Pumpkins

Kindergarteners are so excited and curious about their new pumpkin unit. Curious Kindergarteners shared their unique wonders about pumpkins as we began this unit. We have been observing the varied similarities and differences in our pumpkin museum. Students investigated to determine that the purpose of pumpkins is for food and decoration. They also used their five senses to describe the inside and outside of a pumpkin and created a book. Our festive pumpkin unit has even made its way into our learning centers! Mathematicians used lima beans, painted to look like ghosts and pumpkins, to make patterns. In our art center, students are creating their own unique pumpkin color and in writing, writers are illustrating a book called “Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin.” Stay tuned as we look forward to illustrating the life cycle of a pumpkin and identifying the parts. You may even hear your young pumpkin enthusiast describe a close-up view of “The Case of the Decomposing Pumpkin!”

Parent Morning Meeting

Kindergarteners were thrilled to have parents join us to participate in Morning Meeting on Thursday morning. Responsive Classroom Morning Meeting is an engaging way to start each day, build a strong sense of community, and set children up for success socially and academically. Morning Meeting has 4 components: Greeting, Sharing, Group Activity, and Morning Message. Students practice social skills in structured ways during our daily greetings. They learn the valuable life skill of greeting another person while making eye contact and saying the person’s name. During the sharing part, students learn to articulate their thoughts and feelings in a positive manner. During the group activity portion of our meeting, students build a sense of community with their classmates through active participation. Finally, academic skills and community building are both embedded through class discussion about our daily morning message.

Daily morning meetings help to create the positive POWER of community in our classroom! Students are able to fulfill the need to belong, to feel significant, and to have fun! Each and every day, your child is being taught the skills of friendliness and social interest through sharing, listening, inclusion, participation, and speaking in front of a group. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we do!

Mystery Reader

Every year, kindergarteners are delighted to have their parents and family members show up to share a story with the class. Parents and family members do a fantastic job of keeping these times a “mystery” so that students have no idea who is going to show up each Monday morning to read to the class. This week marked the beginning of this tradition in Kindergarten. The students were so excited to see who it was going to be and it was wonderful to watch the child of our mystery reader’s face light up with pure joy when he realized it was his mom! It was priceless! If you haven’t had a chance to sign up, please email me and I will put you down!