In class today, I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. As I read the story, my kinder friends did a great job chiming in on the repetitive parts of the story and helping to tell me what day of the week came next. They LOVED hearing the story and participating as I read it out loud to them! To go along with the cute story, we made a caterpillar project. The caterpillar that I asked them to make had a read head like the hungry caterpillar in the story but I told them they could use any two colors to create the body as long as it was glued together in an AB pattern. They chose the two colors they wanted and took three of each one to create the body of their caterpillar. To create the caterpillar, they had to turn each square of construction paper into a circle. I showed them when they want to turn a square into a circle, they just need to cut a little piece off the four corners and round each one out. Then they will have a circle. To finish their caterpillars, I showed them how to follow my step-by-step directions by making a face and adding antennaes and legs to it too. It was fun seeing what two colors they all picked and walking around the classroom to see all the hard work they were putting in to create their caterpillars! I was so impressed with how wonderful they all did on this activity! Especially how well they followed my step-by-step directions! I hung them in the hall for all of Olive to admire!

After we made caterpillars, we had recess for a well-deserved "brain break." They had so much fun building with Legos, playing in the kitchen and dollhouse and making things out of colored wooden blocks. I LOVED walking around the classroom and seeing all the cute interactions amongst all of my kinder friends and seeing how much fun they were having. 

At the end of the day, I did a Jolly Phonics lesson where we learned all about the letter "Aa." We didn't finish the lesson so I will be spending time on it with both classes tomorrow. They are having so much fun learning Jolly Phonics and doing a great job applying what they are learning in their practice packets!

We had a fun day in K-1 and K-3! Have a great night, everyone!

Day 3

Today in both classes, we began our Jolly Phonics program. We learned all about the letter "Ss" today. We learned the name of the letter, the sound and motion it makes and how to write the letter correctly on the lines. Both classes applied what they learned about the letter "Ss" in telling me some words that began with that letter too. They did a wonderful job with the lesson and I was impressed how well they did telling me things they could think of that began with the learned letter and finding things in their packet on their own that began with it as well. Way to go, K-1 and K-3! To help my kinder friends practice what they learned about the letter, we did an "Ss" practice page in their Jolly Phonics packet and we glued the letter in their Jolly Phonics sound book. Whenever we learn a new letter in class, we will do a practice page in class where they are applying what they learned on their own. For homework, I will ask them to find four things that begin with that letter sound and glue or draw them in their sound book. For the first few letters we are learning this week, we are doing their sound book homework together and I am keeping them here at school. Next week, I will be sending their sound books home where they will complete the homework at home each day and send it back so I can check off that they completed it. They will be bringing their sound books to and from school each day until we are done learning all of the Jolly Phonics program. I will talk to you more in depth about this at Curriculum Night. Here are some pictures of my kinder friends learning all about the letter "Ss" today:

Besides Jolly Phonics, we also had a technology lesson with our technology facilitator at Olive. They learned how to download an App called Seesaw on their own Ipads and they had a little bit of time to do some exploring on the program. It was a good introductory lesson for my kindergarten friends on how to use their Ipads, how to use their Clever badges and how to download apps onto their Ipad that we will be using in class for learning. 

We also had Art today with Mrs. Maloney! Both classes were so excited to go to Art today and meet their Art teacher. 

It's going to be a wonderful year! Both of my kindergarten classes are wonderful and I am so impressed with how well they are learning the kindergarten routine and each other. They are all so sweet, polite and our room is full of smiles and giggles! I am looking forward to another wonderful day with my kindergarten friends tomorrow!

What A Fun First Day in K-1 and K-3!

It was so much fun meeting all my "new" kindergarten friends and seeing the BIG smiles and excitement that filled our classroom! I was amazed with how well they did following the "new" routines I was putting into place and how well they all sat and listened throughout our kindergarten day together! It was truly a wonderful day in K-1 and K-3! We did calendar, learned about the daily routine, did a "How to use a pencil" lesson, played "Who Stole The Cookie From The Cookie Jar" to learn each others' names and both classes had a long indoor recess so they could get to know each other. They had such a fun day! At the end of our day, I had many friends come up to me and say, "This is the best day ever!" which melted my heart! I kept telling them that after today, it only gets better each and every day! Here are some pictures I took today of both classes so you could see who your child's classmates are. 

Here are my morning (K-1)  friends: 

Bobby

Logan

Archer

Charlie

Mikaela

Jack

Everett

Jameson

Joe

Charlie

Ameila

Nikolas

Grace

Lila

Emmett

Emilio

Here are my afternoon K-3 friends:

Blake

Teddy

Isla

Ari

Rhett

Brooklyn

Cate

Aby

Izzy

Maddie

Emma

Lily

Luc

Sam

Micah

Amy

What a fun first day in kindergarten! I am looking forward to another fantastic day tomorrow!