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!!