Mother Goose

The Kindergarten kids finished learning about Mother Goose this week and had fun participating in a culminating activity - Bag of Rhymes.  They guessed the Mother Goose rhyme by looking at one item that Ms. S. pulled from a bag.  It was a fun way to recap all of the rhymes learned, and the kids loved making the connections with the item to the rhyme.  The K-kids also wrote about what they would keep in a pumpkin shell (like Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater) and drew a picture to match in a paper pumpkin.  To practice and reinforce graphing, the K-kids also completed a Little Bo Peep wool grab.  Each Kindergartner used one hand to grab a handful of "wool" (cotton balls) and then graphed how many balls they had in that grab.  They completed this activity ten times and then compared which grab had the most and which had the least.

Literacy Corners have been very successful as the Kindergarteners worked independently and in small groups to practice reading and writing letters, words, and books.  While they are working within their groups, Ms. Streitenberger is able to bring small groups of students over to the reading table to complete appropriate reading activities.  Just within the week of this focused small group reading time, the Kindergarteners have really blossomed and become more confident and at ease with beginning reading strategies.

In math this week, the Kindergartners continued to draw pictures to symbolize their thinking in their math journals.  They made board games and played their created games with their friends.  They also went on a pattern hunt through magazines and made a display board of many different types of patterns.  Lastly, they played a fun money game that required them to roll a money die (each face had a picture of either a penny, dime, or nickle), find the matching coin, and put that coin on the piggy bank.  The first one with five pennies won the game.  The kids were motivated to learn the names of the coins and the two different sides of each coin so they could correctly play the game!

Morning meeting is a safe time to talk about feelings, social skills, and a time to help students solve problems.  This week the class focused on feelings and what to do with angry, bored, sad, frustrated, and jealous feelings.  The Hazelden No Bullying program describes these feelings as clouds, reassures the Kindergartners that it is okay to have these feelings, and helps the kids handle these feelings.  Taking deep breaths, talking to a friend, trying to fix the problem, and taking some time alone all can help the "cloud" go away.  As a class, the kids shared times when they felt these feelings and ways that they solved the problem so the sun could shine through.  They really took control of the conversation; it was great to hear the five and six-year-olds have really positive ways to solve problems!