Another New Baby Brother!

Congratulations to one of our classroom families!  Madden is the proud big brother to a new brother born yesterday!  All are healthy and doing fine!

Centers September 26, 2014

Building with Magnatiles

Memory Game

Sorting by Beginning Sounds

Writing:  Make a Card

Play Dough!

They Grow Up So Quickly!

The children have free choice time every morning after they finish their morning jobs.  Many still choose toys and blocks, but today I was struck by how many wanted to practice their reading and writing!

Buddy Reading

Read to Self

Writing down words

Letter Bingo

Letter Matching

New Baby Brother

Congratulations to one of our classroom families!  Cameron is the proud big sister to new brother, Charlie, born yesterday!  All are healthy and doing fine!

Library Update

We went to the library for the second time today.  I was very impressed with how well the children remembered the routine of using a marker stick, and checking out the book at the computer!

Any child who brought back a book was allowed to check out another one.  The books are put right into their backpacks when we return to Discovery.

Beautiful Artwork

Today the children were asked to draw a picture of including them and a friend following the rules in our room.   One student went above and beyond and made a piece of artwork to be very proud of!  It took her extra time.  She used her quiet choice time AND her play time to complete the task.  Here are the results of hard work!

The Artist

Drawing Circle Time

The real Circle Time rug

Apple Orchard

The Kindergarten students will be going on our annual trip to Deer Lake Apple Orchard on Tuesday October 7th after lunch.  Last year we had a great time!  We get to pet the animals, go on a hay ride, go into the corn maze, and watch how the workers collect, sort, and sell their apples.

The children are very excited for this trip.  As a result many have brought back their signed permission slips already.  We are allowed to take three parents per room.  If more that three express an interest, names will be drawn.  I will let you know ASAP!

"The Voice Numbers"

The children have been working on establishing our classroom rules for the year.  One of the rules they set states:  "Follow the voice numbers."  I'm thinking an explanation might be in order!  :)

Here is a visual picture of the 'voice numbers'.  We have been practicing these from day one, and the children know them very well.  I use my fingers to indicate what voice level the children should be using.

Level 0 = silence
Level 1 = whisper
Level 2 = talk softly
Level 3 = table talk
Level 4 = talks loudly (when leading the group or presenting/sharing)
Level 5 = yell  (outside only)

Everyone at Discovery uses this number system.  The cafeteria requests a level 2.  Hallways are to be 0 or 1.  (Look to your teacher for the number.)
In the classroom, it depends on the task at hand.
Feel free to use it at home, too!  :)

Centers 9/17/14

Sorting by size, color or shape

Stringing beads

Reading

Number Puzzles

Play dough!

Permission Slips Needed!

A permission slip for the Field Trip to the Children's Theater went home last week.  So far only half of the Kindies have brought their signed slips back to school.  We also still have room for 3 more parents from out room to come along!

You can contact me at ktacke@bhmschools.org

or text me at 612-618-5747

if you have any questions or concerns!

LIBRARY

Wednesday is our library day.  After lunch we head over to Parkside and have a chance to check out a book.  If they bring thier book back before or on the next Wednesday and return it, they can pick out a new book.  Each child has a book in their school bag.  Help them find and enjoy it tonight or soon!

Bus Safety

All children in the State of Minnesota must pass a bus safety test each year.  Our bus safety test will be on Thursday afternoon.  We get on a real bus and practice safe entry, seating, exiting, and crossing the street in front of the bus.

Here are the notes we made today while talking about bus safety.

#1.  One person gets on and off the bus at a time.

#2.  The front of the bus and the tires of the bus are danger zones.

#3 Walk/count 10 steps then look at the bus driver before crossing the street.

A review at home of these important steps would be greatly appreciated!  If you child can't count to ten, please work on that with them.  Otherwise we have them use their fingers to help, too.

Marvelous Monday!

The children came back from their weekend today remembering how to make a line without any help from me.  It was almost perfect!  I had to take a picture and show you what good listeners they are and how much they are learning already!

Math

This morning during play time the children had an opportunity to play with the pattern blocks.  This afternoon during math, children got to use the same blocks as a math learning tool.  Each child was given a letter of the alphabet (on paper) built in pattern blocks.  They needed to find the actually block that matched the paper and build the letter.  When they were done they could switch papers and try a new one.

Lunch

The Kindergarten students are guided through learning how to 'do lunch' by their first and second grade Buddies.  After only a week and a half, most of the children now know their lunch number and can get their food and clean it up independently!  That may be a record!!

PICTURE DAY TOMORROW!

Some of you have sent your envelopes back already.  I promise to check all backpacks tomorrow morning!  :)  If you need a new envelop, please contact Sharon Uttke in the office.

Quiet Time

Each day after lunch we have a quiet time.  Children can choose to look at a book, color, do a puzzle, or rest.  It helps everyone calm down and get set for an afternoon of learning!  Here are a few pictures of your children during quiet time last week:

Gym Class

Your child/ren have specialists they get to see each day.  They go to Gym every morning at 9:50.  Mr. Lindbloom is the PE teacher.  Today they were playing a sort of tag where they needed to be rescued from the hoola hoops.  The sounds of joy and

laughter are heard every day!

Poster

A bee hive poster came home in your child's Tuesday folder.  Along with it were some directions that may have been lost.  Here is a copy of the directions for that poster:

All about Me poster – We will be making a class book using the completed posters.  Please help your child decorate their poster using photos, stickers, magazine pictures, crayon/marker drawings, etc.  (Posters will be laminated, so photos will be attached permanently.  )Feel free to write some words for them or help them to write words if they wish.  Please return the poster by SEPTEMBER 26th.  Thank you!

Play

Play time in Kindergarten has become a controversial topic!  Here is a video of some free play time (they can choose whatever they want) this afternoon.  Can you spot the learning going on??

Perfect!

The children have already learned how to come and make a circle.  We know the circle is a very important place.  We use it for classroom meetings, stories, sharing, and learning!  Whenever we are in the circle, we are quiet and wait turns.

First Day of K!

The first day of school for Kindergarteners is filled with learning about Discovery and learning about each other.  That can be a big change from summer style activities!

Each day after lunch we have Quiet Time.  Children get to choose from a list of activities.  This is time for them to work on something quietly by themselves for about 10 minutes.  It gives everyone a break from the hustle and bustle of a kindergarten classroom!

Thanks to modern technology, I can not put the pictures up at this moment, but will ASAP!

Please know we had a great first day!