Awards Ceremony

We had a great Awards Ceremony! We had a packed room full of moms, dads, babysitters, and grandmas. It was so nice to have all of those important people there to cheer for and celebrate the accomplishments of our amazing Kindergarteners for the second nine weeks. The students were exactly 100 days smarter on Awards Day!

100th Day Fun!!

We had such a fun day celebrating 100 days of Kindergarten! Students made something or wore something that had 100 things on it. Our students wore hats with 100 stickers, brought in 100 pennies, 100 pipe cleaners on a chain, and so much more! They were very creative. For me, the 100th day is always an amazing reminder of all of the previous Kindergarten classes that I have had and the good times that we had celebrating the 100th day. So it is my tradition to wear my 100th day shirt with all of the students' names that I have taught from my first year to this current year- I already had to extend names onto the back. And the 100 hair bows is another tradition that the students really seem to love! Students began their day by sharing their 100th day collections/items. Then they practiced counting by 1's, 5's, and 10's to the number 100.The students rotated through different centers that all had to do with the number 100. We were so fortunate to have a handful of moms to assist the students at the centers. Students painted, glued, drew, and wrote all kinds of things centering around the number 100. Students thought about something they would want 100 of and then something that they would not want 100 of. After centers, we read a book about how times were different 100 years ago. Students were shocked to learn that microwaves, jets, and televisions didn't always exist! During recess time, students made predictions about how far 100 steps would take them. It was a very busy, but very fun day!!

Partner Reading

Partner reading is an important part of our weekly Reader's Workshop. Students have grown so much as readers and matured as Kindergarteners. Students are encouraged to sit knee to knee and shoulder to shoulder. Other parts of this reading routine are for partners to only have one book out at a time so that they are both actively participating in looking at the book and book discussions. This week students go used on discussing the characters, setting, and details in the story. They are working on retelling in sequential order and discussing their favorite part and why. Partner reading allows for different level readers to learn from each other and also requires both students to actively listen.

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.

Last Friday I began my lesson by asking the kids to look at the colors on their clothes. Then I asked anyone who had red or pink on to go sit at their seats. The rest of the students remained on the floor  by me.  I told the students on the floor that today we were going to do some different things and have extra fun, but the kids who were wearing red or pink weren't allowed to join us-only WE were going to get to do these special things!  So we marched around and danced and were acting  silly. We stopped for a minute and I asked a few of the kids who were at their seats why they had mad or sad looks on their faces. Two different students said, "it's not fair" and "you are being mean, we want to have fun too." I explained that they had red or pink on so they weren't allowed to join us. I waited one more minute and then asked everyone to come and sit back on the floor. I asked everyone who liked the activity we just did to raise their hand. As expected, everyone who sat at their seats and didn't get to participate didn't raise their hand. Interestingly, one or two students who did get to participate in the fun didn't raise their hand either. When I asked one of them why they didn't like the activity they said they didn't have fun because it wasn't fair that the other kids didn't get to have fun too! I explained that the activity was just a pretend exercise but that years ago this was how people felt because the rules/laws were that people with black skin and people with white skin weren't allowed to do some of the same things-they couldn't go to the same schools, restaurants, bathrooms, etc. We talked about how this doesn't even make sense to us, but it was the rule/law years ago. We talked about Martin Luther King Jr and how he worked so hard to stand up for what was right, just like the student in our class that tried to stand up for the kids who wore "red and pink."  I think the kids did a great job at understanding how lucky we are to be able to go to schools, churches, restaurants, playgrounds, etc. no matter what color our skin is. They also did a great job at realizing the importance of standing up for what is right! Our follow up activity was to draw and write about a dream that they have to make the world a better place. Their dreams ranged from saving the wildcats from being extinct, to stop people from smoking, to not littering, and not bullying. It's very ironic that at 5 or 6 years old kids already see the amazing potential to take a stand and change the world! Watch out world-these amazing kids are going to do amazing things!

Field Trip Fun

We had a great time going to the JCA to see the Amelia Bedelia play. Of course the bus ride was so much fun! The kids also really enjoyed the live acting!