We are totally immersed in the alphabet in our classroom right now. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom has been a favorite for the last week, and we are reading some great new Alphabet books. Today, we read "Handsigns", and the students had to guess the animal based on the picture and the letter of the alphabet it is pictured with. This is a great activity as it deals with letter names, letter sounds, initial sounds of words, and even showed us the sign language alphabet. I also "hired" the students today to work in teams to create letters with their bodies in order to make our own alphabet strip. The students did so well as they worked together to solve problems (How are we ever going to make a Q? -They haven't solved that quite yet), took turns being team captain, and truly experienced the letters. Hopefully they will go home tonight and invite the whole family to make letters! They only made a few letters, and we should be able to finish up tomorrow, and then it's payday for them! Treats!
I asked the students today as we started Math what "Math" means. I got a lot of "I don't know", "numbers", and " The white thing that moms and dads hold up and then you have to say the answer." That one was my favorite! We sorted colored alphabet letters today and then the students worked in pairs to sort their own. This was only a community-building activity as they practicing taking turns and communicating with each other.
Mrs. Hilden, the school counselor, joined us this morning to show us a video and discuss personal safety. We also practiced for a fire drill and worked in centers!
Enjoy the nice weather this evening.
Miss Kimpton
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Back from Labor Day weeekend!
The students acclimated so well to school today after their long weekend. After we have worked so hard to know the routines and procedures, they knew exactly what to do today. This really helps them to adjust to the "school lifestyle". I posted a collage of pictures of an activity that we did today to practice building names. The students used paintsticks, clothespins with letters, and a namecard to scramble and then unscramble the letters in their names. They had so much fun rearranging their letters and then asking me what it spelled. What a silly time while learning!
We started off the day today coloring an "ABC Stories" book that I will send home on Friday. The students practiced poitning at each letter as we read the story. After that, we learned a new song today called "Have a Great Day" that we sing/move to during our morning meeting and afternoon wrap-up. In it, the students practice starting off the day with movement, smiles, complements, and a hand shake. We end the same way. Next, we read "Puddle's ABC" and then transitioned into our name building activity. After lunch, I introduced a matching and initial sound center and the students worked in their centers. I worked with small groups in readiness activities for Handwriting.
The students went to Library today with Mrs. Mayhall, and then finished watching the Letter Factory. We have really been working on letter names and sounds, and the students are starting to make some strong connections with letters they already know. We also practiced reading our Stoplight Poem, and your child may surprise you already by reading parts of it tonight!
Have a great evening!
Miss Kimpton
We started off the day today coloring an "ABC Stories" book that I will send home on Friday. The students practiced poitning at each letter as we read the story. After that, we learned a new song today called "Have a Great Day" that we sing/move to during our morning meeting and afternoon wrap-up. In it, the students practice starting off the day with movement, smiles, complements, and a hand shake. We end the same way. Next, we read "Puddle's ABC" and then transitioned into our name building activity. After lunch, I introduced a matching and initial sound center and the students worked in their centers. I worked with small groups in readiness activities for Handwriting.
The students went to Library today with Mrs. Mayhall, and then finished watching the Letter Factory. We have really been working on letter names and sounds, and the students are starting to make some strong connections with letters they already know. We also practiced reading our Stoplight Poem, and your child may surprise you already by reading parts of it tonight!
Have a great evening!
Miss Kimpton
Friday, September 3, 2010
Fantastic Friday
Thank you for visiting out classroom, watching the slideshow, and listening to me speak about some of the important things in our classroom. To recap, the expectations/assessments that I showed you last night will be sent home in the first report card so that you can see what I am assessing. You can also read the expectations for the rest of the year to give you an idea of how Kindergarten progresses. For behavior management, if a child is not following a rule, I will give a verbal warning/redirection, then each further "offense" causes a number of that rule to be placed beside the name of the child. For each number recieved, a student loses 2 minutes of recess. If a child has 3 numbers beside his/her name, I will send a letter home for you to read and discuss with your child. I found that many parents like to ask their students after school if they recieved any numbers. It really helps to open discussions about behavior. If you have questions about the numbers or want to know if your child received any that day, you are welcome to email you and I will respond as quickly as possible. I can SOMETIMES remember after school, but in the busy after school acitivities, my mind is mainly on making sure that the students get connected with their adults safely. The last topic I discussed was checking the white folder everyday after school, emptying it, and then sending it back to school the following day.
Today, we started off the day building and sorting with shapes, listening to "Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten" on tape (preparing for the Listening Center), singing the song "Learning Letter Sounds", reviewing position words, shapes, and colors with our Stoplight Poem, listening to a story called "Jungle Bullies" (teaching the students about standing up to Bullies in order to share and play together), centers, Music, and watching the Letter Factory (teaching letter names and sounds).
