A Forest Is A Wonderful Place

 

And just like that, we find ourselves being surrounded by the colors of fall.  The season of gathering, harvesting, digging out sweaters, and enjoying the last bursts of color before the stick season is upon us.  Our caterpillars have spun their chrysalises and we await their metamorphosis with excitement!

This week students completed their beautiful self-portraits with pride. We have been talking about how we are all unique and when we come together we create a magical community filled with many strengths and gifts. 

During Math, we have been counting different objects and building our spatial awareness with block patterns. 

In Literacy, we are retelling/acting out stories, learning basic concepts of how to look at a book, and how to share a book with a partner.  We are using journals to practice our fine motor and observational skills. 

ECO this week, students were introduced to the word Organisms. We explored the idea of a life cycle with a focus on plants and searched around for seeds.  Kindergarteners were thrilled when they found seeds that prompted them to create a garden in the forest.  On Friday we worked together to build a loom out in the woods.  Kindergartners were excited to help carry the lumber up to the forest and then watched eagerly as it was assembled.  Students then wove ribbons and natural materials together. It was a beautiful morning filled with teamwork and kindness. 

Welcome Fall🍂

 

Welcome Autumn!  

What a glorious week of learning inside and outside.  

During our Literacy time this week, Students continued to explore lines/curves, rhymes, retelling the Hungry Caterpillar story, and we began our Heggerty Program.  Heggerty helps students practice rhyming, segmenting words, listening for beginning and ending sounds, and more.  

In Math, we began to use dice for rolling and counting.  We also explored attribute blocks and discussed what attributes the different shapes have.  We played a game called Guess My Rule.  Students had to choose an attribute (color, shape, thickness, number of sides or corners) and then display those shapes that shared those traits.  Some of these rules were very tricky!

During ECO, we enjoyed our time in our new outdoor space!!  A BIG thank you to my husband for sawing up some logs for 4 beautiful benches.  We noticed the benches made eating snacks a little easier too, though students are becoming accustomed to getting creative and eating carefully out in the woods! They are already showing so much growth and adaptability! Kindergartners have shown a lot of interest in the critters living on the forest floor so this week we talked about the important ecosystem, the rotted log!  A decomposing log is home to many organisms! 

Lastly, we began our Civics Social Studies unit this week.  This unit is all about recognizing important traits of being a citizen. Our focus will mainly be on what it means to be a good citizen in our classroom (being a kind friend, being a good listener, playing fairly & including others).  Early on in the week, our class read Gloria and Officer Buckle, and students shared why they thought rules were necessary. We then created a list of rules that would be important in our classroom community.  We noticed there were some patterns - caring for others, caring for ourselves, and caring for our environment -inside and out.  Each student agreed with these and signed their name with a critter thumbprint.

Looking forward to another wonderful week ahead!🍂🍁🍂🍁

Notes:

9/27:  School pictures (make up day 9/28)

9/28    Guest Teacher.  Mrs. Poor will be at a professional development day. 

9/29:  Zucchini Race, 1:50pm

Curious, Creative Kids

As we move closer to fall, leaves are beginning to change, geese are gathering, and caterpillars are munching their last leaves. I was fortunate to be given some monarch caterpillars for our class to nurture and release.  The Milkweed Tussock moth has been decimating milkweed around my area not allowing for much Monarch action.  

This week we explored our pre-handwriting wooden pieces where we talked about big lines, little lines, small curves, and big curves.  These are the words we will use when we are practicing our drawing and soon in our writing!

We also continued our So.Co. work where we talked about feelings, thought bubbles, and filling our thoughts and words with kindness.  Students painted beautiful flower gardens to represent that our mind is like a garden.

During ECO we continue to practice expectations and explore the wonder of trees!  🌳

IMPORTANT DATES

9/27:  School pictures (make up day 9/28)

9/23:  Harvest Market Parade - Line up begins at 8:30am at BRMS parking lot.

9/29:  Zucchini Race, 1:50pm

2nd Week Of K!

We have had 7 days of Kindergarten.  Already students are settling nicely into the routines of the day.  Students have received several compliments on how amazing they are while walking through our school hallways respectfully and following expectations. It is going to be a fabulous year ahead!

This week we talked about our hopes for the coming year ahead.  These hopes ranged from wishes to learn to read, write, cook, learn about pigs, and more!  All of these and more will be possible!

During ECO students ate snacks outside - which has a learning curve with balancing food on laps and trying to not drop items in the dirt!  Students experienced the routine, which always begins with songs, then a read aloud and/or discussion, snack, activity, & free explore time.  Students found a special tree and got to know it by sitting next to it and doing a bark rubbing. 

Kindergartners practiced holding their pencils with a fun song and activity.  They have had opportunities to paint, cut with scissors, color, etc.  I love teaching through the Arts and all of these are amazing fine motor skill practices for their little hands.

We also began our social-emotional learning skills this week.  Ask your child about the group plan and what body in the group means!  The group plan happens often at school, at home, or at a playdate.  Group activities are most often considered times when the group plan is happening.  Of course, there are times when we can do our "me plan" and these are important but we must also be aware of the times that we need to participate in the "we plan."  The body in the group is being aware of how we move as a class from place to place.  Outdoors I like to say we move as a school of fish.  Body in the group is also an awareness that people need their own space too.  We also talked about what whole-body listening means.  All of these skills are super important when building a caring and safe community and they are ultimately life skills!

Please enjoy some highlights of this week!  

Note: Early Release this Wednesday.  Dismissal 12:20.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!  

What a fantastic first 3 days of Kindergarten!  Children seem happy to be at school and are beginning to notice our daily routines.  So much of the start of kindergarten is getting used to the space, building routines, expectations, and growing relationships.

Thank you for all the work you have begun to do to support your child's preparation for school. The transition impacts everybody, it can be exhausting among the excitement of it all!

The 2023-2024 School Year Begins In 3 Days!

 

Last Day

 Happy Summer!!

The last two days were filled with the Kindness Rock Project, celebrated our last ECO with some delicious hot cocoa cooked over the Kelly Kettle, and a puppet show about the incredible ecosystem within a rotted log.  

I will miss you all!  Have a wonderful summer!