First Week of Kindergarten

It's been a great first week in Kindergarten! The students are learning the routines of the classroom and are getting to know each other. 

This was our class on the first day of school. 

This past week and next week, we will be focusing on name games and activities during our reading lessons. These will help the students learn each other's names and also how to write their name with proper capitalization. 

This week we read The Wheels on the Bus and Chica Chica Boom Boom.

The students also started sharing their homework. The students that have had a turn so far did a really nice job telling about themselves.  It's fun getting to know each other.

In math, we started math stations. The students spend about 15 minutes each day in small groups engaged in focused math activities that develop number sense and problem solving skills. After, we gather together for a whole group math lesson. 

Each math station focused on building number sense to 20. The students practiced reading numbers to 10 or 20 and counting objects to 10 or 20. The students love working with each other and are excited to show off what they know.

We are off to a great start!

Author Jarret Krosoczka visits Fuller Meadow

On April 24th and 25th, Fuller Meadow was lucky enough to have the author Jarrett Krosoczka visit and teach the students what it is like to be an author and an illustrator. During our whole school assembly, Mr. Krosoczka introduced himself and shared some of his earliest books. 

The students enjoyed seeing the books that he wrote when he was a young boy and were inspired by his perseverance in trying to get his first book published. Even after many rejection letters, he did not give up his dream. 

Mr. Krosoczka taught the students that sometimes an idea comes from a scribble. He allowed several students to come to the chart and make a scribble. He then turned that scribble into a drawing. Our very own Lilyann was one of the students chosen. Way to go Lilyann!

The students were so inspired by this activity that we decided to try it in the classroom. Each student made a scribble on their writing paper and then traded their paper with a partner. The partner turned the scribble into something and wrote about it. 

Later in the day, all of the kindergarten classes gathered to learn about how an author goes about coming up with their story ideas and how to organize the writing of their books.

The next day, Mr. Krosockza returned to Fuller Meadow and met with the Kindergarten classes once again. This time Mr. Krosockza worked with the students on how to draw emotions on characters. Each student got their very own journal to practice in and take home. 

We used Mr. Krosoczka's book Baghead as an ispiration for a writing. After reading the book, the students wrote about something they did for the first time and how they felt. 

The students really enjoyed meeting the author and have been inspired to write books ever since. Thank you Mr. Krosoczka for visiting our school and inspiring our students!

Postcard Exchange

This year our class participated in the national Postcard Exchange. This activity helps students learn about the different states in our country, and about students in other schools. During the past few months we have received postcards from around the country. When each postcard arrived, we found the state on the map and learned a little about that state.  The students eagerly waited for each postcard, and after reading them, we added them to our bulletin board for others to enjoy. 

Ask your child about some of the states we learned about. You'll be impressed with how many they know.

Nonfiction

We recently finished a reading unit on Nonfiction Text. During this unit the students learned what nonfiction text is and how to identify whether a book is nonfiction. 

First, the students learned about the roles of a nonfiction author and illustrator.

Next, the students learned about nonfiction features.

After each mini lesson, the students looked for the focus feature and when they found it shared with their small group. At the end of the lesson, students shared their findings with the whole group.

The students really enjoyed this unit and are continuing to share when they find a nonfiction text feature. 

Crazy Sock Day!

Today, we wore our craziest socks and celebrated Crazy Sock Day!

To help us celebrate, we were joined by Mrs. Higgins' class for a Dr. Seuss read aloud and activity.

After reading Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss.......

the students made their own Fox in Socks paper bag puppets.

Happy Crazy Sock Day!

Read Across America

Read Across America is off to a great start! 

The first two weeks have been a lot of fun and we've enjoyed a number of different activities.

After reading the story "Oh the Places You'll Go" we decorated our classroom door using the story as our inspiration. 

We had a special guest reader. Thank you Chief Digianvittorio for reading to our class!

We had a wonderful visit by some of the Howe Manning Kid 2 Kid participants.

They read a kindness story, worked with the students to write a recipe for kindness, and then helped them create flowers with ways to show kindness. The flowers from all of the different classes were put together to create a "garden of kindness"

On Comfy Cozy Day we joined Mrs. Kennedy's class for some reading fun. We love getting together with our classroom connection buddies!

