First Day of Spring!

While it may not be all that warm out, at least the sun was shining for the first day of Spring!  After some time outside this morning we read our morning message, enjoyed snack and worked on writing.  Kindergarten continues to work on our co-constructed big book The Days of the Week in Kindergarten and also working on adding title pages to their own books.  We have been talking a lot about how the title, or cover page, is important as it tells the reader what the inside of the book is going to be about.  

This afternoon we started Reader's Workshop by reading an Elephant and Piggie book in anticipation of our trip to the Flynn Theater tomorrow!  We discussed how elephant and piggie will be played by humans dressed in the colors that match elephant and piggie.  The humans will not have a snout or a trunk but their grey and pink clothes will allow the audience to know which character is which.  We are excited! 

SO much snow!

Kindergarten enjoyed getting out in the woods for a little bit this morning and enjoyed some time playing in all of the snow!

After the woods we finished the chapter book we have been reading Gooseberry Park by Cynthia Rylant and Kindergarten is eager to start a new chapter book.  Tomorrow we will vote on what we will be reading next.  

We are continuing discussing community helpers and today Ms. Gunnarsson read Jobs on a Farm.  Because we have missed our weekly visits to the library on Tuesday the last few weeks Ms. Beth was kind enough to invite Kindergarten to the library this afternoon.  After a visit to the library we continued working on a big book we are creating all together.  On Monday we discussed how authors write about what they know and love and so we had to decide on a topic that everyone in our classroom knew a lot about and loved (or at least liked) so we decided to write a book about Kindergarten!  First we had to decide on a title for our book and decided to name it The Days of the Week in Kindergarten.  Today we decided that on each page at the top we will write On (day of the week) draw the illustration and then at the bottom write what happens on that day of the week.  Co-constructed texts allow for lots of modeling of the writing process and how much thinking and hard work goes into writing a book.  Kindergarten is working on making title pages that will tell the reader about what they will find in their books.     

A Cold Monday

Our Poem today fits the weather just perfectly:

"In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb" by Lorie Hil 

March roars in like a lion 

so fierce.

The wind so cold

it seems to pierce.

The month rolls on 

and Spring draws near. 

And March goes out 

like a lamb so dear. 

This poem led to a very high level discussion.  Kindergarten was able to use words to describe lions: fierce, loud, sharp claws and teeth, a hunter, king of the jungle, and make the connection to the wind and cold that we have experienced the last few days.  Kindergarten then described a lamb as cuddly, cozy, calm, and gentle and connected this to the warm weather that is (hopefully) coming later this month!  Ms. Gunnarsson also shared some photos she had of sheep from a trip to Iceland she took.  

We also had a special treat this afternoon - a visit from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.  Percussionists from the VSO visited CP Smith School and played different percussion instruments, made us laugh and taught us lots about different instruments they use. 

Back to the Woods!

It was definitely surprising to see snow this morning after some mild weather yesterday but made for a nice morning in the woods!  We have two trips coming up this month one to Rock Point School on March 16th to learn more about Maple sugaring and the second to the Flynn Theater on March 21st to see a play about Elephant and Piggie.  Both Permission Slips went home today so check your child's backpack.

During Reader's Workshop we have been working a lot on building CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words and sight words.  Students have been noticing SO many more words and print and it is amazing to see how they are growing as readers and writers!

 

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing February break.  It is hard to believe that it is already March - time sure does fly!  We stayed in this morning due to the rain but got out for a little bit before lunch as the sun appeared.  Students looked forward to reading and listening to the March Chicken Soup with Rice poem, going to the computer lab during Reader's Workshop and reconnecting with their peers.  We jumped right back into Number Bonds and addition during Math today and it was terrific to see how much Kindergarten remembered from before our break.

Engineering, therapy dogs, and flash mobs...what a day!

Today was a VERY eventful day in Kindergarten and at CP Smith School.  For our monthly whole school positive behavior celebration the teachers tricked the students into thinking we were having a boring assembly and then broke out into dance to the song "We Are Family" it was a fun time had by all.  We didn't go to the woods today due to all of the mud and water but we did have some fun constructing a marble maze.  We talked about how engineers are people who make plans, build buildings and then fix them if they observe problems.  Kindergarteners enjoyed working together to build various marble maze constructions.  First we worked together and followed the plan, or directions, then after some time exploring Kindergarten talked about changes they could make and made them.  It was not only fun but a great lesson in teamwork and engineering!

After Reader's Workshop where we focused on locating sight words and rhyming words in a shared poem, we visited the library to meet Ms. Lessard's, the district's literacy coach, therapy dog Zero!  Kindergarten was very interested in learning about the different tests Zero had to go through to become a certified therapy dog and then had a chance to pet him.  It was a wonderful day!

Happy to be Back

While I am still not feeling 100% better it was definitely nice to be back in Kindergarten today!  Wednesdays always seem to fly by with the day ending a bit earlier but we were able to get a lot done today. Kindergarten enthusiastically asked me to read more of our chapter book Gooseberry Park after Morning Meeting.  So far the characters we met are Stumpy a squirrel, Kona a Labrador, Gwendolyn a hermit crab and today we met a new character in this book Murray the bat.

Mrs. Guilmette visited for Guidance this morning and taught students some strategies for solving small problems (i.e. a classmate is humming and you would like them to stop or someone cut in line) and the importance of telling an adult when their is a big problem (someone is being unsafe or bullying).  After Guidance we worked on solving some number bonds together altogether and then began our Social Studies Unit on Community Helpers.  Kindergarten learned that a community is a place where people live and work together and community helpers are people who make communities cleaner, better and safer.  Today we read the non-fiction text Helpers in My Community by Bobbie Kalman and over the next few weeks will learn more about specific helpers in our community.  On Wednesday we also go to the computer lab after lunch.  Kindergarten did an excellent job logging in and off of the computers all by themselves!