Open House!!!

Thank you so much for EVERYONE coming to Open House.  We had 100% attendance!  This is a first for me!   It was so exciting to see all of the families and also see the excitement on your children's faces as they showed you our classroom.  It seemed like they could barely contain themselves!  Thank you again so much for coming!  Here are a few pictures from the evening!

Maps, Maps, Maps!

Recently the Kindergartners have been learning about Maps!  In Social Studies children are responsible for knowing the purpose of globes and maps by the time they leave Kindergarten.  In the past week children have been immersed in so many different map skills.  We have been playing directional games in the classroom and on the Smartboard.  We have been learning about map keys and the different types of maps that there are.  For example: globes, road maps, navigation systems, etc.  They have also learned about straight-on view versus birds eye view.  They have been regularly using the different terminology.  The kiddos even practiced by playing a fun Memory game with the different features.  This week we read a book called My Map Book by: Sara Fanelli This book shows us that places are the only things that can be mapped or charted.  For example we can map our day, heart, bedroom and even our stomach! 

This book was so inspiring to us that we decided to make our own map book.  This week we are going to be working very hard on our book.  We are going to make a map of our day, stomach and heart.  More traditionally we are going to make a map of our neighborhood and classroom.  You can look forward to seeing our own Map Books at Open House!



Surprise!!!! Amee came to Mystery Read!

We had quite a surprise today when one of our classmates came to be a Mystery Reader!  Amee was so excited and we were very proud of her and the way she read in front of the class.  She read a fun Dr. Suess book to us, Hop on Pop!  It certainly sparked a lot of interest from other kiddos who now want to be Mystery Readers! Checkout the short clip below of Amee reading!  :)

Working Hard at Literacy Stations!

Each week students rotate through 2 Literacy Stations each day.  Students are practicing different aspects of writing, reading, listening and speaking.  The kiddos are always so excited when it is Literacy Station time.  Literacy Stations also allows me to work one-on-one with students or in small groups.  Literacy Stations also allow children to work at their own level and challenge their learning!  Here is a peek of what we did this week....  The kiddos above are playing a treasure chest work work game.  They each have to make 2,3, and 4 letter words.

These kids are making books to be added to their book boxes that we use during independent reading time.  They also had to fill in ending words that rhymed in the sentence.

Joselyn, Junior and Isabell are doing Write the Room.  They are recording words in their learning notebooks and then stretching them out and drawing pictures to correspond with them.

These friends are listening to a story at the Listening Station.  They are then drawing and writing about their favorite part in their learning notebook.

Next week is our Bemis School Open House.  At the writing station students are writing letters to their families to invite them and tell them about what they are excited to show them.

At the ABC station students are playing a roll and write game.  The game board has different chunks and word endings on it.  Students can use the die with one letter on it or a die with blends on it to make new words.

Art Class Pottery With Mrs. Lamesch

Today in art class, the boys and girls had the chance to get messy! They were making tiles with clay and creating designs on the top.  We can't wait to see how they turn out when they are finished!

St. Patrick's Day!

Today we had a leprechaun come and visit our classroom!  All week we have been looking for him and some of the kids even think they may have seen him earlier in the week.  We have been reading lots of stories about St. Patrick's Day and how tricky leprechauns are.  When we came inside from recess, we saw foot prints on the carpet.  He even turned over chairs and threw things around the room. The leprechaun also left us a note that sent us on a scavenger hunt for his treasure.    The clues took us all around the school from the flag pole to the bus loop and finally onto our playground.    At the end of our hunt we found his pot full of yummy chocolate kisses!  No gold, darn it!  The kiddos were so excited to run from clue to clue!  I hope it was memorable and fun for them!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Eating A-Z Salad Bar

Today the boys and girls had the opportunity to sample fruits and vegetables for each letter of the alphabet.  Each class was invited to the cafeteria to fill a plate up of a very wide variety of healthy foods!  Our food service set everything up and encouraged the boys and girls to try new things.  Kiddos got to enjoy their favorite familiar fruits and vegetables as well as explore new kinds. Be sure to ask your kiddo to tell you about some of the things they tried and liked.  Here are a few pics from the experience! 

Fairy Tales

During the month of March we learn all about Fairy Tales.  We read different versions of classic tales and compare and contrast them.  We discuss the story elements in fairy tales such as the characters, setting, problem and solution.  We also spend a great deal of time retelling the stories in sequential order.  We learn that a good retelling includes the use of character voices and important story language from the book.  Fairy tales provide innumerable ways to retell.  Throughout the month children will use a variety of tools and props to retell.  Some of these include: puppets, masks, felt pieces, characters on the Smart Board, and reader's theater.  Below are some pictures of the children practicing their retelling skills.  We took turns being the "actors" and the "audience."  There are also a few pictures of the other activities from the morning.  We searched for words that end in -ig in a word search, wrote a letter to the wolf from the 3 Little Pigs, and measured the characters from Goldilocks and the 3 Bears with nonstandard tools. 

Mystery Readers

One of our most favorite things so far this winter has been Mystery Readers!  The children have loved having different family members come in and read to them.  The mystery reader is kept secret until I open the classroom door and revealed.  They usually ask me for clues as to who the mystery reader is and I might say whether its a mom or dad or not.  It is so fun to hear their conversations guessing who the mystery reader may be.  In an earlier post you read about when Mrs. Cleland surprised us in the morning as our mystery reader.  We thank everyone who has come into our classroom to read!   We have had moms,dads, aunts, uncles, sisters and grandparents.  WE LOVE IT!  We look forward to our upcoming mystery readers in the next month!  Below are a few pictures from past mystery readers.  If you would still like to be a mystery reader please just contact me through email.