One of our very own students read a story and led two activities she had planned all by herself. Julia read "The Night Before Christmas" and then did an activity where she called on students to add stickers to a countdown to Christmas tree. I loved watching how Julia made sure each student got two turns and then when she had one space remaining, fairly choose a student using the class name sticks. This is just what I do!

Next, she demonstrated how to make a pinch pot using clay and then had the students make their own. Julia was a natural in the role of teacher and it was so fun watching her lead the class.

Great job, Julia! 

During these first two weeks of Read Across America we've done some fun activities to go with the Dr. Seuss books we've read.

We also read two Saint Patrick's Day books and did a fun writing activity to go with them.

After reading the stories, we imagined what it would be like if we caught a leprechaun. We brainstormed some things that we would ask the leprechaun for and why we wanted then, and then each student choose three to write about. Last, we created a leprechaun to hold our writing. The students loved this and did a great job!

As you can see, we have really enjoyed the first two weeks of Read Across America.

Global School Play Day & 100th Day

This week we celebrated Global School Play Day and the 100th Day of school. With an early release due to weather on Wednesday, it was a busy and exciting week.

Global School Play Day

Even though Global School Play Day fell on the day we were released early due to snow, the students still had a great time. They enjoyed having extra time for playing games, working on puzzles, building, and being crafty. To make the time extra fun, we invited Mrs. E Higgins's students in to play with us and we got to spend some time in their room too. 

Happy 100th Day!

Friday, we celebrated the 100th day of school! During Math Stations the students worked in groups to complete 100th Day STEM activities. As a team, they created something with 100 cups, 100 popsicle sticks, 100 legos, and 100 pattern blocks. It was interesting to see how different each group's creations were and listen to their conversations.

Creations included: a giant z; a gumball machine; and a school with desks

Creations included: a man & car; a house on wheels; and a house with a car

Creations included: a castle & garden; a flower, bicycle, & butterfly; and a train

Creations included: a castle with a wall; Legoland; and a tower


Open ended activities are important for building creativity, developing planning skills, learning how to problem solve, and learning to persevere when things don't go the way we pictured in our minds. STEM activities encourage students to plan, problem solve, and persevere. 

Snowman at Night

This week we have been reading the story Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. In the story a boy builds a  wonderful snowman but when he wakes up the next day, it looks a terrible fright. This leads him to wonder what snowmen do at night when we are sleeping. The students enjoyed this book a great deal and using this story we practiced several reading strategies that good readers use each time they read.

Visualizing: Good readers visualize what is happening in the text while they read. They use the illustrations and the text to create pictures in their minds. Visualizing helps the reader understand and remember what they are reading.

For this activity, the students were asked to write about what they visualized when the snowmen were doing tricks on the ice..

Making Connections: Good readers make connections when they read. This means something that they read makes them think of something in their own life (text to self connection), something in another text (text to text connection) or something happening in the world (text to world connection). Making connections helps the reader understand and remember what they have read.

For this activity, the students were asked to write about a time they made something and it didn't last.

Stating My Opinion: Good readers are able to state their opinion about what they have read or something related to the text. This means that good readers can state their opinion and give reasons why they have that opinion. Stating our opinion is a way to communicate our thoughts and ideas to others.

For this activity, the students were asked to decide if they liked hot chocolate or chocolate milk best and write about why they liked that choice.

Writing About What We Read: Good readers are able to write about what they read. Writing about what we read is a way to communicate our thoughts and ideas to others.

For this activity, the students wrote about what they think snowmen do at night while we are sleeping.

The students worked hard throughout this unit and really demonstrated that they are using the strategies that good readers use when reading. You can help your developing reader at home by practicing visualizing and making connections while reading together. At the end of the story, ask your child their opinion. Then ask them to give you reasons why. Encourage them to give examples from the text.  The more practice they have the more they internalize the strategies. Happy Reading!

ScienceTellers

Today, ScienceTellers came to our school! 

ScienceTellers is an exciting program that combines science with storytelling. Nicole, the scienceteller told a tale of a pirate ship and some of the troubles it faced on its voyage. At exciting moments in the story she would stop and do a science experiment related to the story with volunteers. The students made lightning, clouds, wind, and more. It was so much fun! 

Thank you to the PTO for bringing this wonderful program to Fuller Meadow!