Hello Saturday and a nice 3 day weekend. Who else is in need of an extra day to rest?!
What a week we’ve had in Room 306! We’ve worked on Aa, /a/, ten frames, numbers and our big plans. We have worked on our friendships and celebrated our differences! And got Mr. Greg caught some germs! Busy week! So, it’s time for a peek into the week that was….are ya ready?!
This week we worked on A. We made alligator hats, we counted ants and ate ants on a log!
This is the new process we are using to introduce sounds and letters. The focus is more on the sound rather than the letter. On day 1 we introduce the sound and the students come up with words for that sound. Mr. Greg attempts (a very pathetic attempt, obviously) to draw the pictures. We do not label them on day one. On day two we introduce the letter as the way to spell the sound. Then we identify the pictures and the students spell the first sound. As I write the rest of the word, I spell each letter out loud.
And of course, Mr. Greg has to wear his silly hat!
We worked on counting to 10 this week and worked with our ten frames a lot. We made ten frames using our bodies. We made ten frames using diamonds. We counted ants. And we did a lot of roll and color!
This was such a fun idea! We loved counting our “ants”! Who doesn’t love painting?!
Click on the picture to get your free counting ants activity page!
For more on the living ten frame activity, click the picture to see my original post!
These jewels came from Michael’s and were only $1! The ‘staches loved counting the “jewels” and “diamonds!”
This week was all about our hopes and dreams! We read the book “Big Plans” and talked about getting down to business to make our hopes and dreams come true!
We shared all of our hopes and dreams for kindergarten! What do we want to learn in Kindergarten?! A few highlights:
“…how to do a cartwheel…”
“…learn to read….”
“…learn to work…”
They all had some major plans for this year…but one ‘stache has a truly lofty goal!
“…how to ride a pig…”
True story. So guess what? I’m working on aligning pig riding to the Common Core! I foresee a new common core creation soon!!
After we shared our big plans, we made a visual to remind us of those plans! We are “swinging” into our big plans!
And I even send home a form for parents to share their hopes and dreams. I am currently working on the display for our hopes and dreams! Stay tuned!
We read “A Bad Case Of The Stripes” and talked a great deal about being different and being friends! We spent Friday afternoon working as teams to create these beautiful paintings! These will be cut out and displayed in the hallway to remind us that we love being different!
Foodie Fun Friday was tied into our A and ants fun! We made ants on a log for our snack! During our morning meeting, I told the ‘staches we were having ants for our snack. They were hilarious. “Are they real?” “Will we really ate them?” “They’re fake ants!” “They will bit our teeth!” “Ants will tickle our bellies!”
When it came time to make our snack I gave them the log (celery) and ant food (cream cheese) and told them to fill the log full of ant food so the ants would come. When they were all ready, I told them it was time to get the ants. I reached into a bag and started moving the bag and screaming!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA THEY WENT CRAZY!!!!!!!! I ripped out the bag of ants….and gave them RAISINS!
Can you believe that there is even more fun and excitement in this week?! Well, there is!
Bear, our therapy dog, made his first visit! Bear and his owner, Leigh, come to visit us once a week. Each child gets to read a book to Bear when he visits! We are so stinkin’ lucky to have this amazing opportunity! If you want to read more about Bear and how he came to our classroom (PEOPLE, IT INVOLVES A THERAPY LLAMA!!!!!!!! TRUE STORY!), click on the pictures!
And here’s the local news story about Bear and our class!
http://WTVF.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=287386;hostDomain=www.newschannel5.com;playerWidth=630;playerHeight=385;isShowIcon=true;clipId=7327078;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixedNewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather
So, remember when a ‘stache said his hope was to learn to ride a pig?? Well, what kind of teacher would Mr. Greg be if we didn’t work that in somehow?! I tried to get a real pig, but can you believe people are a little leary of kindergarten teachers asking to borrow a pig to ride?! GEEZ!
So I compromised…
I went next door and got my stuffed pig and rode him into our classroom. Hello Teacher Of The Year! The ‘stache who shared this hope was beside himself with excitement! The whole class was hysterically laughing and cheering!
But don’t worry…..I don’t give up so easily. We do have a field trip to the state fair next month…and I will be lobbying for a pig riding experience for Mr. Greg. And yes, there will be a fun activity to come! Remember, anything can be aligned to the common core! hehe
And the quote of the week:
“Mr. Greg, you sound like someone from Wonderland!”
And how was your week?!