Today was our first day back at school for hybrid learning and I can't tell you how much I loved seeing my kinder friends at school today. It filled my heart! It was so fun greeting them all on the blacktop and seeing their excitement about coming to school and the BIG smiles they all had behind their masks! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed today and how fun it was to fill the classroom with my little kinder friends today!
In both classes today, here are some things we did:
In Jolly Phonics, we learned the letter "Jj" sound like in the words: jam, jump, and jack-o-lantern. The motion for the letter "Jj" is to pretend to be jello and wobble saying "j, j, j, jelly." Both classes thought the motion was so silly and they had fun saying the sound as they wobbled like jello. After we learned the sound on the Mimeo, they practiced writing and learning the sound in their Jolly Phonics packets. They did such a great job tracing the letter j on the bottom of the page and coloring the jello all different fun colors. On the back, they circled things on the page that began with the letter "Jj" and I asked them to sound out and write two of the words they circled. They all did such a great job! For homework tonight, I asked them to think of 4 things that began with "Jj" and add it to their soundbook. We thought of a lot of things that began with "Jj" today so I know they won't have any trouble completing their homework. They also need to complete a letter "Jj" sort on Seesaw as well. Both activities give my kindergarten friends the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned about this new letter sound. I have been so impressed with how well they have learned all the Jolly Phonics letters so far and have begun to read! It is so exciting!
In reader's workshop today, we looked at a passage called "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and we learned all about how readers put letters together to read words. We also learned about how words are separated by finger spaces and we talked about the differences between letters and words. We counted how many letters were in a word and how many words were in a sentence on a line. They did great in reader's workshop today and I was so proud of how well they listened, participated and followed along in the lesson that I taught. Way to go, K-1 and K-3 friends!
My kindergarten friends worked so hard today so I made sure we took a well-deserved break outside to play on the playground. The class had so much fun playing on the playground swinging on the swings, going down the slide and taking turns on the spinning aparatus outside.
Today was a wonderful day! When I began my morning class today I sang the good morning song and I started to cry. Not because I was sad but because I was so happy to see my kindergarten friends in class and I could just feel their excitement about being there in the classroom with me. It filled my heart with so much joy! I am excited to greet my other half of the my hybrid learners tomorrow! Whether we are learning remotely or in-person, I can't tell you how proud I am of my kindergarten friends! They have learned so much already and it shows! I am one lucky teacher and one who is very, very proud of all their students! Have a wonderful night, everyone and thank you for sharing your amazing kiddos with me each and every day. They are an absolute joy to teach!
