Hoppin' Into Junior Kindergarten!

Hi JK parents!  

It has been a lovely start to the school year!  We are already learning so much about each other.  

We begin each day with our morning meeting and incorporate an active welcome, like bouncing a ball to each friend, or rolling a ball, or playing rhythm sticks while we count syllables in our names.  We will incorporate many "crossing the midline" activities, using the right and left brain, encouraging literacy.  Writing on the white boards is a great literacy activity that crosses the midline, along with playing catch.  We read the morning message together as we look for letters and letter sounds.  We sing and practice our Zoo Phonics song and letters daily.  We will begin our sign in journals using Handwriting Without Tears after we have mastered the routines of our classroom.  We will be evaluating each student so we are able to place them in fluid reading groups as well, where we will read together and play letter/letter sound games.  

Thanks so much for completing the All About Me posters!  They are looking fabulous and the children are so happy to share all of their favorite things with their classmates.  Send them in when finished so we may learn something new about each of our JK friends.  

We practice counting, patterns and sorting at calendar time, and use our imaginary pens to write the numbers in the air while the calendar helper writes the number on the actual calendar.  We pass our frog around the circle for a visual of whose turn it is to talk.  Each child has been sharing all kinds of things, from their favorite letter to things they would like to learn in JK.  

THE most comfy chair in the library.  Smart girls!

 Leon was one of the first to present his "All About Me" poster.  The children loved the picture of him swimming!

 Ian added lots of colorful pictures and was excited to talk about his family!

We loved hearing about all of Sebastian's favorites!  

 Watercolors were a big hit!  Mixing colors and even painting their names was so much fun.  

 Tapping out syllables for each child's name is a fun and beneficial activity.  We practice slow, fast, loud, soft, high, low, and many other things as the music leads us through different imaginary places.

 Follow the leader was an amazing activity in Art this week!

 Calling on friends and taking turns speaking is all a part of our morning meeting,

Library was so much fun.  Ms. Hilda sang, danced, read stories and helped us all choose books to take home.  

Cosmic Yoga and Go Noodle are great for rainy days!

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms. Massey

 Concentrating on drawing her self portrait.  

 All smiles!  Self portraits are a great way to track progress throughout the school year!

 Are my lips pink or red?