The kindergarteners were super excited to finally meet their 5th Grade Study Buddies this week! We met them on Tuesday morning, and we also got to sit with them at our first school Mass. Mrs. Novak (the 5th grade teacher) and I worked hard to pair up your kiddo with a 5th grader that we felt would "mesh" well together. Since I taught most of those 5th graders four years ago, this wasn't too tough to do. Here are some photos from their first time meeting:
Another exciting thing happened to kindergarten on our tenth day of school... Zero the Hero knocked on our door and dropped off a special gift for the class! Mrs. Frawley didn't get to the door in time to actually see him, but she saw something blurry fly away. Rumor has it, Zero the Hero likes to leave gifts that look like zeros! This week he left us all dimes! Here is a photo of the bucket he used to deliver those special dimes to us.
More excitement this week came from our visit from Mrs. Doyle. To officially kick off library season, Mrs. Doyle came in and read a special book to us about how to take care of books. Then we colored a sheet nicely for her to hang up in the library. This week we will actually go into the library and pick a book. At the beginning of the year, the books won't actually go home. We have special library cubbies where the kiddos will leave their book (in the classroom). When we finish work early, or during centers sometimes, we will get to look through our library book. Ms. Hudson may even pick one of their library books to read during story time. Later in the year, closer to spring, the kinder kiddos will try taking their books home and being responsible for returning them to school on time. Here is a photo of Mrs. Doyle reading to us. By the way, Mrs. Doyle was AMAZED at what wonderful listeners the Kindergarteners were during story time! She said she couldn't remember the last time a group of kindergarteners were so well behaved! We definitely all earned a sticker for our apples for that compliment! I was super proud, and you should be too!
On fun day Friday we began our day with Mass, and, I have to say, for their first time going to Mass without their parents, they did a fantastic job! We are going to work on standing nicely without leaning on the pew in front of us, as well as sitting quietly while the teachers go up to receive communion. Other than that, very impressive! I even heard some kiddos responding to the parts of the Mass! Great job, parents!
Fun day Friday also included an art project- something that will continue to happen on Fun day Friday's. Since Johnny Appleseed's birthday is later this month, we need to get in the mood for apples! We colored, cut, and pasted our own paper plate apples to hang in the room. The kids did a fantastic job! I tell you, the Document Camera is my very best friend! I don't know what I'd do without it! Here are some photos of the kiddos working on their apples:
On that note (since it was a little silly to pretend to eat paper apples) we are teaching many social skills and life lessons to our kindergarteners right now. One thing you may hear me ask them is, "Silly or Serious?" It goes along with the whole idea of there is a time and a place for everything. We are learning that when the teacher is directing us/teaching us, it is time to be serious. When we are dancing or playing in the yard, it is time to be silly! When we go to Church, it is serious (which does not mean sad- we can still smile!) We try to leave our sillies outside when we are transitioning to coming inside from recess or PE. Feel free to use this same question "Silly or serious?" with your child at home/church to reinforce the concept. When parents and teachers work together, the end result is always better than working alone!
Finally, this week is our first week of full days. Please refer to the orange carpoint sheet you received on Thursday to see where your child will be for pickup. Please remember to pull all the way forward in the carpoint line- do not stop by the kindergarteners- we will safely send them up to you.
A few food reminders: please pack both a lunch and a snack. The snack needs to be labelled "SNACK" so your child knows to only eat that at morning recess. If things aren't labelled, the children tend to eat everything at morning recess, then have nothing or not much left at lunch time. This does not make for a happy child! Packing too much is always preferred over packing not enough... There is always the option to order lunches from Choice Lunch. If your child orders food from Choice Lunch, please tell them or send a note to tell me. Otherwise they panic when they don't see enough food in their lunchbox at morning recess. If you order Choice Lunch, you still need to pack your child a morning snack.
Your child (and teachers) will be a little more tired this week. It is definitely a transitional period. Thank goodness it is a four day week! We are also starting homework this week. Remember that homework is not to be returned until the last day of the school week. In this case, we will see homework envelopes returned to us on Thursday. As always, the children will only use pencils for printing or crayons (when coloring). Please refer to your Back to School Night powerpoint for more information.
A few fun things happening this week:
* We will pick our first Helper of the Week!
* We will go to the library for our first time!
* We will meet a new friend on Wednesday!
Have a wonderful Sunday, and see every one tomorrow (after a really long night of sleep!)
No comments:
Post a Comment