Weaving

 This past week we had a very special experience.  Ms. Gatz (a.k.a. Lucian's mom) brought her high school Guatemala class to Kindergarten to teach us about weaving.  We spent a morning learning about weaving, listening to Abuela's Weave, weaving our own projects... and finishing it off with a chilly outside recess :)  All day long, the Kindergarteners spoke of their high school buddies, whom they "loved and missed."  It was such a great opportunity for us, and we thank them for visiting!  It was a pleasure learning from and interacting with these "big kids."

holding our finished projects, with our buddies

hard at work ;)

BIG and little Buddies!

Way back when (in December) we met with our third grade reading buddies and made little versions of ourselves.  Yesterday the finishing touches were made, and today we took a walk through our school building to check out our bulletin board, as well as Miss Pickers' board, to see ourselves in all our glory!  Thanks to the third graders for being such great buddies to us, and showing us what we have to look forward to when we are that big!

Can you tell we are excited?

Outside Miss Pickers' room, waaaaay down the hall...

...and here's our board!

Best day ever?

Today was just plain fun!  Looking back on it, I'm not quite sure how we fit it all in... a Read Aloud "gift" from Mrs. Gaston's 4th Grade first thing in the morning; a story, special snack, and gingerbread people art project with our 3rd Grade Reading Buddies; and an end-of-the-day yoga session with some awesome parent-teachers!

creative poses in kids' yoga!

Miss Pickers (3rd grade) reading about gingerbread pirates!

Busy boys at this table

A glimpse into why our classroom looked like a tornado hit it

Great teamwork!

Tomorrow I'll be out all day due to a conference in Northeast Harbor, but will be back on Wednesday to hold our classroom holiday celebration, which will consist of decorating real gingerbread cookies (as opposed to the paper ones we made today) and putting the finishing touches on some special gifts :)

Just a reminder that Thursday is the last day of school until 2012- wow!  Time flies when you're having fun in Kindergarten...

Fall fun!

We are having one of our busiest weeks yet!  You all know how excited your children are for Halloween, and combining that will all of the work we are completing, the Halloween activities we are experiencing and the crisp fall weather that has arrived... let's just say we have been very eagerly productive!  I haven't even been able to photograph it all, but here are some highlights from the past week and a half:

Sharing a handmade gift at Share Time!

Checking out a FLIGHT binder- wow!

Tis' the season... for scarecrows!

Pattern block scarecrows (I told you, tis' the season)

Colorful legs on this one!

Super scary monster faces after we read Where the Wild Things Are

Yep, more monsters

Poem of the Week (note: Read in witch's voice, of course)

Not pictured:

-Reading with our third grade buddies

-Working on writing and illustrating our own Halloween stories during Writers' Workshop (will send home soon, I promise!)

-Business of Reading!!  Thank you SO much to Marie Yarborough, Julie Hill-Warner, Debbie Mountford, Bill Weir, and Rob Levin.... the kids adore having different people read to them each day :)

-Listening to the new record one of our classmates brought in... get this: it's the Jane Fonda Workout Mix, from 1981.  We listen while we have choice time and the kids count along and we even did some crazy stretches.  So if anyone has 14 little sweatbands and/or leg warmers they'd like to donate, we will not disappoint! It is pretty hysterical.


I'd keep writing and sharing pictures, but I've got to get art supplies ready for tomorrow's mask-making adventure.  Have a great night!