Yesterday

Some of our learning from yesterday...

...and here are our learners taking a break and striking some unique poses:

 

We are having yet another great week of learning and playing together :)

Let it snow! + MLK Jr.

I have some free time on my hands, due to today's delayed opening.  I thought I'd share a few cute pictures from yesterday, as the snow started to fall on us during recess.

The slide was SUPER fast in the snow!

Brrr!

Moving so quickly I couldn't snap a decent picture!

K and 1 kids going all out!

Today we will be talking about Martin Luther King Jr. and his efforts to make sure all people were treated equally, no matter what they looked like or where they came from.  I will be reading a story called Ron's Big Mission that I actually learned about when teaching a second grade civil rights unit in Mississippi.  It is a great tool for teaching empathy, and I want you to be familiar with the book in case it comes up this weekend or in the future.

Have a great long weekend, everybody!

2012 has begun!

As a follow up to our fun yoga session that we did with Liam's mom and Max's mom, we have been doing some short yoga sessions in the classroom to break up our day and keep us calm and focused.  I recommend you check out this site:

Fireflies Yoga

in Denali NP, Alaska... about as peaceful a place as it gets!

On the bottom right of the homepage you can click on and listen to a number of songs, including 1) Dance for the Sun, which your child will likely be able to sing along with!   It goes along with the sun salutation and is a great way to settle in or transition between activities, as well as to begin a kid's yoga practice.  I am grateful that we have been introduced to such a great practice in the classroom!

Just a few quick updates now that we are back into the swing of things:

• In Handwriting, we are all done with upper case and have begun structured lower case practice with "magic c."  The kids love the bunny rabbit who is teaching some cool tips.  
• In Math, we are currently working on measurement and number stories, as well as reviewing and continuing to work on counting, skip counting, number recognition and all that good stuff.  Writing numbers is something we are practicing a lot and I hope you can get to that at home as well every now and then!
• In Literacy we are working on informative writing.  We are listening to nonfiction stories and comparing them to narratives about similar topics.  We will be writing a class book about animals in Maine, with lots of information and facts to share with our audience.  (At the end of January I will be giving the DRA, which will give us an idea of your child's reading level.  I will share that information with you so that we can work with your child in school and at home in books that are at their level.)
• Our Service Learning project is in full swing!  While we are planning some future hikes, we have been talking about some things we have noticed around the island that affect the habitats, both in good and not-so-good ways.  You will soon (in the next two weeks) be receiving a student-created survey; if you could please fill it out and return it we would greatly appreciate it!  You will be helping contribute to our project in a big way.

Phew!  That isn't even everything, but as I haven't taken photos this past week the least I can do is give you a verbal update... and I promise the pictures are on their way!

Happy Monday,

~Mrs. Fournier

Stop, drop and roll

What an exciting and informative visit from members of the Bar Harbor Fire Dept!  The kids in all three  Kindergartens got to enjoy a presentation and check out the ladder and other fire truck equipment.

We talked a lot about fire safety and having a meeting spot at home in case you ever need to get out of your house.  We also got to see a real fireman get dressed in his gear, including his oxygen tank and face mask.... very cool and informative!


Academic update:

-In class, we've already covered 6 sight words on our Word Wall.  FYI, they are:
a, at, dad, I, it, mom.

-When we write in class, I encourage the children to spell these words correctly and remind them they are on our Word Wall.

-This week we have begun Reading Centers.  Children have different needs and to address this I will be working with small Guided Reading groups during Literacy time.  While I work with one group, other students will be engaged in different activities such as Listening Center, Phoneme Center, Handwriting Practice, or various literacy activities that they can work on independently.  I am so excited to get this started, as the best way to get kids reading is by working in small groups or one-on-one at their levels!

-And in Math we are using a giant pumpkin today to estimate circumference (no, we are not responsible for that word!)  and to estimate the number of seeds that may be inside... we will carve it next week and find that out!  We continue to work on counting, number recognition and writing, and everyday math routines.

Hope everyone is having a good week... We seem to be very busy here in Kindergarten, but are definitely enjoying it! 


~Mrs. Fournier

Singing and writing and cutting, oh my!

So, you should really ask your child to perform "Hello Neighbor" and "Jump Jim Joe," two little song and dance routines we've been working on.  They are ADORABLE.... and still a work in progress!

Today we talked about the letter "Nn" and the sound it makes... we came up with some great "Nn" words to write and illustrate.  My favorites included New York, nightgown and ninja!

At the school library today we checked out lots of new books to keep in our classroom for the week.  We love checking them out at the circulation desk and bringing them back to the classroom to share with our friends!

In math we worked on classifying shapes.  We cut out circles, rectangles, squares and triangles and sorted them onto the large posters we made earlier.  Most of the children ended up drawing and cutting out their own shapes as well... and they expanded upon these, as we talked about trapezoids too!

Week in Review

What a fun and busy week we have had in Kindergarten!


Some highlights:

We've talked about our school community and all of the different roles we have at Conners-Emerson.  We decided students' jobs in Kindergarten are to learn and to have fun- seems like we all are so far!

We were so lucky that Kasch brought in a chrysallis to share with us.  He named her "Evening," and everyone has been so excited to watch her turn into a beautiful monarch butterfly.  Today we released her into the sunny world, and believe she is on her way to Mexico as we speak...

We've learned about patterns in math and have realized they are everywhere.  You can look for patterns at home; I bet you will find lots!  We got to try out lots of different math "centers" today, and will slowly be introducing them into our math time over the next few weeks.

We published a class book called "Did you ever see?"  Everyone came up with their own silly rhyme to fill in and illustrate.  What a great group of author/illustrators we have in Kindergarten!

We've now read four letter books with lots of sight words: My Bb Book, My Mm Book, My Rr Book and My Ss Book... next up will be our Nn Books!


I hope everyone has a great weekend... a few reminders:

Next week there is no school for students on 9/30- it is a Professional Day for all teachers.


**If you would like to send your child to school with a water bottle, absolutely feel free!  They can keep them at their seats and stay hydrated- it'll save water fountain time too! **

Beginning Literacy

Last week we learned the letters M and B, and more importantly the sounds they make!  We sometimes listen to this cool song which you can click on and enjoy at home.

The students worked on these letters by looking and listening to words with "Mm" and "Bb" as the initial sounds.  We cut pictures, sorted them by initial sound, and glued them in the right spot on our charts.  Here's one student's completed sheet!

 

In addition to learning letter names and sounds, we are trying our best to write them.  Handwriting is a process, and we are off to a great start.  We use a wide variety of hands-on activities.  The kids really seem into the chalk- it is a little easier than pencil to work with (plus it is totally fun).  Look at some of our Bs!

We've started our Sight Words (a.k.a. Rainbow Words) too!  We've written and read "a" and "at" and this week we will work on "is."

Have a great week, and feel free to comment on any blog posts you'd like!

~Mrs. Fournier