Off and running!

Things are in full swing here in kindergarten! It is great to see friendships blossoming and kids becoming so comfortable in their surroundings. We are really beginning to dive into some great learning!

This week our butterflies hatched out of their chrysalises, and it was so fun to set them free! After we did, students worked with iPads to make their first Seesaw post. Mrs. Scott came and talked about how we use the iPads and we worked together to make a post! Students drew a monarch butterfly and some had a chance to record their voice. We are making connections between butterfly life cycles and apple life cycles.

Students have begun learning about social thinking, and how we use our brains and our hearts to think and feel. We have learned about "thought bubbles" and "speech bubbles" and begun talking about how sometimes we have our own plan, and sometimes we have a plan as a group and share what's in our thought bubbles. We will continue more of these activities as the weeks go on!

In math we are learning about new materials, exploring unifix cubes, pattern blocks, and polydrons. The kids have been excited to learn two new math games, "Collecting 20 Jewels" and "Fetch". These games practice dice patterns and 1:1 correspondence (counting objects). We are also practicing some skills around playing a partner game, and being a good sport! ;)

We are slowly building routines around our reading and writing time. We are reading lots of books aloud around feelings and self regulation, kindness,  butterflies, and more. Students are having opportunities to do some drawing of their hopes/dreams for kindergarten, favorite parts of forest day, drawing butterflies, and more. We have done lots of activities with our names, and have made a class book to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus". All of this is getting us ready for our letter studies and reader's workshop routines that will begin next week!

Mrs. S. has begun coming in every Wednesday afternoon for a guidance lesson. Students are learning about the word peace and what that means. They will be doing an art project today making peace flags about what makes them feel peaceful.

Our Thursdays outside have been delightful! We are continuing to love the great weather and have a blast playing and exploring the space!

Lastly, we celebrated "Dot Day" and read the book "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds. We will continue the celebration all year that we are the same but different, and we all make our own mark on the world in different ways. It also gave us a great excuse to learn about using water colors and paint some more!