Comfy, Cozy Day

It was an exciting day for Comfy, Cozy Day here in Kindergarten!

The children began their day with coloring a picture of themselves in their pajamas or comfy clothes.  

Then, we headed down to the library for a special reading of The Polar Express by 

Chris Van Allsburg.  Each child was greeted by a very special conductor, Mrs. Libby's grandfather.  He happily punched each Polar Express ticket and excitedly called out "All Aboard!" as the children began to watch a special reading of the story.  

After the story, the children each recieved a special  silver bell to wear.

Then the children made a magical Polar Express train and wrote what they would see on their way up to the North Pole.

Finally, the students use their math skills to create number sentences using "Five Silver Bells".

It was a magical and fun day in our comfy, cozy clothes!

Wishing you and your family the very best during this holiday season!

Teddy Bear Day

It was Teddy Bear Day on Friday! 

The children got to have a great day reading the last of 5 different versions of The Three Bears stories which was Godli Rocks and the Three Bears. Over the past 2 weeks, the children focused on different stories such as The Three Bears by Paul Galdone, The Three Bears by Jan Brett, Somebody and the Three Blairs and Tackylocks and the Three Bears.  We focused on retelling, characters and setting.  The children voted on their favorite version and illustrated and labeled their favorite part of their favorite book.

Then the children got to explore with their teddy bears or favorite stuffed animals!

The children got to measure them with cubes to find their height, compare weight on a balance, discuss texture and size, and fur length.

It was a great day celebrating the end of our Three Bears unit!

So much fun!

Happy Thanksgiving

Throughout the month of November, the children and I expressed our gratitude and thanks for so many things.  Last week, we were able to celebrate all of what we are grateful for.  The children had many things to share what they were thankful for: their pets, families, cousins, and toys, of course!

The children began with making their Pilgrim hats and setting the table for our feast.  We even "carved" our turkey.  The children were very surprised to see that it was filled with popcorn!

We all hope that you were able to spend time with your family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday and wish you the best during this holiday season!

Thank you to all of the parents who donated water bottles, popcorn, napkins, plates, and corn muffins.  The children even got to make their own butter.  Some were adventurous enough to try it!  It was delicious!

I am so thankful that I get to teach each of your children.  The look of excitement, wonder, and laughter everyday makes my day.  Thank you to you, the parents, for your support, understanding and kindness.  Working together with all of you is amazing.

Wishing you all a Happy Holiday Season!

Scientists

Good morning kindergarten scientists!

Today our student teacher from Endicott College, Miss Ryder, led the class in a literature based science experiment.

First we read the hilariously funny book by B.J. Novak called The Book With No Pictures.

After reading the story, the children were shown the special ingredients they used for our experiment.  They were then asked to go to a table and assigned a task.

Each student got to add their ingredient to the bowl: glue, liquid starch, and acrylic paint. The mixer was the first one to begin to squish and knead.  With each ingredient, the children were asked if each ingredient is a liquid or a solid.  Then the real fun began as the mixing began!  The laughter, giggles and faces were so fun to watch as the Bluurf was began to take form!

After the Bluurf was made, the children gathered at the rug for a discussion about the experiment.  The children had to explain whether the Bluurf was a liquid or a solid.

If you would like to make your own Bluurf, here is the recipe:

1 cup Elmer's glue

1 cup Liquid starch

Acrylic paint- just a squirt

Squish and knead for about 4 to 5 minutes.

*It makes enough for 4 children to share so if you don't want that much decrease the recipe by half.

Please share with a comment and picture if you make this fun science experiment at home!

Twenty Yawns

Over the past few weeks, the children have been a part of Global Read Aloud which is an author study that is done internationally.  We have been reading books written and illustrated by Laura Castillo.  Last week, we read the book Twenty Yawns by Jane Smiley and illustrated by Lauren Castillo.

It was a story about settling down after a long day at the beach and snuggling with your favorite stuffed animal.  We asked the children to bring in their favorite stuffed animals and talk about their favorite things to do with it.  The first reading was done by Mrs. Baker.  Each time she read the word "yawn" the children had to raise their hands.  Needless to say, this brought about many laughs and giggles. Then, Mrs. Marshall came in to talk to children about calming strategies.  The children learned breathing techniques and listened to calming music.

