HaPpY St. PaTrIcKs DaY!!!!!!!

We had a very special guest visit our classroom a few nights while we were all at home....

Whoever this creature was... likes to leave messes!  So my students created leprechaun traps with their families to try and catch him....check out our trap pictures in a new post!

The following picture was one of our writing prompts.  The students had to draw four pictures of things that made them lucky.  They then had to write down what the pictures were if they had time.

Another writing prompt was "I feel lucky when..." along with making a leprechaun. 

 To accommodate students who don't celebrate Saint Patrick's Day completed the same writing prompt, but made their picture go along with what they wrote :)

I had a parent make these cute snacks for the class.  There was lucky charm chex mix in leprechaun hats, and the students had to eat the mix to find their golden treasure!

 

 Below was the bulletin board in the hallway with the clover writing prompts.  The rainbows surrounding the bulletin board were painted by students during science to talk about colors and mixing colors.  Students mixed red and yellow paint to make the orange paint; they mixed red and blue to make purple; and they mixed the yellow and blue paint to make green paint!  I had two other adults in the classroom to help me with this painting project, but the kiddos had a lot of fun!

Dr. Seuss Week

We had a great time celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday at the end of February/beginning of March!  Check out some of our fun activities below.

This activity was pinterest inspired and a great art activity combine with writing in which the students enjoyed.  The writing prompt is, "If Thing 1 and Thing 2 came to my house..." and there were a mixture of responses, but some of the most common were:

-they would clean my house.

-they would make a mess.

-they could clean my bedroom.

-they would break...

This was a fun rhyming activity.  I read the story Fox In Socks to the students and then gave each student a sock.  They had to identify the word on the sock and say it out loud.  Then the other students had to look at their socks and see if their word rhymed.  Each student was able to find their matching (rhyming word) sock!

The activity below was an engaging addition activity that went along with the story, One Fish Two Fish.  Students got a small handful of goldfish and had to write down how many yellow and orange fish that they had.  Once they did that they needed to add the two together.  After they wrote their addition problem correctly they were able to eat their YUMMY goldfish :)

A fun science activity was making GREEN FLUBBER!!!  Students got to mix a variety of ingredients and watch how they react with each other.  Below the two pictures is the recipe that we used!

Flubber Recipe 

In a large container combine:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups white glue
Food coloring

In second, smaller container, combine:
1 1/3 cups warm water
3 tsp. Borax

* Mix ingredients in each container thoroughly.
* Pour contents of smaller container in to large container. (We used a plastic baggie)
* Gently lift and turn mixture until only about a tablespoon of liquid is left. FLUBBER will be sticky for a moment or two. Let excess liquid drip off then FLUBBER will be ready!
STRETCH IT! BOUNCE IT! ROLL IT!

Store in an airtight container for about three weeks of use!

Bulletin Boards

 This was the bulletin board I used at the beginning of the school year.  I took photos of the students on their first day of school and they glued them to a piece of paper.  Also on the piece of paper they used the foam letters to make their name.

 This was a school wide hand-print made banner that was displayed during our Veteran's Day Program.  All students and teachers K-5 participated in this activity.

This was the Thanksgiving bulletin board.  Students brought home a turkey feather and decorated it at home with their families!  It was fun to see all the different ideas :)

UpDaTeS--October

So, life has been moving too fast and I haven't updated my classroom blog in a long time.  I just wanted to upload some photos to share with everyone what we have been working on and learning this year in Kindergarten!!!

 This is our pumpkins that we made by cutting and identifying different shapes!!!

 In October we had fire safety week, and so the local fire department came to show us their brand new truck, all of their gear, and to share with us all the rules to help keep us safe!

First Two Weeks of School

Can you believe we are going into our first FULL week of school?!  We have already been learning so much and have started building foundations for learning throughout the school year.  We have been working daily on various routines, letters, and social skills; and I'm going to briefly go through some for each to give you an idea of what you and your child can talk about at night when you are home!