Post the Stoplight Poem at home in a visible spot. We will continue to practice reading it at school, and soon your child will read it at home as well. Use our Math Words "under, on, above" to ask questions for your student to answer: ex. What color is under yellow?
Have a great long weekend and enjoy spending it with your children!
Miss Kimpton
Today, we started off the day building and sorting with shapes, listening to "Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten" on tape (preparing for the Listening Center), singing the song "Learning Letter Sounds", reviewing position words, shapes, and colors with our Stoplight Poem, listening to a story called "Jungle Bullies" (teaching the students about standing up to Bullies in order to share and play together), centers, Music, and watching the Letter Factory (teaching letter names and sounds).
Post the Stoplight Poem at home in a visible spot. We will continue to practice reading it at school, and soon your child will read it at home as well. Use our Math Words "under, on, above" to ask questions for your student to answer: ex. What color is under yellow?
Have a great long weekend and enjoy spending it with your children!
Miss Kimpton
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Open House Tonight
The highlight of our day today was our Friendship Web. Each student held onto a section of yarn and passed the spool to another student, thus creating a web that showed the students that we are all connected together and each an important part of the team. It was so meaningful as students helped others to toss the spool or to pick up their section of yarn if they dropped it. I heard a student say during Centers when his group was all connected with a Sorting Circle: "It's just like the Friendship Web!" It was a powerful way to start our day.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom continues to be a big hit in the room as we continue to see and hear different song versions, add a coconut tree to our Magnetic Letter Center, and even handled real coconuts! The book has led us to different ABC books, and I have so many to share with the students. Today, we read "G is for Goat", an ABC book dedicated to goats. The kids loved learning that a boy goat is called a "billy" and that goat children are called "kids". We'll reexamine these ideas when we learn about farms.
Handwashing is such an important skill for children to learn. We watched Crawford the Cat today tell a story about washing hands before eating and how long to scrub hands (sing the Happy Birthday song two times). The students then colored Crawford the Cat. They did a marvelous job of staying on task and doing their best!
I will see you all tonight, and enjoy the nice evening!
Miss Kimpton
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom continues to be a big hit in the room as we continue to see and hear different song versions, add a coconut tree to our Magnetic Letter Center, and even handled real coconuts! The book has led us to different ABC books, and I have so many to share with the students. Today, we read "G is for Goat", an ABC book dedicated to goats. The kids loved learning that a boy goat is called a "billy" and that goat children are called "kids". We'll reexamine these ideas when we learn about farms.
Handwashing is such an important skill for children to learn. We watched Crawford the Cat today tell a story about washing hands before eating and how long to scrub hands (sing the Happy Birthday song two times). The students then colored Crawford the Cat. They did a marvelous job of staying on task and doing their best!
I will see you all tonight, and enjoy the nice evening!
Miss Kimpton
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Windy Wednesday
Thankfully the rain stopped this morning after school started. As you have probably figured out by now, when the "ducks" are out, the students come into the school in the morning rather than walking the circle on the playground. This is only when it is raining or below zero degrees (in which case the images are snowmen).
The students learned 3 new centers today that they will work in to reinforce skills they learn. I introduced them to the ABC center (complete with a "fishing pond" to go fishing for letters, letter stamps, and LeapPads), Writing Center (furnished with fancy pens, markers, scissors, paper for cards or letters, and stamps), and the Magnetic Letter center (includes matching letters, sorting by color, and special picture magnets). I also read the story "Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten" that is an ABC book of character names. It shows the students and the teacher as they get ready for Kindergarten. We will work with this book for the rest of the week. For Math today, we practiced counting forwards and backwards ( a daily activity with our cold lunches), and I introduced the words "over", "on", and "under". We used magnetic shapes and pictures of the my two dogs to teach these concepts.
To help review the day, ask your child these questions:
What are some things on the table? Can you crawl under the table? Can you hold _________ over the table? Ask your kindergartner to show you what over, under, and on means.
The students learned 3 new centers today that they will work in to reinforce skills they learn. I introduced them to the ABC center (complete with a "fishing pond" to go fishing for letters, letter stamps, and LeapPads), Writing Center (furnished with fancy pens, markers, scissors, paper for cards or letters, and stamps), and the Magnetic Letter center (includes matching letters, sorting by color, and special picture magnets). I also read the story "Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten" that is an ABC book of character names. It shows the students and the teacher as they get ready for Kindergarten. We will work with this book for the rest of the week. For Math today, we practiced counting forwards and backwards ( a daily activity with our cold lunches), and I introduced the words "over", "on", and "under". We used magnetic shapes and pictures of the my two dogs to teach these concepts.
To help review the day, ask your child these questions:
What are some things on the table? Can you crawl under the table? Can you hold _________ over the table? Ask your kindergartner to show you what over, under, and on means.
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