100 Days Smarter

 

We celebrated 100 days of kindergarten!

 We loved making 10 groups of 10 to get to 100 for a fun snack!  Families sent in 10 different snacks for the students to make a 100th day trail mix snack.

We had so much fun singing, counting and celebrating all that we have learned thus far!

Of course, we had to exercise a lot throughout the day to keep us healthy!

We hopped on each foot for a count of 100.  Boy were we tired!

We skipped for 100 seconds and counted 10 jumping jacks 10 times to get to 100.

In math, we counted by ones to 100 and used our improved fine motor skills to make a 100 bead necklace.

Most importantly, we spent much of the day reflecting on how we have grown as crew members, mathematicians, readers and writers after working so hard for 100 days.  I can't wait to see how much more we learn before first grade!

Friendship in Kindergarten

 

We are half way through kindergarten and we have learned so much already!  

The most important thing we have learned is how to be a great friend.  Our crew helps each other and works together at learning time and by playing together.

Each day, we play together to learn how to listen to others, share and collaborate.

During learning time, we are actively listening to others' ideas, taking turns and trying hard/new things.

Sometimes we get to pick our partners and other times we are put in groups to help us learn valuable collaboration skills.

We are learning to solve problems together not only academically, but in social situations as well.  This year has already been full of such great growth and we can't continue to grow this spring semester!

The End of Our First Learning Expedition

 We wrapped up our first learning expedition, Toys and Play.  Thorough-out this expedition, students have been engaged in close reading of engaging fiction and non-fiction texts.  In the first module, we learned all about playing together and created our Play Commitments.

In our second module, we began to study toys and used attributes to describe toys.  Students interviewed their families about toys from the past and we began the hard work of writing about the toys in our classroom using adjectives.

During our last module of this expedition, students interviewed a friend to find out about the toy he/she liked most.    We shared our learning on SeeSaw.  We celebrated the end of the expedition, by creating a toy using recycled materials.

Let's PLAY!

 

We believe PLAY to be an important part of kindergarten.  When we play, we are learning many life skills.

Students have choice every day what they will play.  We offer opportunities to create, explore, build and collaborate.

Students choose different things and practice life skills during this time.

In fact, we are so passionate about the importance of play, that it is the first Learning Expedition of our kindergarten year.  Students help to create and practice our Play Commitments not only during our daily Discovery Play Time, but also in the other times of our day and on the playground.

Not only do we play daily in our classroom, we know the importance of getting out in nature to play and explore.

The Fun Days of Kindergarten

 

We are a couple of weeks in to Kindergarten!  We are doing the work of kindergarteners and having lots of fun!

After our Crew morning meeting, we spend time doing the work of mathematicians.  

We are modeling our thinking by using manipulatives, drawing pictures and solving math problems.  We have worked hard to understand the math vocabulary of equal, less than and greater than.  

Our crew is already doing the work of readers by exploring books.  We have explored song books, ABC books and pattern books.  Students are growing their identify as a reader by reflecting using "I am the kind of reader who...."  We are learning about the books we love and the places in our classroom to sit that help us do the hard work of readers.

After lunch, we are persevering to do the work of writers.  Students have been drawing pictures to tell stories.  We are reflecting on what makes pictures that we draw high quality.  

The most important work we are doing in our day is PLAYING!  We are a couple of weeks into our Play and Toys Learning Expedition.  Students are doing the hard work of sharing, including others, taking care of materials and using kind words.  This important work is helping us create a culture of belonging, kindness, respect and fun!

Welcome to Kindergarten

 

(Ms. Jen, Ms. Kelsey, Ms. Sara)

Welcome to Kindergarten!  This is our kindergarten team this year.  We are so excited to partner with you this year.

Our classroom is all set up and now all I need is a brand new crew full of curious, kind and resilient kindergarteners!

This year will be full of learning, laughter, exploring indoors and outdoors and building relationships with each other.

I can't wait for the walls to be filled with student thinking and work!  See you soon.

The Last Days of Kindergarten

 What a year it has been!  I am so proud of our crew's perseverance, kindness and resiliency during a challenging year!  We sure had fun celebrating the last days of kindergarten.

Field Day was so much fun!  We got to play games, do an obstacle course (outside and inside) plus end with a fun water game, Drip, Drip, Drop!  

We met our other kindergarten crew from Ms. Kelsey's classroom.  We had fun chit chatting and drawing with chalk.  We look forward to having some of these friends in our first grade crew.

Our crew had a great time blowing bubbles with bubble gum and playing with donated bubbles.  There was lots of joy and giggling!

We loved going to our first all school North Star Assembly outside.  We are sure sad to see our wonderful leader and principal, Mr. Brian leave us.

It was a perfect last day for a picnic with ALL of kindergarten crew to have lunch outside under trees.  We are so excited about our new friends!