I have to say, this week has been a huge success. In fact, Mr. Ploof and I have found ourselves repeating the same conversation about how great the class is, how quickly all the kids adjusted, and how much we love our little group! We owe much of it to all of you--so, thank you for preparing your kiddos over the summer for what had the potential to be a stressful and intimidating leap into "big kid school". They've handled everything beautifully.
The first few days can be tricky. There's a lot to go over as far as routines of the day and both school and classroom expectations. It takes effort to make sure there's time for the fun and games, especially when you have a half day thrown in there!
We talked about what "A Good Classmate" is like, and turned our ideas into a poster that will hang in the room. The kids all got to make a little booklet about the first day of school. The book had a lot of coloring in it, but it also let them discuss their feelings about coming to school and what they hope to learn about this year! I'll make sure that we check of everyone's wish list by the end of the year...promise!
On Thursday, we spent some time exploring the different areas of our classroom. During our math block, the kiddos got to circulate through 5 centers with various math manipulatives that we will use throughout the year. They got to build and count and work together in small groups or pairs. They were also given time to "book shop" in our classroom library, use our Reading Wants during some independent reading time, and "write the room". Each kiddo was given their reading bin where they will keep sight words, their Just Right books, and a writing binder.
Friday was pretty Ziggle Zaggle, as I like to call it. It looked basically nothing like our Fridays will usually look. We started our morning by meeting our Big Buddies! This year, we have the 5th grade class and Mrs. Gillis leading us as our BBs. Since we have such a small class, and she has such a big class, our Kinder Crew is lucky enough to (mostly) have 2 BBs a piece! After meeting our new friends, we headed to our first school Mass of the year. Our class did a great job, especially for having a few who had never had an experience like this before! I really couldn't have asked for (or even imagined!) better behavior. We also took a short math "pretest" to help me plan our math small groups, made "Welcome to CKS!" cards for Monsignor McDermott, practiced for a fire drill (a serious thing that they totally rocked), and sang several silly songs on the rug. Not to mention snack, gym, lunch, recess, and art class!
It was a very busy and full week...and it was only 3 days long!
This coming week, will begin our first units in reading, writing, math, and social studies. While they will have their first week of more structured classwork, we will not begin homework until the week of Labor Day. We'll be easing them in a little at a time! :)
I hope all of your kiddos had a great first week! Mr. Ploof and I are feeling really great about how this week went and think it is a great indication of the year ahead. We're loving this class!!!
Enjoy the weekend, and we'll see you all tomorrow!
-Miss Thompson
The first few days can be tricky. There's a lot to go over as far as routines of the day and both school and classroom expectations. It takes effort to make sure there's time for the fun and games, especially when you have a half day thrown in there!
We talked about what "A Good Classmate" is like, and turned our ideas into a poster that will hang in the room. The kids all got to make a little booklet about the first day of school. The book had a lot of coloring in it, but it also let them discuss their feelings about coming to school and what they hope to learn about this year! I'll make sure that we check of everyone's wish list by the end of the year...promise!
On Thursday, we spent some time exploring the different areas of our classroom. During our math block, the kiddos got to circulate through 5 centers with various math manipulatives that we will use throughout the year. They got to build and count and work together in small groups or pairs. They were also given time to "book shop" in our classroom library, use our Reading Wants during some independent reading time, and "write the room". Each kiddo was given their reading bin where they will keep sight words, their Just Right books, and a writing binder.
Friday was pretty Ziggle Zaggle, as I like to call it. It looked basically nothing like our Fridays will usually look. We started our morning by meeting our Big Buddies! This year, we have the 5th grade class and Mrs. Gillis leading us as our BBs. Since we have such a small class, and she has such a big class, our Kinder Crew is lucky enough to (mostly) have 2 BBs a piece! After meeting our new friends, we headed to our first school Mass of the year. Our class did a great job, especially for having a few who had never had an experience like this before! I really couldn't have asked for (or even imagined!) better behavior. We also took a short math "pretest" to help me plan our math small groups, made "Welcome to CKS!" cards for Monsignor McDermott, practiced for a fire drill (a serious thing that they totally rocked), and sang several silly songs on the rug. Not to mention snack, gym, lunch, recess, and art class!
It was a very busy and full week...and it was only 3 days long!
This coming week, will begin our first units in reading, writing, math, and social studies. While they will have their first week of more structured classwork, we will not begin homework until the week of Labor Day. We'll be easing them in a little at a time! :)
I hope all of your kiddos had a great first week! Mr. Ploof and I are feeling really great about how this week went and think it is a great indication of the year ahead. We're loving this class!!!
Enjoy the weekend, and we'll see you all tomorrow!
-Miss Thompson