Math, Literacy, Writing, MAP testing....Wow....what a busy three days!

In math this week, we have been learning about all about the numbers 6, 7, and 8. We have learned how to form the letters correctly from top to bottom and having some hands-on experiences to understand the quantity of each number too. I took it a step further where we learned about a 10-frame building off their knowledge of a previous lesson last week learning about a 5-frame. They did great learning about a 10-frame and how to show the number on it the correct way. We also talked about if we have 7 counters in a 10 frame, how many more would we need to make 10? They were able to count the blank squares left in the 10 frame to understand we would need 3 more to make a total of 10. It has been fun learning about these numbers and seeing how quickly they are learning about these numbers! Way to go, K-1!

In literacy, we are continuing to learn how to write the rest of the uppercase letters on the alphabet. They are doing a great job writing the letters on the lines with correct line placement. It's tricky to break the habit of writing numbers from bottom to top but they are doing a great job! We have also been reading a few stories that are helping my kindergarten friends to learn about how to identify the characters, setting, plot, and we discussed identifying the beginning, middle and end of stories today too. They have been learning so much and many of them are hard concepts! I am amazed with how quickly they are understanding them and we have had some great conversations about the stories we have read together! 

In SEL, I have been reading a few read alouds which has opened up some wonderful conversations about feelings and how to react in a kind way with a peer. We have discussed bad choices and good choices and how we learn from all the choices we make to grow as learners. In the classroom, we learned that we treat eachother with kindness and we follow the "golden rule" which is we treat our friends the way we want to be treated!" In the past 14 days, we have been building a little classroom family where we have gotten to know eachother, grown as learners together and have built some wonderful friendships with one another! It is so fun to see the adorable interactions amongst the class and see the kindness they spread with one another each and every day! I have LOVED witnessing these interactions during our afternoon "playtime!" 

The past two days we have had MAP testing too in reading and math! They did AMAZING! I am so proud of how well they did following my directions to get logged into the assessment and how well they all did focusing on the test and trying their very best!

Today we got to celebrate Keller and Ellie's 6th birthdays. How fun they share the same day! They were our calendar helpers, we sang "Happy Birthday" to both of them and they got to be line leaders for the day! We had so much fun celebrating our two wonderful little friends today!

My kindergarten friends are growing as learners everyday and I am so proud of the growth they have made both socially and academically in just the 14 days we have been together! I can't imagine what the whole year will bring! Thank you for sharing them with me each day!

What a fun Friday!

Today, I have to share with all of you that I stood in front of my classroom and actually started crying but in tears of JOY!! Today was so much fun being their teacher! I saw students spreading kindness with one another, doing an excellent job following directions and working hard at their table spots while the room was also filled with giggles and BIG smiles! Today truly warmed my heart! Friendships have formed and comfortability has set in where each and every one of my friends feel safe taking risks in trying new things and even asking friends to do new things with them! Oh...what a fun day!

In literacy, I carried over the lesson we learned yesterday about nouns. Yes! Your child is learning about what a noun is in kindergarten and they did a great job learning it! They learned it's people, places or things OR anything they can point to. We learned a song about nouns and we had fun singing it plugging in classmates names as we sang it out loud. Then we did a little activity at their seat where I asked them to draw themselves in a box and write their name because their name is a noun and they also had to draw a picture of a friend in the class and write their name too because that person is a noun as well ( I helped by writing the friend's name), When drawing the pictures, I have shown them that they should draw the picture first with pencil and color it with crayons. Only because we cannot erase crayon so if they make a mistake with a pencil, we can still fix it. Their drawings of themselves and their friends were FABULOUS! On the other side was a description of what a noun was and I asked them to color it on their own with their best coloring. This side would help them tell you what they learned about nouns. I was blown away! Great job, K-1!

Then, we learned all about the letters Xx, Yy, and Zz. We learned how to form the letters the correct way from top to bottom and how to place them on the lines correctly! It is tricky using the lines but they are making progress each and every day. On the backside, the practiced making some shapes on the lines that will help them with line placement and forming future letters. Great job, K-1!

