Update!

It's been far to long since I've updated everyone on what's going in Kindergarten. So this is a catch up on everything post!

The week before break was filled with Christmas books, songs, crafts and games! On Thursday a few moms (who are seriously wonderful!) planned a Christmas party for the students. There were lots of games and an adorable craft.

 Christmas cake walk!

 Ornaments we made in class

After the party we had a gift exchange. We did the exchange a little different this year. The girls and boys each made a circle. I then read The Grinch that Stole Christmas.  Every time the word "Grinch" was said, everyone passed there present to the person next to them. It was fun to see what everyone got!

 Enjoying the new presents!

Can't have Christmas without a mess!

All the students were seemed excited to come back to school after break! It didn't take long to jump right back into our schedule. As part of our new "Sea to Shining Sea" unit, we learned about mountains and volcanoes. Some highlight were making our own mountain range out of Play-dough, having a model volcano explode, and imagining we were gold minors who just discovered some gold (aka Rollos). So confession time: I didn't take any pictures this week! I think the students got into "school mode" quicker than I did! I promise to be more diligent next week!

We also have started something new this week! Since we have learned every letter sound in the alphabet, we are now working on letter blend! This week we discussed "sl", "sp", "gr", and "cl". This adds and extra challenge in reading, but also so many new words we are able to sound out! 

We are also continuing with learning to add in math. The students are getting quicker and quicker with addition facts. The love playing a speed game with the facts, especially if it's boys versus girls!

Oh, we also had a new student on Thursday!

Meet Daisy! Daisy is a monster that helps us learn out letter sounds. When a student was absent on Thursday, Daisy graciously took her place for the day!

Coming up...
Next week we are learning about how Pioneers and Indians lived. We have a special guest coming in on Thursday,so be sure to ask your child about who visited out classroom!

Old McDonald Had a Cold

This week has been filled with moos, oinks, clucks, and sneezes! Even with all the colds going around, it's still been fun to learn about different farm animals this week. We talked about cows and all the dairy food that they give us. In the afternoon we had a visitor who works on a farm come in and show different parts of a cow farm. On Tuesday we felt some mud and wrote sentences about why pigs love mud! The students are enjoying sounding out and writing their own words! This week we also talked about chickens and made some cute little origami chicks.

We hit a monumental point in reading this week! We have learned about every letter and the sound they make! We will now start focusing on letter combinations and decoding even more words. It's very neat to see how all the students are growing in their reading.

Of course this week we have also started decorating for Christmas! On Monday they decorated their very own Christmas tree! These kids were beaming at their finished tree. They also made their very own Christmas star out of their hand prints.

Coming up...

Next week is going to be filled with Christmas! On Thursday we are having a Christmas party. Don't forget about the three dollar gift exchange also! It should be a very exciting week!

Hopping Into a Great Week!

Sorry for the lack of post lately! We had a great week learning about animals that live in ponds! There were lots of ribbits in the classroom! On Monday we talked about the life cycle of a frog. We made little life cycle wheels to help us remember each step.

On Tuesday we talked about animals protect themselves with either running, fighting, or camouflaging. The students all made up there own animals then with unique ways to protect themselves. A few creative animals were a giraffe with wings and a meerkat that turns into a rock! We had a special guest on Thursday, a turtle! An older student brought in their pet turtle and discussed how to take care of a pet turtle. We also played a fun hopping on the lily pads games to help learn our sight words.

In phonics we are almost through learning all our alphabet letter sounds! This week we talked about "y" and "z". We had lots of fun zipping and zapping on "z" day. The students are learning more and more words, and it's so much fun to see them read!

In math we are continuing to learn telling time by the hour, addition, money, and number recognition. This week we started to learn to count by "10's". The students have discovered that it is a speedy way to count to a hundred! 

Our art project this week was frog puppets. I sadly forgot to take pictures but if you peek into the classroom you'll see them hanging around (literally!). 

This week we have also started to learn our phone numbers. Any work at home is appreciated for this! If a student recites their number to me five times, they get a prize!

Coming up...

Farm week! Make sure to ask your child about cows on Monday, pigs on Tuesday, and chickens on Thursday. We are also finishing up our alphabet by learning the letter "q".

Bible Animals and Veteran's Day

This week we started a new unit on animals. To start the unit out, we talked about different animals that are in the Bible. The first animal we talked about is sheep. We discussed how David was a kind shepard, and how Jesus is a shepard to us. For fun we made cupcake sheep!

Big bite!

Another Bible animal we talked about was lions! So of course we talked about Daniel and the Lions Den. We also made fun lion masks.

Tuesday was Veteran's Day. We discussed what a veteran is, and why it is important to thank them. To show our thankfulness we made red poppy cards and mailed them to veterans who go to our church.

