Gingerbread Fun!

Whoa!  There has been so much excitement in the past few weeks.  Here are some shots from the culmination of our gingerbread unit.  We first read the more traditional versions of The Gingerbread Man and then compared them with some more recent versions.  On the final day, I hid clues all around the school.  We then move through the school in three teams searching for and solving clues.  If the kids found the final "hidden" gingerbread, they got a card that stated they had found the escaped gingerbread boy.  I have done this activity MANY times.  This year, the kids were fantastic and fun.  I think it was my favorite time doing it.  The best part, however, might have been tasting the delicious homemade gingerbread people made by our very own Mrs. Fisher.

Cooperation and Creativity

Three Little Pigs

Last week, we read several versions of the Three Little Pigs. Our culminating activity had the kids use a   piece of card stock, a pipe cleaner, 5 popsicle sticks, a clothespin, and an unlimited supply of tape to create a house.  Then, my big bad wolf hair dryer came in and try to blow down the houses. We didn't have any little pig toys so we used counting bears instead.  The kids had to cooperate and use their creative thinking skills.  They spent the first 3 minutes not touching anything and just planning.  Then they went to town.  All of the houses looked very different, but the Big Bad Wolf could not blow any of them down.  Here are some pictures of the event.

Sorry...It's been a while.

I am sorry for not posting as regularly.  The short week and my bout with the flu a week earlier have thrown me off course.  Here are some pictures from that last few days.

We said goodbye to one of our classmates this week.  We had gifts for him and lots of well wishes.
We sat in a circle, said kind words, watched him open his gifts, and then snacked on some donuts to make send-off complete.

The kids' ornaments for the craft fair came out so cute.  Don't worry if you were not able to purchase one.  We'll be making some other cute ones for Christmas gifts.  Special thanks to Mrs. Fisher, Ms. T., and Mr. Kim for helping get these done while I was out sick. 

Miss Belyeu and I wore our silly turkey hats to school on Tuesday. The kids loved them.

Thank you, Target, for your wonderful dollar bins!  

PJ Day!

Quick Post

     Congratulations to the kids for earning their second tally celebration of the year for good whole group behavior! We brainstormed ideas, and in the spirit of voice and choice in the classroom, they voted and chose PJs and stuffed animals.  Thank you for supporting this at the last minute.  I'm sure a few of you had to do laundry Thursday night.  Here is a quick peek at their cuteness:

Recent Classroom Happenings

 Websites


 I am adding a list of websites for you to access at home.  This list will grow over time.  The links will be listed on the right side of the screen a bit below my kindergarten photo.  I call this section Cool Links for Kids.




Recent Happenings

    I have some footage of the pumpkin carving event trapped on the IPad.  I'll get that on the blog soon.  Here are just a few pictures from my other camera, which is having technical issues right now.




     I haven't had a classroom pumpkin go bad so quickly.  I came in last Monday to find our pirate pumpkin looking pretty sad and goopy.  Notice the fuzzy interior!  Yuck!

The guys are reading books in the book nook during literacy center time.

These trains are helpful tools when kids are segmenting words.  The first sound goes in the first train car and so on.  The girls are sounding out CVC words like van, light, vase, and feet.  At this point, I'm not expecting accurate spelling.  I'm looking for them to represent all three sounds in each word. For a word like feet, they would write fet.  For kindergarteners to hear vowel (the middle sound) in words this early in the year is really good.

The kids completed bat graphs at the math center.

J works on his goal words at the goal center.  He's right on task!

A few funny faces from before Halloween.  Lots of Frankenkids appeared in my classroom after snack time. There are more of these to come.  Wicked cute, eh?

A Peek at the Week!

               

Fire Safety Day:  Silly Faces

                                      

We got to go through the smoke trailer twice.  The first time we identified fire hazards.

The second time was to practice staying low when smoke is present.  The trailer filled with mock smoke so we could get a sense of what it might be like in a fire.

Patiently waiting to enter the trailer. . . 

Due to the fire safety assembly, the recess schedule was a bit wacky.  It worked out nicely for us.

For most of the time, we had the whole playground to ourselves.  It was a nice opportunity for me to shoot some new photos.

We've done some whole class graphs.  This week, the kids got to try their hands at 

graphing with a bit more independence.  I was pleased with the results.

Miss T. helps out at one of the graphing tables.

As I mentioned in this week's parent letter, we started goal setting for sight words.  The kids got orange goal folders.  After picking their words, we took some time to decorate the folders for a personal touch.

The kids get a copy of the sight words and pick three words each week to work on.  If kids can read all of the words on the K list fluently, they move on to part of the 1st grade list.  The slip on the right shows what you will get each week so you know what their goal words are for that week.

After a bit of decorating, kids got to choose how to practice these hard words.  The whiteboards were popular with this particular group.

We highlight in a different color each week.  This helps me track which words they are working on each week.  Last year, this goal-setting was very motivating for the kids.  The majority of them were working on 1st grades words when they left me.  It was exciting to watch the kids set goals and accomplish them.  I am glad to have this part of the classroom experience up and running.  Thank you for reinforcing these words at home.   :-)

Pumpkin carving pictures coming soon!