Group Meeting:  I introduced the children to an art media that is available to them at the art table.  They are called Nuudles.  Some children were familiar with them.  Some were not.  Nuudles look like Styrofoam but are actually a soy product.  They get sticky when wet.  To use them, the children stamped them on a wet paper towel and arranged them as they desired.  Many children brought home Nuudle pictures today.

Story:  The story was A World of Families by Trish Holland.   This is a non-fiction book about how families look different, but do many of the same things.  All families eat together, play together, celebrate together, etc.  After the story, the children discussed things that they liked to do with their family.

Small Groups:  The activities for the small groups were detailed in yesterday's post. 

Large Group:  The children formed two groups to create Mat Man.  Each child was given a piece to add to Mat Man as the song about him progressed.  Tomorrow, we will draw Mat Man on the chalk board. 

Snack:  The morning class had turkey and cheese sandwiches with grapes and milk brought by Cael.  The afternoon class had Goldfish and juice brought by Ellie.  Thank you!

Mat Man

Group Meeting:  During group meeting, we looked at our new jobs for the week.  Everyone has a new job to do during clean up time.

Story:  The story for today was Charlie Anderson by Barbara Abercrombie and Mark Graham.  In this story,  a cat appears at Elizabeth and Sarah's house one night.  They decide to keep him and name him Charlie.  Charlie likes to go outside and into the woods during the day.  One rainy night, Charlie does not come home.  Where is Charlie?  Ask your child to tell you.  Also, Elizabeth and Sarah go somewhere every weekend.  Where do they go?

Small Groups:  I am posting the activities for this week.  Your child will participate in each activity once throughout the week.
Activity #1:  The children will draw self-portraits in their journals.  The journal is for the children to draw and write in throughout the year as we do different activities.
Activity #2  The children will practice using a 5 frame for counting.  They used a grid of 5 squares and chips that have yellow on one side and red on the other.  How many combinations can be created with 5 chips?
Activity #3  The children will use the wooden lines and curves to create letters with the teachers help.

Large Group:  The children watched me create Mat Man and listened to the Mat Man song.  Mat Man is created with the wooden lines and curves and a few extra pieces.  Mat Man helps the children learn about body parts and how to draw a person with all of the body parts.  Tomorrow, they will have the opportunity to help make Mat Man. 

Mat Man

Snacks:  The morning class had graham crackers and milk brought by Brogan.  The afternoon class had apples and milk brought by Ella.  Thank you!

What a busy week!

Group Meeting:  We start every group meeting with an action song/video.  This helps us to get the wiggles out.  I like to use videos from Harry Kindergarten Music on our Promethean board.  They get us moving and teach us readiness skills.  If you're interested, check them out on youtube.

Story:  Our story was Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein.  It is time for Little Red Chicken to go to bed.  She wants Papa to read a story.  Papa starts reading, but Little Red Chicken gets so excited that she interrupts Papa and tells the ending of the story.  Papa asks her to be patient and wait.  They try another story, but it is hard for Little Red Chicken to not interrupt.  Finally, Papa is out of stories.  What does he ask Little Red Chicken to do?  Ask your child to tell you.
After the story, we talked about what it means to interrupt someone.  We discussed waiting for a turn to talk if there is something that you want to share.  It is hard for children this age to wait, but we're working on it!

Small Groups:  The children rotated one more time participate in the last activity this week.  The activities are listed in Tuesday's post.

Large Group:  The children were given the weekly magazine "Let's Find Out".  This issue was about germs.  We watched an accompanying video that told about how germs are spread.  Then, we looked and the paper and finished the activity on the back.  Hopefully, this will help us to keep illness at a minimum at school. 

Snacks:  The morning class had Nutrigrain bars and milk brought by Ben.  The afternoon class had carrots, ranch dip and milk brought by Charlie.  Thank you!

Group Meeting:  At our group meeting, we reviewed the Job Chart and took a look at a new Humpty Dumpty game.  It's kind of like Jenga with Humpty sitting at the top.  The children liked seeing if they could knock the blocks down, but leave Humpty at the top.

Story:  Our story was A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni (one of my favorite authors) .  This is the story of a chameleon that wishes that he didn't change colors.  He would like to have his own color.  He tries sitting on a green leaf to stay green, but the leaf turns yellow and red and so does he.  Then he meets another chameleon.  He suggests that they stay together so that they will always be the color of each other.   Life is nicer with good friends!

Small Groups:  The activities for the small groups were listed in yesterday's post.  Ask your child to tell you which activity he or she participated in today.  Once we have assigned permanent groups, I will be able to list each days activities for you.

