SeeYou Next Year!

For those of you that aren't aware, the schools are always filled with extra excitement, joy and noise during this time of year! But this past few days have been extra chaotic for the kiddos as we really haven't had a typical routine day...well....in a very long time. The late starts, early dismissals, concert practicing, concerts, snow days and holiday parties really threw all my Rangers out of our daily routines, and I couldn't even blame them! But after some reminders, and hot chocolate as an incentive we officially survived our first half of kindergarten!
Yesterday morning, we went to Oak Terrace and sang our holiday songs and all the grandparents loved it! We laughed because it was snowing very hard as we walked over there, and along the way we sang our "Let it Snow" song. One student thought maybe we should sing about warm weather and sunshine and maybe the weather would turn to that! If we were only that lucky!
Then this afternoon we watched The Polar Express and enjoyed some well-earned hot chocolate and french vanilla marshmellows! We had such a great afternoon! Please enjoy our slideshow filled with our fun reindeer marshmellow gifts for our hot chocolate! We LOVED them so much! Happy Holidays from our classroom to your home!



Ten Things I Love About Teaching Kindergarten

1. Getting free daily hugs.

2. When I see a student experience an “Ah-Ha” moment. 

3. Receiving presents like pictures, cards, and sometimes unexplainable gifts from students for no reason at all.

4. When I hear my kiddos “playing teacher” during kid time. I mean in what other profession do you get to watch children pay homage to what you do each and every day!

5. Share time - you NEVER know what students are going to say to the class, show the class or ask the class!  But it is always priceless. I am fairly certain I will have a classic book of kids quotes to compose in a few short years!

6. Seeing kindergarteners faces after you tell them they ALL earned a husky pride paw – its like telling them they are all getting a free ticket to Disney Land with pop, candy, and all their favorite friends!

7. Watching students as they discover that they actually CAN read and they CAN write on their own! They are so proud and eager to learn more!

8. I get to sing, dance, play, color and read picture books every week day! 

9.  Watching 21 kindergarteners dance and/or get their wiggles out daily. Kids really do have the BEST dance moves!

10. Knowing that something you say, do, or teach can impact a student’s day, week, or even life. 

Ah yes, life is good.

Warm Welcome Back

We had a very exciting day today!
One of our student's dads came home after he was stationed in Afghanistan for the past eleven months! As a class we had been keeping the arrival a secret all day from the lucky student. While she was out of the room, we all had a discussion about where her dad has been, why he was there, and how special it was that he was now coming home. As a class, we have been talking a lot about the true meaning of the holidays lately - about how it is a time to spend with friends and family, to be thankful, and to be kind to everyone.
So today, when we got back from our gym class we knew we had the secret waiting for our special student in the reading room! As a class we counted down from 3, 2, 1...and said "Come on In!" When her dad walked through those doors, I think she was at first stunned. Then, like out of a movie, she shouted out "Daddy!" and went running into his arms. It was a silent, touching, and heartfelt moment.
Even though my rangers are only five or six, they are still very in tune with each other's feelings. As I looked at this student hugging her family, and then looked at all my little ones as they stared smiling back at this family, I realized that they all realized what the holidays really are about.

Tis' the Season!

Long Ago Day

In Social Studies we have been learning about what it was like long ago. So on Monday, we had Long Ago Day at school!  Several students came to school dressed in their long ago day outfits as we spent the day pretending that we are children who lived, worked, and played long ago in America.

In small groups we made corn bread, pilgrim hats, bonnets, and collars.

We visited a website about what it was like long ago and discussed similarities and differences from long ago and today! Watch our Smilebox to hear some funny comments, see some pictures, and read more details about our Long Ago Day!

This scrapbook created with Smilebox

Pajama Day Palooza!

Since we were learning about the letter Pp, we decided have a Pajama, Pop, Pizza, and Popcorn Party! We definitely had to earn this party through good behavior and by showing our Husky Pride! Today, we all showed up in our best pajamas and we had a grand time. We started the day by reading
"If you give a Pig a Party." We used our fantastic four friends to help us make predicitons, questions, and clarifications while we read. At the end of the story we summarized all the main ideas!

In the afternoon we had a mystery reader come read to all the kindergarten classrooms! It was the real Fancy Nancy! She was dressed in a big red tutu, a sparkling shirt, shiny shoes, and silk gloves! She was Fancy from head to toe! She even read her Favorite Story about her Posh Puppies - as she explained Posh is a fancy word for fancy! 

She was so kind to even stay after and help our class make fancy pizzas along with Anthony's mom, Tanya! We covered our pizzas with mozzarella cheese, creamy red marina sauce, and perfectly round pepperonis! Then Fancy Nancy and Tanya took them to a secret Fancy Oven and baked them perfectly for our whole class to enjoy!

For kid time we got to watch Scooby Doo's Pirates Ahoy! While watching it we enjoyed some Pop and our Personal Pizzas! We ended the day by performing for our classroom helpers. We put on our turkey hats and performed our favorite end of the day song, Turkey Time! They loved it and we put the video below in hopes that you'll enjoy it too! 

Whew...good thing we are in our pajamas! That was an exhausting day, time to curl up on the couch!

Daily 5

The Daily 5 is a structured language arts program that helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing, and working with peers that will lead to a lifetime of independent literacy. The 5 elements that students participate in every day are: Read to Self, Read with Someone (buddy reading), Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing. In our kindergarten classroom, we have Read to Self, Word Work and Work on Writing on a daily basis and Listen to Reading and Read to Someone a few times a week. 

Being a novice to Daily 5, I am amazed by the progression in writing and reading this year already!! They truly are reading to self -- they each have a book bag with books at their level. During this time they can read the pictures or read the words. For writing they are labeling pictures through sounding out words and some are writing one t0 three sentences daily! That is quite an accomplishment - especially for being so early in the year! The last one that is fun to watch is word work - they use wikki sticks, molding clay, stamps, and magnets to create star words, their names, color words, or read the room and spell words. Here are a few snapshot I took of them during our Daily 5 Time! 

Read to Self

 Word Work (using stamps)

 Word Work (modeling clay)

Work on Writing

 Read with Someone (3rd Grade C.A.T Friends)

 

Witching You a Spooktacular Halloween!

An invite by Smilebox