Kindergarten News - Week of September 22nd

                                                We have had 22 days of school!

A Peek at our Week

• 
  Star Student: Our Star Student is Jahlicia Petrus (JJ). She just turned 6!
  Her favorite color is blue. She loves going on the playground, jumping rope and playing on her iPad. Her favorite food is Mango Smoothie and her favorite sport is swimming. When she grows up she wants to be a doctor, flight attendant, or (and?) a police officer. The sky is the limit!
  

Using Structures and Patterns. In Math this week we clapped, stomped,
and wiggled as we found fun ways to create patterns. We also used our bodies to create some ‘human’ patterns. The class learned about ABAB, ABC, ABBA, etc. patterns and as the week progressed, we made these patterns using Unifix Cubes. All of it led up to the introduction of our new  Work Place “Unifix Cube Patterns”.

• Parent Night - We decorated our classrooms with our 'Papel Picado' and the Coqui puppets that were made in Spanish class and everyone made sure their desk was nice and tidy. Thank you to all parents and grandparents who made it to this event. It was nice to see you in the classroom and I know your children were very excited to be your ‘tour guides’! If you did not make it yesterday afternoon, I encourage you to come a little earlier one morning or at pick up time and give your child the opportunity to show you around our classroom and tell you about our activities.
• 
  Class Charter: We spent the first month of the school year talking about how we want to feel when we're in school and what we need to do to make sure we achieve that. This week we completed the charter and 'signed it' with handprints.

• Show and Tell: This week, Ghalia and Iron had show and tell. Iron showed a picture of one of his Huskies when he was a puppy, The class had so many questions - What is his name? Do you play with him? Does he sleep inside or outside? Great questions! Then Ghalia showed her Labubu Doll which everyone was familiar with except Ms. Cerni! Ghalia explained that her grandparents always make sure to bring back a gift when they travel, told the class the name of the doll is "Bubblegum", because it said do on the tag. Great job, Iron and Ghalia!

Happy September Birthdays!!

Kindergarten News - Week of September 15th

We have had 17 days of school!

A Peek at our Week

• 
  Friendly Tens:  In Math this week we focused on the ten frame. We looked at different ten frames and counted and sequenced numbers to ten. The class also had fun with the new Work Places “Beat You To Five” and "Which Numeral will Win?". 

• 
  We Are Readers. Our world is filled with words! These young readers explored their surroundings hunting for them. We discovered that some words tell us what to do (stop sign), some words on signs show us where to go, some tell us where we are. We read the book "Wait" by Antoinette Portis and realized that words are so powerful, that sometimes we really only need to use one or two to express what we want to say.There is already some growing excitement about reading. The adventure begins! 

• Global Perspectives. As we talked about family, we learned about different

  
  names that we use to call our family members and talked about who lives with us and family that live far away. We are practicing asking questions - or understanding what a question is and then answering questions through conversations about family and friends..  

• 
  Hispanic Heritage Month: We have started talking about Hispanic Heritage month (Sept.15-Oct. 15). This week we introduced the topic by talking about what "Hispanic" means and some of the countries that would be included. We ended the week making Papel Picado - an artistic cut paper to is often used in Mexico and some other Hispanic countries to decorate for fiestas and special holidays.

• Show and Tell:

  
  Our first show and tell of the year was fun! Jasper brought a baby red footed tortoise to the class. He told us a bit about what it eats and said it can move very fast! Everyone had the opportunity to take a close up look and he made sure hands were washed after touching the little one. Aya brought her Polaroid camera along with a photo album of Polaroids she took with it. She showed the class how the camera works and demonstrated by taking a class photo! Great job, Jasper and Aya!

Kindergarten News - Week of September 8th

We have had 1​3 days of school!

Friendly Fives. In Math this week we focused on 5’s. How many fingers on one hand? How many toes on one foot? We introduced the Five Frame and practiced counting and recognizing numbers to five. We also introduced a new Workplace - “Spill Five Beans”. Who knew counting and writing numbers would be so much fun?

About our families: we continued showing off family pictures. Each child showed their family picture to the class and told what everyone’s name is (“His name is daddy, but other people call him…”.I love it!). They even talked about where the picture had been taken! Our families will have a permanent place in the classroom for all to visit as needed.

Spin around the Globe: This year our Star Students will each randomly select a country for us to 'visit' and learn about. Our current star, Brooklyn, landed on China. Mr. Daniel taught the class a bit about different cities in China, languages spoken, and population size (the children were pretty impressed!). At the end of week we watched a short video with more fun facts. I wonder where we're heading to next!

⭐Fun facts about our Star Student, Brooklyn Benton:

• Her Birthday was on August 29th
• She likes playing with Magnet tiles and dolls. In her free time she likes to swim in the pool, play with her cousin and look at the stars in the sky.
• Her favorite food is chicken nuggets.
• Her favorite sport is soccer.
• Her favorite colors are pink and purple.
• When she grows up she wants to be a mom.

Color Days have come to an end. We had a wonderful time celebrating all the colors. Sadly, we all have to make our own decisions about what colors to wear from now own! HaHa! The week ended with some rainbow art and, best of all, ice cream with rainbow sprinkles! Yay!

Kindergarten News - Week of September 1st

Highlights of our Week

• We have had 8 days of school!!
• 
   In Math we introduced the Number Corner activity, which focuses primarily on the calendar. Our current calendar pattern has us exploring basic shapes and searching for them in things we see in the world.  We also introduced the basic Work Place material and gave everyone a chance to explore and become familiar with it. The children got a kick out of their teacher taking off one of her shoes for them to inspect for our sorting activity! They have been taking time to think about similarities and differences and sorting into groups.  Please find the Bridges Unit 1 overview in 'Pages'
  
• FUNdations (Phonics): We completed the Orientation part of Fundations, which introduced the class to the materials that we will be using, as well as the routine. Next week we really dive in!
• Our Garden is Growing! Last we planted several types of seeds, with the help of Ms. Christina (Jaspers mom). The class was excited to see this week how their seeds had sprouted. Some were transferred to our garden area.

• Art - Color days is always a fun time in school. Everyone is always looking to see how someone else did with their color days fashion pick! Throughout the week we talked about the Primary colors (Red, Blue, Yellow) and read some related stories. On Friday it seemed appropriate to use lots of colors, especially after reading the book 'Sky Color' by Peter H. Reynolds where young Marisol discovers all the beautiful colors a sky can be.
  

                                                                 

SEL (Social Emotional Learning) with Ms. Bird - In her monthly SEL lesson, Ms. Bird read a story about expressing emotions and talked with the class about feelings. If we get angry, does that mean we have to stay angry? What can we do to calm down? Kindergartners participated very well in this discussion. Now to work on putting into practice!

Color Days continue next week!

• Monday - Green
• Tuesday - Purple
• Wednesday - Brown
• Thursday - Black & White
• Friday - Rainbow

                                   (Jaspers fun 'Blue day' lunch)