Back to School Night

Thanks to all of the parents who made it to Back to School Night. It was great to see all of you and I hope you felt like you came away from the evening with some helpful information about what to expect this year in Kindergarten. I have never worked with a translator before, so my presentation went on a little longer than I planned for. If you have any questions that were not answered last night, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I want to make sure all of your questions are answered! If you couldn't make it last night, I am sending home your folder of information on Friday in the Friday Folder. There is a permission slip to participate in my literacy bag program and a personal alphabet in there, which are both important papers we talked about.

Math:

This week we have been working on "rainbow numbers" during math time. This exercise involves a lot of practice in listening and following directions, but also provides practice in writing the numbers. Each day we focus on one number (1 on Monday, 2 today and so on). We start with a red crayon and trace the number, then continue to trace the number with each color of the rainbow. We practice "my turn" and "your turn" so the kids know that when it's my turn they need to watch what I am doing and listen so they know what to do when it's their turn. After we have traced the number in all of the colors, we have been using stamping markers to show that number in different groups. Once we have stamped the correct number of times, we draw a circle around it and write the number of the day. When you see these papers come home on Friday, you can check to see if it looks like your child was getting the idea and following the directions. I think the kiddos have been doing a great job. We have also been using our math trays to show the number of the day. The children start by putting their math tiles in order from 1-5 and then we put the number of the day in the center of the tray. Today, the kids use many different objects to show me how many two are. They put two pennies, two connecting cubes, two little letters, and two counting fruits next to the number two on their tray. I was really impressed with how well most kids did (not so much that they can count to 2, but that they followed the directions really well and didn't go ahead of me or play with the items.)

We will continue these activities with a new number each day. 

Reading:

I also introduced our creepy fingers today which we will use for reading. It's really important for children to practice pointing to the words as they read, so I gave each child a  green plastic witch fingers with long red fingernails to help them point to each word as we read. We worked on our first sight word book, which was on the word "I." The children had to write the word "I" where it was missing and circle the letter I in a word search. We will continue to use our funky fingers when we read our paper books.

I introduced Alfie to both groups today and we started to do some Fast Track Phonics exercises. We talked about the letter m and how it makes the /m/ sound like when mom bakes fresh cookies and we say mmmmmmmmm. I also introduced the alphabet chant. Once the kiddos learn it better, I would like to take a video and post it on the blog so you can see and hear it in action! 

Stories:

Yesterday we read The Worst Day of My Life Ever & Froggy Goes to School. Today we read Big Wolf & Little Wolf and On The Way To Kindergarten. Each time we read a story I am including practice with comprehension skills such as making predictions and comparing different stories. Yesterday when we read The Worst Day of My Life Ever, we looked at the illustration on the cover and made predictions about what might happen that would make it the worst day ever for the boy. We talked about using picture clues and the kids did a great job making guesses. As we read, we reviewed all of the different things in the story that made it a bad day. Today when we read Big Wolf & Little Wolf, we talked about other stories we know with wolves in them like The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. The Wolves in our story today were good and kind, so we talked a bit about how that was different than the Big Bad Wolf in The Three Little Pigs and the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. So far many kids are making great connections during the stories and they have been very successful at telling me what happened in the stories after we have read them.

Science:
We also talked a little bit about science yesterday and the children will get a chance to use magnifying glasses (aka hand lenses) to observe some items during a science station later this week. We talked about the word "observe" and how it means to look at something very carefully. I know the children are looking forward to getting their first crack at science in the classroom.

Heads Up:

• Tomorrow we are going to have our first Fire Drill during the AM session. I will read a story about fire drills and practice with both classes because we will have a monthly evacuation practice and I want both groups to be prepared. Most of the time, I will tell the kids in advance when we are having a fire drill so they are not scared. We will line up and exit through the door in the back of the room. We don't have to be in the classroom with the alarm for long, so hopefully no one is too bothered by it. 

• Next Friday September 23 is our Jogathon!

• Scholastic Book Club orders are due Monday Sept 19th. You can send in the completed order form or order online. When you order online we automatically get a free book for the classroom, so thanks to the parents who have already done that. I love books and so do the kids!