chester raccoon sack puppet

                    * Learned sign language for "I love you."

Last Day of School

     Friday was the last day of school.  It is always difficult to say good-bye to a class that has grown so much academically, socially and emotionally.  After 12 years of teaching, it does not get any easier.

      We started our last day together by doing the calendar one last time.  We read the book, Goodnight Moon, and then gathered into our Sharing circle.  With yarn, we made our goodbye spider web.  Each person took the ball of yarn, wrapped the yarn around their hand a couple of times and didn't let go.  The child said goodbye to one thing in the room.  Still hanging on to the yarn, the student threw the ball of yarn to another person in the circle who repeated the procedure.  When all the students had shared, a beautiful web connected everyone in our class together. 


     The spider web was used several times throughout the year.  On Thanksgiving, it was used to share things we were thankful for and on Valentine's Day, we shared things that we loved.


     After the web, we returned to our seats to draw and label 4 things we wanted to say goodbye to.  When completed, the students shared their paper with 3 other students.

     For story time, we read the book, Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the Last Day of Kindergarten.

     Earlier in the week, we made a Kindergarten Memory Book.  Today we finished the last thing in the book.  We collected our classmates autographs.  The children love this!  I had to convince one little guy that he was to write his name in all the books and not the name of the student seeking his autograph.  Autographs were a new concept for us!

     To end our morning, I had a give away.  I put all the posters, interactive writing pieces, class books and any other things I don't want any longer in the middle of the circle.  I pulled student's names and they could choose one item to keep.  I am always amazed at how excited they are to be able to keep these things, and I'm always surprised at what they choose.

    After cleaning the room, it was time to say goodbye to my little friends and close the room for another year.

     Summer!  Yes!  Here I come!

     Continuing today with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we began writing our own book, The Hungry Five (or Six) Year Old.   On each page of the book, the students are writing and illustrating what they eat on a particular day.

                        On Monday, I ate a pickle.

                        On Tuesday, I ate a watermelon.

                         On Wednesday, I ate ice cream!

      We watched a DVD of Eric Carle sharing how he makes the illustrations for his books.  He uses a collage method which means gluing on a collection of different materials. 

       The students used the collage method to decorate a butterfly.  They were given a cut-out construction paper butterfly, and they cut out different colors and shapes from paper scraps to glue onto the butterfly.  We also learned that a butterfly is symmetrical so the scraps had to be glued on to maintain the symmetry.  This was a simple lesson to practice collage and symmetry.