Welcome Back!

The Kindergarten Kids were excited to be back in school, and their enthusiasm and growth led to a lot of fun activities and learning!  This week was an excellent transition week for getting back into the school routine.  The kids happily completed their literacy centers, learned new WOW words, and played with their friends on the playground and during free choice.  They also listened to many Jan Brett stories.  Jan Brett is a children’s fiction author and illustrator, and she loves to write about different animals and different countries.  Her stories include many pictures that include beautiful details of the rainforest, the north pole, the savannah, and many other places around the globe.  This author study was a great introduction to our next theme – Around the World!

During Literacy Corners, the K-kids recreated one of Jan Brett’s story, The Mitten.  They cut out a mitten and colored and cut out the animals from the story.  Then they were able to retell the story using the props.  They also wrote WOW words with stamps and stickers, read in the reading rocket using reading phones, and practiced spelling and writing words.  They also completed their phonics books with Ms. Wilson and read every day with Ms. S. in small groups.

The K-Kids had a wonderful time using manipulatives this week in math!  They estimated how many Unifix cubes would fit in their mittens and gloves and then checked their predictions.  They also created snowmen using pattern block shapes and graphed how many of each shape they used.  The K-kids were also introduced to iTouches and learned how to “roll” dice using the fun technology.  They graphed the addition sums of the two dice and some K-kids rolled up to 4 dice and graphed the sums!

 

Flat Stanley did some traveling over winter break, and he has already reported many stories to the class!  He visited San Francisco with Natalia and her family, went to Germany with Philip and his family, and also had a nice vacation in Puerto Vallerta with Sophia and her family.  He had a great time visiting the dinosaurs with Ms. S at the Field Museum!  It has been a lot of fun for the kids to receive the letters and pictures and find the special places on the maps.  Please encourage friends and family to send Flat Stanley back to Roycemore so we can continue to track his travels and adventures!

The ipod touches were so fun!

Thank you to those families who have helped us with the sound jar and the estimation jar this week!  The home-school connection is so important, and it gives the K-kids a chance to show their families what we are learning!  We do take turns with each activity so please be patient if your child has not had a chance to work with the sound jar, estimation jar, or the STAR reporter!