Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Happy Birthday Mary!

A Special Birthday


Our school celebrated the Nativity of Mary with a special afternoon birthday party, complete with cake.  Our class enjoyed celebrating with the first and third graders. 


The cake was super yummy...


But unfortunately, we only had a handful of munchkins at school that afternoon. 


It was a special way to dedicate the afternoon to Our Blessed Mother.

~  Happy Birthday, Mary  ~

Until next time...
Giggles,
Mrs. D.


Monday, September 3, 2012

The Kissing Hand

A Kiss From Me to You


Our first unit has come to an end!  It's hard to believe we've been working for three weeks already, but time does fly when you're having fun...

And we've had lots of fun with our Kissing Hand unit, based on the story The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. 

Chester is always such a fun little character to get to know, as he helps us make it through all the "rough spots" of being in school for the first time.

We began our unit this year making Chester for our wall.  What a great activity this is!  Even though it looks like a simple cutting and gluing exercise, the munchkins have to work very hard at following directions in order to get him to go together the right way.  Not to mention, during the first weeks of school, cutting and gluing are simply NOT all that simple!











They turned out sooooo cute!










  
Just like the munchkins that made them!


After reading all about Chester's first days of school, we read about his need for a Pocket Full of Kisses...the fun sequel to the first story.  We had all sorts of fun with activities from this book. 

We had a special "Chester's Pocket" snack...











Then we made a little pocket that we filled with kisses (the chocolate kind!)...












Then we made a BIG pocket to fill with some fun learning games...


 

Like the number matching game that the munchkins loved to play when they had extra time.


We also spent some time with several fun math and language activities, like counting kisses...











graphing probability results from our "Chester Spinner"...



and coloring & reading from a fun little emergent book about Chester. 











What a great way to help us practice the sight words we are learning.

Last, but definitely not least, these munchkins were introduced to the all-important kindergarten tradition of Recipe Day!  As always, our Wednesday afternoons have a little time set aside for creating a fun treat to go with our unit for the week.  These munchkins loved learning all about this tradition and loved even more making their first one!

"The Kissing Hand Toast"


YUM!




















Although we're sad to say good-bye to Chester...



We can't wait to start our new unit.
I wonder what that will be?

And I wonder...

"will there be enough room?"

Until next time...
Giggles,
Mrs. D.




Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Reading Stamina Goal

They Did It!


It didn't take long for this group of fantastic readers to reach our Daily Five "Read to Self" stamina goal!  It is so important that during Daily Five, the munchkins are able to sustain 10 minutes of quiet, on task reading to themselves.  We have been practicing the past week on reaching that goal.  We've recorded our progress each day on a special "Read-o-Meter" graph (a self-modified version of the one found here.) 

Well...

Today we reached our goal!

10 whole minutes without interruption or lack of focus!!
10 whole minutes without talking or using the restroom!!
10 whole minutes without leaving our chosen reading spots!!
10 whole minutes!!

And to celebrate, the munchkins were awarded a popcorn party!



Great job, Munchkins!

Until next time,
Giggles,
Mrs. D.


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Introducing Daily Five

Reading to Self

Our Kindergarten classroom utilizes the reading strategies of the "Daily Five".  These strategies focus on five important components:

Listening to Reading
Reading to Self
Reading to a Partner
Working With Words
Writing Words

This week, the munchkins learned all about the books in our classroom library and how to use them.  They learned to choose them wisely, care for them and put them away properly.  They also received a special tote bag just for storing those they have chosen for their "Reading to Self" time.

After several days of practice using the books, the munchkins learned that during their "Reading to Self" time, they could read just about anywhere in our room (as long as they weren't hanging from the ceiling).  During our first "Reading to Self" practice, we had munchkins reading books everywhere!

Some read at their seats...


Some read to Jesus...


Some preferred the cushy library chairs...


Or the sharing chair...


Some liked a spot on the rug...


Some found a special corner...


Or hid in a private spot behind the pocket chart...



And some even got under the table!


And it all meant one thing...

Reading to yourself can be FUN!

Until next time...
Giggles,
Mrs. D.




Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Our First Feast Day

The Queenship of Mary


What a great way to start learning the feasts of our beautiful liturgical year!  Today we celebrated the Queenship of Mary.


(Thanks to Charlotte for the beautiful coloring image.)













We ended our mid-week activities with an end-of-the-day snack to represent Mary on the clouds of heaven.  This was a quick and easy first recipe of the year, but the munchkins enjoyed placing their teddy graham Mary in the center of the donut cloud and sprinkling it with heavenly Marian blue sprinkles.  Of course, they loved eating it even more!

I'm sure it's the start of another year of wonderful Wednesday afternoon recipes and yummy fun!

























Mary, Queen of Heaven, Our Mother ~ Pray for Us!

Until next time...
Giggles,
Mrs. D.

Discoveries

Learning to Play
and
Playing to Learn

The first week in our classroom is a fabulous time of discovering all the new toys and tools for learning.  There are so many new experiences!


Math Manipulatives



Rug Toys



Science Tubs



Cutting Trays



Pouring and Transferring Tools



So much to play with...So much to learn!

Until next time...
Giggles,
Mrs. D.