Snow Fun!!

Hi Friends! I hope everyone had a fantastic Holiday filled with warm conversations and happy laughter. What a beautiful past two days it has been. I was outside for recess yesterday, and it was even hard for me to go back inside! The children were having so much fun with their friends making snowmen. There was about three of them pushing the bottom snowball on the ground to gather more snow, creating one large snowball. It was wonderful to see them working together to build something so magical to them. I wanted to capture the moment for you:

The students were very excited to be back at school (at least I think and hope!) In math, we have been getting ourselves familiar with a shape template that allows the students to trace the outline of shapes such as hexagons and trapezoids. They had fun making creatures and designs with the template. Jordan created an alien that was standing on Earth and Nathan created a boat floating in the ocean... very creative! They focused on making patterns with their shapes, extending patterns, and filling in the missing shape.

I also introduced them to a number game called "Top It" which they loved.

TOP IT Directions: Each player gets a set of cards number 1-20. Shuffle the sets. At the same time, each player turns over the top card of the deck. Who got the highest number? They get to keep all the cards. Count the cards at the end and whoever has the most wins the game! Many of the students moved on to a game called "Addition Top It" where you flip two cards over, add the two cards together, and whoever has the highest sum wins. There are your Friday night plans!

We have jumped right into the construction of a sentence. We have talked about capital letters at the beginning of sentences, periods, and how we sstttttrreeeetttccchhh out words to hear the sounds. If you want to encourage this at home, let your child use stretchy material such as an exercise band, silly putty, or a rubber band to sound out the word.

In the next two weeks, Miss Leslie's Kindergarten class will be turned into a veterinarian office! Based on the students interests, I am turning the grocery store into a vet office, where the students will have an opportunity to work in the office or take care of sick animals. Many learning opportunities will be Incorporated into the center, such as measurement, numbers, sentence writing, bar graphs, animal knowledge, poems, songs, and money just to name a few. I want them to understand what a veterinarian does and their responsibilities. If anyone has any supplies they would be willing to donate- extra leashes, water dishes, stuffed animals, boxes of pet medicine- the children would really appreciate it. Better yet, if anyone has a relative or friend that is a veterinarian, please let me know!

Again, I hope everyone had a great Holiday. I also hope you enjoyed your special present from your child. They worked so hard on that project and were SO excited to give it to you. I made sure to take a few pictures of the thoughtful process:

Pictures from our magical Polar Express day:

We got a mysterious present delivered to the school from the North Pole!

It was even cold to the touch. Here is the class anxiously awaiting to see what was inside!

Isabella's reaction to what was inside! They were the bells from the book!

Have a wonderful weekend with your Kindergartner.
Enjoy their age... I know I do!