We had a fun first full week back at school. The weather cooperated with us this week and the kids enjoyed playing outside building snowman and running around! Here are a few pictures of the outside adventures:

Morning Meeting

This week we focused on the stories The Mitten and The Hat by Jan Brett. We worked on sequencing and recognizing the characters in the stories. The kids enjoyed sharing their predictions as they followed along with the story. 

Centers

In the language art center we worked on retelling the story of the mitten. The kiddos colored the animals from the story and used them to retell with their friends. In math, we used felt mittens and snowflakes to practice counting. Also, I stretched their learning by practicing addition and subtraction. The children used plastic tweezers to pick up and count snowballs (pom poms) and make a picture for the fine motor center. 

Small groups

In reading groups, they got their own mitten books. The children searched for specific letters, popcorn words, and colored their favorite animals. It was fun to see them get so excited when they found the letter or word. They are getting more confident in their abilities and are picking up things so quickly! In art we made a mitten collage using colorful tissue paper. These mittens can be seen on the windows in the classroom. In journals, the children picked their favorite animal from the story, The Mitten. This week we really focused on our pictures by discussing what shapes you see in the animals, adding faces and seeing how well the children could use these skills in their drawings. 

Next week

We will continue with the winter activity backpacks next week. I have heard good things thus far. Also, we will jump into our polar bear unit! 

Monday we will not have school for Martin Luther King Day. On Tuesday we will welcome a JST student, Christina to help in the classroom. 

Snow Much Fun!

It has been a great first week after break. The kids were excited to see their friends and be back at school! They were eager to share stories about their trips and new toys they got from Santa. The theme this week was winter.

Here is a look at the week:

  

Morning Meeting

We read many winter books including The Snowy Day by Jack Ezra Keats and Snowman All Year. The kids loved imagining what they would do if they had a snowman friend all year. We brainstormed many activities you could in the winter and adjectives to describe this cold weather! In the morning message, we are learning to recognize the popcorn words, “is,” “the” and “I”. The kids love searching for these words and helping me find them.

Centers

In language arts the kids looked at pictures and recognized the beginning sounds. Also, we had a snowman letter match. The kids matched the capital and lowercase letters. In math this week, they counted snowballs using one to one correspondence. In the fine motor center the students used tweezers to pick up cotton balls, which needed to match the corresponding number. This was a good independent activity for them. 

Small groups

In reading groups the kids worked on the their Bob Books and also practiced their letter matching. The kiddos got messy and had a lot of fun playing with shaving cream in art. They could draw pictures and write their names in it. Next, we mixed shaving cream and glue to make a fluffy snowman. They added hats, scarves, buttons, arms, and a carrot nose to complete their artwork. You can see these pictures displayed on the outside bulletin board. ‘What was your favorite memory from winter break?’ was the journal prompt this week.

Next week

Soojin will be the Star of the Week. We are eager to see her picture collage of her favorite things. Also, we will read The Mitten and The Hat, both stories by Jan Brett. Sequencing and beginning, middle, and end are two literacy skills we will focus on this upcoming week.  Hopefully, we will make it outside for recess once this week! 

You Can't Catch Me! I'm the Gingerbread Man!

The kids have enjoyed reading a variety of Gingerbread stories including; Gingerbread Boy, Gingerbread Girl, Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Friends, and Gingerbread Cowboy. In Morning meeting, we focused on the different characters and compared the different stories. We even had a chance to act out the story and role play different characters. Also, Sage was the Star of the Week and enjoyed sharing her pictures and brought in the story, The Cat in the Hat to read with the class. 

Centers

In Language Arts, the kids worked on a book, Where is the Gingerbread Man? We cut out 8 little gingerbread men and glued them on the animals on each page based on the clues from the positional words. To add an extra challenge, we circled the popcorn words in the story. The kids finished the activity by coloring and reading the story to each other. In Math, there were two different games. In the first game, the kids rolled two dice and counted the number of dots and then used a pompom to cover the number. Next, we played a matching game with cookie tens frames. The kids had to match the numeral to the number of cookies they counted.

Small Groups

In reading groups, some of the kids started with the Bob series books. There is an app on the iPad we worked with that has follow up activities based on the books. Other activities for the groups included making words and letter sounds and recognition. The kids are working really hard! In Art, we decorated our felt gingerbread man! You can see them inside of the classroom displayed on the wall. In journals, we described and drew a picture about our favorite scene from the Gingerbread Boy story. Many of the children incorporated the sneaky fox into their stories and thought they could run faster than the gingerbread boy did to escape the fox! A quote from one of the students, “Maybe gingerbread man needs captain America shoes so he can run really fast!” In the independent center, the children used the wood blocks to build a house and trap for the gingerbread man. 

Next week

It will be our last week before Winter Break and we will continue reading a few Gingerbread and winter books. We have our Winter Party on Friday. A big thank you to all the parents who signed up to help in the classroom and bring in cookie supplies! Looking forward to this exciting event. 

Spirit Week!

What a fun filled week celebrating our Roycemore Spirit. This week we showed our spirit by dressing up to particular themes such as; Pajama Day, Jersey Day, Wacky Wednesday, Throwback Thursday, and Blue and Gold Day. The kids had fun dressing up in different ways. Here is a look at the week:

Circle time

We learned about the school mascot, the Griffin. As a whole group, we completed a glyph by answering a series of questions about their favorite activities in school. These glyphs can be seen on the outside bulletin board. We also graphed our favorite Roycemore color. 

Centers

In math we used cubes to find various factors of 5. I introduced simple addition and finding the sum of 5. It was a challenge for many. For other levels we focused on sorting the blue and yellow cubes and counting using one to one correspondence. In the fine motor center, we worked on cutting with scissors on a straight line to make pompoms. The kids liked playing with their pompoms once the activity was complete. 

Small groups

In reading groups, we focused on making words and hearing all the sounds in decodable words. Some kids focused on beginning sounds and others were stretched to start blending sounds. In art, the children showed their creativity by decorating school pennants using a variety of art materials. In journals the prompt was, “If I were a Griffin…” We discussed how the Griffin was a mythological creature that was both a lion and eagle. Many of the kids talked about how they would fly in the sky and explore.

Special events

Thank you for all of your help for Grandparent’s Day. It was fun to have special visitors in the classroom. The kiddos did a great job at the musical as well!

Next week, we will dive into the Gingerbread theme. On Friday, December 19^th we will have the winter holiday party. If you have not received the Google doc with the volunteer and signup sheet please let me know. Also, Sage will be the Star of the Week. Looking forward to another great week (hopefully, with all healthy kids!).