Hello October!

October is here!  We've been hard at work and play these past couple of weeks.  I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and is ready for the week ahead! :)

Morning Meeting - Here's a glimpse into another component of our morning meetings: activity.  Each morning we do an activity to foster fun and class participation.  Usually the activity either meets a social/emotional need for the day or helps us with our energy level.  Below, we are doing a fun GoNoodle dance called "A Moose Ta Cha."  The activity helps our team to:

• calm down or build energy as needed
• review expectations for our team
• build coordination and self-control
• be silly and have fun
• practice direction following
• improve executive function
• get to know classmates
• learn about feelings and emotions
• use new tools

Morning Meeting - Here's a glimpse into another component of our morning meetings: activity.  Each morning we do an activity to foster fun and class participation.  Usually the activity either meets a social/emotional need for the day or helps us with our energy level.  Below, we are doing a fun GoNoodle dance called "A Moose Ta Cha."  The activity helps our team to:

• calm down or build energy as needed
• review expectations for our team
• build coordination and self-control
• be silly and have fun
• practice direction following
• improve executive function
• get to know classmates
• learn about feelings and emotions
• use new tools

We continue to really focus on reading the pictures and looking for clues about the story there.

Writers Workshop - Did you know that we are a bunch of authors?!  It's true!  Kinders are authors.  Our recent writing lessons have entailed:

• drawing people using shapes we know
• drawing the setting (or the place where your story is)
• writing about something that is true or happened to us
• adding details to pictures
• adding letters/words for the sounds we hear 

One trick writers in our class learned was this fun little phrase:  When you think you're done, you've just begun!  That means, when you think you are finished with a piece of writing, you actually can add more.  Here are the 3 things we do when we think we're done:

1. Add to the pictures.
2. Add to the words.
3. If you do both those things, start a new piece.  

We have really emphasized that adding to the picture and words looks different for different writers.  Some writers add squiggles for their words, some write 1 or 2 letters, some write a word they know.  We cheer ourselves on when we say, "Try your best, and forget the rest!"

 

Math - Kinder mathematicians have been practicing activities and games to prepare them for Math Workshop.  We have practiced games with partners and games by ourselves.  So far we have played: Connect 4, Top It, Playdough Numbers, and Gumball Machine.  Our main focus is building and understanding of each number we have learned (1-5), counting, writing numbers, and recognizing numbers.

Are you in the Green Zone?  Last week, our team learned all about how it feels to be in the "green zone."  The green zone encompasses the emotional states of feeling calm, happy, content, and ready to learn.  We thought about situations that help us feel in the green zone and wrote about them.  We continue to recognize times throughout our day that we feel in the green zone, and ways we can help each other feel calm and happy.  We will continue to learn about other zones in the weeks to come.  

Ask your kinder:

• What does it mean in writing, "When you think you're done, you've just begun?"
• Which math activity/game they like the most?  Why?
• What are the expectations for read to self?
• How do you feel in the green zone?

Reminders: 

• Field trip next Wednesday, October 18th
• Return PTO spiritwear orders by next Friday, October 0th
• Book orders due TODAY