Polar Express Day

Today the kids came to school in their jammies.  After music we pretended to be resting and then I blew my train whistle, passed out train tickets and the kiddos climbed aboard our very own polar express.  We held our stuffed animals tight and watched the movie, "The Polar Express."  The kids got to stop and enjoy a popcorn treat and even received a little bell to keep like in the movie.  We had a magical time! ;)

Holiday Party

Thursday we celebrated the upcoming holidays with a Kindergarten Holiday party.  The kids were able to go to three different classrooms to play games and make crafts as well as the cafeteria for a yummy and messy treat.  From the smiles we saw on thier faces- they had a great time!  Many thanks to those that helped out by volunteering or donating supplies!

 

Gingerbread Centers

      In the month of December the Kindergarten kids participate in many activities related to the classic Gingerbread Man story.  We read many different versions and compare and contrast them.  We test out what would happen if a gingerbread cookie tried to swim across the river, we make props and retell the story, and we also play some fun and challenging math games with gingerbread.  Our 4th grade buddies in Mrs. Clay's class planned an awesome extension of this learning today!  They set up 5 different gingerbread centers in our media center.  With thier buddy, the kids rotated through the stations.  They made new words out of gingerbread, played a board game, measured the area and perimeter of a gingerbread using candy, played a dice roll adding game and played a dice roll drawing game.  The kids were all so excited and engaged with these centers.  The older kids did an awesome job explaining how to do each center and giving our younger kids the guidance they needed to do them successfully.  Here are a few pictures...

Partner Reading

In Reading Workshop this week we have been working on learning how to read with a partner.  Children are learning how to sit side by side with thier partner and share one book.  They take turns reading every other page, reading the book to each other and reading the book together.  When they get stuck on tricky words, thier partner helps to coach them.  Here are some pictures of our readers hard at work! 

 

Spelling Words

This week we started a new spelling routine in the Kindergarten classrooms.  Each week students will work on 4-5 Dolch words that are assigned.  We practice them at school during calendar, spell them, build them, read them, and write them.  Kids are asked to work on these words as part of thier weekly homework as well.  On Tuesday afternoon I set up different stations at each table.  The kids rotated through each station and practiced their spelling words.  We used rubber bands to make the words, playdough, cube blocks, chalk boards, wooden letter pieces, and more.  We will have a "spelling review" on Monday of next week. 

Happy Halloween! (A little late! :))

 The kids had so much fun last Thursday on Halloween!  In the morning we played Halloween games and made several projects with our Boulan Buddies.  In the afternoon, the kiddos got on thier costumes and participated in thier first ever Halloween Parade at Bemis!  We walked through the halls and across the stage and then got to sit in the hallway and watch all of the bigger kids parade past us.  After the parade, the 4 K classes divided up into the 3 classrooms in Kinderland.  Two of the classrooms had art projects and the other class had the food.  We had tons and tons of parent helpers and the first party of the year was a great success!  Enjoy a few pics!