It's hard to believe that we're halfway through September already! The students are doing wonderful!! I am truly blessed with another fabulous class this year! Thank you parents for choosing to send your children to our wonderful school!
During the first few weeks of school we have been busy learning about the routines of our school day. We've really acclimated well to our morning routine, beginning with Mr. Bell leading us all in prayer and the reading of the gospel message and then leading us in the Pledge of Allegience. After this is finished, we have our 'lunch tally' helper make tallies as I go through and check who is having hot, cold or a salad for lunch. Great math skills! Our 'office helpers' then take any notes, attendance and lunch count to the office. The 'milk helpers' take the count down to our cook, Ms. Sherry, and she fills their bag with the milk that we'll need for snack later in the morning.
After that is finished, we all head to the carpet area to do calendar and weather. We have helpers for both. Our job board is located next to our calendar and this year it's a Dalmation themed one entitled "Job Squad". The children have all enjoyed rotating through different jobs throughout the weeks.
We have started Show-N-Tell; we have 2 children do this each day. We do this right after calendar/weather time.
We then get into Reading. I love starting this time with a fun song or a poem. One of the children's favorite right now is 'Hip Hop Alphabop' by Jack Hartmann. I picked up this CD last year when I attended the Wisconsin Kindergarten Conference that was held near Madison.
We'll then get into our lesson, listening and reading a story and discussing the focus that we need to have while we read. Last week we focused on using the pictures to help read the story. This week we are focusing on noting details and discovering characters.
After Reading, we go to use the bathroom and wash up for snacks. Thank you for all the wonderful snacks that you've brought! I send home a 'OLL Kindergarten Snack Bag' with each child the night before it's their turn for snack...this seems to be working wonderfully!
After Snack we have a special...depending on the day we may have Computers or Gym class. Wednesdays are a bit different...due to Liturgy, we go to Liturgy at 9 AM, THEN we have Snack.
When the children return from their specials class of that day we do Math! They've been breezing through our Sorting and Classifying Chapter...we'll be into a new chapter next week! The children really enjoyed when we sorted by colors, as I treated them to M&Ms and had them sort them into color groups before they could eat them. Today we learned about Venn Diagrams and sorted by color AND shape. They all did wonderfully on this activity and enjoyed my use of hoola hoops to show the different sections. They also enjoyed fishing into the bucket during their turn to find a shape and tell which section it belonged to.
After Math, the children break up into small groups. I have Small Groups each day. Each day the children are broken up into 5 groups and rotate to do each activity throughout the week. This is wonderful because it really allows me time to work with one group closely each day to improve their reading skills. The group that I work with usually does some Guided Reading. It really gives me a great opportunity to work on each child's individual needs.
At 11:00 Mrs. Levings comes to our room and I go to her room to teach the 1st Graders Religion. The Kindergarteners go with Mrs. Levings as she takes them to use the bathroom and wash up to get ready for Lunch. The Kindergartners eat lunch at 11:15. I return to them down in the lunch room at 11:30, after Religion with 1st Grade is done and I've brought them down for their lunch time.
We eat lunch together and then go out for Recess around Noon. Recess is done at 12:30, and they come in and use the bathroom, get a drink and get ready for Rest Time. Rest Time is usually 20-30 minutes and I play some nice calming, quiet music. I let the children know that they don't HAVE to go to sleep, but they can if they want to, and I'll wake them when rest is done.
After Rest, we have Kindergarten Religion. We've really enjoyed talking about Creation and God's love for us. We've discussed all of the wonderful gifts that God has given to us and how we need to be thankful for them EVERY DAY! Along with Religion class, the Kindergarten go to Liturgy (Mass) on Wednesday mornings. Our Mass Buddies are the 5th graders. I must say that I am very impressed with how well the children are doing. Sitting still for Mass for 30-40 mintues can be hard for them! It's been so helpful that the 5th graders have been there to be good examples and help us know when to sit, stand and pay attention. We're all excited to buddy up on Friday to walk to Kreher Park with the 5th graders and get to know our Mass Buddies more and look for signs of God's creation (for religion), signs of Autumn (for science) and things that are Living and Nonliving (also for science).
After Religion, on Mondays and Wednesdays, we have Music; on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have Science or Social Studies. In Science we've been having lots of fun looking through our National Geographic for Young Explorers. This month we've learned about the weather, names of different animals groups and about living and nonliving things. In Social Studies we been talking about ourselves, our families and about the symbol of our flag for our country and saying the Pledge of Allegience.
At the very end of the day, the children then have Free Time. During this time they may choose to play with the blocks, cars, games, puzzles, dramatic play area, art area, paints, stamps and more! I love observing the children during this time...it's a great time to see how they interact with each other. It's also a great time for them to learn some problem solving skills and communication skills. It allows them the chance to practice what we talk about when we talk about using our words instead of hurting; compromising and getting along with others. And that's just the social/emotional aspect of playtime...they learn so much more with each different station or set of manipulatives.
When Free Time is done, we sing our little 'Clean Up' song and go back to our seats. I pass out their folders and notebooks and have the children go to their mailboxes and get their mail. Before they leave, I stamp each of their notebooks with either a green (for a good day), yellow (for an okay day) or red (for a 'not so good' day).
If you ever have any questions about school or about our day...please let me know! I can be reached at school during regular school hours at 715-682-7622 or by email at awestlund@ourladycs.org.
Please remember to get our Walking Field Trip permission slips in for this Friday and our Bayfield Apple Company Field Trip permission slips in by next week for Thursday's trip! We're still looking for drivers, so please let me know if you can! Thanks!!!
Have a blessed week!! I'm certainly enjoying the cooler temps and the Fall colors starting to emerge!
~Mrs. Westlund =)
