Announcements
THANK YOU for all your help to make this a successful first week of school! It was impressive to see how quickly our kids have adapted to the routines. It was a FANTASTIC week, and I believe that was strongly influenced by our home visits, crew playdate, and classroom visits. They came in ready!
Seesaw: Directions on how to access your child's Seesaw account went home yesterday in Take-Home Folders. I encourage you to log in as soon as you get a chance! We have already uploaded a selfie and a picture of their writing from today. This will be a great way to share pictures and work with you a few times a week. Also, you can include the whole family! Up to 10 people can be linked to each student account, so if you want to send the directions to Grandma, Grandpa, or relatives, then you can! :)
Lunch Volunteers: Thank you to all of our lunch room volunteers! Your help is greatly appreciated. Click here for the lunch volunteers sign-up.
Volunteers: Our crew has voted on some colors and locations for things to be posted on our walls. If you would like to help with hanging fabrics, borders, and a word wall, please check out the sign-up. Also, I have a few projects that can be done from home. If you are interested, sign up for the Wednesday volunteer slots. On Wednesday after dismissal, I will have you come into the classroom for a brief explanation, and then these projects can be taken home. I ask that you try to complete them by Friday. Thanks! Click here for the volunteer sign-up.
Take Home Folders: On Thursday, I sent home Take Home Folders. Please empty your folder and return on Monday, if you haven't already. Thanks!
Rainjackets: I see rain in the forecast for next week. Please make sure kids have a rainjacket everyday. We will go outside even if it is rainning. Thanks! :)
Calendar
8/15 Vision & Hearing Screening (You do not need to do anything for this. It is completed during our day. If any vision or hearing concerns arise, you will be notified).
8/19 Community Reading 8:30-9am
8/29 Picture Day!
Crew Highlights
Welcome to Ms. Lauren and Ms. Martha's Crew!
We are looking forward to a great year together! :)
How fun to see our crew exploring and connecting during Purposeful Play!
Although, I must say, some were so excited to try out the play choices, that they were engaged and happily exploring on their own this week.
We have been playing the name game this week so that we can master everyone's name. The current record is 14! Awesome!
*Ask your child about how many names he or she knows. We will play again several rounds so that everyone can learn all 24 names.
In kindergarten, we talk about being a community of readers.
So naturally, the first question is: Why do readers read?
Students practiced what it looks and sounds like to read independently...
...and with a partner.
We talked a lot about reading the pictures to learn something new.
*Ask your child to tell you what it looks and sounds like to be a kindergarten reader.
We eat our morning snack outside together.
We have been playing "Mystery Person." I will give three clues about the student, and then we will read that person's All About Me book. It is SUCH a great way to get to know each other!
(Everyone will get a turn to be the Mystery Person. We will have one a day.)
Key members of our staff have created All About Me books. On Monday, we met Ms. Trena, our proud principal!
Later in the week, our crew was introduced to Ms. Monica, our wonderful school counselor (aka the feelings teacher).
And Ms. Lisa! Our fantastic Assistant Principal.
The crew has learned the sign lanugage symbol for "me too" so they are able to make lots of connections as we read these books together.
A huge shoutout to Ms. Martha!
We are so thankful to have you in our crew! 💝
Our crew got a new set of markers and crayons to use for the year. This is a lot of responsibility! We talked about good and bad choices for crayons & markers.
*What is a good choice for your markers? What is a bad choice? What is the magic snap? :)
In writing, we drew a self portrait and began working on stories.
*Next time you are in the building, check out our Self Portrait wall in the back of the classroom!
Check out our crew of writers!
They shared their writing with you on Seesaw today.
(And my apologies that I skipped over one of the tables!!! Eeks! My intention was to show everyone!)
During phonics, we began with an overview of the alphabet. We will begin diving deeper to master all letters, letter formation, and letter sounds.
In math, we have been talking about how we use math in our lives everyday! We use numbers to count how many forks we need for dinner, compare bigger or smaller piles, and see shapes everywhere. Students looked for circles in this picture and were surprised to discover so many circles when looking closely.
*Make connections at home to times that you use numbers or math in your daily lives.
We spent some time exploring with math manipulatives.
Speaking of numbers, our crew voted on which colors to put on our wall! I can't wait to see how everything turns out! I love empowering kids with collaborating in the design of their learning space. :)
Our crew was thrilled to get to use our digital learning tools: iPads!
We created a list of agreements about how to take care of them. Then students got to try out "Writing Wizard" (an app to help with correct letter/number formation) and "A-Z Kids" (an app that allows students to choose books to be read to them).
We did a round of rotations where some students were doing iPads, some were reading independently, and some were reading with a partner. And then after 10 minutes, they were able to successfully switch to the next rotation.
What awesome independent kindergartners!
Community Reading was a HUGE success! Thank you to all of the families and siblings that were able to attend! And if you were not able to attend, then no worries at all- every kindie had a reading buddy!
Where are the kindies?
This week our crew had PE with Mr. Doug!
*Be sure to ask your child about highlights. :)
The Back-To-School Carnival was a hit! Hope everyone had a great time.
What a fantastic way to kick off this school year!
Our silly crew!
So glad to share so many smiles, laughs, and celebrations from our first week together.
WE ARE CREW!
Have a good weekend, and we will see you next week!
Love,
Ms. Lauren
