Happy Holidays!

Throughout the month of December, the Kindergarten team raised over five hundred dollars for Reading's Mission of Deeds Buy-a-Bed program. We were able to purchase six new beds for children in need (each bed being ninety dollars). We presented our donation to Mr. Bruce, the director of this program, at our December sing-along.

Happy December birthdays to Ely, Ervy, Ethan, Mary, and Kasey! For Mary and Kasey's birthdays we were also celebrating our positive behavior in the classroom. The children chose to have a "Ninja Turtle-Prince-Princess Day" as their reward! Thank you to Mary's mom, Mrs. Furey, for coming in as our Mystery Guest Reader on that special day as well. The children loved listening to The Polar Express.

Thank you all who came and supported the children during our Holiday party. It's always a bit chaotic but so much fun!

Hard at work in December

Thank you to all who attended our 1/2 Day Kindergarten "Friendsgiving" at Portland Pies. The kids had a great time making and gobbling down their pizzas!

The children have been busy learning about different literary genres such as fiction, fantasy, animal fantasy, and folk tales. One major Kindergarten learning goal is to be able to RETELL key details within a story.

In math, we are beginning to take a look at "teen numbers". On Friday we took a break from writing in our workbooks and played "teen number Bingo". The kids loved it!

Through the Lucy Calkins Writer's Workshop curriculum, the children are growing leaps and bounds in their writing. They are becoming more and more skilled each and every day with their letter/sound identification and now have the confidence to independently say a word and STRETCH it out before writing it. Check out some of our work that I am SO proud of!

Our busy weeks in November

Phew! It's been a busy few weeks in Kindergarten! We had a successful Halloween parade and party and now we are excitedly preparing for our Thanksgiving show! Here are some photos to show you all that we've been doing. We are learning what it looks like to read-to-self as well as read Eek with a friend. Ask your child to model it for you! We are very lucky to have been paired with our 3rd grade Book Buddies from Mrs. Gargano's class. They are great role-model readers for our class and the children really enjoy reading with them. We sat in Open Circle and brainstormed our own classroom rules last week. Each child shared an idea of what they thought a good classroom rule should be and then we created our personal list. We were sure to keep the Barrows Beliefs in mind, being respectful, collaborating, and persevering. Although those are all big words, your children know what they mean and how it applies to them in the classroom! Each child then signed their name as a promise to always follow our classroom rules. Last but certainly not least, we actually got to meet the REAL LIFE Amelia Bedelia on Friday!!!! She was so fun! A few of our friends even got to jump up on stage with her and helped her clean! We have another busy few days ahead and then we all get to enjoy a nice Thanksgiving break. It was a pleasure speaking with all of the parents last week. I wish you all a safe, relaxing, and YUMMY Thanksgiving!

Halloween Party

We had such a great time dressing up the Friday before Halloween complete with a parade, a monster mash, and then a party! Thank you so much to all the parents who assisted to make this day special. An even bigger thanks to Brendan and Kasey's moms for setting up the party. Also, a big thanks to Lydia's mom, Jenny, who took some great pictures of our party!

Happy Birthday to Alyssa & Dylan!

Writer's Workshop

This week, the children were introduced to the Lucy Calkins Writer's Workshop program. We began the narrative unit by listening to the book "Freight Train" by Donald Crews. Donald Crews knows an awful lot about trains. The children began to think what they know a lot about in their own, personal lives. The children were then motivated and sent off to begin their writing creations. Some only illustrated some pictures, while others began to work on labeling their work or even writing a few words or sentences. The children are starting to hear the beginning sounds of words and were excited to put those to their papers.

Pajama Day!

Pajama Day was so much fun today! Along with being on our best behavior, we have been working hard in Kindergarten continuing to practice our numbers 1-7, our rhyming, and our letter knowledge. Every day is a busy one! Today Mrs. Leonard popped in to show the children how Barry the Barrows Butterfly had grown from a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly! The kids had the privilege of joining Mrs. Leonard outside to release Barry The Butterfly. If you look carefully, you can actually see the butterfly in our photo!

Skip To My Lou!

I have been hearing that the children love to sing our math song at home so thought this might be helpful! Currently, we are working on numbers up to 7. We will be continuing onward and upward as the weeks progress!:)

Finally in our new classroom!

Hooray! We are finally in our REAL classroom. The children were so excited to explore the room during our first official week in it. It is a bit smaller than the enormous Kindernasium, but it is homey and OURS! The children have been working hard on their letter knowledge for the letters t, b, f, m, and n. They are able to identify the letter, say the sound that it makes, and write the lowercase letter correctly. Please encourage your children to practice writing their names using a capital letter for the first letter and then all others lowercase. In math, the children are learning how to identify when things look the same and when they look different. We are continuing to practice our number formation writing. The children have learned the correct way to write the numbers 1-5 up to this point using a fun little song sung to the tune of "Skip to My Lou". Ask them about it!

For a good behavior incentive, I introduced Mr. Potatohead to the children on Friday. Any time the children get a whole class compliment for good behavior or working hard, Mr. Potatohead will get a piece added to his body. Once Mr. Potatohead is completely put together, the children will earn a Pajama Day at school. Mrs. Granoth will need to wear her bathrobe and slippers that day too!

Please check out the Specialists tab on this blog as it gives information about where your children are coming from each day at pick up.

Have a wonderful weekend!