Reading is coming right along. This week's new sounds were "m" and "o". Our new sight word is "Jesus". The students are enjoying being able to find their sight words in picture books!

Math is also going great. We are still learning money, hours, and number recognition. We also began to add this week. 

Coming up...

Ewwww...coming up is insect week! Get ready for lots of creepy crawly activities! Also just a reminder that on the week of Thanksgiving we will be having school on Wednesday the 26th instead of Tuesday the 25th.

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a Kindergarten classroom that had a fun week at school! We spent this week learning about a few different fairy tales. On Monday we read Three Billy Goats Gruff, and then made our very own trolls with Play-Doh. They were a little sad that they couldn't bring them home, but the trolls had to go back to their bridges.

These trolls are too cute to scare a goat away!

On Tuesday we read about Little Red Riding Hood, with the help of some puppets. We then wrote and drew our own version of the story by completing the sentence "What big ____ you have." Some very creative answers were "hair", "mouth", and "everything".

Thursday we read about Jack and the Beanstalk. We did a science activity with the Giants Footprint, finding bigger and smaller. 

 Bigger

 Smaller

 Same Size

We also did a beanstalk sight word activity!

During out Bible time we read about the ten commandments, and started to read about David. We also started to learn a new verse: Even a child is known by his doing ~Proverbs 20:11

The students are doing great with reading their books! When we read we split up into three groups where one group reads, and the other do reading activities. One activity this week was to put "fairy dust" on sight words. The more we work with sight words, the more familiar they became with the students.

The other activity was a letter sequencing activity. 

Math is also great. We are still working on telling time to the hour, pennies, and we are not talking about nickles! Pretty soon I'll have a room full of accountants! We are also focusing on number recognition, which can be a tricky concept. 

We also had the library come in on Thursday, which is always a special treat!

Since it is harvest time, we did a harvest time craft. On Monday we used paper to weave a basket. Then on Tuesday we used sliced up vegetables to stamp paint on our pictures. The result was a cute little vegetable harvest picture.

Coming up...

We are starting a new unit all about animals. Next week focuses on animals in the Bible!

Spirit Week!

This week was probably one of my favorite week in school, spirit week! Everyday had a different dress of theme. The students (and maybe some teachers!) find it so much fun just to dress up and have have fun together! On Monday the theme was Mismatch day. There were some pretty crazy outfits and hair!

 Still cute even with crazy clothes!

 Craziness runs in the family!

 Even the high school goes mismatched!

 Maybe one of my favorites of the day!

Just showing our true colors!

Tuesday was Dream Job day. While I love being a teacher, my dream was a Princess Ballerina. However one of my students told me that I am already a teacher, so I can no longer have dream jobs! The most popular job of the day was definitely a vet! 

 Vet and Chef

 Fast Food workers....way to aim high girls!

A king, vet, McDonald's worker (too funny), zoo keeper, and farmer. 

The last day of spirit week for the Kindergartners was character day.  I dressed up as Mary Poppins, which may be an older movie than I remembered. Hardly any of my students knew who she was!

 Ballerina, Anne of Green Gables, and Elsa

A princess and crocodile

Besides spirit week, we also learned some! The theme this week was Favorite Tales. On Monday the favorite tale was The Little Red Hen. The students helped with the story by acting it out!

Who could not give bread to these cuties!

On Tuesday we read about The Three Little Pigs. After the story, the students went into three separate groups, and tried to make their own house. All was going well until...the BIG BAD BLOW DRYER came! Dun dun dun dunnnnnn! But, we have a great class of builders, and all stayed up!

 LOVE teamwork activities

Nice try Big Bad Blow Dryer, but not today!

On Thursday we read about the Gingerbread Man. And if you know my class and out love for snacks, you know that we couldn't do this lesson without making our own Gingerbread men!

Don't worry, none of them ran away!

In Bible time we spent the week learning about Moses. It is definitely amazing how God watches out for those who trust in Him! We also have a new Bible verse that we're memorize: Depart from evil and do good ~Psalm 34:14

We are trucking along in learning new words in phonics and reading. Reading is one of my favorite things to teach because they grow so quick with it! Thank you so much for reading at home and working on site words, it definitely shows in class! 

In math we started to learn to tell time to the hour. It's a new concept, but they are catching on quick! Try catching the time on the hour at home and see if your child knows it! We also began learning the 20 family this week.

We are continuing to make fall art projects. On Monday we set out to find some leaves to help us with our next art project. 

 Yeah... they weren't to hard to find!

Remember it was also mismatch day!

Then on Tuesday we took the leaves and colored on top of them to show their imprints. 

Looks cooler in person!

Coming up...

Fairy Tale week! We are going to be reading some magical stories and of course have some fun with them. We are also going to be learning about Ruth and Samual, the letter f, and nickles!