Bubbles!

Today for graphics practice, we worked on making bubbles by saying "down around close" for each sized bubble. The. Bubbles could not touch one another or land on the ground, otherwise they would pop! 

Prop making

Today we made props for our new fairy tale, The Billy Goats Gruff. Some of the props we made are: a dirt pasture for the goats to wait on, a large bridge and a small bridge, and a grassy pasture with flowers for the goats to eat. 

Huff and puff houses

For our Three Little Pigs science lab, partnerships had to work together to construct three houses- one made of straws, one made of Popsicle sticks, and one made of blocks. We then tested them to see which one was strong enough to stand up to the wolf' shuffling and puffing! 

Pigs, pigs, pigs!

We used some of the shapes we have been practicing to make a pig face. We 

Practicted on whiteboards and then drew them with black crayon outline and got to paint them pink! 

Math centers

We are settling into the routine of math centers, learning how to take out and put away materials as well as how to switch centers when time is up. This week, some of our centers have a work product, or objective. At the pattern block center, children have to try to make pattern pictures. 

Children rolled a die and moved that number of spaces in a follow the path game.

Free exploration at the button center allowed children to sort the buttons by shape, color, size, and number of holes. Others made pictures with buttons and counted them into different piles. 

Children made different kinds of structures with these building materials.

Children used their hands to roll playdough into different shapes. 

Dramatizing The Three Little Pigs

Each day this week, we read one version of The Three Little Pigs and practice looking at the story with different reading strategies. We first use "visualization" and practice making movies and pictures of the story in our mind. The next day, we read the same story and think about how the characters are feeling. These different strategies help us when we are dramatizing the story in centers. Tomorrow, we will be making inferences about what the characters are thinking. Here is day one of dramatizing in some   centers- there was lots of laughter! The team captain passes out role cards and each child has a specific role. Groups dramatize the story one time and then switch roles for round two. This is a great way to practice coping with getting a role card that might not be your favorite role. So tar so good on day one! 

Graphics practice

The three pigs were looking for some materials to make a house when they came across sticks floating in the water. Children say "across, across" as they draw sticks from left to right on their whiteboards. 

Buddy Reading

During buddy reading! children choose a picture book to "read" to their partner. Books are divi den into categories and are rotated every couple of weeks. One child has a role card with a picture of lips and the other has a picture of ears. The child with the lips role card gets to read the pictures of the story to their partner, while the child with the ears listens to the story and pays careful attention. The children the switch role cards, and the other child gets to read his book while the partner listens. This will evolve into leveled reading later in the year, so that children can read texts at their reading levels. 

Prop making!

Today was prop making day to prepare for this week's dramatization of the Three Little Pigs. Each group worked together to cut and glue materials to create straw, stick, and brick houses. The class was so excited that some children wanted to work on our props this afternoon! 

Graphics practice

Graphics practice is a time during the day when we practice fine motor skills using whiteboards and private speech. We begin with simple shapes and move into more complex shapes, then into forming letters and numbers using these shapes. There is an imaginative story that goes along with each shape each day, and a word that children say to remind their hand what to draw. We began by learning how to take out all of our whiteboard materials and how to use them safely in a large group on the rug. We practiced drawing simple dots on our whiteboard, which we imagined was rain falling. Today, we imagined a large field of grass and made blades of grass on our whiteboards. For each blade, children used private speech and said, "down, down, down" as they made each stroke. 

Our first few days!

What an exciting start to kindergarten! There are lots of new routines and rules to learn, and we began many of these this week. Here are some pictures of morning center time, when we are practicing how to follow the center chart, learning the names of classmates in our group, how to be team captain, how to put out and clean up our materials, and having some fun while learning all of this! 

ABC stamps at our word work center

Coloring with markers and securing the caps at out Art center

Building with blocks

Dramatic play in the kitchen area

Exploring animals at the science center

During math centers, we are learning some similar routines and exploring math materials.

Vehicle counters

Tale

Bristle blocks

Pattern blocks

A puzzle of the world