Week 2

Working on strengthening our fine motor skills during a brain break....

Housekeeping stuff.

     Thank you for all the pictures we've been getting. Our friends and family board is looking much better! Keep 'em coming :) The kids really like it!

     Please don't forget to send your child with a snack daily (or snacks for the whole week). The majority of the class has been remembering! We've still been going through the general fund pretty quickly though. If you're ever at Sam's or Walmart, and would like to contribute the class "Forgot Snack Fund," we are accepting donations. Individually wrapped snacks are great, but we also accept large boxes of goldfish, animal crackers, etc... :) thank you!

     Thanks for all the supplies! I even got my special requests- thanks! But don't make the mistake of calling it their "pencilbox." Those are our "toolboxes!" They contain all the necessary tools for our important work :)

     Thursday at 6:00 is back to school night! I just found out it is more a parent event than a family one. So, if you are able, send a grown up family representative and leave the wee ones at home :) If not, I'd still love to see all of you!

     Tomorrow I am sending home some "homework." It's not due until September 9th (which is written on the explanation. So no need to bust out your day planner right now.). You have some time. We are making a class book, and I've sent home a few pages for you to fill out with your child, or help them to fill out. Once I have everyone's pages back, I'll laminate and bind the pages. Then the children will get to look at themselves and their friends in our class book :)

     If you have any additional questions, as always, shoot me an email or drop me a note in your child's folder. 

Looking forward to a great week!

Ladies and Gentleman... We have lift off! (Week 2 of kindergarten)

Wow! What a difference a week has made! The kids are doing shockingly well. My new school home is quite a bit larger than my previous, and I was concerned over the children having to cover so much ground during the day. They've done great! The children are getting the routines and rituals down!  I'm very happy :)

This week we got started on curriculum. That's awesome!  We are doing a quick letter study to begin- this week we are working on recognizing and naming Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, and Ee. We are also working to understand and use ordinal words like first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. The story we read in our unit this week was "The Little School Bus." We focused on understanding what characters were, and naming the characters of stories we read. We tried to match words that rhyme. We sang songs about going to school, so if you have has to listen to your child singing "Everyone get on the bus, get on the bus...," I apologize! The songs kind of crawl into your brain. My household is not impressed. 

We learned about sight words this week. "Sight words" are words that we have to recognize quickly (by "sight"). They are words that need to be memorized, because often they cannot be "sounded out." (Have you ever tried to sound out "the?"). We introduced 3 words this week- I, am, the. Have your child look for those words in print.  

Anyway, every Thursday I will send the home information page that comes from the curriculum series. This tells you what we've been covering, and provides suggestions for follow up activities at home. It looks like this: 

It will go home in your child's Thursday Folder.  It's a great resource and can help you connect with your child over what they are learning and talking about in school. 

We also continued working on isolating the beginning sounds of words for phonemic awareness.(Sidebar- good job on the homework this week! I noticed less confusion when I was asking the kids for the beginning sound, not the letter! Thank you for the help!) 

We started centers this week, too! The children have done a good job learning about the workboard and using it to locate their daily centers. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow or the next day. I will send home any center work they've done in their Thursday folder. Not every center has a "product," but some will have corresponding paper worksheets, etc.

Look for a post in the next few days about Writer's Workshop. I'd have trouble condensing it to a few sentences, and we had some really awesome successes this week! 

We made a school bus craft to go along with our story of this week. Crafts are not my strong suit, I am so grateful to work with such a collaborative team. Your kids are getting so much more hands on art experiences because of it! Even kindergarten teachers are good share-ers!

As a class, we are still working to maintain focus in the afternoon. I'd like to see us get a little more math done later the day.  We are still in great shape for week two of school! So far, we have been focusing on using the calendar, saying the days of the week, and counting to 20 without missing any numbers. We also made a graph about how our class goes home. By looking at our graph, the students realized that most of the kids in our class go home by car. The smallest group was the daycare group. 

I hope that helps! I want to share with you what we do in class. I hope it will make you feel closer to your little person while they are gone all day. I also hope it will give you things to talk about with them.  Talking at home about what we do in school will help create lasting and meaningful connections to the school content. You will always be your child's first (and best!) teacher.

Thank you for all you do to support your child (and me!)

Day two

Today was even better than Day 1. The children were hugely improved when it came to walking in the hall and other routines- plus, morning walk and talk went great! We had two (lost) backpack casualties, but both book bags made it to our classroom by 9:00 :) The kindergarteners fell right in with the big kids and had a great time visiting with friends before school. The only slight change we had is that our class lines up (and can set backpacks) at the WHITE number 3 that is written on the pavement. It was switched from the blue number 3 for logistic reasons.  Even lunch went more smoothly. 

Lunchtime is going by very quickly.  Please remind your child that they need to start eating immediately when they sit down. Thanks for your help in that :)

Also, don't forget to send in a family picture for our Friends and Family board!

We started our first phonemic awareness skill. Phonemic awareness is about sounds in spoken words. Later we connect the sounds to letters. Research has shown that children who have strong phonemic awareness tend to be more successful in reading. To begin, we are working on hearing beginning sounds and sorting objects into groups by their beginning sounds. It's great if they know which letter makes that sound, but I really want then to understand the difference between a letter and a sound. Ex.- "this is the letter Aa. It makes the sound /a/" "What sound do you hear at the beginning of cat?" "/c/"

We worked more on writing as we started learning about how to write phonetically (that means writing words the way they sound). For children who know their letters and sounds, this is the next step. Look for a posting in the next week or two that explains the developmental writing stages. It will also tell you more about how to identify where your child is, and what activities might benefit them at their level.

