I truly cannot believe there are only 23 days of school left this year! We sent 4th Qtr. Progress Reports home yesterday and will begin DRA's and Writing Assessments in two weeks. This year has FLOWN bye!
Celebrating the ABC's
Our ABC Celebration started on Wednesday with Animal Day. Students could bring a small stuffed animal to school with them. This is always SOOOO exciting! Our friends were able to work with us at our tables and sit with us during carpet times. We also used our friends as inspiration during a few activities and assignments.
Introductions (Speaking/Listening): Students were able to introduce their "friend" to the class and tell a little something about why it is special. The kids (well most of them) take this very serious. I like to hear about their friend...where it came from, how long they've had it, friend injuries, adventures they've been on together, etc... I was very proud of how well all of the kids did listening and paying attention during the intros.
Creative Writing: Students completed an organizer and wrote about their "friend". I LOVE this organizer. We use it for many subject areas and skills and I'm always finding new ways it can be used! My new favorite is composing and decomposing numbers. The one I used in class is hand drawn, but I just created one to share with you all.
(I hoped the link works...if not, someone please let me know!)
In the pics below, students used it to organize ideas for writing about their friend. In the center diamond, the students drew a picture of their friend and wrote his/her name. In the four corner areas, students wrote describing words about their friend. After, students began writing a paragraph using the ideas from their organizer. I am very proud of how far my students have come as writers this year.
Our friends also proved to be a good behavior management tool. I hadn't thought of this before, but my buddy across the hall suggested that the "friend" be used as a behavior management tool for the day (you know it is very exciting to have our friends visit for the day, we sometimes forget how to behave). So, if we couldn't control ourself, our friend had to go to time-out (aka our cubby). Now, there were a few moments of tears when friends had to go to time-out, but overall, we had a great day with our stuffed visitors!
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Thursday was Bubble Day! While the CrAzy weather pattern (80 and sunny one day, tonadoes and high winds the next, a day of rain and flash flooding, followed by sleet and snow...seriously now) we are currently experiencing kept us inside, we had a great day chewing LOTS of bubblegum AND trying to blow bubbles. We had a bubble blowing contest earlier in the year. If I remember right, there were only 3 kids that could blow bubbles. I didn't count, but there were TONS more bubbles being blown on Thursday. The kids were so proud of themselves!
The kids have been working on memorizing, performing, and illustrating nursery rhymes in Library, so they were familiar with some of the rhymes included in this book.
After reading The Bubble Book, students drew a picture of what they would like to appear in a "magic bubble".
I found an online version for The Bubble Book. This book was published by Harper Collins in 1917!
The kids have been working on memorizing, performing, and illustrating nursery rhymes in Library, so they were familiar with some of the rhymes included in this book.
After reading The Bubble Book, students drew a picture of what they would like to appear in a "magic bubble".
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Friday was CrAzY Day! While Ms. Schatz seemed to forget (not sure how, it's my fav) anywho, we had lots of CrAzY dressers and we "mixed" up our usual daily schedule so it was a little crazy in our room. We read Stephanie's Ponytail (how I love Robert Munsch) and drew and wrote about our own crazy hairstyle. Next year, I'd like to take the kids' pictures and cut around their head so they can use craft items to give themselves a CrAzY new hairdo!
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Up next week we have Dare to Care for the Earth: planting seeds, ways to care for our Earth
Entertainment Day: Kindergarten Talent Show
Favorite Book Day: bring in favorite books
Game Day: board and card games
Hoola and Hula Day: hoola hoops and learning to hula
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One last thing...
Happy National Kindergarten Day
(Sunday, April 21)
to ALL of the wonderful Kindergarten teachers out there!!!
