Meet Paws

Meet our newest member of the classroom, Paws the Panther! Paws is our class mascot, and he is an expert on Panther Pride. Over the last several weeks, we have been learning all about Panther PRIDE:

• P ractice safety
• R eact responsibly
• I nitiate kindness
• D emonstrate respect
• E mbrace cooperation

Now that we have learned about Panther Pride, we thought Paws might like to take turns visiting each of your homes throughout the school year to help teach your family about Panther Pride, too! Paws will have a chance to go home with one lucky boy or girl each weekend. He likes to go home with students who have done a great job of showing their Panther Pride all week! When your child brings Paws home, you and your child will work together to create an entry in Paws' Travel Journal. We hope this is a fun activity for your family (do not let the journal entry stress you out - make it quick and easy!). Paws will be sent home on Thursdays and should be returned to school on Mondays. If school is not in session or your child is sick, you may return him when your child returns to school. Paws can't wait to visit all his classmates' homes this year!

We had fun celebrating our hard work embracing cooperation together this week with Pajama Day, and we loved teaching our stuffed animals all about how to be a kindergarten kid!

This week, we have also been very excited about the beginning of fall. We have been working on developing fine motor skills (writing, cutting, gluing, painting, tracing, etc.) and making some art to celebrate the start of fall was a great way to extend our practice. 

Looking forward to meeting all of you next week for Parent Teacher Conferences!

Learning Through Play

Play in kindergarten is just as important as reading, math, writing, science and social studies. During Learning Centers, various play areas are open in our classroom for students to self-direct their own play. Through play, children learn how to interact with others, problem solve, build language skills, cope with a variety of emotions, and even develop their attention spans. Play is critical for kids of all ages. We try to weave play into our curriculum thoughout our day to help create more meaningful and engaging learning experiences for these amazing kindergarten kids! Below are some photos of your kids at play during Learning Centers this week.

Thank you to everyone who turned in their All About Me pages. Don't worry if you haven't turned it in yet. You can send it to school next week. The kids were very excited about their work and photos. We partnered up with several friends throughout the day to share our pages together. (If your child didn't have his/hers today, no worries! He/she will still get to share next week.)

Soon, we will compile our pages to make a class book. This book will take a turn coming home to each of your houses over the next few weeks/months. It is always one of the most loved books in our classroom!

We Are Readers!

This week has been so exciting for your kids at school as they have all learned that they are readers! We have learned that if you can look and think, then you can read. We went on a walk around the school and found so many words they are all able to read (ex: Kindergarten, Shenandoah Valley, library, office, Dr. Cicotte, Dr. Boyd, and many more!). The kids were so excited that they were reading. They were so proud of themselves. It was really fun to see!

When we returned to the classroom, they were excited to discover all the words they could read all around the room. They worked with partners to read words around the room together.

After spending time reading words within our classroom and school, we also found out that we can read books to learn more about the world around us. We have been reading "Learn About the World" books (nonfiction). We have learned that looking at pictures and thinking/saying what we notice in the pictures IS reading. We have also learned how to read both independently and with a partner. Your kids have been so busy as readers this week!

They have been LOVING the "learn about the world" books we have been reading!

This week, we have also been learning how to play math games to help us with number recognition and number writing. Make sure to ask your child about some of our games, Roll a Ten Frame, Dice Race, Crossout, and What Did You Roll?

Throughout the week, we also take time to give our brain some breaks and get our wiggles out. We have been dancing, stretching, doing yoga, and even guided meditation. Your kids have been doing great! Enjoy some pics from today of our Zumba dance. 

Have a great weekend!