Happy Wednesday! Here are a few random pictures of the children during their free time. See you tomorrow! :)

Kyle working hard on his Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree!

First day (in pictures!)

This was us as we got our day started!

Here's a picture of Sawyer and Miss Cramer:

In writing today, we learned about telling a story with pictures. The story we told was about our first day of kindergarten. I asked the students to add detail to their drawings, and some of them really took that to heart! Here are a few examples. Could you pick out your child's portrait?? :)

Cameron and Miss Cramer on the first day of kindergarten

First Day!

I still have not totally figured out how I will use our blog to communicate with families!  For today, I will do two posts.  The first one is a letter I sent out via email this afternoon- so if you've already gotten it and read through it, please excuse the novel.  You'll be more interested in my next post- pictures!  :)  If you aren't getting my class emails- please let me know your email address!

I can’t help but wonder if all the little people are as tired as I am!  We had a GREAT first day!

We learned about the calendar and used the smart board to track the weather, date, and number of days in school.  We celebrated Sully’s birthday with cupcakes- today she turned 6!

We explored some of the play centers in the room, like housekeeping, blocks, and puzzles, while we practiced getting along.  We read “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” and toured the school, looking for all the lost letters J  We found letters everywhere!  We are working on being able to find the playground, gym, group bathrooms, office, and cafeteria. 

We also learned about what it means to be classroom family.  Each week we have jobs in class to help out.  See if your child can remember their job and what they are supposed to do. 

We started Writer’s Workshop and learned that writers can tell stories using just their pictures at first.  We drew self-portraits (which are now displayed above their cubbies!).  We also learned about what it means to label things- the children discovered our room is labeled, and that they can “read” the labels!

The children were fabulous and wonderful!  We had a great time and I am looking forward to getting to know them more!  Thank you for sending in all their supplies!

I was able to get out their daily folders, so please make sure to initial it and send in back to school!  My intention was to get this letter out in the folder- I am sorry that didn’t happen!  We were busy!  Thank you so much to the people who were able to help out with dismissal and recess!  Your help was much appreciated. 

Tomorrow we will start our morning “Walk and Talk” before school.  This is a school wide routine, so it’s important to get on board as soon as possible.  When your child arrives in the morning, they are to go outside to the playground instead of to the classroom.  There will be hall monitors and other adults guiding the children outside.  Once they are on the playground, children walk around and chat with friends.  This is a great routine because it gives them some fresh air and exercise before starting school!  At 8:20, the bell rings and we will line up in our playground spot to come in the building.  My students line up on the blue number 3.  We practiced lining up in that spot multiple times today, so the children know where it is.  (Also, if the children don’t want to carry their backpacks while walking and talking, they can leave their backpack in our #3 spot) 

I hope the children all had a great day!  I did! 

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to email me!  Thank you for your support in working with your child! 

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten...

And so does Miss Cramer!

I hope the kids are getting excited for school- because I sure am! 

I've had an honorary member of Miss Cramer's Canines helping me all day: 

We're getting ready for kindergarten! Are you? :)

 

Before Kindergarten... skills to practice at home.

Before kindergarten...

Things to work on with your child to help get ready for kindergarten.

Say first and last name

Know phone number

Tie shoes on their own

Take care of basic needs on own (restroom, tissue, etc)

Read often (you to them, they pretend read)

Count to ten

Use scissors and glue

Attempt to write name

Sing or recite nursery rhymes

Sing alphabet

Tell adult when they need help or when something is wrong

Follow two step directions

Take turns/share

Know teacher's name

Information day!

Information Day was awesome!

I had so much fun meeting the children (and parents!).  Miss Cramer's Canines already seem like such a great bunch!  Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to come.  I feel very welcome at Northern Hills already!

A couple notes about things for the first day:

• Snack time- we do have snack in the morning.  I ask that all children please bring their own individual snack.  (Don't worry, I also keep snacks for the kids in case they ever run out or forget theirs!  I'd share my lunch before I let any of the little people go without!)  In the past, some parents found it easier to send a box of individually wrapped snacks for the child to keep in their cubbie.  That way they don't have to send a snack every day.  If you have any questions, let me know! 
• We do have a nut allergy in class!  I will work on finding out more, but until further notice- please NO NUTS of any kind in the classroom.  Thank you for helping keep all of our friends happy and healthy :)

• Friends and Family Board- If you are able to in the first few weeks of school, please send in a family photo for me to put on our Friends and Family board.  It will help make our classroom more "home-y" and also give the children a place to see themselves and their loved ones.  While our classroom has been home to many students before, and will be to many students after, this year the room belongs to your children.  I want them to feel as much!

• Pencil Boxes and Composition Books- There are two things not on the school supply list that I would love to have if you are able.  I would like all the children to have a pencil box to keep their things in.  We will use the composition books for a poetry journal this year.  It does not matter if they are wide or college ruled- I just prefer the hard cover.   If you don't have time or are unable to get either of those items, I will purchase some extras.  

We are going to have a wonderful year!  All the little people were joyful, smart, and interesting.  It's been fun reading all about the kids from their information sheets, and I am looking forward to getting to know them personally.  Thank you for allowing me to be their teacher.  We are going to learn a lot over the next year and hopefully have a great time doing it!  Check back on the blog for more info- I hope to update it frequently!

P.S. I hope you've been saving your box tops!  If not, start now- these benefit our school and the class that turns in the most earns prizes!  :)

Here's a 360 snapshot of our classroom.  I'm ready for all the Husky Pups to come make it look lived in!