We have been very busy owls in K-1 and K-3! In Jolly Phonics, we have been plugging along and we have been learning a lot of new letter sounds to add to our phonics vocabulary. With every new letter sound we learn, my kindergarten friends are able to sound out and write more and more words on their own. It is so much fun hearing them decode unknown words and write words incorporating what they learned in Jolly Phonics all on their own. They are doing fantastic and there have been many, many days where I have teared up seeing all the wonderful growth they are making as readers and writers! It is SO exciting!

Last week, we finished learning all the uppercase letters in our "Handwriting Without Tears" program. So this week we began learning how to write the lowercase letters. The class is doing wonderful using the wet, dry, try method and learning how to form the letters correctly on the lines. We spent a lot of time learning about the baseline, middle line, sky space and digger space. This helps my kindergarten friends understand line usage and how to form the letters correctly on the lines. We are going to be working very hard in handwriting to transform their handwriting so they are writing with lowercase letters instead of words in all uppercase. Here are some pictures of my kindergarten friends working hard during our handwriting lessons:

In math, we have been learning a lot about teen numbers and the pattern of the numbers 10-20. We have been learning about the quantity of each number and how to write the numbers correctly. We did a pumpkin activity where they colored a bunch of pumpkins that had teen numbers written on them. Then they cut them out and glued them in order from 11-19 on a sentence strip. They all did a fantastic job! We also have been doing some color by number activities where they colored the puzzle using the color key that was displayed at the top of the page. They LOVE doing the activities and it's a wonderful way for my kindergarten friends to work on teen number recognition!

In reader's workshop we have been reading all different fiction stories to learn about authors, illustrators, the meaning of fiction and non-fiction and how to distinguish if it's one genre or another, and learning about things "good readers" do when they read books. Both of the classes have been doing a wonderful job during our group lessons and we have been having a lot of great discussions about each book we read together!

On Friday last week, we ended our week with a parade and Halloween party that took place in both classes. It was so much fun greeting all my kindergarten friends and seeing them all dressed in their adorable Halloween costumes! They all had so much fun parading around the school and participating in some Halloween fun at our classroom party! A HUGE thank you to all the wonderful Room Reps that organized and planned such fabulous parties! Thank you! It will be a day my kindergarten friends will always remember! I hope all of you are having a fabulous weekend and Happy Halloween, everyone!

 We were busy owls today in kindergarten. I taught the class the rhyme of "5 Little Pumpkins Sitting On a Gate." They loved saying the rhyme together and doing the motions to go along with it! After we learned the rhyme, I did a BIG "Listen and Do" activity with the class where we made a 5 Little Pumpkins project following my step-by-step directions. For this project, we used many different shapes of colored construction and I taught them how to cut, fold and glue the pieces together until our whole project was finished in it's entirety. This project was hard because it had a lot of steps and it had a lot of different cuts they needed to make with their scissors when creating specific shapes. I was SO impressed with how well they did on the project and both classes were so excited to show me them when they were done. Everyone did a fabulous job following my directions and putting it together on their own. I was so excited to hang them up in our hallway for all of Olive to see! Here are some pictures of the projects the class made today and I can't wait for you to see them when all of you come for parent/teacher conferences!

Have a fabulous night, everyone!

 Since today is the first day of October, we made our October calendars. Both classes couldn't wait to make them! I love doing the calendars with the class because it's wonderful practice with number recognition, counting and writing numbers the correct way. My kindergarten friends also LOVE hearing about all the fun things that written on the calendars such as classmates' birthdays and fun events happening in our classroom or at school. When we talked about how Halloween is on the last day of October, both classes had a lot of friends anxiously waving their hands to share what they were going to dress up as for Halloween. It was fun to hear about all the fun costumes! The background of our October calendar was a pumpkin where I had the class cut out a pumpkin shape out of construction paper, draw the lines to create the pumpkin's texture and add a stem to the top. On the back of their pumpkin, I gave everyone some black and white paper to turn their pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. I LOVED seeing all the creative ideas they came up and their calendars turned out GREAT! They couldn't wait to bring them home to share with all of you! Way to go, K-1 and K-3!

Have a great weekend, everyone!