Hoppin' Into Junior Kindergarten!

Good Morning JK Parents!

Reminders:

Picture Day is next week-Wednesday! Curriculum Night is next Thursday. You will be receiving log in information for that Zoom Meeting!

We are carefully falling into a comfortable routine with our schedule and moving around the EC Wing of the building! The rain didn't faze us a single bit! Our All About Me theme is in full force and we are all loving learning about each other.

Math and Science:

We took a class poll and learned about all of the different color of eyes in our classroom! Brown and Hazel were the clear winners with 7 and 5. Just one Blue. We learned how to make tally marks and "tie up" the fifth one with a horizontal mark.

We studied pods from a native tree and broke them open to discover the beans inside. We listened to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk as we pretended our magic beans might also grow a mighty bean stalk! We love to use our imaginations to talk about what we would do if we had a treasure chest full of gold.

We completed a cupcake page where we colored and counted sprinkles. We all need practice writing numbers, especially those tricky teen numbers! Some of the children are at the stage where they are building their fine motor muscles so we concentrate more on working those muscles with eye dropper exercises, peeling oranges, and gripping the monkey bars!

The children measured different items with blocks and then counted them and wrote the corresponding numbers. They used simple patterns to measure as well! We use non standard units of measure as we learn to measure from a beginning to an ending point.

Fine Motor:

We broke up into groups to practice and assess scissor skills. The children all helped the bees find their way to the hive by cutting on very curvy, semi curvy and straight lines. Always remember "thumbs up" and in the small hole. If your child is every having problems practicing their cutting, just have them lay on the tummy and prop themselves up on their elbows. It will force the correct way to cut!

We designed and decorated our own Pete the Cat School Shoes! The children used pastels, feathers, mosaic squares, and markers. I loved seeing how different they all were and how proud they were to show them to me. I put everything into an art portfolio and send home at the end of the year, so if you are wondering what happens to all of the art work and crafts we complete, they are all safe here! They seem to get crumpled if they are sent home in bags..

Social Emotional:

We are presenting each student's All About Me poster this week. Wyatt and Sawyer began as our first two presenters and wore their star necklaces as they talked about their families and favorite things. I loved seeing other children make connections to theirs. We are on our way to becoming amazing public speakers!

We practice mindfulness in the classroom and follow "the Calm Classroom" as we focus on our breathing and visualize many calming scenes I lead the children through as they learn to relax and pay attention to their own bodies and being still. Our PE teacher leads them through many of these exercises each day to warm up and cool down!

Happy Birthday to Claire! We celebrated with delicious cupcakes, and sang Happy Birthday after making her sweet cards. I'm sorry the weather didn't allow for her parents to join us. :(. This Covid thing is frustrating.

We spent time today using our feelings chart and talking about different feelings. It's the first time in all of my years of teaching that I have had children asking when it will be time for them to go home. They usually never want to leave. I am hopeful it will get easier with the constant distancing and not being able to play closely with friends! It makes me so sad but I know them being together is beneficial and they love it.

Literacy:

We read more about Elmer, in Elmer and Rose. We are also talking about our five senses and all of the ways our senses help us get to know each other. We listen, talk, see, touch (well, not so much right now! :), and taste things we like that we share in common with our friends!

We are beginning to practice the lower case letters in our names. It's difficult for JKers to remember to always begin at the top when writing. It's such an arbitrary place to start, when the line at the bottom seems so much easier!

We are learning the parts of the body in French class and are working on colors.