Kwanzaa

In addition to learning about Christmas we are also focusing on learning about how different cultures celebrate during the holidays in December. Last week we learned about Kwanzaa. Here is a picture of our kinara.

Gingerbread Men Math Fun

Today in class during math time we created a Gingerbread Man Glyph. Each part of the glyph is specific to each child. They were asked 3 simple questions, and had to answer each one. To change things up a bit we painted each part of the glyph onto our own gingerbread man. My class was AWESOME!! Everyone shared, and waited paitently for their turn to use the paint.
Here are the parts of the glyph: If they were a boy they had a blue nose, a girl a pink nose. The buttons represented thier age (either 5 or 6), and the stripes represented if they liked or disliked gingerbread. If they liked it they had red striped, if they did not they had green striped. After we created our glpyh we constructed a real object graph.

Political Parties Diagram

Happy Halloween!! Today we did many fun Halloween activites but also discussed the appraoching election. I read the book, "Author Meets the President." After we discussed the 2 political parties. We found out what is similar and different about each party. After we constructed a similar vinn-diagram. Since I did not have time to cut the paper to make the official diagram we constructed it on our colorful carpet. They were too cute pernouncing both parties. Here is a picture of our completed diagram.

Pumpkins Pumpkins!

Last week we studied the letter P and focused on PUMPKINS! We learned that there are many different types of pumpkins. In addition, we cut them open and explored what was inside. We also learned about the life cycle of the pumpkin. At the end of the week we construted the life cycle as a class. Below is a picture of us completing our project.

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

Yesterday we read the book "Read Leaf, Yellow Leaf." It discusses what happens when a seed is planted, and the changing effects of the leaves as the seasons occur. We talked about what makes leaves green, which is the chlorophyll in the leaves. Everyone was given a cup with our green "chlorophyll" (it’s actually green Gatorade), with straw that had a green leaf on one side, and a brown on the other. When all the chlorophyll was gone they turned their leaves brown. We had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the delicious drink!

Firefighter Visit

The past two weeks we have learned a lot about our community, and community helpers. We scheduled a visit from Fire Station #5. It was very education, and a wonderful experience. We made firefighter hats, and each child got to walk through the fire engine. It was a wonderful learning expereince about fire safety! Thank you Fire Station #5 A shift!!

We love Reading!!

In my district we started a new program called the Daily 5. We have been focusing on building our stamina for Read to Self time. This past Tuesday I finally received our book boxes!! Each child has their own box with about 5 books in each box. We have been practicing read to self time at our tables but today we practiced in our reading spots throughout the classroom. I am proud to announce that today we read for 12 minutes! They are awesome! I know we will easily get to 18 minutes by the end of the week!

Apples

Last week we focused on letter, "Aa" and apples. We did all sorts of fun activities with apples! Everyone brought an apple to school, we graphed the apples they brought, tasted apples, made an apple cake, and constructed an apple glyph. In addition, we also learned about Johnny Appleseed and constructed a puppet about him. It was a fun week! Above is a picture of our class constructing the apple glyph, and below is our finished product.

Under the Sea and Square Cat

Sorry it has been a few weeks since my last classroom post. About two weeks ago the kindergarten class began participating in a parachute activity in P.E. They constructed a performance, and all danced together with the parachute. It was great! Here is a picture of my class practicing for the performance! Mrs. Henz, our PE teacher, always has great activites for the students to participate in during PE.

In math we focused on shapes. One book we read, which is one of my favorites, was "Square Cat." It is a cute book about a cat, Eula, who desires to be round and not square. She gets in to all sorts of mischievous plans to become square. Finally she accepts her shape in full and loves being square. We read the book, discussed how Eula felt, and constructed a square cat glyph. Here is a picture of our finished product!

Pete the Cat

We love Pete the Cat! This week we enjoyed two of Eric Litwin's wonderful books about our favorite cat, Pete. "Pete the Cat I love my Whie Shoes", and "Pete the Cat Rocking in my School Shoes". He is always in a good mood no matter what he steps in or what obstysticles he faces. On Wednesday we even danced to his great books, and songs. We are excited about his new book coming out in November, and later in the year we will revisit Pete by reading his 3rd book, "Pete the Cat, and his Four Groovy Buttons."

For some reason every time I try to upload the picture of our class Pete's it is turned a little the on the weird side. I will work on changing it for the better.

Thank you Parents!

Thank you to all the parents that came out to kindergarten orientation on September 11. I know it was a long night, and I greatly appreciate all your dedication. Remember to continually praise, praise, and praise your child for all their hard work in kindergarten. This is especially powerful while completing their reading homework. I am looking forward to a wonderful year!

The Wheels on the Bus.

We had once again another successful week in kindergarten. This past week our focus poem was, "The Wheels on the Bus." All the kids enjoyed the poem, and at the end of the week we made a cute bus to go along with the poem.

Hello Mr. Trotter

Today we had a visitor, Mr. Trotter. He was working at the Fire station today and decided to drop by to meet the new kindergarten class. As a treat he read to the class one of our faviorite books, Pete the Cat. All of the kindergartners were excited to meet him!

We are pirates, and we love school!

We have completed our first week of Kindergarten! WHOOP!! This week we focused on the structure within our school. We took many tours of the building, meet many new faces, and talked about the school rules. One book we read was, Pirates go to School. It is a book about how to behave in school. After we read the book we made a cute craft out of pirates.

Welcome to Kindergarten!

WOW! Meet the teacher night was wonderful. I meet 17 out of 22 of my new students. This is going to be a great year. All of the parents and students were so excited when they arrived, and ready to boogie for the new year. Thank you to all the parents who brought their students supplies this past Thursday.

Make sure on Sunday night you put your little kindergarten star to bed no later than 8pm. It is going to be a hectic day on Monday filled with lots of emotions, and many new experiences. I will be posting pictures of what we will be doing in the classroom.

Thank you, again! :)

New Baby!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! This week I just arrived back from Chicago. It was a wonderful visit full of family fun. 

I am also excited to announce that in about 7 months my wonderful husband and I will be celebrating a new addition to our little family! We will be proud new parents to a baby Trotter.

Thanks for a great year.

Thanks for the wonderful school year! Listen to a little message from me to enjoy your summer.

listen to ‘end of school year’ on Audioboo

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for taking the time to look over my blog. Teaching Kindergarten is a wonderful experience. Everyday is a new adventure! Over time, I will be posting updates about what we are achieving in our little kindergarten world.