Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from KA Kindergarten to you! We had fun making thankfulness turkeys, preparing a thanksgiving feast, and of course eating! Have a blessed Thanksgiving break!

The Creepy Crawly Things!

This week we learned all about different insects, YUCK! On Monday we learned about ants and how they work together. We did a little role planning as we pretended to be ants leaving a trail from their ant hill.

Getting the treat and leaving the trail

Tuesday was all about bees. Even though we all agreed that we would like bees to stay far away from us, we also learned how important they are. Not only do they make delicious honey, but they help flowers grow. We saw had this worked hands on by "flying" flower to flower and leaving marks to symbolize pollination. This activity is always a favorite!

Drinking the nectar, AKA apple juice 

On Thursday we read and learned about butterflies. We learned about how they go from eggs, to caterpillars, make cocoons, and finally become butterflies. We made a chart using noodles to help us see the life cycle of a butterfly. 

In phonics we have been learning more and more sounds! This week was about "v" and "f". Sometimes they can be easy to mix up! We also read a story book about Christmas (already!). 

In math we started to learn my favorite math concept to teach, addition! The students have been adding everything in sight!

Next week is Thanksgiving! Hope to see you all at the feast on Tuesday! Have a wonderful weekend!

   

Lions and Sheep and Donkeys. Oh My!

This is the first week of our new unit (my favorite!), animals! This week was all about animals that are in the Bible. We had a lot of fun talking about different animals and where they can be found in different Bible stories.

Of course when talking about different Bible animals, you have to talk about Noah's Ark! Beyond that, we thought about what it would be like to live in an animal filled ark for 40 days! The overall feeling, STINKY! We also made hand print animals on Monday.

Tuesday was picture day, and there was so much excitement! Everyone did a wonderful job giving their best smile! We also talked about sheep on Tuesday , and different Bible stories that we can be found in.It was amazing to see kindergartners perspectives of Jesus being our Shepard. We also had a special guest come in and talk about the sheep that they own. All the students even got to bring home their own wool!

Since Wednesday was Veteran's day, we also discussed thanking veterans. We spent some time writing thank you's to Veterans, and making poppies to help us remember Veterans day.

 Thursday we talked about lions in the Bible! I've decided that if a lion came into our classroom, I don't know who would have the louder roar, the lion or my students! We made a fun lion craft.

In phonics we have been busy learning to sound out more and more words. This week we focused on "m" and began to learn "o". Our reading book was about Moses this week, and the student's were excited to read a story they knew!

In math we are growing an understanding of 30's and ten and ones place. The students are getting quick with counting, and growing in number recognition.  

I hope everyone has a fun weekend! Try not to get swept away with all this wind!

Back to Bible Times

To finish off our book unit, we have talked about Bible stories this week. On Monday we talked about Queen Esther and the bravery she had. We then did a little pretending and acted like Kings and Queens with out scepters and made good rules for our kingdom!

On Tuesday we talked about the story of the spies and Rahab. We discussed what it meant to be a spy, and wrote secret messages together using white crayons and paint. It was fun to be sneaky for a day! For snack time we made houses out of graham crackers and used Twizzlers for the the red rope. It was a hit!

Thursday was all about Elisha and the widow, the miracle where God multiplied oil. We discussed what oil was and it's many uses now and in Bible times. We did a little experiment showing how oil can't mix with water. Miss Susan from the library also came today, which is always a treat!

In phonics we have be continuing to learn our letters. This week was all about the letter "l". We learned many new words that start with "l" and also talker about the endings "ill" and "ell". We've been continuing to read, and the books are definitely getting harder! But, the students have shown that they're up to the task! Any reading at home is always beneficial though!

Finishing our time unit, we have moved into talking about 30 number family. We also started a new concept of ten's and one's columns. It's neat to see math foundations forming.

