A Peek At Our Week!

It's hard to believe that October begins this week and the first month of Kindergarten is behind us! What a fun and exciting month it was! Please enjoy a few updates from our very busy classroom below.😊

Important Dates:

October 1st:

Picture Day-Smile!

October 10th:

Early Release

October 13th:

No School

Announcements:

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed! 🍎

We ended our week with LOTS of excitement as we celebrated Johnny Appleseed and all things apple! 

Curriculum Update:

Into Reading

Last week in our Into Reading curriculum we read the books Kindergarten Kids by Stephanie Calmenson and School Bus by Donald Crews. Both of these texts helped us continue to answer the essential question: What will I discover in Kindergarten? We also explored the genre of poetry and the story elements of characters, settings, and events. In phonics we learned about the letters m and t and the color word red. Click here to listen to the song we used to help us learn this color word.

Math

Last week in math we practiced counting numbers to 10! The ten frame was a major focus of our instruction, and by the end of the week the students were getting very efficient at recognizing numbers in ten frames quickly. They also enjoyed playing two new games called "Beat you to Five" which had the students identifying how many more cubes were needed to make 5, and "Who Will Win?" a game which provides the children with number writing practice. 

Writer's Workshop

Last week in Writer's Workshop we practiced our pre-writing skills by using shapes to create people! In the week ahead to will put pencil to paper as we practice drawing people and including details such as hair, clothing, and facial expressions.

Special Guests

Last week we also welcomed many special guests into our classroom and school! First up was Ms. Lemmler, one of Boyden's amazing school counselors, who taught her first SEL lesson of the school year. Her lesson focused on calming strategies and using rainbow breathing. We can't wait for Ms. Lemmler visit Room 115 again next month!

The children also enjoyed seeing Mrs. Arnold again as she taught us how to take care of our Chromebook computers and helped with the tricky process of logging in for the first time, bootcamp style!

On Thursday we welcomed members of the Walpole PD (including officer Hart and Rebel!) as they spoke to all of the Kindergarten classes about school safety!

The students definitely found the presentation more interesting than Rebel did! 😂

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to watch us learn, grow, and play in the wonderful world of K! 🚌📖🍏

A Peek At Our Week!

  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Please enjoy a few highlights from our classroom last week. 😊

Important Dates:

September 26th:

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed! 🍎

Students are welcome to wear red/apple themed clothing to celebrate!

Announcements:

Curriculum Night

It was so nice to see so many of you at our parent curriculum night last week! If you were unable to make it, or would like the review the information shared again, I have included a link to my slideshow HERE. I look forward to seeing everyone again for the fall parent/teacher conferences that begin at the end of October. 

Lunch Forms

This week I will not be sending out a lunch form as I want to see if the children are able to remember if they are getting a school lunch or brought a lunch from home on their own. If it would give you peace of mind to email me (especially on a day they are supposed to get school lunch) you are more than welcome to. 

Curriculum Update:

Reading

Last week in reading we continued to explore module (unit) 1 which is titled: Curious About Kindergarten. We worked hard to answer the essential question, "What will I discover in Kindergarten?" by reading the stories A Squiggly Story by Andrew Larsen, and One Happy Classroom by Charnan Simon. We also practiced identifying the characters and settings of these texts, and were introduced to the genre of fiction. For foundational skills, the class reviewed uppercase letters with straight lines such as T, F, and I, curved lines such as C, U, and S, and both straight and curved lines such as B, D, and P.

Math

We continue to build our number sense in math as we explore numbers to 5. Last week we showed the numbers 1-5 on our five frame mats, and used our fingers to show how many boxes were full and how many were empty. At the end of the week we learned some fun number formation poems to help us with writting these numbers, and played a fun game called Spill the Beans!

Welcome Mrs. Arnold!

We were very excited to welcome Mrs. Arnold, Boyden's Digital Learning Coach, to Room 115 last week! Mrs. Arnold taught us about different forms of media and how to use them safely. We are looking forward to having her back soon to teach us how to log into our Chromebook computers!

If Mrs. Arnold looks familiar it's because she is my twin sister! 😂

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to watch us learn, grow, and play in the wonderful world that is K! 🍎📖🚌

A Peek At Our Week!

 The children settled into Room 115 nicely as we spent our first full week of school together! Last week we continued to practice classroom routines and also review expected behaviors.  I couldn't be more pleased with how quickly everyone is acclimating to Kindergarten life! 🍎

Important Dates:

September 16th:

Open House/Curriculum Night

(Parents/Guardians Only)

September 19th:

Half Day of School

11:55am Dismissal

Announcements:

Folders

Please be sure to check your child's folder (nightly if possible) for important notices and information. Any class work or announcements should be removed and kept at home unless otherwise noted. My fingers are crossed that the official Boyden folders will be here shortly. Thanks so much for your help!

Curriculum Update:

Literacy

Last week in Literacy we read the story Keisha Ann Can! by Daniel Kirk and explored some of things we might discover this year in Kindergarten. We also learned about the story elements of character and setting, and spent a great deal of time discussing our names and also practiced writing them!

The students worked hard on their first paper ripping project of the year! Activities like these are great for building fine motor strength.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! 🌴

What better way to practice rhyming and identifying the letters in our names than with the story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! by Bill Martin Jr!

Math

In math we began the first module in our Bridges curriculum! Last week's lessons focused on sorting shoes, and the class did an excellent job of noticing various attributes our shoes had and sorting them into categories. 👞👟🥿

We also explored new math manipulatives such as pattern blocks, unifix cubes, and polydrons during our math work station time. Work stations are independent activities that take place after our whole group lesson.

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to watch us learn, grow, and play in the wonderful world that is K! 🍎📘🚌

Day 4 Update

 It was a fabulous Friday in Room 115! Please enjoy some pictures from our day!!

Where is Pigeon? 🔎

The highlight of our day was reading the book The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! by Mo Willems and going on a pigeon hunt around Boyden School! The pigeon sent us on quite an adventure as we searched locations such as the office, cafeteria, music room, gym, and even Mr. Dearborn's office! It seems as though he was too fast for us to catch! Luckily our hunt had a happy ending as the pigeon was waiting for us when we returned to our classroom! I wonder how he got there! 🤔

It was an amazing first 4 days in Kindergarten! Be on the lookout for a lunch Google Form, and an email with important dates and announcements that I plan to send out on Sunday. Have a great weekend! 🌞