Rolling along with Routines

You are looking at the best class in the school!  OK, maybe I am biased.  But I bet you are too. 😊

We had a beautiful time cranberry picking this week... The berries are so plentiful and big this year!  It took us no time at all to pick a gallon!  We are excited to cook with them this coming week!

Centers and station rotation are happening more, as the kids get used to procedures and routines in our class.  Here the kids are at a listening center in the reading jungle, and doing their spelling sort.  We do lots of station rotation in our classroom, so a great talking point would be to ask your child what stations they went to that day!

All of the classes are doing lots of brainstorming and journal writing!  Some of our topics have been When were you kind? What can your hands do? What is your goal for this year? 

It was PARTY TIME on Friday!  The class earned a special party because they "got to the sun!"  We blast off a rocket each time we catch the class being good, and they have to go all the way from Pluto back to the Sun to earn a party.  We had popsicles and a movie this time!

Kinder Corner:  

The kinders had an apple tasting picnic and made a graph of our favorite apples this week.  We will continue to do lots of fall and apple-related projects!  FYI, Gala apples (the yellow and red mixed) won!

Our ants came in!  So we will be watching them build their ant farm and observing their behavior.  We had fun trying to work together to make a bridge, like the ants did in this video!  

Ready for S'More Learning!

We are back to school and ready for S'More learning!  We celebrated the first day with a bonfire and s'mores at the fire pit behind the school.   We talked about how this year, the Kinders, First, and Second Graders are all combined into one awesome class, just like graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows are all combined into one awesome s'more, and better than any of them would be alone!  After the s'mores we had fun playing Red Rover and Duck, Duck, Goose!

We had a snowball fight for writing!  Lucky for us, Ms. Akaran, the Principal walked in right in the middle of it, so we got to throw snowballs at her, too!  The snowballs were wadded up pieces of paper on which each student and teacher had written something unique about themselves.  Once the snowball fight was over, everyone picked up a snowball, opened it up, and read what was inside.  Then we had fun guessing who wrote it!  It was a great way to learn more about old friends and get to know new ones!

The students all drew wonderful self portraits, and filled out an All About Me page to display for the school open house on Thursday!  If you weren't able to make it, come and check out our art wall just past the lunchroom.  This is where we will be displaying art and projects all year!

On Friday we had a super fun Lego challenge for a creative STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) project!  The kids had to design and build a boat that could float, with a partner.  We learned about the engineering design cycle: design, build, test, and everyone had GREAT attitudes and didn't get frustrated if their boat didn't float.  They just redesigned it and tried again.  We had some very very elaborate boats, some simple boats, and some students who took the challenge to see how much their boat could hold.  It was a really awesome hour of total engagement and creativity in our classroom!  

We've had a few parents come in for lunch or recess, or to help in the classroom, which was so fun!  You are always welcome to stop in and visit!  Be aware, we just may put you to work :) .   Please make sure you check in at the front office when you do come in.  

It was a very busy and fun first week, the kids are doing GREAT with learning new routines and being patient with us as we tweak things and figure out what will work best with our new combined classroom this year!  We have a phenomenal group of students!

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL FUN!

The last week of Kindergarten was an absolute blast!

We started the week off with a great field trip to Ft. Greely to go swimming, play in the game room, and eat pizza with the first and second graders!

Then on Tuesday we did the Bike-a-Thon to raise money for the Helping Hands Food Bank.  It was a challenge, but all of the kinders prevailed, and though tired, hot, and dusty when they were done, we had a great time!  We biked all the way to Fast Eddy's, ate pizza, then on the way home took a break at the Lions Club park to run through sprinklers, "mountain" bike, play on the equipment and gather our energy for the last leg back to the school.  

The biggest event of the week was our Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday evening.   

I am so proud of this class and what they have accomplished this year.  It has been a joy to be with them and watch them learn and grow for 180 days!

After graduation we had a day to clean up and get ready for the end of the year, and celebrate summer birthdays! 

Then on Thursday we had field day and our end of school BBQ!  The kids got to play tug of war, stomp rockets, potato sack races, water games, see Smokey and climb up on a fire truck, paint rocks, throw water balloons, and blow huge bubbles!

Thank you all for being the best Kindergarten class families ever, for all of your support of me, and your children at home... all of those hours of practicing Popcorn Words and reading books, making sure folders were in backpacks, coming into our classroom, chaperoning field trips and lots more.  It all paid off with a GREAT year!  I will miss my class of 2018-19!  💖