GOBBLE, GOBBLE

Thanksgiving is almost here and I have been thinking about all the wonderful things and people in my life that I am truly thankful for. 16 of which would be your children; they make me smile quite often. We have spent a good portion of  the last two weeks discussing what it is to be thankful and why it is important to express our gratitude. It's amazing to hear who and what is most important to them and why. Their reasoning is quite simple but poignant!
Ms. Morris and the children have spent a lot of time discussing the events of the very First Thanksgiving and everyone involved. The children made a beaded retelling bracelet that they brought home so they could share with you the story of Thanksgiving. Through reading many books and watching videos, we realized that we are more similar to the Pilgrims than we thought. The Littlest Pilgrim by Brandi Dougherty helped us make many text to self connections and by using a Venn diagram we were able to see the many ways in which we are quite similar. I'm glad to hear that most of the children have challenging chores to do, like chopping wood for the fireplace during the winter months. :)
Ms. Morris created many fun thanksgiving themed centers for the children to complete these last two weeks. The children wrote letters of gratitude to their friends, they listened to and read several stories that involved turkeys, and dictated to me the steps involved in cooking a turkey. Their "recipes" are appetizing in a different kind of way. However, the most exciting part of November is ALWAYS when your children first notice that they are reading...this continues to be my favorite part of kindergarten. I call it the "light bulb" moment and it is quite magical & exhilarating for all of us. Please continue to read with your children and allow them to shine at home, as they realize more and more that they are indeed reading.
Also, I want to thank you for "transporting" your children back to the 1950's era as we celebrated our 50th day of school. They were absolutely adorable to look at and watch as they learned how to do the hand-jive, the twist and the swim.
Ms. Peg, Ms. Morris and I would like to wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. Enjoy your quality time spent together.

 

 

Creepy Crawly Spiders

What better time to learn about these creepy crawlers than during the week of Halloween. We had a blast learning all about spiders. Ms. Morris and the children started the week by creating a chart of all the things we knew about spiders, and as our week progressed, we read many non-fiction books about spiders and added to our chart. We even learned if our class mostly liked or disliked spiders by taking a class survey and graphing our results. Needless to say I was on the DISLIKE side. The children worked together to help label the parts of a spider and then were able to complete their own labeled diagram. They loved singing and filling in the missing words to the Itsy Bitsy Spider, as part of their poetry journals and listening to The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle at our listening center. They worked on their beginning, middle, and end writing prompt after enjoying the book. To end our journey into the world of spiders, Ms. Morris guided the children as they created their very own cute and adorable hand print spider. And the best part of the entire week was our Halloween parade and classroom celebration. The children all looked fantastic and what better way to "show them off" than as the leaders of the school parade. YAY!! It's always an enormous treat to have our parents up at school with us, so thank you to all our parents who helped make Halloween a memorable event. In between having all this "spooktacular" fun, we continued to review our letters and their sounds, rhyming words, syllables, and the sight words we have learned so far. Please continue to practice with your children at home in order to help them master these skills.

Some of our Daily 5 Centers:

 

 

Happy Halloween!



Reminder

Wednesday 10/30  4:30 - 6:30pm:  TRUNK OR TREAT

Thursday 10/31  1:30pm: Halloween Parade 

Our classroom is screaming: "It is October"!!

The children and I have been engaging in fun and not too scary educational activities during the last two weeks.  

We started with the story  "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" by Linda Williams.  In this just-spooky-enough tale, an old lady puts to good use some animated objects that are trying to frighten her. Through this delightfully fun story the children worked on their predicting and sequencing skills, as well as learning about the literary technique of using sound words (onomatopoeia) to make stories more appealing: The boots go "CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP", the shirt goes, "SHAKE SHAKE". Our reading lead us further into our discussion of scarecrows and compound words. We ended our week by creating our very own "scare+crow" and wrote about what it might scare away?

