Morning Meeting Greetings

Each day we begin with a greeting during our morning meeting. It is a nice way to start our day. Here are some of our favorites:

Silly Voices - students greet each other with a "Good morning ......." in silly voices. Today we used a squeaky voice and we all laughed so hard. Other voices include cowboy, opera, whisper, baby, underwater, and cowboy.

Dice Greeting - one student rolls a die and counts that number of students clockwise around the circle to greet that person. The "roller" sits down and the greeted student rolls the die again. Continue until everyone has been greeted.

Friends In Our Class - this song is sung to the tune of The Adam's Family

Friends in our class (snap, snap)

Friends in our class (snap, snap)

Friends in our class, friends in our class,

Friends in our class (snap, snap)

There's (name) and there's (name), there's

(name) and there's (name), we're here to learn and play!

Circle Greeting - create an "inner" circle and an "outer" circle with students facing each other. Students will give a handshake and a "Good morning, . .  . ." Then, ask either the inner circle or the outer circle to rotate one person to the right. 

A Match Game

We used ten frame bug cards, number cards, and tally cards to create trios of matching cards during our math time today. This activity allowed us to practice counting by 1's, counting on from 5, recognizing quantities of 5 instantly, using strategies, and recognizing numerals 1-10

Concert Practice

I can be a coach to my reading partner.

Today we learned that reading partners are like coaches. They don't just sit and watch us have a hard time, they jump in and help! They help us build our reading muscles. They remind us of strategies we can try!

This activity supports common core standard SL.K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

1. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).
2. Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.

Community Service Project

We were busy today creating our handmade decorations for a community service project. On Thursday we are planning to walk down to the South Hero fire station for our 4th annual decorating community service project. If you attend "Christmas in South Hero" on Saturday you will get to see our beautiful decorations.

Pilgrim Kids Vs. Kids Today

After completing some research with non-fiction texts we used a Venn Diagram to compare/contrast Pilgrim kids vs. Kids today. Here are some of our discussion points:

-where they/we live

- what they/we eat

- what they/we play with

- what they/we wear

- what they/we learn.

We followed up our Venn Diagram with a writing prompt: "If I were a pilgrim kid." This activity helped us with the following common core standards:

Writing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

8. With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Writing

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

7. Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).

Book Shopping

On our last book shop we had a special guest join us - Mrs. Perry! She just happened to come in and ended up staying awhile to help us explore our options and then to listen to us read. During book shop time students are given a number of choices and they get to browse for a "just-right" book. A "just-right" book is not too hard and not too easy. With a "just-right" book you may need a little help, but are able to utilize strategies to read the book and are able to understand what has been read (comprehension). It is sometimes tricky to pick a "just-right" book.

Writing Tools

Today we talked about resources we have in our classroom to help us with our writing. We brainstormed a list of available writing tools and were then introduced to two more; the word wall and alphabet charts! I modeled how to use both, students discussed what they noticed and then they tried it during writing workshop. 

How long is the teacher's necklace?

Today we compared and ordered objects according to length. Students each cut a piece of string to approximate the length of my necklace. Each of us then compared it to my necklace to find out if our approximations were shorter than, the same as or longer. 

Pattern Block Ceations

Characters In Our Stories

Today we talked about the characters in our writing. We discussed the characters and how authors use details in representing them thereby helping to make their message clear to the reader.

Pumpkin Investigations

Last week we spent a lot of time investigating pumpkins and in so doing explored many kindergarten standards in reading, writing, mathematics and science.

We conducted an investigation exploring how tall our pumpkins are, how many seeds are inside,and  how many lines each pumpkin had. We also predicted if pumpkins float or sink and then found out! We then compared and drew detailed observations of our pumpkins. 

Explorations in literacy allowed us to create a book that we can each read based on the life cycle of a pumpkin. 

PBIS Reward

I was lucky enough to be picked as a student reward: lunch with a teacher. It made my day! :)

Tryin' Lion

We were introduced to a new reading strategy today called "tryin' lion." We learned that whenever we are stuck we can go back and re-read to help us keep going. This gives us a running start to make the big jump of trying a really tricky word. This addresses an important kindergarten common core standard: 

Reading: Foundational Skills

Fluency

4.Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.

Writing Workshop

Music Class

Telling A Story

In Writing Workshop today we worked on telling a story in our writing instead of naming the parts. We began with a mentor text, "Good Dog Carl". It is a wordless book that I used to model telling a story. I read a few pages and named the parts of the picture and asked the kids how that sounded, good story or not? The answer was NO! Then I read it and used the pictures to tell a story. We decided that was a much better story than the first one. After that it was the kids turn, I gave them each a partner and a wordless book and they tried telling a story with the pictures. Tomorrow we will be ready to write our own stories! :)

The Best Place To Read

We read the book "The Best Place To Read" by Debbie Bertram and then created a list of our favorite places to read. A lot of us said our favorite place to read at home is cuddled up in bed right before we go to sleep. After that we looked around our classroom to find our "best spots" in the classroom and then went there to enjoy some books. 

This reading workshop lesson supports a common core language standard, SL.K.4

Speaking & Listening

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

4. Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

Reading Letters

In these pictures we are practicing reading letters around the classroom. During this lesson we read the book "The Letters Are Lost" by L. Ernst and then went on a hunt for letters around the classroom with magnifying glasses following these steps:

1) First we pick up a type of reading material (books, charts, posters,etc)

2) Then we look for a letter

3) Last we point to the letter and say what it is 

This was so empowering for students when we did it in early September. They really began to see themselves as readers!

This learning experience supports common core standard RF.K.1

Reading: Foundational Skills

Print Concepts

1. Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.

1. Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.
2. Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.
3. Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.
4. Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Pick For Your Neighbor

Last week we walked to Hackett's Orchard with the seventh and eighth graders to participate in our very first community service project. We picked apples and donated them rough the "pick for your neighbor" program. It was so much fun and we learned a lot about giving.