1. Routines in School
1. Morning Routine
1. Hang up back pack and go outside for recess
2. After recess come inside, grab folder from backpack and stand patiently while Mrs. Giedd looks through folders.
3. After Mrs. Giedd looks through your folder, put it into mailbox.
4. Then go over and move name for what type of lunch you will be eating (pack or school)
5. Go to table and put Popsicle stick into container for what kind of milk you would like for snack (white, chocolate, or no milk)
6. Sit on letter on rug/pledge of allegiance/morning message from Ms. Resch (principal)
7. Greeting, calendar, weather, morning message from Mrs. Giedd
2. Line Basics
1. Stand in line facing forward
2. Hands to yourself/at your side
3. Leave a space between you and the person in front of you
4. Quiet mouth
3. Coming in from Recess
1. Use the bathroom and wash hands
2. Get a drink
3. Go sit quietly in classroom until all students get back
4. After lunch recess:  do the same, but grab rest mat, find your spot on the floor and begin resting
2. We have been working a lot on our letters by identifying them around the room and practicing writing them.  Last week we worked on Aa, Bb, and Cc.  This week we will be working on the following:
1. Monday-- Dd
2. Tuesday-- Ee
3. Wednesday-- Ff
4. Thursday-- Gg
5. Friday-- Hh
1. Please practice these with your child at home to help them become better writers AND readers :)  I will be sending home a packet (Monday) explaining how we are teaching your child how to write the letters in school.  Please watch for that in your child's folder.  I will also upload a copy onto our classroom website!
3. Social Skills
1. We are really starting to work on social skills with the students.  Our school wide monthly word we are working on is "Responsibility."  We will be starting to make a list today (Monday) by writing down what we are responsible for in Kindergarten.  Each day we will add a new idea.  Please talk about this with your child at home!
2. We have also been talking about what to do if another child is bullying or bothering you:
1. First ask that child to stop (and hopefully they will)
2. Ask them a second time
3. If they don't stop, find a teacher whether it is on the playground, in a special (gym, music, etc) or your classroom teacher (Mrs. Giedd). 
4. We talk about this daily and have the children model what it looks like

I know this is a lengthy message, but hopefully you will find it beneficial :)  Please look for posts of what the students think they are responsible for as well as the packet for writing!

Have a great week,

Mrs. Giedd

1st Day of School

Well today was the first day of school!  There are so many words that describe the day...fun, interesting, and hectic are just to name a few!  Today we worked a lot on how we sit on the carpet such as sitting criss-cross-applesauce, hands in lap, eyes on teacher or whoever is speaking, and mouths are quiet.  We call all of those things together sitting basics.  We also worked on standing in line (line basics) which include facing forward, hands to yourself, leave a space between you and the person in front of you, and stand quietly and respectfully.  Please review these two bascis with your child to help remind them in many ways!

Also, I asked the students at the end of the day to tell me their favorite part of their first day of Kindergarten and here are some of the responses (some kids had the same answer; but these are all written in the students' words)....

"Going on the bus."  --Gwyn, Megan, and Destini
"Playing Outside." -- Travis
"I liked the calendar." --Mya
"I liked being in line." --Zoey
"My favorite part was the scavenger hunt." --Keegan
"I liked when we got our food and played outside." --Logan
"I liked color tag." --Nonah, Braeden, Nash, and Nathan
"Playing on the swingwet." --Ian, Jaden, Kit and Ella
"I liked the fire drill and palying on the playground." --Andrew and Seneca
"Playing Inside." --James and Chase
"I liked palying on the little thing in hte sandbox." --Hunter

I'm looking forward to day 2 tomorrow!!!

Open House!!!

Open House!!!

Who:  Wittenberg Elementary Students and Families

What:  Come meet your school, teacher, and classroom!

When:  Wednesday, August 31, 2011 from 3:30-6:00pm

Where:  Wittenberg Elementary School (ROOM 103)


I'm so excited to meet all of you :)