Good morning JK friends and family!

We have been learning more about manners and kindness and discovering more ways to incorporate our kind ideas into everyday activities!  We practiced setting a table and broke into teams for a table setting contest.  It was cute to see the children sit down for snack later and put their napkins in their laps.  They are loving practicing their manners at the tables!

Centers

Fine motor:  We spent lots of time this week beading bracelets and necklaces for our friends and family!  The children were able to create patterns after sorting the beads into categories.

Math:  We are continuing our number recognition as a class and practicing writing our numbers.  We played a Kindergarten game called "Race to 100" where the children roll dice and count across lines in the same pattern used for reading, to get to 100 first.  They loved playing this with their friends, and were excited to learn they are able to play a game the Kindergarten class enjoys as well!

We visited Kindergarten this week, so the students could get a taste of a day in the life of a Kindergartner.  The children in Mrs. Lowe's class wrote and illustrated a book all about things that are new and fun in their classroom.  Everyone loved hearing about Monster Money earned when they are good listeners and are kind (much like our rainbow building in JK!)  They were also excited to hear that they will have gym everyday in Kindergarten, go to art class, check out books and have library time each week, and visit the Monster Store every Friday!

We have been reading many stories in preparation for Kindergarten, and answering questions about what to expect.

We took a nature hike and had a scavenger hunt around the school and found wonderful items to make leaf people!  The children not only found all of the items for a city and country scavenger hunt, but also found amazing items for their art projects!  It was a nice way to work together to accomplish each groups goal.  The children also enjoyed popcorn al fresco.

The zoo field trip finished off our week, with a wet start but loads of fun!  The big gorilla was a popular favorite, along with feeding the cows.  It's always a treat to have lunch in our classroom and be able to visit with just JK friends in a more peaceful setting.  I had a slideshow of the zoo photos for them to watch as they ate their lunches.  Thank you to our parent chaperones!  You are wonderful!

Our Kindergarten breakfast is fast approaching, on Tuesday, June 6th at 8:40 am in our classroom.  It will be a nice wrap up to display the work from this school year and share a little of our JK learning. Wednesday June 7th will be the last day of school, where we will all visit Sunset Woods Park in Highland Park and play for the day.  I cannot believe it is almost over.  I will be the teacher bawling on the last day, so please bring me tissues and big hugs.  This class has been so amazing and their level of learning this year has been outstanding.  I am so proud to call them "my kids"!

Let me know if you have any last minute ideas for visiting our classroom!  We would love to have you.

Mrs. Massey

Good morning JK families and friends!

This past week was busy as we prepared for Mother's Day and continued our study of ants, spring, growing, and kindness!

Language Arts/Science:  We have been journaling as a class all of the interesting tunneling the ants have been doing, as well as making predictions about their habitat.  Using inventive spelling on the large story board allows children to practice their writing as other students observe and assist.  We are moving through the high frequency word books, decodable books, and leveled readers as each student improves their reading skills.  Their levels are varied but they are all proud of their progress!

Math:  The children are working toward counting to 100 unassisted, which is typical of a second-half of-the-year-Kindergarten skill!  With assistance, everyone is getting closer!  We have also begun counting by 5's.  Practicing writing the teen numbers and always asking "which number goes first" is a helpful routine in learning their numbers and the pattern.  It's a difficult concept but once they understand that it's a pattern, it opens up a new level of learning.

We have been reading many fiction and non-fiction books about kindness.  Each day we discuss new ways to show kindness, at school at at home.  A great way to end the day is to ask your child how they showed kindness that day.

Fine Motor:  The children glued, dot marker painted, colored, and decorated with drops of glue their umbrella pictures.  We talked about the ways our mommy's are like umbrellas protecting us.  They shared many ways their mommy's are amazing!  They also handprinted flower pots, and colored portraits of their moms.  They were beyond excited to create gifts to give back to their amazing moms.  We also finished self portraits this week.  The progress with details and placement of features has grown so much.  We are all excited to show you the progression when you take them home in a few weeks!

We have our zoo field trip this Friday, so will not have show and tell.  Please bundle them up, as it looks like the only cool day in the week.  Also, send a sack lunch with a disposable bag for us to eat at the zoo.  Be sure it is carefully labeled with their name and includes a drink.  A room temp water bottle is perfect so it doesn't soak the bag as it cools.

Thank you for all of your support as we move into these last few weeks of school!

Mrs. Massey

Hi JK Families!  

Our ants continue to mesmerize the JK class.  They have created quite an intricate tunnel system in their small ant farm.  We have made predictions and journaled their activities.   

Centers:

Literacy:  The children have been working hard to implement reading strategies.  We use picture walks and eagle eye to find clues from the illustrations to decode words.  The popcorn words are becoming more familiar as we try to make sense of the many exceptions in the English Language.  We use stretchy snake to stretch out words as each sound is enunciated to find write or read the letters.  Our inventive spelling has improved and provides the children more freedom in writing story thoughts.  

Math & Science:  We have planted and watered our grass seeds and watched them grow.  They are so excited to see the process of growing things and proud of their daily care for their plants.  The April song was one of their favorites as each acted like a seed that finally grew into a May flower.  Our morning meetings are rich with stories about our school activities and how those relate to their activities at home.  I am always thrilled to hear they are sharing their knowledge with their families!  