For a craft this week we made and painted our own clay pots. After HOURS of cooking, I think they're finally hard enough to take home! I can't wait to hear what all they put in their bowls!

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

Creativity Everywhere!

Between this week being spirit week and the class's theme being fictional stories, creativity was over flowing in KA Kindergarten! 

Monday was animal day! It was fun to see what animal each child decided to dress like, and then to see them act like that animal. 

It was also this student's 6th birthday on Monday too! 

In class we read about Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and then acted out the story! In phonics we talked about the letter "g" and learned the sight words "are" and "father". In math we started a new unit learning about telling time! 

Tuesday was crazy hair/hat/sock day! There was some major bed head going on! 

In class we read the story of The Three Little Pigs. The students then took on the task of making their own strong houses in teams. Once the houses were built, the Big Bad Wolf (AKA a hairdryer) came and tried to blow the houses over. They all stood strong though! Such good builders! But, we talked about how the most important thing about building is building on a strong foundation, in Jesus Christ. 

Also in class we learned more words that have the letter "g" in them. In math we began to tell time to the hour. This is one of  my favorite math lessons to teach! 

Thursday was twin day! The students were so excited to plan their matching outfits!

In class we read about Jack and the Beanstalk and played some alphabet BINGO with "magic beans". We also spent some discussions about real verses fantasy, and how it's fun to use our imaginations and creativity. Their imaginations shown through as they drew pictures about what they pretended to be above the clouds. Some creative answers were, a castle, a heart house, and my house! We then talked the importance of knowing what is real verses what is fantasy. 

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to these two Kindergartners for finishing their October Book-It and earning a free personal pizza! If anyone still has a complete form, I will still take them this Monday. 

I hope to see everyone at the KA auction on Saturday. Dinner and the silent auction is from 4:30 to 6:30, and the auction starts at 6:30. 

Reading Fever

I'm afraid my students haven't been feeling very good these last few week. They've all gotten reading fever! I think our book themes are the cause of their illness! Learning about nursery rhymes and author/illustrators has definitely gotten these students excited about reading. It's so fun to see them sounding out words and playing with rhymes.

Last week was all about nursery rhymes. On Monday we read some Mother Goose nursery rhymes, and made horns so we could be our own "Little Boy Blues". On Tuesday we read nursery rhymes about kings and queens! To get a better visual, the students took turns dressing up to look like true royalty.

Thursday was all about counting rhymes. The students made their own counting rhymes, and drew a picture to go with it. As an art project this week we made our own goofy Humpty Dumptys (before he fell off the wall).

This week we learned all about authors and illustrators. The students worked hard on Monday and Tuesday to write and illustrate their own book! The topic they chose was kittens, and they even typed out the story themselves! Once they spent as authors, they spend the next day coming up with a title (they decided on Kittens), drew the pictures, and assembled the books. And of course we read it then! You can expect Kittens to be available in your local bookstore soon!

On Thursday we read one of the first books written for children, Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, The students made their own bunny ears, and had fun reenacting the story. Soon Mr. McGreggor (who I was assigned to be), called them over for a fun bunny snack!

Also throughout the week we read Goodnight Gorilla, which is one of my favorite books! To go along with the book we made gorilla faces!

In phonics we are continuing to go through different letter sounds. We have learned four out of five vowels, and ten consonants. The students are beginning to be able to sound out many three letter words. We have also been learning about capitalizing pronouns, spacing between words, alphabet sequencing, and punctuation.

We have been learning a lot of math this week too. WE can recognize and count up to 20, and have been measuring objects with a ruler. Dude's tank is 12 inches across!

With all this reading fever, I think it's a good thing that we have a week off next week. I hope everyone has a wonderful fall break! Remember, when you get back it's spirit week! The themes are:

Monday: Animal Day
Tuesday: Wacky hair/hat/sock day
Wednesday: Nerd day (Kinders not here)
Thursday: Twin/Triplet day
Friday: Class Competition (Kinders not here)