Penguin-mania!

We are starting an informational writing unit on... Penguins! We will write nonfiction books about them, and we began our research today. We are reading fiction and nonfiction, and made a KWL chart today about what we already know and some questions we have. We are so invested in this and I am way excited to learn more! Check it out...

Where to begin?

When there is almost a full month between blog posts, it is a bit daunting to figure out what to include and what to pass over.  We have done so much these past few weeks, so instead of focusing on one day or event I am going to provide some highlights, in the form of a list Top Five Kindergarten Moments Since February 27, 2012 :)

5.
Today, we got to learn about how we can participate in the Science Fair, which will be on April 12, 2012.  We were VERY interested in this, as we are all scientists in this classroom!

4.  We had SNOW to play in!  For one day, but it was better than nothing.  Recess that day was pretty awesome!  The slide goes very fast with snow and snowpants :)

In fact, recess was so fun it inspired Mrs. Fournier to go home and have recess with her dog!  It'd be fun if he came to school sometime...

3.  On Dr. Seuss Day, Miss Colby- I mean, Thing 2- came and read us The Cat in the Hat.  We decided Dr. Seuss is a wonderful author that we all enjoy!

2. We are illustrators!  We have really been working on "Think" and "Draw" in our writing process...

1. ...and of course we know that the last step is Think, Draw... WRITE!  Our writing skills grow each day, and I am so proud of what we are producing these days.  I can't wait to see how much more we grow from now until the end of the year :)

Stay tuned for what I promise will be more frequent and equally exciting blog updates :)

Thanks!
~Mrs. Fournier

All You Need Is Love, and 100 things

What a great Valentine's Day/ 100th Day of School we had!  In addition to our regular routines, we enjoyed painting a GIANT 100, counting, sorting and playing with our 100 things, writing and exchanging Valentine's, listening to stories about the number 100, and of course, hugging.  Thank you to Spencer for delicious lips (apple and peanut butter slices that looked like lips!) for everyone.  Also thanks to Eli for some amazing mini cupcakes... it isn't Valentine's Day without some sweet treats!

What a fun day!  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Painting away...

We ALL enjoyed these!

All dressed up to write some Valentines!

Don't worry parents, we didn't eat them!

In groups of 10, these 100 elastic bands were easy to count.

Opening our "mailboxes" at the end of the day... finally!!

100 star beads, 100 googly eyes, 100 pennies= art!

This says it all!

Working with 100 marbles below our 100 painting!

Happy Holidays and TGIF!

Chart to go with our Mouse Count activity; we used mice in jars at our seats (fake, of course!)

Our classroom is covered in glitter and bursting with holiday spirit.  We've been working on holiday cards, surprise holiday gifts and a number of art projects to decorate our classroom!  Even our Share time has taken on a holiday twist.  We have had a lot of fun with Math this week, using the story Mouse Count to talk about decomposing numbers.  There are a lot of ways to make 10: 1+9, 5+5, 7+3... the possibilities are [almost] endless!

Great listeners today!

Thanks to Max's dad for visiting and reading an awesome story about wolves, and inspiring some great informational writing this morning!

We have a busy week coming up: a visit to the computer lab, 3rd grade reading buddies and an art activity, a read aloud "gift" from the 4th grade, and a classroom celebration on Wednesday!  We will be decorating gingerbread cookies, so there is no need for parents to send in anything except their child and some holiday cheer!

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!

Today's "Share" included a Christmas Carol book and performance!

 

 

Writing up a storm

In just three months of school I have seen SO much progress in the kids' writing.  It is really exciting to watch and listen to them strategize and confidently take risks in their drawing and writing... look how focused they are!  We have written narratives this trimester, and they have really taken off.

Some of the children don't want to stop writing!  Others find it a little bit more tiring, but in small increments of time manage to get a lot of ideas out, and revisit them quite well later in the day at our writing conferences. 

With the holidays coming up, we have begun talking about celebrations in our country and around the world... today we read "A Kwanzaa Miracle" and talked about the ways it is similar to Christmas and Hanukkah.

Tomorrow you'll be receiving an interesting and exciting note from me in your child's backpack, so keep an eye out!  Today they should be bringing home the newsletter and the November weather graph.  It would be a great extension for you to look it over with your child and ask him or her some questions about the information.

Have a great night!

~Mrs. Fournier