Today was a fun day in kindergarten! We did some handwriting, learned a new letter sound in Jolly Phonics and we read a book and did a directed draw activity to go along with it. Both classes LOVED doing the scarecrow directed draw and I was amazed with how beautiful all their scarecrows turned out when given the same directions. They were excellent listeners today and with that, they did a fabulous job drawing their scarecrows on their own. Way to go, K-1 and K-3! Here are some pictures of both classes during our fun day today:

We got to celebrate two birthdays in K-1. Julia S.'s birthday was yesterday and Fiona's birthday was today. It was so much fun celebrating both of their birthdays with them and they both did great being the calendar helpers!

Happy 6th Birthday, Julia!

Happy 6th Birthday, Fiona!

In handwriting, we learned how to make the lowercase letters of a, d, and g. We learned how to form the letters correctly on the lines and they did a great job using our wet, dry, try method on the chalkboards to practice on the lines. Next they transferred what they learned about each letter formation into their handwriting books. They all had beautiful handwriting! 

In Jolly Phonics we learned the sound the letter "Yy" makes. Both classes loved learning this letter sound and motion and did great finding words that began with this letter sound. I was impressed how well they all did in their Jolly Phonics packets when finding a picture of something that began with "y" and spelling it on their own using their "brave spelling." They are becoming confident brave spellers and I am so proud of all the wonderful growth they are making as readers and writers!

For the last part of our day, I read them a book called The Scarecrow's Hat.  Both classes loved hearing this cute story about a scarecrow who wished he had a walking stick to rest his tired arms. A chicken comes to the rescue and finds a way to trade things with other animal friends so the scarecrow's wish could be granted. After reading the story, I did a scarecrow directed draw activity with the class. For this activity, I gave the whole class step-by-step directions on how to draw the scarecrow until our drawing was complete. When we were done, I gave everyone a black sharpie marker to trace their pencil lines and we colored specific parts of the scarecrow specific colors. Then, I gave the class watercolor paints and big paint brushes and they got to finish their picture with painting their scarecrows with fun colors. I was AMAZED with how beautiful all their scarecrows turned out! Both classes were so quiet during this lesson and they were all very focused on doing their best! It was such a fun activity to do with the class! Here are some pictures of both classes making their scarecrows today:

It was another wonderful day in kindergarten! Have a great night, everyone!

 With today being the first day of November, we made our November calendars in class today and they brought home their "new" November sight words. Please make sure your child cuts out the new sight words and glues them on index cards to add to their sight word ring. Both classes were SO excited about making their November calendars today! They love hearing about all the fun things that are happening for the month in our class and at Olive. They were very excited to hear that they are off for a whole week for Fall Break and that they will also get to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families while they are home that week. I love doing the calendars because it gives all my kindergarten friends wonderful practice with following my step-by-step directions, number recognition, number writing and working with patterns. I was SO proud of how well they ALL did on their November calendars! Way to go, K-1 and K-3! Here are some pictures of my kindergarten friends making their adorable calendars:

Have a wonderful night, everyone!

 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!