Today when a friend came to school, he wanted to paint. After breakfast, we made finger painting available. All of our friends came over and explored mixing the primary colors together to make new colors.

In Kindergarten today:

We focused on two of our FAB’s for the week:

K.G.4: Compose simple geometric shapes to form larger shapes (e.g., create a rectangle composed of two triangles).

K.G.2: Compare shapes using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides, length of sides, and vertices).

Translucent geometric shapes were made available at the light table. Our younger friends joined Jackson and Addi so there were varying degrees of ability. As a group, we talked about the properties of the shapes that we saw such as the number of sides and vertices. A couple questions came up regarding vertices so I had everyone get a shape and press the pointy corner. “This is a vertices!” It’s where the sides come together.

Addi and Jackson took two sizes of the same shape such as a big triangle and a small triangle. I asked if they were the same shape. “Yes! They still both have three sides,” commented Addi.

Afterwards, friends were given the reigns to use their imagination. Addi started to build a house while incorporating grass, a garage, chimney, and trees! Some of our younger friends made simple geometric patterns using various shapes.

Breakfast- Kix and blueberries.

Lunch- Hummus on flatbread, clementine’s, and snap peas.

PM snack- Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Wee Sprout- Snap peas.

Have a great night!

-Rebekah and Mindy

Link to pictures:  https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh6wTvFraek2yJ2pZZg

It’s been a busy Monday of crawling through tunnels…

Playing instruments while listening to music…

Getting messy in moon sand…

And playing silly games of peek-a-boo in the cubbies and on the habitrail!

Breakfast was whole wheat toast with butter and cinnamon and banana. Wee sprout was corn. Lunch consisted of whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, bananas, and corn. Afternoon snack was whole milk yogurt (Thanks Katie!) and oranges.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh6oyRhGj2eeQlRSelw

Have a great night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

**Just a beginning of the week reminder that the pre-conference forms that were passed out on Friday are due this upcoming Friday which is February 3rd. Thanks!

The reading area allowed us to have a quiet space this morning where we read some of our favorite stories. Even though our friends can’t read yet, they look at the pictures and retell the story based on the pictures that they see.

Friends headed to the art table and used a variety of materials including markers and dot paints. Our fine motor skills are always working at the art table. For example, friends worked on twisting the tops of the dot painters on and off.

Almost everyday, friends join together to do floor puzzles. We exhibit good communication skills, teamwork, and trial and error by figuring out what puzzle piece goes where. David and Calix were quite proud when they finished the dinosaur floor puzzle after working together.

The pattern blocks were made available at the island where different patterns were attempted. These seem to bring a challenge to our friends not only because of the various colors but the pattern blocks need to be set in a certain way.

In large group, we focused on two of our weekly FAB’s:

K.RL.3.2 Define the role of the author and illustrator of a story in telling the story.

K.RL.4.1: Describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear.

We read the story, ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’. We found a lot of the letters within the story quite funny! After the story, we talked about the author and illustrator of the story. We looked at the cover of the book where we were able to find these two pieces of information.

After we figured out who the author and illustrator were along with what their jobs entailed, we looked at a couple of the pictures and related it to what the words said. “The pictures tell what the words say!” We looked at the relationship between the words that were wrote along with the pictures that were drawn.

Breakfast– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and apples.

Lunch– Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, oranges, and mixed vegetables.

PM snack– Whole milk yogurt with papaya.

Wee Sprout– Apples.

Have a lovely night.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/30

This morning we had a patterning activity available at the table. Children were able to follow a pattern card and continue the same pattern or completely create their own. Lulu practiced her counting by looking at the number board and counting out that many cubes.

Many children were working on their building skills.  Jackson made an airplane and wanted to paint it with the help of Addi. The children were busy building towers, a garage to park their cars or a large track to drive them on.

The habitrail was also a very busy area today. Children were working their gross motor muscles by climbing  up the ladders and sliding down the fire pole.

Breakfast: Brown Rice cakes with no nut butter and grapes.

Lunch: Hummus on whole wheat tortillas, bananas and red peppers.

Afternoon Snack: Mozzarella string cheese stick and pretzels.

Wee Sprouts: Cauliflower.

Have a great weekend!

Rebekah

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh6hW-TI3eDc952bSJw

Please note: We are running out of hair rubber bands and would appreciate any donations!

Today we watched the snow fall…

Played with the colorful tissues…

Did multiple puzzles together…

And doubled up the big blocks to climb on!

Breakfast was Kix and banana. Wee spout was peas. Lunch consisted of pita bread with hummus, peas, and banana. Afternoon snack was cheese crackers and block cheese.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh6kY1QeLNAF0RBCaqw

Have a great night!

Amanda

Enjoy the pictures from today!

Breakfast was Whole Grain Cheerios and banana. Lunch consisted of whole grain brown rice with chicken, banana, and corn. Afternoon snack was string cheese and graham crackers.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh6daseQ7zqt6WFBFRg

Have a great night!

Amanda

Hello!

We saw various forms of play today, one being cooperative play. During this phase, children work together to head towards a common goal or to gain new information.

The building area of the classroom gives children an opportunity to work with one another. We learn from our peers which allow for our social skills, communication skills, and emotional skills continue to grow.

Max and Tate sat by each other, inquiring about the ocean life as they looked at various pictures of sea urchins, deep sea divers, and octopus.

