I survived the first full week back with my Kinders. It was a long week and we were able to get A LOT accomplished!
- Monday was an introduction of our classmates. We read The Gingerbread Man, and discussed how a gingerbread man got lost at our school. We read clues around the school to visit the most important areas: cafeteria, office, gym, music, computer lab, art, library, and the playground! The kids really enjoyed their "gingerbread" snack back in the classroom. A little scoop of cinnamon Teddy Grahams was close enough to a gingerbread for the class. We sang several songs and played many 'games' to help everyone feel comfortable.
- David Goes to School was another hit for the beginning of our week. The kids enjoyed spotting the many rules David broke. This led us to discuss what rules we should do and not do. This is artistic as I get...
- Later in the week, we read Pete the Cat, as we began discussing colors. If you haven't heard or read this book, it's a must! I love my white shoes.... I love my white shoes... And, of course, it's not the same unless you play the music that comes along with the book!
- Chrysanthemum taught us how to be a good friend by using kind words. We compared our own names to Chrysanthemum's 13-letters name. We continued taking pride in our names by creating a "tear-art" of our own names.
- Toward the end of the week, many students were feeling sad and ready to stay home with mom. This was an appropriate time to bring out one of my favorites, The Kissing Hand. As soon as we read the story we practice saying, "I love you," in sign language. They loved this!
- The Day the Monster Came to School helped us reiterate rules and expectations in the classroom. We all decided we didn't want any monsters in our classroom, we all chanted with the story, "Go away!" The following day, we continued the monster theme by reading Go Away, Big Green Monster. Each student had an opportunity to retell the stories with separate pieces of the monsters face. Go away purple scraggly hair! Go away big green face! As a fun Friday activity, we made our own monsters! We created them using a glyph. These turned out really well. Braving the water colors on Day 5 made me nervous, but they did a great job!
After MANY stories, we learned how to be respectful, responsible, and ready in our classroom. Many lessons were learned and we are heading toward a great year. Once we begin our rigid curriculum, I am going to make an effort to slow everything down and dig deep into our activities.
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