These children are really beginning to show their writing skills!  The prompt was "What do you like to do with your favorite stuffed animals?"  Every one did a great job!

Check out our awesome video!  It was so much fun making it!

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Please comment below to let us know what you think of our movie!

Happy Halloween

Halloween 2016 is in the books!  We had a blast celebrating Halloween on a Monday!

Here we are ready to go and then so tired from the parade!

Costumes were great and the smiles, even the silly faces, were even better!

A huge to thank to all who helped to organize, volunteer their time, and donated items to make our Halloween party so successful!  We were able to enjoy an arts and craft activity with coloring and foam stickers and delicious snacks.  We kept to a healthy party of popcorn, pretzels, apple slices, and fruit along with water.

The last night of October homework was to count your candy.  Please comment below to share how many pieces you got trick or treating!

Also, please remember the Fuller Meadow School Council is collecting Halloween candy (cards and letters, too) for Operation Troop Support.  If your family would like to participate, please send in your candy donations to school by November 9th.

Stick and Stone

Over the past few weeks, the children having been reading the story 

Stick and Stone written by Beth Ferry.  

The story focuses on two individuals who are wondering the earth lonely and alone. 

They have a chance meeting at the playground and through an incident with a "bully", 

they become friends.

Each Wellness block, the children were asked questions about the story,

 friendship, and bullying.

For example: 

What is bullying?

Bullying is behavior that is unwanted and harmful emotionally and/or physically that is repeated.

What is a bystander?

A bystander is someone who sees or hears about a bullying situation.

In the story, the character being treated unkind was Stone and the character 

who was seen as the bully was Pinecone.  The bystander was Stick.

Ask your child: What did Stick to do "stick up for" Stone?

The last Wellness block, we reread the story and worked on retelling the story.

The children colored and cut the pieces taping them to popsicle sticks. 

 We then took turns retelling the story using specific details about the story. 

Ask your child to retell the story to you.

The children really enjoyed the story about friendship and 

seemed to learn many concepts throughout our Wellness blocks.  

We all learn that together Stick and Stone make a perfect 10!

Friends make a perfect 10!

Daily 5

The children have been working very hard at building their stamina during our Daily 5 block. 

 What is Daily 5?  

Daily 5 is a time of the day when the children work on skills either by themselves, in a small group, or with me.  Daily 5 consists of Read to Self, Work on Writing, Writing Station, Listening to Reading, or Word Work.  All of these centers are a time for the students to build their skills and stamina.  

What is stamina?  

Stamina is training your body and brain to do it the right way!

Read to Self is an opportunity for the children to build their reading skills independently.  The children choose books for their book boxes that they are interested in reading or enjoy their Poetry Binder and enjoy reading the poems.  We have been working on the 3 ways to read:

1. Read the pictures.

2. Read the words.

3. Retell the story.  

This is also a time for the children to practice touching each word and looking for those trick words or sight words we have been learning.

Word Work is another opportunity for the students to build their skills and stamina.  Often times, it is a game or worksheet where they are practicing a specific skill, such as trick or sight words, rhyming, identifying letters or beginning sounds of words, and other phonemic awareness games.

Listening to Reading is another choice for the children to listen to literature on tape or CD.  They are becoming experts at a CD player.  The children listen to the story and respond to the reading.  The children illustrate and label their drawings to respond to the reading.  This is a time they children reflect upon the story and answer the questions.  There are many prompts the children are answering. 

 What is your favorite part?

What is the setting of the story?

Who was the main character?

What happened at the beginning, middle and end of the story?

Work on Writing is another choice the children can choose from.  Each student has their own Writer's Notebook kept in their book boxes.  They have the opportunity to write about anything!  The students are beginning to write and are sharing what they wrote.  These little ones have lots to share!

The Writing Station is changed monthly to go along with different monthly themes.  Each week the children have a different task to complete.  They might have to label a picture, or write a list, write a story or write a letter.  The children use the vocabulary cards hanging on the wall to help support their writing.  Each task has "I can" sentences on the worksheet guiding the children to become their very best writers!

Daily 5 sure is a very busy time of the day where the children build their stamina and reading/writing skills.  I am so proud of how much they have grown in such a short amount of time!

Halloween Math Stations

For the past two weeks, the children have been exploring different mathematical concepts through the 4 different math stations.

