Betsy Lewin Visit & School Safety

On Monday morning the Caldecott winning illustrator of CLICK, CLACK, MOO Cows That Type, Betsy Lewin, came to visit our school.

Betsy Lewin began by us reading her brand new book, Click, Clack Surprise.  It was a very funny book!  Then she talked to us about how she worked on the illustrations for CLICK, CLACK, MOO Cows That Type.

Here are students listening and enjoying the presentation.

Besty Lewin ended her time with us by doing some drawing.  Students were impressed with how fast she could draw!

Here is one of the drawings that she did using student suggestions.

I ordered an autographed copy of CLICK, CLACK, MOO Cows That Type for our class.

Yesterday afternoon we started learning about safety.  We spent time talking about the difference between safe and unsafe.  

Then we read the book Office Buckle and Gloria.

After reading the book students worked in small groups to create school safety tip posters.  They did a great job!  Once their posters were finished each group presented their project to the class.

Here are the posters that each group made:

Color Unit, Greater Than/Less Than, & Pete the Cat

We continued learning about colors throughout the end of the week this week.  On Wednesday we read the book My Many Colored Days.  Then students used black crayons and watercolor paints to create paintings that showed a certain color day to them.

Check out students' paintings below...

On Friday students had the chance to read color books with a partner.  Then we created a class book about our favorite colors.

In math this week we learned about the words: equal, greater than, and less than.  Students played a greater than, less than card game during math on Friday to practice the concepts.

This week we also had a chance to read several Pete the Cat books and make a special Pete the Cat project.  Check out the link below to hear and see some of Pete's stories online.

Pete the Cat Website

What We've Been Up To...

We've been busy in kindergarten!  

First here's an updated whole class photo...

Last week we learned about bus safety and then students followed step-by-step instructions to create their own buses.

We also spent time last week discussing friendship.  We read both of the books below.  One showed us what to do to lose all our friends while the other showed gave tips for how to be a great friend.

After reading the books and doing a little bit of whole class brainstorming students each made a quilt square for our friendship quilt that showed something they can do with their friends.

Here's a closer look at a few of the quilt squares...

We have also recently read the book A My Name is Alice by Jane Bayer.  

Students practiced using scissors, markers, and glue to create these projects inspired by the book.

This week we've been learning all about colors.  We began the week by learning about mixing colors.  Then we spent time working on the activity below to practice reading and writing color words.

On Tuesday, students went on a color hunt in our classroom.  They searched around the room for objects that matched each color on their charts.

This morning students had a chance to do some free writing for the very first time.  They drew pictures to tell a story that had a beginning, middle, and end.

1st Full Week of School

This past week we began a two-week unit on Mother Goose nursery rhymes.  Students had a chance to act out the nursery rhyme Mary, Mary Quite Contrary using props.

We also had a chance to act out the nursery rhyme Little Jack Horner using real plums.

This week students had their first "full" choice time where they could choose from any of the toys/activities in the classroom.  Students chose to use blocks, our class dollhouse, construction equipment, among other fun activities.

On Wednesday we read the story Lacey Walker Non-Stop Talker by Christianne Jones.  After reading the story we spent time discussing qualities of a good listener before students created their own Lacey Walker owls.

We also spent some time this week enjoying the beautiful fall weather!

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the first day of kindergarten!  It was a great day!  Students worked hard and practiced lots of school routines.  

Here is a picture of our whole class!

Students had a chance to take their own individual first day photos as well!

It was raining during our scheduled recess time so we had choice time inside our classroom instead.  Students could choose to play with pattern blocks, legos, puzzles, a train set, or blocks. 

Thankfully the weather cleared up by the end of the day and we were able to spend a little bit of time on the playground before heading home for the day!