Kindergarten Writers and Scientists

This week we turned into writers!! I LOVE the writing process in kindergarten.  Our writing at this point of the year is made up of the high frequency words that we are learning and inventive spelling.  In kindergarten, we write words the way that they sound...which is perfectly okay! We practice stretching out the words to hear as many sounds as we can in each word.  At the beginning of the year, teachers rotate around the classroom and help students to stretch out the words that they need to sound out.  Soon, their confidence as writers will grow and they will begin to stretch and sound words out on their own.  This week we wrote every morning and you can already see a difference!  We discussed the difference between words and letters, why we need to use spaces between words and using an ending mark like a period. This week each kindergartner began writing their own "I See" book.  Check out these examples of kindergarten writing in October...

I see ghosts.

I see Batman.

I see pumpkins.

We are so lucky that Mrs. Maynard is kind enough to come and read to us in kindergarten.  For many students it was fun to see a familiar face from the town library.  For other students it was a great introduction to meet our town librarian, Mrs. Maynard. Mrs. Maynard will be back to read again next month.  Usually in January we take a trip to the town library to get our very own library card...always one of the highlights of kindergarten.

Mrs. Maynard reads in kindergarten.

We had a beautiful afternoon to go outside and observe some of the signs of Fall.  Our class really enjoyed exploring in the woods which makes me think they will love snowshoeing this winter!  Each kindergartner kept track of what they found using a scavenger hunt checklist.  It was a perfect afternoon!

Ready to begin...

Parker and Tristan work together.

There were many signs of Fall in the woods and on the playground.

There was also plenty of silliness.

Some of the hardest things to spot on the checklist were birds.
We had to wait patiently and quietly to see one.

Everyone loved being outside.

More silliness. Who doesn't love kindergarten??

We enjoyed our time working with our artist in residence, Ms Lizz.  She taught us about the art of mosaics.  We all worked on the mosaics by placing pieces of glass to help create a picture. We tried to get the pieces of glass to fit together.  It was just like a puzzle!  The art for the murals were created by older students.  The murals will be on display soon.

Ms. Lizz gives us the final directions before working on the mural.

We worked on the mural in small groups while the
rest of the class worked on the rug.

We looked for pieces of glass that fit together like
a puzzle.

Max and Makayla work as a team.

Amelia and Kameron work to fill the background
with pieces of glass.

We've been having a ton of fun growing as a community. I look forward to meeting with all of you during parent conferences.  I will send home a reminder for your conference time this week.