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!

 In Jolly Phonics today, we learned all about the letter "Ff" sound. The motion for this sound is to lift your hands one above the other and move them up and down as if an inflatable fish is inflating and say f,f,f,f,f.  When learning about this sound, I was so impressed with all the words both classes found that began with this letter such as fish, floating, fingers, fruit. When we were finished learning about the letter Ff sound, we practiced decoding words that contained this new letter sound. Hearing my kindergarten friends sound out words all on their own is absolutely amazing! They have all begun taking off as readers and it is so exciting to see! I am so proud of all my kindergarten friends. For homework tonight, I asked both classes to find four things that began with the letter "Ff" and I am looking forward to checking their soundbooks tomorrow.

In math, we have been learning about the numbers 1-8 and understanding the quantity of the numbers. We have also been learning how to write the numbers the correct way from top to bottom. I am amazed how quickly they have learned to write the numbers and how well they have improved their number writing with more and more practice. Way to go, K-1 and K-3!

In handwriting, we finished learning how to write all the numbers 1-10 last week so we have moved on to learning how to write the uppercase letters of the alphabet. We have begun learning the uppercase letters that are "frog jump" letters. Both classes are doing a great job learning the letter formation and ensuring they are forming each letter slowly so that they are written the correct way from top to bottom. 

At the end of our day, we did a "Roll It- Write It" sight word activity with our September sight words. This activity was wonderful practice in helping my kindergarten friends to solidify their knowledge of these sight words by reading and writing them numerous times as they completed the activity. They LOVED doing this activity and there was a lot of excitement in the room as they rolled their die to see which sight word would reach the top first. Way to go, K-1 and K-3!

It was a fun day in kindergarten today! I am SO proud of all the things my kindergarten friends are learning and how well they are following the routine. We have built a kindergarten family in my classroom and it's so fun to see all the cute friendships that are forming along with the love of learning too! Have a great night, everyone!

 Happy Monday, everyone! Today we were busy little owls and we had a great day! I am so proud of how well all my kindergarten friends have our kindergarten routine down and how independent they are all becoming. We have created a family like atmosphere and the interactions that occur in my classroom are just adorable! 

In math today, we learned all about the number 6 and understanding the quantity of it. Both classes really enjoy working with numbers and are having fun showing me what they learn after each lesson. Great job, K-1 and K-3!

In Jolly Phonics, we started a "new" set of letter sounds learning all about the letter "Gg." Last week we finished another set of letter sounds where we are beginning our third set this week. We are flying through Jolly Phonics and both classes are doing great learning the sounds and plugging them in when decoding words. I am AMAZED and they are all starting to take off as readers! It's so EXCITING!

This is the motion and sound for the letter "Gg" that we learned today. After we listened to the story about this letter sound, both classes found a lot of wonderful words that begin with "Gg" such as: girl, garden, goat, Gayle, gloves, garbage. I know they will do a wonderful job tonight finding things to put into their sound book for this letter sound! With each new sound we learn with Jolly Phonics, they are building their letter sound vocabulary which is allowing them to read more and more words! They have ALL begun reading and I can't explain how exciting it is to see and hear them read words on their own. Way to go, K-1 and K-3!

It was another wonderful day in kindergarten! Thank you for sharing your adorable children with me each and every day! They make me smile every day! Have a great night, everyone!

 Happy Friday, everyone! Both of my kinder classes had gym and music today. For the time they were with me in the classroom we did math, Jolly Phonics review, and we read a mini-book with the sight word can. 

In math, we talked more about the number 5 and the quantity of the number. We practiced the skill of crossing out things on the page when counting to ensure they are counting the objects correctly. Crossing them out signifies that they have already counted it and it alleviates them counting it twice by accident. They did a great job in math and had fun showing me what they learned in their math workbooks today.

In Jolly Phonics, I took some time with both of my classes to review all the letters and sounds we have learned so far. We have now learned 9 total letter sounds. With each sound we add to our vocabulary, my kindergarten friends are able to read more and more words! It is so exciting! I had so much fun doing review with them today and hearing them sound out the words that were written on their whiteboards. It was amazing! They were all waving their hands at me with excitement hoping I would call on them to answer. It was so much fun!

When we finished math and Jolly Phonics, we ended our instruction time with doing a mini-book called, I can move! In this book we talked about the sight word, can and we talked about what it looked like so they could find it on their own on each page of the book. To help it stand out on the page, we highlighted it with a yellow marker. We also talked about the sight word I. On each page of the mini-book, we discussed how many words were on the page and what kind of punctuation was at the end of each sentence. They liked learning about the exclamation point and learning that when they see it in a sentence, they get to read it with excitement or a little louder. With this book we learned that letters make words and words make sentences. We also learned that a few things "good" readers do:

1. They put their pointer finger under each word as they read them on the page finger hopping to each word. That helps them to ensure they are reading every word on the page and looking at the word as they read it. 

2. We learned that if they come to an unknown word, they can use the picture to give them a "picture clue" to help them figure out what would make sense. I told them to look at the picture and look what letter the word begins with to see what word would make sense. They did a great job using picture clues as we read this mini-book together in class today!

For homework tonight, I asked them to read their mini-book to two people or things. I told them it could mom and dad, mom and grandma, dad and their dog, etc. I told them it doesn't matter who they read it to but I want them to read it to at least one person and have them sign it when they are done reading it. On Monday, I asked my kinder friends to bring the book back with their parent's signature to show me that they read it twice. I told them that the more they read, the better they will get! They were so excited to read their books to you this weekend! Many of them said really cute things like... "Mrs. Naughten...my mom is going to be so proud when I read her this book! She has never heard me read before!" They are ALL reading and it's so exciting!

Have a great weekend, everyone!