Fine Motor Skills

I love when I am thinking of a skill and then find the perfect resource to practice it!  Today in my newsletter, I included a little bit of information about working on fine motor skills.  Then at home I discovered this blog post from Differentiated Instruction.  The kiddos would love to do these at school; but I also thought they would be perfect to do at home.  Below I am including the link to this blog post.  I hope you find something that may be helpful for your child to fine tune their fine motor skills.

Having Fun with Fine Motor Skills

If you try an activity, let me know what you think!

Blogger of the Day - Trey

Our Blogger of the Day is Trey.

What do you do when the blogger of the day asks to take a picture of you....you take it!  

So here I am...

The next photo was taken during our Math lesson.  We are working on counting and writing the number five.

Blogger of the Day - Adah

It is my goal that each day we will have a "Blogger of the Day."  This is one of our class jobs so everyone will get a turn...and often!  It is my hope that you will get a daily picture of what is happening in our classroom.  And since students will be taking the pictures, they get to choose what they think is important.  While we do this, we will discuss how to be a good Digital Citizen and leaving a positive digital footprint!  Students will take the pictures and I will help them write the captions.  

Our first Blogger of the Day is Adah!

We read Chrysanthemum.  We talked about how words can crumple our hearts.

We are practicing Read to Self.  We are building our stamina.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

We made it through our first week of school!  Yeah!  This week we dove right into our Kindergarten routines and procedures.  It was a busy week getting to know my new kinder darlings, and let me just say, I am loving it!  This is going to be a great year!  

This week we had fun discovering what happened to the letters when they all went up the coconut tree in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Before reading we discussed the title and learned about the job of the author and illustrator.  These are great to go over when reading at home.  Of course, we had to make Chicka Chicka Boom Boom hats.

And of course, we needed a silly picture!

During our Language Arts time, we also learned about 3 ways to read a book.

1.  Read the words.

2. Read the pictures.

3. Retell the story.

Often my kindergarten friends think they can't read, but they can.  It is important for them to realize they can read the pictures.  Once they discover the details in the picture, they can create their own story.  They can also retell familiar stories.  This is another important way to read at home.  Ask them to read you a bedtime story!

We started choosing books for our book tubs and I LOVED watching them read their books with friends.  

First Day of Kindergarten

It's the first day of Kindergarten!  This can always be an exciting and overwhelming time for students....and parents.  I myself have sent three little darlings off to school so I understand some of the emotions many of you may have been feeling today.  

Hopefully these photos can give you a little picture of our first day!  

Check out my new kindergarten friends!

Here are some more pictures from our day!  They are a little mixed up.

Mrs. Leihsing came into our class for Music. 

 
We colored a picture to show how we colored on our first day of kindergarten.

Let's be honest, they really wanted to explore all the toys and manipulatives we have in our classroom.  This was a great opportunity from them to get to know one another, share, and review how to pick up when we are finished.

We started the day off with Play-Doh!  This was a hit!  We have very creative friends!

It was a great day!  I am sure they went home tired.  I am very excited for this school year!

Zebras

This week we used informational text to learn about zebras.  We created this tree map with our new facts about zebras. The kiddos helped to spell many words, or we referred back to our text to see how to spell some words.

We used our tree map to write at least three sentences about zebras.  Our sentences and our zebras are displayed in the hallway.  

During the next week, we will do the same for lions and giraffes while we prepare for our trip to the zoo!

100 Club

One of the goals we have for the end of the year is for all students to be able to count to 100.  Last week I sent a note home about the 100 Club.  Have your child practice at home and when you think they can make it, sign the paper and I will have them count for me at school.  When they make it all the way, they write their name in the 100 Club and get a special treat! 

I know counting all the way to 100 can be exhausting and sometimes frustrating!  Encourage them to have fun with it.  Use a silly voice, clap a pattern, watch a youtube video clip.  There are some fun videos out there.  Also, looking at a hundreds chart can be helpful in the beginning.  

Here is one video we use at school to help practice!

If they are feeling discouraged, take a break!  We will continue practicing and encouraging at school!

Happy Counting!