Fun Friday!

With today being the last day before Thanksgiving break we made a Thanskgiving wreath that turned out ADORABLE! The kids are so excited to bring them home and share them with you! They did such a great job coloring all the pictures with their crayons and colored pencils, cutting them out and putting their wreaths together! Way to go, K-1!

In math, we began our shape unit where we are learning all about 2D shapes. They are learning the name of each shape, how many sides it has, and how many corners it has. We are also discussing similiarities and differences among the shapes too. They are doing such a great job learning all about shapes and showing me what they learned in their math workbooks.

In reading, we have been continuing to learn about authors, illustrators, setting, and identifying the main event in the story. I am so proud of what wonderful listeners they are when we read the class read-alouds together and how well they do with the comprehension questions about the book. In grammar, we have been learning all about present and past tense verbs. For such a hard concept, I am amazed with how well they can identfy them when given a sentence. Way to go, K-1! In writing, they have been working on how to write a COMPLETE sentence and have been journaling in their November journals. On Mondays, we have "weekend news" where the class draws a picture and writes about something they did over the weekend. When drawing their picture, they draw what they did, color it with realistic colors and label it by using "brave spelling." This is writing the words on how they phonetically sound when sounding them out. When they are done labeling, they write one complete sentence to go with their writing. I am so proud of how well they are writing one sentence and how well they are writing the words on the lines the correct way. They are growing so much as readers and writers!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone! I am the luckiest kindergarten teacher in the world to have the opportunity to teach 17 amazing little ones who come to school with the biggest smiles and excitement for learning! They make my job so much fun everyday! I am very thankful for them and that I get to work with all of you as well! Thank you for all you do to help me in making your child's kindergarten year such a BIG success! Enjoy the week off together making memories with one another and please know that when I sit down for Thanksgiving dinner with my family, I will be saying how very grateful I am that I get to be your child's teacher each and every day! It's truly a gift! 💗 I will look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday, December 1st! HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

Reading with Amira

My kindergarten friends are having so much fun learning with Amira. Amira is an AI reading assistant that is part of our HMH reading program. She is like a personal reading assistant and tutor for my kindergarten friends tailored to meet their individual needs and help them grow as readers.The more we meet with her, the more comfortable they are getting working with her on their Ipads. They have all grown so much as readers the last few weeks and it has been so exciting to see! Way to go, K-1!

What is happening in K-1?

In social studies, we have been learning all about all the federal and goverment holidays we celebrate during the year. We learned the meaning of each holiday and what month it is celebrated in. At the end of our unit, we made holiday sashes with all the badges that represented the holidays we have learned about. They LOVED making the sashes!

Today we wrote our first journal entry in writing. We have been learning all about what good writers do in our reading lessons and today they got to be their own author and illustrator in their November journal. I asked them to draw a picture, label and write one sentence about something they did this past weekend. They did a fabulous job drawing their picture and using their "brave spelling" to label it. Brave spelling is when they write the words on their own on how they phonetically sound them out. For example: if they write "fon" for "phone" that is great because that is how it sounds when you say it seperating the word into sounds. I was SO proud of the detail they all added to their drawings and how carefully they colored the pictures to ensure they used "realistic" colors. Way to go, K-1! The last part of their journal was the hardest part. I took some time with my kindergarten friends to convey to them that today was going to be "hard" to write a sentence for the first time. I wanted them to know that when we try new things, they are always hard the first couple times but the more they do it, the easier it gets! I reiterated to them that my motto is: PRACTICE MAKES BETTER! I told them that today, the goal was to try! Try to write one sentence on their own using their brave spelling. We talked about how we needed to make sure when they were writing that their sentence had a few things that good writers do: 1. Begin their sentence with a capital letter. 2. Put finger spaces between their words 3. End their sentence with the appropriate punctuation. As they wrote their sentences, I was so very proud of the confidence they all had in themselves when trying this hard task for the first time and how well they all did sounding out the words they wanted to write! I smiled ear to ear as I walked around and had the kids read me the sentences they wrote. Way to go, K-1!

In math, we are wrapping up Chapter 4 where I taught the class about the concepts of more than, less than, equal to OR the same as. To challenge them a bit more, we also learned about 1 more than and 1 less than. They did such a great job learning these math concepts! We will be taking the Chapter 4 math test tomorrow and I sent home the "extra practice" pages with my kindergarten friends in the event you would like to work with your child on these concepts a bit more.

In reading, we are continuing to learn more letters and sounds and practice implementing these sounds in reading and writing on their own. Each time we read words or sentences in class, I smile ear to ear seeing the growth they are making as learners! It is SO EXCITING! When they get to read to me, I love seeing the joy and pride them. have in themselves knowing they are reading and writing on their own. It is priceless! Way to go, K-1! In grammar, we are learning about present and past tense verbs. My kindergarten friends are growing so much as learners and it's so fun to see! Have a great night, everyone!

Thankful Turkeys

Today we read, Taylor the Thankful Turkey which was about a Turkey who visits his neighbors to share his appreciation and gifts with love on Thanksgiving. This book had a wonderful message where the turkey set a great example by encouraging others by his example simply by exchanging gifts and kind words with one another. As Taylor visited each of his friends, his behavior traveled around the town and set a good example for all of those living in it. After we made Thankful Turkeys that the class got to write four things they are thankful for (one on each feather). They LOVED making the turkeys today and they did a fabulous job following my step-by-step directions! I loved seeing the smiles and pride in their faces as they held up their finished turkeys! It was so ADORABLE and I was so excited to hang them in the hallway for all of Olive to see and admire! Way to go, K-1!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day, everyone! Today, we learned all about why we celebrate Veteran's Day and what it meant to honor and celebrate all those who served and fought for our freedom! We made "Thank You" cards for the veteran's in our community and we also made a paper american flag which was a following directions activity. The flags had so much glue that I kept them to dry for tonight. My kindergarten friends are excited to bring them home tomorrow! Thank you to all of you in the Olive community who fought for our freedom and served in the armed forces! We thank you for your bravery and service!