100th Day of School

Well I was going to do a big post about our 100th day of school anyway, but it turns out that was the main part of our week with all the snow days we had! But let me tell you it was a day full of fun and celebration!

We started out the day making our 100th day crowns. Students first got to cut out the main portion of the crown and decorate it how they wanted. Many many gems were used in the process :) Then we filled out the connecting part of the crown with paint dots on our ten frames. It was so great to hear the kids counting by 10s to show me that they did 100 dots!

A student coloring her crown. Notice the gems at the bottom :)

A student makes dots on her ten frame with a q-tip and paint!

The crowns as they dried!

The next activity we did was writing about what students would buy if they had $100 dollars. You can take a look at their writing on Thursday at student led conferences!

After our writing we had our 100th day snack extravaganza! I set out bowls of various snacks around the room and students went around and counted out 10 of each type of snack. They then put those snacks on their 100 chart to keep track. Once they got to 100 snacks they got to eat! Which I think most would argue was the best part :)

A student counts out 10 goldfish crackers

Students count 10 marshmallows

A student lays out his snack on his 100 chart.

Nearly there!

Finally we ended our day making necklaces with 100 beads. I didn't take as many photos of this activity because making 22 necklaces with 100 beads had a few hiccups. Only a few necklaces exploded all over the carpet :) Again the students got to practice their counting, plus once all the colors were on their necklace they could count the groups of colors by 10 to make sure they had 100 beads. It was a lot of fun!

A student puts his beads on his string.

A fun day was had by all. This week will be filled with student preparation for student led conferences. They are so excited to share their learning with you. Remember you can drop by any time between 8:00-12:00pm or 1:00-3:30pm. The conference should take no more than 30 minutes!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Polar Bears, Heart Art and Reading!

Welcome back parents! Last week we finished our arctic animals unit which freed up some time for a few art projects this week. They turned out so great, so I had to take lots of pictures. Enjoy :)

Polar Bear Directed Drawing

I wanted to do a concluding art project with our arctic animals unit, so we decided to do a directed drawing of a Polar Bear to include in students art portfolios. As with all our directed drawings students follow step by step directions to draw their picture. Then they trace over their lines with sharpie and finally we used oil pastels to color in the background to our pictures. They turned out so beautifully and make a great display in our classroom :)

Heart Glue and Watercolor Art

As a kick off to Valentine's Day students got to do a beautiful art project this week. I printed out a template with lines over the top of a heart. Students used black glue to trace the heart and I helped glue the rest of the lines. Once the glue dried students then used watercolors to make their hearts pop. Students had so much fun making these and they make our hallway ready for Valentine's Day!

Students water coloring their hearts.

Independent Reading

As we inch closer and closer to our 100th day of school students are ready to be independently reading on their own in class. I made color versions of books that I usually send home from their reading groups and put them in blue book boxes for students to practice their reading during our reading centers time. I was blown away by how many students took advantage of those books! I saw so many students reading with a buddy helping each other figure out words they weren't sure of. It warmed my heart to see them working together! I am hoping this independent reading will also help encourage them to share their reading with you at home as well!

A student selects a book to read independently from a book bin.

This week is all about Valentine's and we are gearing up for our 100th day of school! Then before we know it, it will be time for conferences again so students will also be practicing to lead their conferences with you! It should be a fun few weeks coming up!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Toys at Choice time?!

What an exciting week we had this week, even though it was only 3 days! We have so many fun events coming up including Valentine's Day and our Hundredth day of school, so stay tuned for all the fun!

Toys for Choice Time

As some of you may know our school sent out a newsletter saying toys were no longer allowed at school. Well students came to me and said that they didn't think that was fair saying that they would keep their toys in their backpacks until Choice Time so it didn't distract them. I then told students that we could write Mrs. Hudson (our principal) a letter asking her if we could still bring toys for choice time. In the letter students promised to keep their toys in their backpacks until choice time and that they wouldn't bring them out any other time of the day. After we wrote the note all the students signed it and 3 students chosen at random took the letter and read it to Mrs. Hudson. A few days later we received her response:

Students were overjoyed! So small toys may come to school for choice time once again!

The Mitten

We have read the Mitten for the past weeks and been using it to discuss characters, setting and to practice sequencing a story when we retell it to someone else. One activity that we did with The Mitten was making our own mitten sequencing craft. Students colored the different characters and using their mitten were able to practice retelling the story. Hopefully they brought them home to share with you too!

A student pulls his story telling strip through to practice retelling the story.

Snowy Owl Adventure

This week we were learning about snowy owls as part of our arctic animals unit. We made snowy owl masks and went on an adventure of the school seeing what "owls" see by using our masks. The students loved it and it was such a fun way for them to use their masks and see from an owl's perspective. I heard "Wow I have to move my head a lot to see" or "I like my eyes better I can see more!" It was great to see and hear!

Write the Room

One activity that students are loving is our write the room activity. Basically I post cards around the room and the students get to walk around answering questions about the cards on their recording sheets. You may notice them coming home about rhyming, segmenting, addition (and soon subtraction) and even with missing letters. The students work so hard and want to share them with you so you will probably see a few of those popping up on SeeSaw as well!

Well that is all for now. We are finishing up our arctic animals unit this week and getting ready for Valentine's as well as starting our community helpers unit!

