We are off to a great start!

We made it through the first 4 days of Kindergarten!!   The children are doing well learning the morning routines and are doing them on their own now (with some reminders).  We also practiced walking outside for a fire drill and they did well following directions and staying in a quiet line. 

All of the children seem to be adjusting well to coming to school whether on the bus or being dropped off.  On Monday, they begin the regular morning routine with the first and second graders and will wait in the gym before heading down to the classroom.  They are also doing a great job getting ready for dismissal at the end of the school day.  I am gradually trying to let them be more independent with placing papers in the pockets of their folders and packing their backpacks on their own.

We have been busy learning each other’s names, practicing our cutting and gluing skills, becoming familiar with the daily routines, and learning the expectations of school behavior.  We have also been learning the terms before, after, same, and different in math.

I have been encouraging the children to go home each day and share one thing they have learned.  If your child has not shared what we have been doing, here are a few suggestions of what you can ask them about:

• What does a 5 star listener look like? (I am looking for children sitting with legs crossed, hands still and in their laps, ears listening, eyes watching the speaker, and lips that are zipped) 
• Can you show me how you write the numbers one and two? 
• Who were the characters? or What was your favorite part of the books The Kissing Hand, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, and The Wheels on the Bus? (The underlined titles take you to read alouds of the stories).

The students were super excited on the second day of school during a Scavenger Hunt to try to find the raccoon, Chester, from the book The Kissing Hand who left us clues to tour the different rooms in the school.  He was one quick raccoon and hopped back in the book before we could find him.  On our travels, however, we did get to meet our principal, nurse, and school secretary, as well as our music, gym, and computer teachers.  We visited the cafeteria staff again and learned where to go if we need a band-aid or ice pack from Mrs. Marshall.

We saw Mrs. Carreiro and Mrs. Marshall while looking for Chester.
Can your child name some of his/her new classmates?

Check out this Animoto video of some pictures I was able to take during our first week adventures!



I'm looking forward to our first full week.  We are going to continue learning each other's names, writing and counting the letters in our names, and develop an understanding of expected and unexpected school behavior so that we can create our classroom rules together.