Setting Goals

In our assembly last week, we learned about setting goals. Mrs. Beyer's nephew showed his talent of riding a unicycle. He told us that this was his goal and it took a lot of effort to get there, but he worked hard and now he can ride his unicycle! 

We are setting our own goals in kindergarten! You will see your child's during their conference. 

"I will learn to read."

"I will learn to be a dancer."

"I will learn to ride a horse."

Computer Lab

In the computer lab we start with ABC Mouse. Later in the year we will also be doing RAZ Kids. While doing learning games, we are working on 21st century computer skills. The kids are learning to maneuver a mouse, click, problem solve and more! 

Anastasia traces an A for her name. 

Melanie traces the word six.

Olivia works on letter puzzles. 

You also have access to abc mouse at home! I sent home your free access code and you can enjoy these fun learning games from your home. 

Calendar 

Each month, our calendar has a pattern. We read a poem today and it helped us figure out the pattern! The colors go red, green, yellow, brown. The directions go up, to the right, down, and to the left.

Patterns

We are learning about patterns this week. Yesterday we used pats, claps, and snaps to make patterns. Today we used kids! We made AB, AAB, and ABB patterns with boys and girls. 

Second Steps Social Skills

Our social skills curriculum is called Second Steps. We have learned how to be a listener and a learner and are now working on understanding and managing our feelings. Today we listened to a story about this girl, Samarah. She had a tummy ache, was breathing fast, and her heart was beating fast because her grandpa was sick. We learned that our bodies give us signals that tell us how we are feeling. Samarah's body told her that she was upset and worried. This is important for all kids to know how to do. Help your child identify their emotions based on the clues their bodies give them. 

Number Corner

Today was day 20 in kindergarten! We filled up two ten frames and have two link chains of ten. And we know that is 20. We also wrote on our number line each day and got to 20.

Also during number corner, we work with our calendar. We are trying to figure out this pattern of leaves. Can you and your child predict what will be coming up later this month?

One of our favorite number corner games is spinning for cubes. We spin our spinner and a lucky listener gets to stick their hand in our sock jar to pull out that many cubes. Then we figure out all the addition combinations for that number and finally add it to the week's pocket. Lots a math going on in kindergarten! 

Special Visitors: Fire Fighters!

We had the Corvallis Fire Department visit all the kindergarten classes today! They began by telling us about their equipment and showed us that it's just a person under all those layers. 

Fire fighter Neil sounded funny in his mask, but we weren't scared of him! He is there to help us!

Easton got to touch his glove! He wasn't scared! 

Parker wasn't scared either! 

Ahren was excited to touch the fire fighter's glove! 

The fire truck was so cool! 

Look at all that equipment in the truck! 

We made the fire fighters a big card and they displayed it on the dash of their truck! 

The jaws of life! 

 

Our class! 

Beat You To Five

Our new math work place was a huge hit today! We learned to play Beat You To Five. In this game we spin and add those cubes to our side. We try and make exactly five. While playing this game, we have been focusing on being a good team player. If we lose, we tell the other player, "good game," instead of being sad. I wrote three eagle eggs today for great team work during the game! 

Halle and Easton gave each other a handshake at the conclusion of their game.

Ben and Parker were good sports during their game. 

Free Choice

Free choice is very important in kindergarten. Kids are learning to work with others, share, and they develop language and imagination. Today we received our last set of animal critters: pill bugs and sow bugs. 

We also pulled out our shells and rocks to explore. What did your child notice about these?