Celebration of Learning

What a special night of celebrating all the important skills we have learned in Kindergarten!

We decided to call our Celebration of Learning, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten".  Students started the night by singing songs about friendship, play and thinking like a scientist.

Then the kindergarten experts took their parents to visit 4 stations where they taught their families 4 important life skills:

Read (for fun and to learn)

Play

Rest

Wonder

Students taught their families the importance of each of these life skills.  Parents had time to play with their kids and learn about our classroom "Play Commitments"

~share

~include others

~take care of materials

~use kind words

In addition, students taught about reading for fun (fiction) and to learn (non-fiction).  They traveled to the art room to do a science experiments when their families got to observe closely and wonder.  

Lastly, parents got to make calm spray (water with lavendar oil) and get their backs rubbed just like we do each day to relax after recess.

The students were so proud to share what important life skills they are learning in kindergarten!

Corduroy The Play!

Our crew was so excited to leave school and head into the city to see the play, Corduroy!

Many of the students had not been on a bus yet, so that just added to the adventure.

We loved traveling to the big city!  Boy it sure is different than the suburbs.  

We were excited to look at the big buildings and notice all of the sounds and sights around.  Students couldn't believe how busy downtown was.

We have been reading lots of Corduroy books and beginning to discuss characters.  The crew loved the book!  

Many students had never been to a theater to see a play so it was such an exciting experience.  The students made me so proud by being great listeners, engaged audience members and crew members who showed all the Habits of Character!  We can't wait for our next field trip!

Adventure Awaits

Our kindie crew hit the paths and traveled to our local Cheese Ranch Park for the purpose of exploring and being in nature!  

I love every opportunity to get these curious kiddos outside.  I loved listening in on their conversations, noticings and inquiries of the world around them.  

The kids didn't need a play ground as they loved having free time to climb, explore and play!  The smiles were huge and the twinkle in each set of eyes reminded me of the beauty and joy of childhood.

The kids loved finding secret areas and squishy mud.  The water is always a magnet for curiosity.  

I feel so honored and trusted to get to guide such curious, amazing thinkers.  

There has already been a request to spend the entire day!  We may just make that happen.

Field Work

What better way to learn about nature than get out in it?

Our crew got to travel out of the classroom to visit Cheese Ranch park.  This week, we began the hard work of "Thinking Like a Scientist".  We learned that scientist:

~observe closely

~ask questions

~use their 5 senses

Our crew loved experiencing nature together.  I love teaching at a school that values experiences to help our curious kindergarteners learn the most. 

Reading in Kindergarten

We are readers!  From day one of kindergarten, students have had books in their hands.  Over the past couple of weeks, we have been working hard at listening to lots of song books, familiar books and have fallen in love with some favorites.  

Each day, students have the opportunity to read.  Students are reflecting on themselves as readers and are sharing the kind of reader he/she is...

"I am the kind of reader who reads the pictures."

"I am the kind of reader who reads books I have heard before."

"I am the kind of reader who reads books that are my favorites."

"I am the kind of reader who reads song books."

"I am the kind of reader who reads some words."

Students are learning to pick reading spots and thinking about the book choices they are making.  

Students enjoy partner read days when they can read together.  Singing our class songs together is a favorite past time.

Students are beginning to identify what readers do when they are beginning to read predictable grade level texts.  So far we have talked about:

~Look at the pictures

~Use the pattern

~Point to the words

We are Authors!

We have been working so hard on our first books.  During writer's workshop, I have been reading many books to help kids understand that some books are storybooks (fiction) and some are all about books (non-fiction).

Students got to choose if they were going to make a storybook or an all about book to teach us.  I modeled how to tell a story using the pictures since many of us aren't the kind of writers who write words YET.

Students persevered for many days to add colors and details to their books.  We looked at many books that our fellow crew members were writing.  We noticed that books that had 5 or more colors were easier to read and that details helped us understand the book.

Today we loved sharing our books with our fellow kindergarten crew in the library.  Each student read his/her book in the library to celebrate our hard work.  We will be sending these books home in Thursday folders.

Play Time in Kindergarten

Kindergarten should be filled lots of opportunity to play and explore.  Our crew had a lot of time of exploration in math.  We learned how to clean up, take care of materials and collaborate with our friends.

Welcome To Kindergarten!

I am so excited to welcome you to Ms. Sara's Kindergarten Crew.  The classroom is set up, the pencils are sharpened and everything is ready.  Now all we need are the new, curious, kind crew members.

I am looking forward to year of learning, thinking, wondering and becoming kind, helpful friends.

Celebrating Our Learning

First graders invited their parents to our Celebration of Learning of our Learning Expedition, The World is Our Garden.  Students were the tour guides through three different stations to answer our guiding question:

What helps our garden thrive?

Students started their tour in the outdoor classroom to teach their families all about soil, earthworms and compost.

Families listened closely as our garden experts shared their learning.

Next, our experts headed to our classroom to teach families about garden pollinators and their important job for our garden.

Students shared their non-fiction garden pollinator book which included many non-fiction text features that students had studied.  A high quality garden pollinator puppet allowed students to share their learning in a new and creative way.

Finally, we ended our learning tour in the learning commons where students taught their parents all about garden plants and pollination using a hand made 3D flower.

It was so wonderful to see such empowered students who were excited to share their learning and their passion to save the bees!  

Thank You!

Fox Creek Community we thank you!  Students participated in our annual Fox Trot fun run to raise money for our specials programs (art, P.E., music and technology).

Students collected pledges by contacting family and friends to help support the cause.

 Students persevered to run laps and as a crew we ran over 600 laps!  Wow!

We cooled down with some water and a popsicle.  I love when our crew has the opportunity to do hard things.  Students ran harder than they thought they could.

Our goal was to raise $50,000.  Thank you Fox Creek community for helping us exceed that goal as we raised $60,000.  Thank you for supporting the amazing work that happens at Fox Creek each day.

EL 's "A Better World Project"

We started our Better World Day with an all school assembly in the gym.  Students reflected on various kindness readings to get our minds, hands and hearts ready to focus on kindness for our community kindness walk.

We were reminded that we are crew here at Fox Creek.  However, our purpose today was to spread kindness to our Fox Creek community outside of our walls.

 Fox Creek students hit the streets to drop a kind note at our neighbor's front door.  Our day was met with cool weather and rain drops.

The weather did not stop our acts of kindness as students ventured into neighborhoods with joy and adventure.