Dear Families,
Room #7 did it! We made it through our first full week! Each day, the Kindergartners are becoming more comfortable with our many routines, the school, and with each other. It’s wonderful to watch them engage in conversations and learn more about each other. Moreover, it is awesome to see them know each other’s names a wee bit more every day!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is all the rage in Room #7! We have been talking about beginning sounds and letters in the students’ names. Many of our Learning Lab Centers focus around the alphabet and learning our letters. Everyone is very excited for the parents to see the bulletin board the students created based on the book!
We created our first class book! We used the familiar repetitive language from Brown Bear, Brown Bear to produce a book featuring each child in our class. This is sure to become a class favorite! The students also participated in their first survey! I asked each student what his/her favorite animal is from the book and then, as a class, we graphed the responses. Everyone was able to see which animal was the most popular by counting how many votes each one received! We chatted about which animal had the least number of votes too. It was fun to compare and contrast our results.
The class has also been busy with Math stations. We do a lot of station work in Kindergarten. The following are the Math stations our class did this week.
- Pattern Blocks - Students built patterns and intricate designs.
- Cover the Dots – Given mats with different amounts of black dots on them, students practiced their 1:1 correspondence and counting skills by covering these dots with double-sided counters. This is a skill the Kindergartners will continue to hone for weeks to come!
- Brown Bear Roll and Color – At this engaging, independent center, the boys and girls rolled a die and then colored in the corresponding animal from the beloved book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Everyone received practice recognizing the corresponding numeral to the dots on the die!
- Foam Ten Frames – Using our foam ten frames, the cherubs were able to manipulate the pegs to represent a given number. To begin, we chatted about how each ten frame has five spaces on the top and five spaces on the bottom, with a total of 10 spaces. The kiddos and I also discussed how you always start by filling up the top frame first and then move onto the bottom frame for higher numbers. Everyone loved manipulating the foam pegs to show the different numbers! This was definitely a fan favorite!
- Creation Station – At this station, cherubs concentrated on reproducing various items (table, dog, robot, giraffe) using Unifex cubes! I think this was everyone’s preferred station!
The class is doing an outstanding job with all of the Math stations. Moreover, we also talked about making sure to participate in new stations before returning to previous ones, and everybody is working on doing exactly what’s expected and following our important routines! Way to go Room #7!
Room #7 is full of Hastings Heroes! This year each child received his/her own Hastings Hero shirt. We will wear these shirts once a month to share school spirit and celebrate being a member of the Hastings community and a Hastings Hero!
Our school has a school wide Pro-Social program that we use to help the kids learn about respect, determination, and responsibility. Through the year we will talk a lot about what it means to be a Hastings Hero – this week we introduced the idea of Respect. We are talking about what respect means and how we can show respect to our classmates, out teachers, and the school.
We wore our Hastings Heroes shirts as we started the day with a “guided practice” of dismissal (to help the kids understand what is expected in the bus line area, the car rider line, the walker line, as well as the dismissal procedure for Lextended Day). The kids did a great job. After our dismissal practice, we had a sing-a-long at All School Meeting! It was a lot of fun.
On Friday, Ms. Freeman our school counselor came to visit our class, for Motion and Emotion! This year she will visit all of the kindergarten classes and do lessons related to building social and emotional skills. Ms. Freeman also loves to dance with the kids…and the kids LOVE it too! Today Ms. Freeman read a story called The Way I Feel and then talked to the kids about “feelings” they had/have about starting kindergarten. We’ll continue to talk more about this over the next several weeks! Our day ended with recess.
On Friday we also talked about what a scientist does! We read a book called What Is A Scientist? By Barbara Lehn. We talked about how a scientist learns by looking closely at things, by wondering, and by asking questions! We introduced a beautiful Monarch caterpillar to the children. We will continue to observe it over the next couple of weeks and see how it changes! \
Next week, Writer’s Workshop will be launched in Room #7!! To begin our foray into writing, the Kindergartners will be writing about things, people, and places they know. We will begin this feat by brainstorming so that the writers have many topics from which to choose. Our young writers will begin the writing process by learning how to tell stories orally. As a class, we will practice storytelling so that they begin to get a feel for the process. If you have any pictures of your child doing something he or she likes, or of any special people and/or places, please send them in! I will add those photos to each individual’s writing folder [folders] so your child will have quick access to even more writing ideas!
Important Notes:
Notices: Thank you for returning the many notices sent home over the first few days of school. Please keep them coming! I am collecting the following:
-Parent Permission Forms
-Emergency Contact Forms
-Child Profile Forms
Curriculum Night: Back to School Night is quickly approaching! It will take place on Thursday, September 22nd. Grades K-2 will meet from 6:15-7:00. There will be a welcome in the Gym from 7-7:25 when you will be introduced to Specialist Teachers and other staff members. Grades 3-5 will get together from 7:30-8:15. I look forward to seeing you there!
School Picture Day: Friday, September 30th. Rain date is Thursday, October 13th.
P.E.: Please remember to send your child with sneakers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Please also separate your child’s snack from his/her lunch to avoid any confusion as to what he/she should eat at which time. Additionally, if you can review with your child which bag is which (snack or lunch), this will help avoid any misunderstandings! Thank you!
Please continue to remember to check your child’s folder each day.
Again… Please send a note whenever your child has a change in dismissal plans.
PLEASE send in a picture of you family ASAP if you have not done so. Next week we will continue learning about each other and I would like each child to be able to share a picture of his/her family. If you do not have a recent picture, you can take one and email it to me and I will be happy to print it out!
Have a fun-filled weekend!