The first math station was called "Witch's Brew".  The children have to pick a number from the cauldron and identify it.  If they can name it, they keep it.   If not, then the number goes back into the pot.  There are many interesting cards added to the brew to keep the game interesting, like "Magic Frog" where you can go again  or "Spider" to take a number from a friend. The "Lose a Broom" card makes you put one card back into the brew.   The "Witch's Brew"cauldron cards ends the game.

The next math station is Halloween playdough mats "Spooky Numbers Mats".   The children are counting, practicing number recognition, one to one correspondence, building numbers with the playdough, and using the ten frame to build the number.  

The third station was called "Costume Count".  The children had work mats and used their "eagle eye" to count each costume using the strategy of crossing out each one while counting in a scattered picture.  The children then had to write the number and color the corresponding amount.

The fourth and last math station was by far the favorite.  It was called "Boo Brew" which is a number recognition activity.  The children used the pocket chart to hide the cauldron behind a number.  Each student picked a number to find the hidden cauldron.  The one who picked the right number got to hide the cauldron next.

Each math station involved lots of mathematical concepts, as well as turn taking and team building, and the children had so much fun learning and exploring numbers!  We have math stations four days a week and are able to play with them at least 2 times. 

K.CC:3 Write numbers from 0-20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral.

K.CC 4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities.

K.CC 5 Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration: count out that many objects.

K.OA 4 Given a number between 1-9 find the number that makes 10 when added.

Walk to School 2016

Today was Walk to School Day at Fuller Meadow!  We enjoyed a brisk walk around the Brigadoon neighborhood in the fall, crisp air.  Mr. Sam was our very own crossing guard keeping all of the students safe!

A great time was had by all!

After yesterday's pumpkin picking and today's Walk to School, we are exhausted!

Now it is time to continue learning!

Pumpkin Picking 2016

On Wednesday, September 28th, the Kindergarten class went on a pumpkin picking field trip.  

We went to Ingaldsby Farm in Boxford where the children were able to enjoy looking at the different crops of fruits and vegetables that the farm grows.

First, the children enjoyed a yummy cider donut and delicious apple cider.

Next, the children were able to play in the playground and enjoy the animals.  The sheeps were very entertaining!

Next, we went on our hayride!  We saw a corn field, the pumpkin patch, and where the eggplants, beets, radishes, chili's and peppers grow.  The farmer shared a lot of interesting facts on the hayride about different types of pumpkins, apples, and various root vegetables.

After a short stop at the pasture to see the cows, we went off to pumpkin picking!

The pumpkins were still on the vine and the children were taught to twist the pumpkins off of the vine!  It was very cool to see the vines and tendrils.

It was a great day at the farm picking pumpkins!  Another successful trip to Ingaldsby!

A huge THANK YOU to the PTO for organizing this wonderful trip!

Starting Off in the Right Way!

We are off to a great start!  The first five days of school have been filled with lots of excitement and learning.  The first 5 days of Kindergarten have sped by!  I am amazed at how quickly the children have become more independent and adjusted to the daily routines.

The children began entering the school and heading to the gym with the first and second graders and were so proud of themselves!  In addition to that, the dismissal routine has been quickly acquired!  

Lunches have also been a smooth transition for the children.  They are becoming very familiar with purchasing their school lunches as well as ordering their food in the morning.
The daily schedule is very predictable and the children already know what is going to happen next.  They have all enjoyed art, gym, computer lab, library and music.

We have been playing many names games and songs in our first five days such as "We Have Friends", "Good Morning Friends", "Stand Up and Tell Us Your Name", and "The Wheels on the Bus". We have also been enjoying many new stories, such as Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes, The Kissing Hand, Chica Chica Boom Boom,

and Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten.
(Click on the links for a listen to the stories.)

The students have also been learning about the monster schools rules and expected behavior in school.  We have learned all about being a five star listener.  
Ask your child, " What does a 5 star listener look like?"
We made a chart using some examples of expected behavior, think about it behavior, and unexpected behaviors.

Here are some other pictures of the fun activites we have been having!

How many letters are in YOUR name?

 
Cheerleader Names: "Give me a __!  What does that spell?  Who is a great friend?"

Math, math, and more math!

As we move forward to the first full week of Kindergarten, we will continue to work on school and classroom rules and routines, expected and unexpected behavior, and having lots of fun learning!

I am so excited for a great school year!

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