Cheers to a great week ahead!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Arictic Animals Poems and more

Weekly Poems

Each week as a class we learn different poems. This weeks' poem was Up In the Arctic since we started our Arctic Animals unit this week. Each week students learn a new poem and we use their knowledge of the poem to find words or letters or rhyming words in the poem. We do this as a class and then students also circle words and letters individually in their small book versions of the poem that they bring home every Friday.

To help students with their fluency re-read those poems with your child having them point to each word looking for sight words or going on a hunt for capital letters or lowercase letters! If you have any questions please let me know!

Here is a picture of our big version of the poem that students practice with during centers and also a picture of the student poem book.

Our big version of the poem where we have circled and underlined sight words.

A student circled the sight word and and then bears and hares (rhyming words!)

Writing

This week students have really jumped into writing cards. We have talked about what cards are for, when you have something important to say to someone, and how to write cards. I'm sure you have seen a few come home but we have been working on saying more than just I love you. We call it making our sentences "juicy." This week a student made this card for a friend in class and I had to share it with you:

Arctic Animals

This week we kicked off our arctic animals unit by learning about arctic foxes and caribous. Students have an arctic animals journal that they record fun facts about each animal in, as well as labeling the parts of the animals so we can see what features the animals have in common. I can't wait to keep learning about more arctic animals as well as learning about their different types of shelters, food sources and of course doing some fun crafts along the way!

This has been a great few weeks back from winter break and I can't wait for more fun in the next few weeks with valentine's approaching and our 100th day of school! 

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Centers and Reindeer Art!

How are we already in our last week before Winter Break? This week we talked a lot about how everyone feels differently going into winter break. I explained that I am excited for Christmas but sad because I would miss them. Then one student said "I'm going to miss everyone in our class!" I think that statement really shows how bonded students are with each other and it warms my heart. Here are just a few of the things we did this last week.

Literacy Centers

In our literacy centers students have learned the routines to work completely independently at each station for 25 minutes! It seems like a big task but students are doing a great job at working quietly and staying focused. I snapped a few photos from activities students were engaging in this week. First I saw two students who were sharing a laundry basket to read in during library. Then I saw three students who were working together on a rhyming puzzle, helping each other find matches and working as a team to complete them all. I also saw students making cards for their families and for each other. So sorry if there has been an influx of cards coming home, but students love getting to say thank you and making something special for the people they love :)

 Reindeer Directed Drawing

Perhaps my favorite directed drawing we do in Kindergarten is our Reindeer drawing. Like all directed drawings first we followed step by step directions to draw our reindeer, then we traced our reindeer in black sharpie. Next we colored in our reindeer's with brown colored pencil (and red noses it students wanted to do that!) and finally we got to watercolor the background. They turned out so great I can't wait to hang them up for us to admire!

I truly enjoy every day I get to spend with your children and while I am excited to have a few days to rest and recover I will miss seeing their smiling faces everyday. This will be the last blog post until we get back so to all of you have a wonderful winter break and Happy Holidays!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

All about Winter

This week we did lots of winter activities focusing on Elves and learning about Hibernation. We will be doing more winter themed activities leading up to winter break that use all of the different skills we have learned so far this year. It should be lots fun :)

Elf Directed Drawing

Like all of our directed drawings students started by drawing their elves (following step by step directions). Then we traced our lines in sharpie and finally colored in our pictures. We used watercolors as our art medium this time. Students spent over 45 minutes on these, I was amazed at their focus and desire to make them look just right! I am so proud of how they turned out. Here are a few photos of the process:

Hibernation Writing

Our winter poem for the week is called Winter's Here and it talks about animals that hibernate during the winter. We then took what we knew about hibernation to write about it in our journals. I was so impressed by students diligence and desire to get their writing just right. They have come so far from the beginning of the year!

Bears hibernate in the winter.

This student wanted to write "The bears hibernate in the winter."

 Sorry I don't have more this week. We have been so busy that I have totally forgot to take pictures! Only 10 school days until winter break!

Smiles,

Miss Adams

Thankful Turkey's and Career Day

Thankful Turkey's

This week we started talking about what it means to be thankful and what we are thankful for. We started out by reading a book about being thankful. Then we brainstormed a list of things that we are all thankful for:

After we made the list we made our thankful turkeys. Students got to write and draw one thing they were thankful for on every feather of their turkeys. Students were only expected to do 3 feathers, but most chose to write more! They turned out so great! Here are some photos of students working on their turkey's and the wall of turkeys!

A student writes that they are thankful for their toys and house

They turned out so great!

Career Day

On Wednesday we had the wonderful opportunity to interview different people from varying careers for our Career Day. Before we went to see the varying jobs that were present as a class we brainstormed some questions that students would like to ask them. Here is what we came up with:

In the gym there were jobs like forest rangers, stenographers, face painters, chiropractors, computer engineers and more. Students loved getting to walk around and ask them about their jobs!

Students look at the varying tools a park ranger uses.

A stenographer shows students how to type on her special keyboard.

Then the fun continued as we went outside to discover jobs that use slightly larger tools, especially their vehicles! Outside we saw a Firetruck, multiple police officers and sheriffs, PGE vehicles, a Garbage truck, and more. It was so fun and engaging for students to see all the varying careers that are out there. Such a fun day!

Seeing the tools on a Firetruck.

Seeing a PGE truck lift in action!

Seeing how this truck pours garbage in the back. 

The Forestry service and Timberlake Job Corps show students how they
could put out forrest fires and some tools they would need.

We only have one more week before conferences and Thanksgiving! I can't believe we are almost to December already! But you know what they say, time flies when you're having fun!

Smiles,

Miss Adams