In math, we did a few review pages where they are showing me what they learned about the numbers 0-5. They are number experts in those numbers now and I am so impressed with how well they are writing them on their own now. The numbers 2 and 5 were a bit tricky to learn in making them from top to bottom. 

After lunch/recess today we had gym and music. It's always their favorite day when we have the two specials! When they came back I did a fun project with them. We did a name project where they had to trace the letters of their name with glue and put on confetti pieces of paper to have their name stand out like lights. They turned out so cute! I can't wait to hang them up in our classroom on Monday when they are fully dry! With today being our first day using glue bottles, I was very impressed!

After that, we cleaned up and we did a "following directions" activity. I gave each friend a picture of a house and I gave them step by step directions where they had to listen to what I said and color it at their seat with those specific directions. Wow!!! They did wonderful! 

These were the activity directions. The kids did great!

Lastly, we ended our day with their favorite time of the day....PLAYTIME!!!!!! Today we had a doctor's office, a restaurant, and lots of friends building some amazing creations and houses out of magna tiles, blocks and other things. Seeing the interactions amongst the class and the cute friendships melts my heart! The joy I experience seeing the fun they have with one another during playtime is just the CUTEST! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Busy Owls!

 We have been busy owls this week learning so much throughout our fun days together in full-day kindergarten! The class is doing AMAZING following the school routine and getting used to one another and having me as their kindergarten teacher! We are building a nice little "school family" and I am so impressed with all of their hard work, kindness, and efforts in always "trying their best" and knowing that is OK to make mistakes along the way! Making mistakes help them learn and grow! They are developing cute friendships with one another. It is so fun to see my more quiet friends feeling comfortable to take risks and try new things and all of them just enjoying being with one another throughout our day together!

In literacy, I have been doing a few read-alouds where the class is learning about a lot of important things:

-what an author and illustrator are

-learning how to identify characters in a story

-learning how to identify what a setting is in a story

- they have learned how to make connections to what they have read in the story to something in their real lives.

-They have learned about book orientation and concepts of print such as how letters make up words and words make up sentences. 

-We have learned about the different kinds of punctuation such as the period and exclamation point and why an author adds a specific one at the end of a sentence. They LOVED learning about the exclamation point and reading sentences that had an exclamation point at the end so they could read it with joy or excitement. It was so cute!

In writing, we have learned how to write various uppercase letters on the lines the correct way with correct line placement. We learned all about the top line, middle line and bottom line previously and practiced making various lines on them to ensure we go used to them. They are doing a great job holding their pencils with the right grip and pressing down on the pencil with enough pressure to write legible letters on the lines. They are doing great breaking the habit of making letters from the bottom up. Here at Olive, we  ALWAYS make letters from top to bottom!!!! They are doing a great job in handwriting and making good growth!

In phonics, we have learned all about the letters Ss, Aa, Tt, and Ii. We learned about the sounds the letters make and we applied what they learned in finding objects that began with each sound. They have also begun putting the sounds together to read words that contain those letters such as: as, at, sat, a, it, is. I was blown away how well they were able to decode the words by saying the sounds and blending them together! Way to go, K-1!

In math, we are learning all about the numbers 0-5. We have learned about what the number looks like and how to write the number correctly from top to bottom. I have taught them a cute rhyme to help them in forming the number the correct way. We have done a lot of hands on activities to help them in learning the quantity of the number too and I think they are all number experts now in recognizing and writing the numbers 0-5!

Playtime has been the BEST! I am amazed with all the creative things they are building together! I think we have some future engineers or architects in K-1! Wow! They have also loved the dress up clothes and have enjoyed making a doctor office in our room or a vet! We have also loved doing puzzles together which has taken a lot of team work but such a sense of pride when the puzzle is all put together. It is so cute to see the interactions amongst one another and the joy they are all finding in playing with one another to develop some lifelong friendships they are creating in our class! These little ones bring me so much joy!