Wednesday

Another great day! We are continuing to practice our transition from table work to the alphabet carpet in the morning. After our good morning greeting, both groups got a chance to share something about themselves. In the morning class each child got to share about their brothers/sisters and in the afternoon class each child got to share about something they like to eat and their brothers/sisters. I like to make sure each child is recognized as an individual and has the opportunity to take the floor and share with his/her classmates. We are of course working on being quiet listeners when someone else is talking.

We read two great stories today. Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen and Hands Off, Harry! (from a new series called Kindergators by Rosemary Wells). Both stories featured characters who had a tough time making good choices at first, but both Harry and Howard learned to make better choices and get along better with their classmates in the end. We related both stories and characters to our goal of keeping all three of our sticks each day.

 Did you spy a sticker on your child today after school? A smiley sticker means he/she kept all three sticks!

The kiddos also got to do some exploration with the math tiles that are part of our math curriculum, which is called Expressions. Each child got a baggie with tiles numbered 1-10. They got a chance to put the numbers in order and show me particular numbers when I called them out. They did a great job listening and stopping each time I rang the bell to give directions or call out a different number. Our math program uses a lot of different manipulatives throughout the year, so the children get to do many hands on activities.

Finally, in order to practice listening and following the directions, the kiddos each made a stop sign. They had to watch and listen in order to put the red, yellow, and green circles in the right spot. This also gave them a chance to practice using glue.

My phone is still "out of order" so please email me with any questions/concerns you might have. Or, if you leave a message with the office, they will make sure I get it. I am typically in the classroom after school and check my email frequently (even from home in the evenings sometimes).

I think the children are adjusting very well to being in Kindergarten and I have had several students tell me just how thrilled they are to being going to school now. :0)