Busy Day in Kindergarten

I am sure your students went home exhausted tonight with a bag full of goodies.  We had a very busy day in kindergarten.  In the morning we went to Larry's pumpkin patch in Albert Lea.  At the pumpkin patch we got to feed llamas, goats and sheep, we also went through a corn maze and haunted house, played games, and picked a pumpkin.  In the afternoon, we had a fall costume party.  Students dressed up in their halloween costumes and went to six different stations throughout the classroom.  Students decorated pumpkins and sugar cookies.  They also made spider gloves, halloween foam pictures, candy neckalces, and played ghost bingo.  We also went to the gym and showed off all of our costumes to the other students at Hawthorne.

Special thanks to all of the parents who helped on the field trip to the pumpkin patch and helped out with the classroom party.  We could not have done it without you.  I hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend.  Just a reminder that next week we have conferences Monday evening, Thursday evening, and all day on Friday (no school for students).   

iPod touches and Computers in Kindergarten!

Students have been super busy reviewing how to log on/off the computer and being introduced to using the iPod touches.  We currently have four iPod touches in our classroom.  However, we just received a grant through Freeborn Mower Cooperative, which we will use to purchase three more iPod touches.  Each kindergarten classroom will get an additional iPod touch which will give us a set of five iPods.  The There are many applications on the iPod touch.  Students can practice letters/sounds, numbers, addition/subtraction problems, etc.  Students can also read books at their own reading level and have books read to them (Dr. Seuss books, Curious George, Diary of a Worm, etc).  The iPods are a fun and engaging way for students to practice literacy and math skills.  Students can use the iPods during Daily 5 (Listen to Reading), free choice, and quiet time. 

 

Parent volunteers have been working with students one-on-one to help them learn their username and password.  We have also been to the computer lab twice this week.  Students are working on  becoming more familiar with the computers.  We are practicing logging on/off, find my webpage, and plugging our headphones in. 

 

The computer center and iPod touches were added to free choice time.  Students check their name off to help us keep track of who has had a turn.  After each student has had a turn once students can sign up to use them again.

Scholastic Book Orders - Due back on November 15th

Dear Kindergarten Parent ~
This Holiday Season, Inspire Your Child's Imagination with Education/Classsic Toys and Books.  Learning should be fun.  That's why I sent home the special Back to Basic Toys holiday catalog, featuring educational games and classic toys that help foster a young person's growing imagination, creativity, critical thinking, and motor skills.  Giving books is also a great way to bring moments of real joy and wonder to your child.  I see this everytime a child gets books in his or her Book Club order.  If you would like to order books for your child for holiday presents I would be happy to keep them at school until you can come and get them or I can wrap them in a paper bag so that your child cannot see what books they will be receiving.  Just send a note on your child's book order form letting me know if you would like it to be a surprise or not.  If you order online just send me an e-mail and let me know what you would like.  Don't forget that our class gets $3 in free books every time you order online.  We also earn points to get books every time you send an order form to school to purchase books.  Please let me know if you have questions about book orders.  Check out the $1 and $3 book deals. 

MEA Break - No School Thursday and Friday

Just a reminder that we do not have school on Thursday, October 21st and Friday, October 22nd.  Hope you and your family have a nice weekend!  See everyone on Monday!

Kindergarten Pajama Night

Thanks so much to everyone who was able to make it to Kindergarten Pajama Night.  It was so much fun seeing families read books and make games together.  It seemed like everyone was having a blast.  Please check out the pictures from family night.  I hope you and your child had a great time.  We will have our next family night in December.

Computer Lab

We went to the computer lab for the first time today.  Students learned about the different parts of a computer (monitor, mouse, etc.), learned how to turn the computer on/off, and learned how to log on/off the computer.  The students were very excited to be using computers.  We will be going to the computer lab one-two times a week.  Next time we go to the computer lab I will be showing your student how to find my class webpage from the Albert Lea Schools webpage.  I will then show them how to navigate around and find the math/reading games.  We will go to the lab for up to 30 minutes each time.

Week 4 in Kindergarten

This week we are talking about fire safety.  Fire fighters from the Albert Lea Fire Department came and talked to us about fire safety.  We have been talking about what our family's plan is if there is a fire and what we need to do if we catch on fire.  We have been learning lots of fire safety songs to help remind us of our fire safety rules.


We are working on the letters: M, R, P, S, T, and C.  Monday's and Wednesday's we work on writing our new uppercase letter and Tuesday's and Thursday's we working on writing lowercase letters.  In math, we are working on identifying and writing numbers 5-10, counting to 100, and counting backwards from 10.  We have been cutting out shapes from magazines and making shape collages (come check them out in the hall). 


We are starting PALS this week.  PALS stands for Peer Assisted Learning Strategies.  There are two parts to PALS: large group word game and partner work.  The large group word game works on different phoneme segmentation skills.  After the large group portion of the lesson, the students work with a partner to complete the partner work portion of PALs.  This week we are only doing large group word games.  We will start partner work next week.


Daily 5 is officially up and running.  Students are Reading to Self, Working on Writing, and doing ABC Word Work for 30-45 minutes a day.  Everyone has been doing such a nice job of working quietly, staying in their Daily 5 spot, and working the whole time.