Pumpkins and More

It is finally starting to feel like fall! This week, we practiced our fine motor cutting and gluing skills to make silly pumpkins and create a kindergarten pumpkin patch right outside our classroom door! Some of the kids wanted their pumpkins to be silly, but some kids insisted their pumpkins should be scary for Halloween.

In Writing Workshop, we have just begun writing books. We have been learning about how authors use multiple pages to teach/tell about one main idea. In conjunction with this learning, Mrs. Cacioppo's first grade class came to visit our class to share their finished personal narrative books. Our kids loved seeing the first graders' work, and it gave them many ideas for books of their own. We love to work together with other grade levels to help extend all of our learning!

In Library this week, we got to go on virtual field trips all around the world! Mrs. Wagers taught the kids how to use Virtual Reality (VR) glasses to visit various landmarks around the world. The kids loved this and have been talking about it all week! Make sure to ask your child about his/her virtual field trip!

This week in Art class, the kids were very proud of the pumpkins they made from modeling compound. Mrs. Reynolds used this project to teach the kids abour primary and secondary colors. The kids had to mix colors of modeling compound to create the orange pumpkin and purple stem/vine. They loved doing this, as you can see below! Hopefully the pumpkins make it home safe and sound without being smushed.

Looking forward to more learning and fun next week in kindergarten!

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!