Fine Motor:  JK has been working on Mother's Day illustrations they are so excited to share!  Just as our ants work together as a team to create their amazing tunnels, the students have been working together to create art in their group stories and illustrations.  They all created amazing observation drawings of the ant farm using colored pencils.  The different interpretations were amazing!  The observation drawings over the year demonstrate their improved attention to detail and documenting exactly what they see or what is most interesting and important to them.  We use KWL charts often and discuss what we Know, what we Want to know, and what we have Learned.  This guides our learning centers, providing materials and information that the students are interested in and about which they want to learn more.  

Social Emotional:  We have watched the Free to be You and Me movie over the course of the past week, and discussed our similarities and celebrated our differences.  The children loved the babies discussing how they knew they were either male or female, and how their stereotypes were completely opposite when generalizing girl or boy careers and activities.  We have studied kindness and the rewards received through giving and promoting kindness being contagious.  This video was one they enjoyed and had so much to share after watching!  Please view it when you have a moment.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnZfRh_7tzw

Photos below are just a few out of many.  I'll be adding more once I consolidate from ipad, camera, and phones.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Mrs. Massey

Writing and dictating to create stories!  

 Happy and smiling as each child receives individual attention to improve their skills in letter formation!

 Handwriting Without Tears in JK!

 Ipad technology to work on their math skills.

 Magna Tiles are just the beginning as the zoo comes to life for the animals!

 Cinco de Mayo Sombreros and Miracas!  They used their scissor skills, coloring and gluing with Ms. Korine.  

 Happy Birthday to Jane!  

Rhythm Sticks in music time in the classroom.  

Hi JK Families and Friends!

This week has been full of cycles, as we study the life cycle of plants and frogs!  The children are able to comprehend so much more when the topic is relatable to them and their own lives.  Making connections between their experiences with plants, flowers, seeds, gardens, tadpoles or fish and frogs, insects etc. builds meaningful foundations for understanding.

Centers:

Science and Math:  We continue to discuss cycles of both plants and animals, and are studying the life cycle of the frog in depth.  The children have documented and illustrated their favorite parts of the life-cycle, along with seeing frogs in their natural habitats in our Scholastic film.  Most of them chose the tadpole as their favorite.  They thought it was hilarious that frog's tails fall off when they become adults.  I asked them if they use to have a tail when they were little, and one response was, "I never had a tail, but my brother did!"  We played Bingo Math with number cards, working on the number recognition and one to one correspondence of the single and double digit numbers.

Fine Motor/Art/Science:  The children are coloring, cutting and sequencing plant life cycle collages. They are happy to explain the different steps to you, so be sure to ask them how a seed becomes a plant!  We have also been making our own frog pond, and choosing patterns to decorate our frogs based on our favorite frog.  Most of the children decided they wanted their frogs to be poisonous.

Our reading buddies are impressed with the JKers ability to search and find sight words in their reading!  We are always happy to spend time with out third grade friends.

Language/Literacy/Reading:  The children continue to work on sight word recognition and writing. We play many games as a whole group as we introduce more words from our list of 100 most common frequently used words.  Asking the students to point out sight words as they are reading to you is a great way to increase their recognition and understanding.

We used the rhythm sticks to practice different tempos to music, making soft, loud, fast and slow beats.  I modeled different rhythms and they echoed them with incredible accuracy!  Musical instruments were one of my favorite elements of JK, and continue to be a big hit for this class!  The gift of music is one of the gifts you give to children that they carry with them for a lifetime.  I played cello for 14 years, and know how much enjoyment it brought me (after I got over having to carry that monstrous thing everywhere!)

Show and Tell continues to be another favorite time of the week, and each child's ability to lead a class discussion while calling on friends has improved steadily throughout the year.  Their confidence and leadership skills are super for four and five year olds!

Enjoy the long weekend!

Mrs. Massey

Welcome back from Spring Break!

I missed this class and was happy to see smiling faces back at school!  We are jumping into spring and studying the life cycle of the frog, planting and blooming, tops bottoms and middle's of vegetables and which part (the root, flower, top etc.) we eat, along with many other plants coming to life this season.






Centers:
Fine Motor:  Cutting out birds and decorating with feathers, and building a nest for their home.  The children loved choosing colorful feathers and carefully placing them on their birds.  Their scissor skills continue to improve as they are able to cut careful and precise lines.

Math and Science:  The children measured themselves and counted inches, comparing their height to that of the first of the year.  We created a flower garden with flowers they painted to demonstrate their height with the stems of their flowers.  Understanding who is taller, shorter, more inches, less inches, etc. is a great way to compare and contrast with something that is meaningful to them.  We completed our April calendars and practice "riding the elevator to the top" to find the day of the week after finding the date.

Literacy:  Reading groups have been making our way through the decodable books, as well as high frequency books and the leveled readers.  The books that are easy for them to read or decipher based on pictures are great to begin any reading time, giving them confidence and warmed up for more challenging books.  We have been working in pairs and small groups in the classroom to provide a variety of fun activities centered around literacy/language arts.

Writing:  The students wrote books about seeds and the different stages in growing, writing common planting words and illustrating their books.   We will be planting several different vegetables and documenting their growth in journals.  If there are any of you with gardens or a green thumb that want to share any of your knowledge, we would love to have you.

We have a short week this week, as we are off on Friday for the holiday weekend,  as well as Monday (for Professional Development for the teachers).

Enjoy this beautiful weather!

Mrs. Massey