 

This week we listened to Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.  It is an adorable book about a lost little bat who learns a big lesson about friendship. Through this friendship he learns (& so do we) how he (bat) and his new friends (birds) are similar and how they are different. Together we made a chart about all the things we knew and learned about bats. To further satisfy our curiosity about these nocturnal creatures we read more books, watched videos, and went on an excursion with the Magic School Bus in Going Batty. With all this b-a-t talk this week, we went batty with our rhyming skills. We played a rhyming game from Starfall on the Smart Board and then displayed some of the -at word family words on bats and hung them in the haunted hall. The children were introduced to the vowels by singing along to Vowel Bat....always a kindergarten favorite. We concluded our fascinating study about bats by somewhat independently writing our very first nonfiction book in writer's workshop; All About Bats. We beautifully depicted bats in the night sky through sponge painting, to accompany our books and are proudly displaying our work in the classroom.

 

Next up is spiders and everything Halloween!

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere....in our classroom that is!!  

This week our letter and sight words were "P",  "and" &  "orange".  And with the season being Fall and Halloween drawing near, pumpkins were the perfect way to reinforce our new letter/sound and sight words. The children loved digging in and discovering all they could about pumpkins with their tablemates. We read and wrote about the lifecycle of a pumpkin, and the children eagerly used their 5 senses to investigate their very own specimens. It was messy and fabulous....and a sneaky way to reinforce our math, reading, writing, and science skills (but don't tell the children).

 

Listening Center

 

 

Word Work

 

 

 

Math with Ms. Morris: Graphs & Patterns

 

 

 

 

Pete the Cat Week

 

I have not yet met a child, or adult, who doesn't enjoy James Dean's stories about Pete the Cat. Last week the children & I read, listened to, and watched many of Pete's adventures; each of which has it's own catchy tune. The children & I were happily singing Pete's songs all week long. Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes was a fun way to learn our color words and to understand the relationship between cause and effect. Pete the Cat: Rocking My School Shoes helped us to appreciate our school and classroom. Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus was a great introduction to onomatopoeia (sound words). Finally, as we counted down with Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, we saw what "one less" button could eventually lead too. The children and I concluded our week movin' and groovin' and singing Pete's songs as we made our very own Pete the Cat craft. We even added Pete the Cat to our menagerie of "classroom pets".

 

 

 

 

Letter, Word or Sentence Sort:

 

 

 

Color and Sight word readers:

 

 

 

Fun Friday Pete the Cat craft:

 

Have you filled a bucket today?

I am excited to say WE are a bucket filling kindergarten class! After reading the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today, we learned that each of us has an invisible bucket. We can choose to be a bucket filler who does and says nice things. Not only do you fill that person's bucket, but you also fill yours too! Each time the children fill their bucket 8 times, they will be recognized by Ms. Raspanti and have their names written on "Bayview's Bucket Fillers" wall. How exciting!!

 

Click on the link below to learn more about Bucket Filling:

 

Fill Your Bucket

 

 

 

WELCOME PARENTS

Please feel free to look around your child's home away from home. They have been working really hard these past few weeks. Also, please take a moment to write a "sweet note" for your child to share tomorrow morning.

Thank you!

 

Wow.. we are into our second week of school, and I am exhausted. LOL Our class of 16 students is awesome, but I forgot just how dependent kindergarteners can be in September. So far we have set up our daily routine, learned our class rules, began building our reading stamina, but most importantly we made new friends. We have such a wonderful group, that we even had several "bucket fillers" this week! Even exhausted, that makes me smile. Today began our introduction to learning centers, and so far it is a huge success. This class deserves a standing round of applause, which they gave themselves right before lunch! BRAVO kindergarteners!!

 

 

I am so excited to meet my new students and their families tomorrow at Kindergarten Orientation!

We are going to have a fabulous year together...learning, exploring, & making new friends. I am looking forward to taking this journey with you. Staples had it right when they called September "the most wonderful time of the year".  Let the fun begin!  :)

Important Dates

Kindergarten Orientation

September 4th 1:30PM -2:15PM

 

First Full Day of School for Students

September 9th

 

Red, White and Blue Day

September 11th

 

Early Dismissal 1:30

September 18th

 

Back to School Night

September 23rd at 7:00 PM

Read Across America Fun!!

This week we celebrated Read Across America and Dr. Seuss's birthday through many fun activities and centers. What a fun time for all of us!!  The week wouldn't have been complete, or as much fun,  without all the parents, grandparents and staff who stopped by as our Mystery Readers to share some of their favorite Dr. Seuss books with us. Thank you. It was absolutely Seussical!!!

Take a peek at our fun filled week: