We had an amazing first week of school in the Kindergarten classroom. It was so much fun to meet all of our new classmates. We started our school year off by reading the story Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten. We read about all the different things Miss Bindergarten and her students do to get ready for the first day of Kindergarten. Then we each said something we did to get ready for school. This week we really worked on some of our daily routines like lining up, walking in the hallway, lunch time, and so on. Finally we did several Kissing Hand activities. We read four different books about Chester the Raccoon. We also made a Kissing Hand book, learned about being a bully, and created a Chester Raccoon.
Monday:
No School
Tuesday:
Happy First Day of School!
It was an exciting day in the Kindergarten classroom. After our morning flag ceremony and prayer, we were of to our classroom to meet up with our new friends. (There are 8 students in kindergarten this year.) We started our day by learning our morning routine. When we enter the school in the morning after our flag ceremony outside, it is our job to empty our back pack and hang it up. When we enter our classroom, we put our folder in our mailbox, put our name tag on the table, and put our chair down. Once our morning jobs are done, we get to find something to play with.
We started our morning by reading the story Miss Bindergarten Is Getting Ready For Kindergarten. We read about all the different things Miss Bindergarten and her students do to get ready for the first day of Kindergarten. Then we each said something we did to get ready for school.
Next we put away all of our supplies. First we separated out the things that have a “special” spot like the glue, baby wipes, paper plates, napkins, and kleenex. Then we added our names to our headphones, folders, notebook, and binder and put them away. The last thing was to put our supplies in our pencil box and cubby like pencils, erasers, scissors, crayons, paints, and paint shirt.
After snack, we listened to a bible story, the story of Creation. We listened to how God created everything around us from the land and water to the animals. Then we practiced acting like different animals. Ms. Torborg would call out an animal and we had to move and sound just like that animal.
During math, we were introduced to the calendar. We talked about what makes a calendar and why we use it. Then we started the calendar on the wall by adding some numbers in a AB pattern. As Ms. Torborg completed each part of the calendar on the wall we did in our calendar binders. We had to make a tally mark, graph the weather, check and graph the temperature, and write the number of days we have been in school.
After a little bit of free play time, we were off to our first music class with Mrs. McCarney. We were excited to see that the first graders join us for music. Then we had our first all school assembly. We start each week by meeting together as a whole school to pray together and share the different things that are happening throughout the week. Mrs. Kramer also shares with us different things that are happening through the week.
In the afternoon, Ms. Torborg read us a story about Chester the Raccoon, The Kissing Hand. Chester doesn’t want to go to school, so his mom tells/shows him a secret: The Kissing Hand. She kisses the palm of his hand. Then when he is missing her, he just needs to touch his check and he will know that his mom loves him. Our project today was to make a poster with our handprints around a poem of our first day of kindergarten. We each meet with Ms. Torborg so she could help us press our hands on a huge ink pad and put them on a special paper with a poem. Then we colored in the heart she drew in the center of each hand print.
We ended our day with some free time.
Wednesday:
Wow, what creative "Treasure Boxes"! It was wonderful to see all of the unique designs. (Don't worry if you have not made one yet, you still have time.) Each child took a turn standing in front of the class sharing how they created their box and who helped them. All of our treasure boxes were sent home. Now we have a spot to keep all of our precious papers and projects.
After completing our morning routine and a little free time, we listened to another bible story. This time we heard the story of when God created Adam and Eve. We heard God tell them they can eat from any tree except from the Tree of Knowledge. This lead to a discussion of what fruits grow on trees and our favorite fruits and vegetables.
We were introduced to several new things during our reading time. It started with Ms. Torborg explaining to us how to read a book by doing a picture walk. We start at the beginning of the book and tell a story by looking at each of the pictures. After Ms. Torborg showed how she does it, we each gave it a try. We took our reading bin to a quiet spot in the room, picked a book out, and created a story from the pictures. After 7 minutes, we came back together to talk about how it went. Then Ms. Torborg hung our first Reading Strategy up on our “CAFÉ” board to remind us to use the pictures to help tell the story. She also read us the story that goes with her picture walk book, Miss Nelson is Missing. As we listened to the story, we identified the things the kids were doing right and wrong and how things changed. The next part of our lesson dealt with the alphabet. First we sang the alphabet 3 different times starting out really slowly and ending pretty fast. We also played a Alphabet Bingo (abcya.com) on the SMARTboard. We took turns identifying the given letters on the bingo board. Together we were able to win several times.
We started our math time by completing our calendar binder. We completed each page just like yesterday. Then we got to play a game. Ms. Torborg gave us of us a piece of paper. It was our job to find the person with the same size paper. We had to work together to measure the pieces and compare the sizes. We had to determine if our piece was longer or shorter or the same size. We tried to see who could find their partner the fastest.
We say prayer several times a day. Each time we say prayer, we start with the Sign of the Cross. Today we started learning the proper way to do it. We start with our right hand. When we say “In the Name of the Father”, we touch our forehead. When we say “And of the Son”, we touch our chest. Then we say, “And of the Holy Spirit”. When we say Holy we touch our left shoulder and Spirit our right shoulder. The last word is Amen and we fold our hands in front of us.
