A Little Older - A Lot Wiser - and Even More Blessed

Boy - What a day!   It was such a fun fun day.  I can't feel anything but young at heart today.  If you haven't already heard, the teacher turned 50 today!  The boys and girls filled my  day with smiles and laughter as they walked into the classroom wearing their "my teacher turned 50 today" stickers.  The tons of hugs, smiles, well wishes, and cards from so many students past and present just reminded me of why and how much I LOVE teaching!

It wasn't all party time in Kindergarten today.  In reading, we started blending our two sounds a and m to form the word am.  They learned how to say the word slowly, then sing the sounds, and finally read the word.  Have your little one demonstrate this at home.  This is the procedure we will use to sound out unknown words.  We also read sentences using our popcorn words and photo cards.  Today's sentence was We see the ______. They were nothing but smiles when they discovered just how easy it is to read.

We also had a little science mixed in with our reading today.  (which is another reason I love this new reading series) -   many of our literature selections are science and social studies based.  We discussed mammals and their characteristics and how some mammals are nocturnal.  See if your Kindergartner can tell you what a mammal is and what nocturnal means.

Thanks to all of those who have helped the start of our insect exhibit.  The jumbo magnifying glasses are out and all insects are ready to be inspected.  Real life learning is so much fun and the children remember it better as it has more meaning to them.  To help our room feel more comfortable for our new crawly little friends, we started  making our lady bug windsocks today.  We will finish them up tomorrow and have them ready to be hung in our classroom in time for Parent-Teacher conferences.

In Math, we have been working on number formation for numbers 1-4.  We have also introduced our first two shapes - circle and rectangles.  We used crackers - you guessed it - circle and rectangle shaped to help introduce the concept.  We love any excuse to eat in Kindergarten!

Special thanks to all my Kindergarten Kiddos, wonderful colleagues, and friends for making this a truly Wonderful Wednesday.  Now I am going to go home and take a nap!!!  I guess you get to do that when you're my age!

Your child's teacher ,
Mrs. Straight