Hoppin' Into Junior Kindergarten!

Good Morning JK Parents!

Our theme in JK was "All About Me" this week.  The students are taking turns sharing their All About Me posters with the class and calling on friends for comments.  They are "Star Students" and have been amazing at presenting and using pointers in their presentations.  We use sign language for "me too" as the kids find their favorite things in common.

Math & Science

We talked about shapes and finding shapes in our everyday environment.  We used graham crackers at snack time to demonstrate that two squares join to make a rectangle.  We will learn and build on three dimentional shapes as we hunt through the school for them.  

We are learning about our five senses and how we use them to explore.  We talked about how we can be mindful by slowing down our bodies and using our senses to smell and see and hear and touch and taste while taking time to really think about each sense.  We are using Calm Classroom Strategies to come together as a group and build on our focus and stamina.  

Social Emotional/Literacy

We read The Crayon Box That Talked and colored crayons to display in our classroom crayon box!  We celebrated the differences in each of us just like the crayons in the story.  Is it great to be different?  YES!

We began our letter of the week study and read the Aa Book as we hunted for letters beginning with each different Aa sound.  We will begin learning and building on the Zoo Phonics as we match each letter sound with an animal and motion.  It's a spectacular program that makes letter learning fun.  We will begin reading groups next week as we learn the skills of each student and which activities will best help stretch them in their learning.  

Show n Tell is always a wonderful exercise in building presentation skills/confidence.  The children loved showing their friends their treasures.  

We began writing our names using the Handwriting Without Tears program.  We will be working on lower case letters and beginning from the top when writing.  We are still learning routines and will be breaking up into groups as the students are comfortable with the classroom schedules and their classmates.  

Fine Motor

They love to painting with water colors and were creating beautiful pictures.  We read three Elmer the Elephant stories and created our own unique Elmers with tissue paper.  

Specials

Ms. Hilda read to us in our amazing school library, and the children chose a book to take home.  The Early Childhood section is one of my favorite spaces in Roycemore!  It's incredibly inviting and cozy and the children love reading there. JK bunnies must return their books the next Monday before library class in order to take another book home. 

In Art class the students read two books about dots and began creating their own dot collages. We will be displaying our art work at the end of the EC hallway. Make sure you take a look when you are able to visit on Friday afternoons! 

For French this week, our JK bunnies are focusing on greetings and salutations as they introduce themselves to Madame. We have been learning songs that address feelings (feeling good/bad or so-so).  

Happy Birthday to Inaya who turned 4 in August and Claire who is turning 5.  We loved celebrating you!