Our Season Tree: Summer Edition

We are going to be watching this tree on our playground all year.  We want to see how it changes as the seasons change.  We noticed that in the summer the tree is full of bright green leaves.  Check back later this fall to see how our tree changes.

Liam turns 5!

Happy Birthday Liam!

Liam brought his dog "Ted" to share for Tt week.

Painting

This afternoon we made our first attempt at having the whole class paint at the same time.  We used watercolors to paint a turtle shell.  Tomorrow we will finish making the turtle and do some writing with it.

Brock was working hard at painting his turtle shell.

Read to Self

Read to Self is the first part of Daily 5 that we are learning.  We learned that we read to our self (practice) because that is what makes us a better reader!  Just like we would practice for soccer.  The students jobs during Read to Self are to...pick a spot where they won't talk or touch, get started right away, keep their eyes on the book, read the whole time, stay in one spot, and use a quiet whisper voice.  My jobs while they are doing this are to work with a group of students, work with one student, or to listen to students read.  Today we modeled what it would look like and then we practiced increasing our stamina to do these jobs.

Isaac is showing us what it looks like to Read to Self!

Meet Freddie

Monday, we met our new class pet.  Freddie, is a Koala bear.  He is a Webkinz, we have adopted him online and are taking care of his needs there.  He will be visiting each family over the course of the year. He is excited to see what kinds of things the students do when they are at home.

Library

Our class will visit Mrs. Koele in the library every Monday afternoon.  She usually reads us a story and then the students have a chance to check out books.  Today they checked out one book, next week they will be checking out two books (if they bring back this weeks book).  Students can return the books whenever they are finished with them.  They can have a total of two books out at a time.

Sharing

In kindergarten students can share items that begin with the letter of the week.  They can share everyday of the week if they wish.  Today we had students share a telephone, teeth, a toothbrush, and two tigers!

Kindergarten #1 Rule

Students were excited to learn that we only have one rule in kindergarten.  "I will never hurt anyone or anything on the inside or outside."  We talked about all the ways that someone can be hurt on the outside...hitting, pinching, pushing, slapping... you get the idea.  Harder for them to understand was how you could hurt someone on the inside...name calling, insults, "I'm not going to be your friend", etc.  Finally, we discussed that we need to take care of school and personal property.  Please talk with your child(ren) about this. 

Great First Day!!!

I was thrilled with how well our first day of kindergarten went.  We had a flag raising in the morning.  The kindergartners also met Mrs. Hagedorn (Mrs. H) in music and Coach Olson in P.E.  They weren't quite sure what P.E. was, but discovered that they really enjoyed it.  In the classroom we read a number of books and worked on a few projects. 

Looking forward to day 2!

Good Turn Out

It was great to see so many of you last night.  I'm glad that you are as excited as I am about the upcoming year!  See you on Wednesday:)

Open House

I hope that you will all be able to make it to open house tonight.  Your child will bring their supplies and you will be able to sign up for conferences in the fall.  See you sometime tonight from 6-7:30.