Next Stop The Polar Express!

Today the kiddos boarded the Polar Express!  They pretended to sleep on the carpet and were "awoke" by the hissing of the steam engine and train whistle.  Next they had their tickets punched as they boarded the Polar Express.  We took a break for gym and had a popcorn snack afterwards.  We continued to watch the rest of the movie with Mrs. LaTarte on her train.   The kids truly enjoyed themselves!  We hope they had a fun experience going to the North Pole! :) 

Holiday Party!

Yesterday we had our December Holidays Party.  Thank you so much to those parents that donated supplies or volunteered to help at our party!  Without you- it would not be successful!  The boys and girls had a blast today celebrating many different holidays that take place in December.  They made crafts, played games and ate a yummy holiday breakfast!  Enjoy the pictures of our fun afternoon!

Literacy Stations Begin!!!!

Today was a very exciting day for the Kindergartners because today was the first day of Literacy Stations!  Literacy Stations is about 30 minutes each day 3 days a week.  That equals out to 2 stations per day your child will be going to.  During this time your child will be going to a specific station to work on specific targeted tasks.  Literacy Stations is an opportunity for your child's needs to be met at their own level.  Children can use this time to challenge their own learning.   A brief description of the stations is below.  Be sure to ask your child what stations they went to today.
1.Writing Station-Children will be practicing a handwriting, personal narratives, letters, post cards, lists,etc.  This can be an extension to what we are working on in Writer's Workshop or also allows children to practice their handwriting skills.
2. Word Work Station-Children will be working on different word work skills such as word families, rhyming, sounds, sight words, etc.
3. Bookmaking Station- At this station children will be making a book to add to their book box.  These books highlight sight words we are practicing.  When children are done making the book they may read out of their book box until time is up.
4. Library Station-At the library station children practice different skills such as working with fiction/mom-fiction books, finding specific words, reading specific themed books.  They will also be using different fun tools to help them read such as fun glasses, pointers, etc.  Today we used candy canes to point to the words we read in our books.

5. Listening Station- At this station children will be listening to a story on CD and then doing a response to it.  For example, this week children are listening to The Gingerbread Cowboy and then drawing 3 characters and labeling them from the story.

6. Read and Write the Room-At this station children will be going around the room with specific tasks that will be asking them to either read or write words they see in the room.  For example, their task may be to go around and make a list of all the 3-letter  and 4-letter words.  Or they may be asked to use pointers to find specific sight words and read them.  Today children used white boards to record words they saw in the room.

Here is our Literacy Station Board. This board tells each child which station they are starting at for the day.  The signs get rotated when we switch to the next station.  Each mini-sign matches with an exact larger sign in the room.  See below.  The larger sign is where the student works at or gets the materials needed to work at that station.

This child is working on a handwriting page letter Uu for the writing station and when she is finished she will work out of her writing folder.

Here children are working on bookmaking and also reading stories for the library station.  One child is using a candy cane to point to the words as he reads.

These girls are playing a word family game.  Each gingerbread that they flip over with the spatula has either and -at word or a -an word on it.  They have to sort the gingerbread's into the correct pan with the matching word family.

These kiddos are working on a book they will be adding to their book box. 

At the Write and Read the room station these friends are writing words on whiteboards they see in the room.

This group is listening to the Gingerbread Cowboy on CD.

Domino Concentration with boulan Buddies

Every Tuesday as you know our buddies from the Boulan Middle School come over to visit us in the morning.  Boulan buddies are wonderful!  They help us make crafts, run centers and play different learning games with us.  During our past two visits our buddies have played 2 different math games with us.  It is so helpful because the kiddos are working in a 1:2 ratio and at the most 1:3.  This helps to really individualize instruction for kids and to meet their needs at their different levels.  It also allows us to introduce a game to them so that next time they play they will be able to play on their own or with a partner without needing someone for guide them through it the whole time.  Thank you buddies!

A MAGICAL DAY AT BEMIS!

Two of the coveted prizes given out after the Jog-a-thon are Principal and Vice Principal of the Day.  These kids were given a budget of $1000 and were able to choose special things to do for the rest of the school.  In the morning, they brought a cart of bagels and pastries around to the hungry teachers.  We had  an assembly this morning where a guest from the Howell Nature came and taught us about different woodland animals.  They even had live animals for the children to observe.  The kiddos loved seeing the owl move it's head around and the flying squirrel dart around it's cage.  In the afternoon we had a very meaningful and hilarious character education assembly.  The kids learned about different character traits such as persistence, honesty, cooperation, etc.  The instructor made the lesson very entertaining with bits of magic and humor sprinkled in!  We ended our day with a Popsicle treat given to us by our principal and vice principal of the day. What a fun Tuesday!  We think that the kiddos did a great job filling Mr. Whan's shoes for the day! :)