During theme, we read the story A Pocketful of Kisses. Chester the Raccoon gets really jealous when his mother gave his little brother a kissing hand. But then Chester's mom gives him a very special gift, an extra kiss to keep in his pocket. Then we made a kissing hand book. We each made our own kissing hand. We started by having a partner trace our hand. Then we traced a heart in the middle. Finally, we colored it to look just like our hand with a red heart in the middle. When everyone has their page done, Ms. Torborg will bind it together to look like a book. Then we each get a chance to take it home to share with our family.
We ended our day with some free play time. We also each took a turn to meet with Ms. Torborg so she could get to know us a little better. We answered some questions like what is our favorite color or what do we want to learn in Kindergarten. She wrote down all of our answers and is going to make a special book for our class.
Thursday:
Our bible story this morning was about Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden
We started our reading lesson with a picture walk through the book David Goes to School. Ms. Torborg told us a story by looking at the pictures. It was a pretty funny story. Then we took some time to do a picture walk through the book in our reading bin. We could choose to read the same books as yesterday or pick different ones. When we came back together, Ms. Torborg read us the story, David Goes to School. It was pretty funny. Throughout the story, we talked about what David was doing and how he wasn’t being very respectful until the very end. Next we were introduced to a new game on the SMARTboard. We each took a turn finding the letter they asked for. We only got one turn because it was part of our station rotation which we moved right into. There were 4 different stations we worked on. 1st: Letter Identification on the SMARTboard 2nd: Letter Beads 3rd: Letter Magnets 4th: Alphabet Song on the iPad and Letter Id with Ms. Torborg. After we were at each station, we gathered as a whole group. Ms. Torborg introduced us to our first sight word, I. Together we looked through a book trying to find the word I. Each time we located the word, we put a little sticky flag next to it. We found the word I 7 times in the story. We were so excited, we tried to find the word I in some of the books in our reading bins. Each time we located it, we put a flag on it. When time was up, we shared our finding with a friend.
In math, we are learning about different shapes. Today, we examined the attribute blocks. (I can’t believe how smart everyone is!) We found a green triangle, tan rhombus, blue rhombus, orange square, red trapezoid, and yellow hexagon in the box. (Rhombus is a special name for a diamond.) Ms. Torborg also had pattern card that we could used to create different shapes.
In religion, we we talked about Saints. We know that saints are in heaven with God. That when they were on Earth, they lived just like Jesus did. They helped people, prayed to God, did things God asked them to do even when it was hard, etc… Today we learned a little bit about St. Theresa of Calcutta. She is also known as Mother Theresa. Her feast day is September 5th and she is the patron saint of Missionaries of Charity. St. Theresa heard God ask her to take care of the poor and sick especially the people who were dying, so she did. She spent her life taking care of people who were sick and teaching people to respect life.
During theme, we read the story Chester Raccoon and the Big Bad Bully. Before the story, we talked about what a bully is. We decided bullying can be pushing, shoving, hitting, and spitting, as well as name calling, picking on, making fun of, laughing at, and excluding someone. In our story, Chester Raccoon and friends suddenly don’t want to go to school anymore because there is a badger that is bullying them. Mrs. Raccoon gathers a group of forest animals together and tells them a tale that helps them find a solution to their problem. Chester and his friends learn that the best way to get rid of an enemy is to make a friend. Our project was to create Chester Raccoon. We spent our time today coloring all of the different parts. We had three different pages to color. Then we had to cut out the pieces we colored. Finally, we had to glue them together.
Friday:
It’s finally Friday! We had a spectacular first week of school. This week we really worked hard on listening for directions and waiting for the teacher to tell us to go before we start moving. We also practiced lining up, walking in a straight line, lunch routine, bathroom behavior, and so much more.
We started our morning with our first ride on the big blue bus to the church for Mass. For some of us, it was our first bus ride! We also all had a first this morning, attending Mass together as a whole school. We did a great job following directions and listening to Father.
In reading, Ms. Torborg did a picture walk with the book, Are Pirates Polite? She told a pretty silly story. Then we continued practicing picture walks with the books in our reading bins. We also looked for the word I. Each time we found it, we put a little flag on it. When we came back together as a class, Ms. Torborg read us the story, Are Pirates Polite? As we listened to the story, we identified the different ways the pirates were polite and respectful. Next Ms. Torborg reading us the story, A Kiss Goodbye. In this story, Chester's family is moving. Chester doesn't want to move and leave his favorite playing spot and friends. After Chester moves he finds new favorite playing spots and friends and things are so bad after all.
After lunch, we had our first library class. We each got to pick out a book to bring home. We have to remember to bring it back by next week. There is a bin in Ms. Torborg’s room for us to put our books in when we bring them back.
We ended our day with our Marathon Rally. We started by praying for the Marathon intentions. Then we did a little activity. We had to work together to collect water balloons. We divided into groups. Each group had to use the supplies give to make a boat and everyone had to contribute. When time was called, we got to check to see if our boat floated. We ended with our dance. Plus we found out that we have already brought in over $3600, so we earned our first prize. Before we went home, we each got a handful of candy.
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