Large Group:  The children are learning about lines and curves.  We use lines and curves to make letters.  We have wooden lines and curves to help us create the letters before printing them.  Today, we played the Wooden Piece Hokey Pokey which is part of the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. 

Snacks:  The morning class had blueberry mini-muffins, yogurt, and juice brought by Angel.  The afternoon class had cheese sticks and juice brought by Beckett.  Thank you!

Thank you for sending in the family pictures!  We are enjoying looking at them.  If you haven't sent yours yet, we'd love to see it!

Group Meeting:  Starting today, the children will have assigned weekly jobs at clean up time.  For example, the veterinarian makes sure that all of the animals are put away.  The mechanic puts all of the vehicles away.  The child care worker makes sure that the babies are tucked into bed.  Everyone has a job for the week.  This helps the children become more responsible for our classroom.  We tried it for the first time today and everything went well.  Ask you child if he or she remembers what his or her job was today.

Story:  Our story was Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes.   Wemberly is a little mouse who worries about everything.  Her parents try to encourage her to not worry so much.  Wemberly is going to start school.  She is worried.  What if the teacher is mean?  What if the children make fun of her name?  What if she can't find the bathroom?  When she gets to school, her teacher introduces her to a girl who is a lot like her.  They become friends and have a wonderful time at school.  After the story, we had a discussion about what the children should do if they are worried at school.  We assured them that the teachers are always ready to help them.

Small Groups:  Today, we started our routine for small groups.  We divide the class into three groups.  Each teacher takes a group of children to do a short activity.  Tomorrow and Thursday, we will switch groups so that the children will get to do all three activities by the end of the week.  Our activities this week are:
Activity #1  The children will try to print their names on a strip of paper.  We are doing this to see where we need to start with each child.
Activity #2  The children will help the teacher put their names on the monthly birthday cakes that will be put on display.  This will help us remember the birthdays for Birthday Day!
Activity #3  The children will listen to the story Wash Your Hands and will talk about the proper way to wash and when to wash.

Large Group:  Max and Zoey talked to the children about sharing.  We discussed several solutions to sharing problems that could happen in the classroom.

The children learned about the wooden pieces that we will be using to create letters in a few weeks.  They learned about big lines, little lines, big curves, and little curves.

The children went to the Outdoor Classroom for a little play time before dismissal.

Snacks:  The morning class had pancakes and milk brought by Andon.  The afternoon class had cinnamon graham crackers and juice brought by Ashlyn.  Thank you!

Story: Our story for today was Quinito, Day and Night by Ina Cumpiano.   This is a book about Quinito's family.  He tells about his Mami, Papi, sister and brother.  It is also a book about opposites as he uses the words fast, slow, up, down, etc.  After the story, we talked about families.  We would like to have a picture of your family to put in our Family Tree.  Please refer to the note in your child's backpack.

Small Group:  The children were introduced to the Library Area and Tabletop Area.  They learned about the toys and materials that are available in each area.

Large Group:  Max and Zoey were back to teach the children how to raise their hands when they want to tell the teacher something.  This helps us understand each other better.

The children learned the song "Tap, Tap" which is a part of our Handwriting Without Tears program.  They used big wooden lines to make the tap sound.  Ask your child to show you some of the things that they had to do with the wooden lines.

The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.

Snacks:  The morning class had Goldfish, carrots, and juice brought by Addelyn.  The afternoon class had Goldfish and juice brought by Addison.  Thank you!

No school on Monday due to Labor Day!  Have a great weekend!

We're off to a good start!

Group Meeting: During Group Meeting today, the children learned that the King or Queen for the day (snack person) will also have some helper jobs to do.  The King or Queen will put a sticker on our 10 frame chart to help us count the number of days that we are in school.  He or she will also hold the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance and be our line leader.

Story:  The story for today was Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni.  Little Blue and Little Yellow were best friends.  They liked to play together.  One day, Little Blue was searching for Little Yellow, but couldn't find him.  When he did find him, he hugged him.  As they were hugging, they turned green.  When they returned home, their parents did not recognize them.  It made them sad.  Ask your child to tell you what happened next.

Small Groups:  During this time, the children visited the Housekeeping Area and the Block Area to learn about the toys and rules for that area.  They also visited the Art Table to see all of the items available for them to use.

Large Group:  The children were introduced to Max and Zoey (puppets).  Max and Zoey told them about how to find a seat on the carpet and stay in that seat so that they don't trip other children.  After that, the children went to the Outdoor Classroom to play. 

Snacks:  The children had Nutrigrain Bars and apple juice.

I didn't have any time to take pictures today (imagine that).  I don't take as many as Mrs. Whiteman, if your child was here last year.  We're usually pretty busy, but I will do what I can!