WE LOVE APPLES!

Teaching our Apple unit is probably one of my most favorite themes. I don't know about you, but when I see pumpkins and apples come out in the stores....I'M READY FOR FALL! I literally love everything about it.
We are going to be busy this week. We will be connecting our apple unit to our five senses.
Here are some questions we will be learning how to answer! We will even be putting our five senses to use.....with lots of tasting. YUMMY!

How do apples grow? How do apples change during the seasons?

Can  I hear, smell, taste, see and touch apples? How?

How does an apple get from a tree to our plate?

How can we describe apples?

What products can we make or buy made from apples?

Lastly, I will leave you two songs we will be using in class. I LOVE APPLES!

 

5 Senses

Letter Reversals.....try this trick!

I have had several parents ask about letter reversals. This is very common in both first and kindergarten. This is the best way I have found to combat the reversal of B and D. I think this trick is age appropriate and easy to remember. I hope this helps yourguys at home.

Also, don't panic when you see your child has written his/her name backwards. Usually this is just developmental. For some of our little ones, we are just learning the direction in which we read and write. There will be times you see your child forget  and as a result.....a well written name BACKWARDS!

Have an awesome Sunday!

Sorting, Patterns and Graphing....OH MY!

Wow, where is time going? Its almost the middle of September. We have been super busy learning many concepts. We have been working hard on learning to sort and make patterns. During a recent lesson we played a game with sorting. I sorted the children into groups and they had to guess my sorting rule. We sorted by hair color, eye color, shoes/flipflops, boys/girls and tall friends and shorter friends.

We have also been taking the sorting information and creating graphs. We have graphed our hair color, eye colors and the numbers of boys and girls in our classroom. We have been trying to use fancy words like DATA and ANALYZE. I know those are big words for small minds....but you would be surprised at what they can soak up!

Try some of these sorting activities at home. You could sort laundry, pets, toys, shoes....you name it!


***** Thank you so much- for helping your child with their reading treasure boxes. The boxes are on display until the end of this week.....They were just too good not to leave out a little longer- Awesome job ********

First days....SINGING AND SPELLING!

We are already so busy learning routines and rules. We have also been doing a lot of reading too. We are working on singing and spelling many words. This week I have introduced the words red and one. We have worked on letter/sound and formations for letters Bb and Cc.
In my handbook, I mentioned Heidi Songs. Heidi Songs are my number ONE teaching tool. I love them and we use them daily. Teachers and kids have fun learning with Mrs. Heidi. I have attached a link to the Heidi Songs page. I wanted to let you know her resources are available for order. She also has many free videos on YouTube.

It has been a pleasure meeting and talking with each of you. We are really off to a wonderful start. I think I have laughed more this week than I have all summer. We are having a blast!
Please look for a September newsletter soon.....I apologize for not having it ready but we are still putting some dates on our calendars!

http://www.heidisongs.com/index.php
LINK FOR HEIDI SONGS- SONGS  THAT TEACH!

This is an example of a "Sight Word song"...you will be hearing them VERY SOON!

The Kissing Hand

School starts Monday! I was so happy to meet everyone the other night. I think this is going to be a great year. I know some of you may be nervous, but I promise we will make it together! Your child will be having fun before we know it, and all the butterflies will fade away.

The first day of Kindergarten is special, so I have a very special book to share. We will be reading The Kissing Hand (By:Audrey Penn) on the first day.  This book is about a little raccoon and how he copes with going to school for the first time. I have attached a video of the story. I hope you love it as much as I do.
See you on MONDAY!!!!
The Kissing Hand Story (Youtube)

OPEN HOUSE and NEW PRINCIPAL

Its almost time to start school. I am so excited.  I am looking forward to meeting each of you at OPEN HOUSE tomorrow. I really feel like this is going to be an awesome year. I have so many great ideas swimming around in my head.I think I have too many....I can't even sleep! I have to say its all because I work with some of the best teachers. We motivate one another and are really focused on making this year the best yet! So thank you to all of my fellow teachers......I love you guys!

If you have a chance, please stop in and meet our wonderful new principal. Her name is Mrs. Hunter. You can read more about her on the school page. She comes to Old Fort with high expectations for our students. She is going to be Kindergartens biggest cheerleader! We are so happy to welcome her into our family.

See you soon.....I can't wait to meet all of our sweet classroom friends!!!

Read more about our new Principal here: Click on MEET THE PRINCIPAL
http://mcdowell.fort.groupfusion.net/

Pete The Cat Craze!

I was out yesterday and I splurged on four books for the kids....and I'm so glad I did. First of all I won't have to beg and borrow and I can use them all year long. I'm not sure if many of you have heard about PETE THE CAT....but you should probably check him out. Author James Dean, has created a classic. Pete is a groovey laid back cat. I think we can all learn a little something from Pete. If I could suggest one book this year for a beginning kinder....it would have to be Pete the Cat Rocking In My School Shoes. I can't get enough of this cute furry kitten. Learn more about Pete with the link below and check out the video/song I have included for you to use with your kids!
Pete the Cat FREE Songs and Publishing Company