David and Cassie worked together to finish a floor puzzle. They both used trial and error and gave each other a hand as they worked toward their goal of finishing the puzzle.

Our gross motor area allows friends to move their body around in a positive way. The habitrail is open to many interpretations. Tate, Jackson, and Max moved their bodies around, testing their gross motor limits.

They used the pole as a prop to move their bodies in a variety of ways. We all love our gross motor area and the opportunities that it provides.

“The most important thing you can do is to give children the time, space, and opportunity to move.”

https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200807/BTJLearningLeapsBounds.pdf

Our fine motor skills were in motion today too. We switched the sensory bin from moon sand to corn. Children used many different containers such as bowls, cups, and measuring cups to move the corn around as well as filling and dumping the material.

In large group, we read a story titled ‘Big Day on the River’. The main character, Willie, was set to go on an adventure on a raft. As she was getting ready to leave, many relatives came to give her things for her trip. After her family brought her all of the goods including a bike, food, and a chair, the raft started to sink! Several friends guessed what was going to happen next..the raft sank!

After the story was done, we dissected the story. We discussed the meaning of author and illustrator along with what the setting and characters pertain to. It’s always good to have refreshers to see what we’re retaining in large group and what may need to be retaught. As a group, we have a strong grasp of the author and illustrator!

We headed to the table to journal where we put our thinking caps (and faces) on.

Breakfast– Kashi Cinnamon Harvest with blueberries/raspberries.

Lunch– Brown, organic rice with chicken and shredded cheese, pears, and broccoli.

PM snack– Pumpkin seeds and whole wheat crackers.

Wee Sprout– Cucumber.

Have a great evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/26

Our friends enjoyed playing with moon sand this morning at the sensory table. Our moon sand is made out of flour and baby oil. It’s dry to the touch, very soft, and is slightly moldable.

After naps, we all chose to play in the gross motor area and played on the soft stars and big blocks. Our friends like to use the soft stars as teeter totters, tunnels, and other stilly and creative ideas.

After snack, we picked books to read together and on our own. Then we listened to some of our favorite songs and danced around the classroom!

Breakfast was Kix and oranges. Wee sprout was carrots. Lunch consisted of whole wheat tortilla with refried beans and cheese, grapes, and carrots. Afternoon snack was wheat crackers with sun butter.

Link to photos: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AtTCDmdhjIulh6Yvp6LRgPagduZRlA

Have a great night!

Amanda

Good Afternoon!

Geometric shapes were made in various places on the classroom this morning. On the sign in message, friends had to count the sides and length of the shapes to find the square!

The geoboards and rubber bands were put at the circle table. Using the rubber bands, we made various shapes including triangle, square, rectangle, and diamond.

K.4.1: Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube. (2006 standard)

The habitrail was hopping with little people and the quiet sounds of the piano.

In large group, we read a story titled, “Elmer and the Rainbow’. Elmer was selfless throughout the story, offering a clear rainbow his colors. Thankfully, not only did the rainbow get Elmer’s colors but he kept them! We guessed throughout the story what would happen to Elmer’s colors if he did in fact give them to the rainbow.

Afterwards, we searched for the missing letters. Each friend got a turn to come up and add the missing letters to the upper and lower case letters.

This interest transferred to large group as friends were anxious to write letters. Lucy commented, “I want to write about my letters today.” Together, we wrote ‘bee’ and ‘box’ to describe her journal. The first thing Lulu did was write an X in the middle of her journaling, noting, “This looks like an X!”

K.W.2.1: Write most uppercase ad lowercase letters of the alphabet, correctly shaping and spacing.

Breakfast– Whole grain oatmeal with honey and blueberries.

Lunch– Refried bean and shredded cheese on whole wheat flatbread, banana/kiwi, and cherry tomatoes.

PM snack– PPC pineapple and air popped popcorn

Wee Sprout– Snap peas.

Have a terrific evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/25

Today, our friend Anna brought one of her favorite books, No David! by David Shannon  to share with us. Thank you, your friends really enjoyed listening to it.

We have a bird feeder on the side of the house next to the alley. The children were busy taking turns helping to fill it for the birds to enjoy when our winter weather returns.

The art table was used quite a bit today. An open ended activity was made available using paper, glue, and various geometric shapes. Children used the multitude of shapes to create their own collage using glue. Once the gluing interest was over, several children got out the markers and drawing books to make their own drawing creations.

K.4.1 Identify and describe geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond, trapezoid, hexagon, octagon, parallelogram, sphere, and cube. (2006 standard)

In large group, we read a story titled, ‘Angelina Ice Skates’. Using various words that we saw in the story, we created our own word families. We started with the words, ‘bat’, ‘no’, and ‘can’. Each word was discussed and together, we came up with a word family for each, or rhyming words. Even after the activity was over and we moved onto calendar, friends were still trying to create their own rhyming words .

K.RF.3.1: Identify and produce rhyming words.

Breakfast: Kashi’s blueberry clusters and PPC red grapes.

Lunch: Egg salad on whole wheat bread, PPC pineapple and PPC broccoli and cherry tomatoes.

Afternoon Snack: Whole wheat bagels with cream cheese.

Wee Sprouts: Cauliflower.

-Rebekah and Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 1/24