Arts Day

Once a year we have arts day.  Kids go to 4 workshops throughout the day, choosing from about 20 that are being offered.  We always hope to have family volunteers lead workshops, so if you have an interest or an idea, hopefully we'll see you next year!

Here are some of the things kids made:

One of our friends is teaching classmates how to use something she made in the workshop Historical Arts and Crafts.

 Mrs. Belanger and I teamed up for Painting in Circles.  We all had a great time creating a collaborative art project.  The finished pieces will be hanging up in the cafeteria for all to enjoy!

 

November 6-9

We start our days by going to fine motor stations.  The activities are mostly chosen to help kids strengthen the muscles in their fingers and hands which helps kids with writing and cutting. At the same time, we are often reinforcing letter naming, letter sounds, and counting work.

Since the beginning of the school year, we have been teaching children about feelings and to recognize how their bodies feel when they are experiencing different emotions.  Throughout the school day, there may be times when kids feel frustrated or like their "engine is going too fast".  Mrs. Libby and I have taught children various ways of calming down, whether it's using the breathing ball or using our hands to help us practice deep breathing.  I thought you might like to see the video that Mrs. Libby showed the kids on Wednesday to go along with High 5 breathing.

The last couple of weeks

The kindergartners partnered with their 5th grade buddies to present one of our BCS core values, hopefulness, to the rest of the school during one of our Monday assemblies.  Mr. Crowe made a video of kids talking about what they are hopeful about and everyone in the school was given a chance to write and draw what they are hopeful about.  Please take a moment to read some of these when you're at school for conferences.

Each class at BCS read the book The Curious Garden by Peter Brown to explore the idea of being hopeful.  I would be happy to lend this book to anyone who would like to read this at home!

Mrs. Libby taught one of her most important lessons: Big Problem/Little Problem!  Kids discussed the types of problems we mostly have at school and discovered that most of them are either glitches or little problems.  Kids talked together about how these problems could be solved appropriately.  Mrs. Libby taught us that little problems should have little reactions.

Mrs. Libby had some typical scenarios from kindergarten and children discussed the types of problems they were and how they could be solved, problems like: cutting in line, forgetting your folder, not getting the color scissors you wanted. 

Mrs. Libby often ends her lesson with a game of hot potato.

This game is SOOO much fun!

In Writing Workshop we have been looking closely, sketching accurately, and writing labels to describe what we see.  Kids are deciding which labels they would like to write, stretch the words out slowly, and write the sounds they hear.

Our worms have arrived!  Last year, one of my students was very concerned about the amount of food waste we were throwing away after our two daily snacks.  Mr. Hall was able to invite a local vermicomposter to our school to teach our students about composting with worms.  There is one worm bin that travels from classroom to classroom, but our kindergarten class is lucky to have our very own!  We save our fruit and vegetable snacks and feed them to the worms once a week. 

Mr. Hall taught the kids how to separate the rich compost from the worms.  Almost everyone wanted to hold a worm!

Please look at our beautiful artwork hanging in the hall the next time you visit our class!

The beginning of October

In Reading Workshop we have been learning to read books by looking at the pictures, using story language, and using character voices.  One of our favorite books to practice character voices with is the Three Billy Goats Gruff!  During Reading Workshop we have time to read alone and time for partner reading.  When we read with a partner, we sit knee to knee, hip to hip, and elbow to elbow.

We spent some more time in the garden with our buddies on Friday.  We helped them pick beans, which they will sell later in the year to raise funds for their trip to Boston.

Chief Garrepy and Firefighter Brown visited us as part of Fire Prevention Week.  As homework, they asked each kindegartner to talk with their families about a meeting place outside the home in case of fire and asked kindergartners to remind their parents to check the batteries in smoke detectors.