Polar Express Day

The Polar Express came to Bemis today and took our Kindergarten kids on quite an adventure!  When children arrived to school they were given a train ticket.  They pretended to lay down and sleep and then when they heard the train whistle blow, they woke up and boarded our "train."  They were cozy and warm in their pajamas and carrying stuffed animals.  We retold the story of the Polar Express as we pretended to journey to the north pole.  The boys and girls watched the holiday movie on the train and even stopped for a popcorn break.  At the end of our trip the Polar Express brought us back to Bemis where the children received a bell necklace similar to the bell at the end of the story.  The boys and girls had a magical day bringing this favorite story to life!

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!

Run Run Fast As You Can... You Can't Catch Me, I'm The Gingerbread Man!

This week we have been reading many different versions of the classic tale, "The Gingerbread Man."  The boys and girls have read versions where the gingerbread boy is eaten at the end by the sly fox as well as one where he lives happily ever after in a little gingerbread house.  There are even books that have gingerbread girls and cowboys!  These are excellent stories to use when learning about story language, character voices, and practicing our retelling.  We did several activities involving the gingerbread boy throughout the week.  We used gumdrops to measure the perimeter and area of gingerbread men, played a mystery gingerbread person game that involved looking at the attributes of the gingerbread, and we played lots of gingerbread math games on the Smart Board.  On Wednesday, our 4th grade buddies set up 5 different stations relating to gingerbread in the LGI room.  We rotated through meaningful learning activities like an addition game, making words out of the letters in gingerbread, roll a gingerbread and a sequencing activity.  On Thursday we created puppets, a fox headband and used real gingerbread cookies to retell the story.  We got to be the foxes and eat the cookies at the end!  The children have really improved in changing their voices for different characters as well as remembering the order of important events in their retelling!  What a fun week to be a Kindergartner!!

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.

These two children are working on the Write the Room Station.  They are going around the classroom and recording letters and words that they find. 

The boys and girls in these pictures are at the Word Work Station.  They are looking at the picture on each gingerbread and determining what letter it starts with.  They are able to check their work immediately by using the spatula to flip over the gingerbread and see the answer.  The children then sorted the gingerbread into piles by their beginning sound. 

At the Library Station this week, the children read thier book box books and stories from our library with whisper phones and candy cane pointers. 

These kiddos are making a book at the BookMaking Station.  They color the illustrations, circle the sight word see, and then read the book at least 2 times with pointers or special reading glasses.  These books then go into thier book boxes to be read during Reading Workshop.