Centers, Free Choice and a Parade!

Learning Centers

As a part of our day we do both Literacy (reading and writing) and Math Centers as a chance for students to explore different concepts while I pull small groups of students for a mini lesson. While we have been working on using a quiet voice to be respectful of everyone trying to learn, we have also been working on our stamina (working on an activity for the designated time). We have gone from spending 3 minutes on an activity to 7 minutes on an activity and are getting better every day! Below you will see a few of the centers that children engage in during our centers times.

A student using a writing card to make a list of things in our classroom at the writing center.

A student works on a rhyming puzzle during Literacy Centers.

Two students explore how to use an iPad during Math Centers.

Free Choice

One of the students favorite parts of our day is our Free Choice time. This is basically our play time. Students play with everything from Kinetic sand, to playdoh to our kitchen set. This is a wonderful chance for students to use their imagination, work on their problem solving skills and learn to cooperate with peers on a game. Here is a photo of the students putting together a puppet show for their peers. So darling!

Estacada High School Parade

Our week finished off with the High School Homecoming Parade. Students loved getting to see the different floats, the firetruck of course and they also got to see our High School helpers on the floats which was very exciting for them. It was definitely a great way to end our week :)

Students watch as the Estacada High School marching band goes by in the parade.

This week we will be working on our apple unit, continuing to grow our writing and have our first all school assembly of the year. It should be a wonderful week!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Welcome to the Blog!

Hello Everyone,

First I wanted to say thank you for popping by to read our classroom blog. Life can go by so fast that I wanted to provide you with just a brief summary of some things we are doing and learning at school. If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me or send me a note. I want to make this for you! So I am always welcome to feedback :)

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

This week we focused on the story of Brown Bear. The students love the story and to discuss how to retell a story we made sequencing pieces to help us! Students colored in their bears, colored in the different animals that Brown Bear sees and then practiced telling the story using the sequencing strip. The students loved it and I loved seeing them practicing retelling their story and having fun at the same time :)

Students color in their brown bear animals.

A student practices retelling the story with their sequencing strip.

Learning about Centers

This week we have been learning about how to do math and literacy centers. We have mostly focused on keeping our voices quiet and staying on task, but while we have focused on those things, students have gotten the chance to explore lots of new stations. In math they have explored cubes, using play doh, and pattern blocks. In literacy they have learned the 3 ways to read a book, have done some weaving/lacing and started working on drawing/writing independently. We will continue this work this week as well.

A student builds the number 4 with play doh.

Two students share a book during literacy centers.

Directed Drawings

About once a week students participate in a directed drawing. Where I show them step by step how to draw a specific picture. It is a lot of focusing on directions and it can be challenging not to forget a step! Once we draw out the entire picture, students went through and outlined their pictures with black sharpie so that the outline stands out. Finally they were able to color in their picture, this week I let them pick how they wanted to color it in. Some chose markers, some crayons and some colored pencils. I save all of the students drawings in a portfolio to send home at the end of the year so that you can see their progress as the weeks go on!

A student draws his Hippo.

A student outlines her picture.

A student outlines her picture.

A students' finished hippo.

A students' finished hippo!

A students finished hippo!

That's all for this week. I can't believe we are moving into our third week of Kindergarten already but I am loving every minute :)

Smiles,

Miss Adams