This morning I stepped outside and heard my first flock of geese flying by. The first sign of family gatherings before they begin to migrate. It is fun to think of geese having a family reunion around this time!

Another sign of fall is the production of seeds in many plants. In ECO, students watched a puppet show about seeds and how seeds travel. This is a great time to gather seeds for the spring!

In Literacy, students are listening to stories and acting them out through puppets and play.  We began writing our first story this week. Every day we are surrounded by little stories.  It is fun and beneficial to point out these moments - taking a bike ride, going to the Harvest Market, or having a picnic outside are all little stories they could share and write about!

First Grade Math - Students examined the important parts of addition story problems.  They used the information from the problem to construct an equation and solve the problem.  Next week we will be exploring subtraction strategies. 

Kindergarten Math- Some of our routines consist of taking attendance (helps connect the counting numbers to quantities they represent), counting, and today's question (where we discuss data collected and compare the results). Students began a new unit this week where we will focus on counting and representing quantities.  

Fun highlights of the week: UCS Annual Zucchini race, Open House, and we had a Herb of the week which was Lemon Balm. We got to know this plant well with our senses- students loved the tea-tasting and baking cookies! On Friday we had a drop what you are doing and read with all of Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders! ❤📖📚

Notes: 

*Book Fair this week at school! Students will get a preview on Monday and then be able to shop at 

       Library time on Tuesday or after school with a parent!

*I will be out Tuesday afternoon for an appt.

*I will be out Wednesday morning for Professional Dev.

*Fall Conference sign-up will be sent out this week. 

*Picture day this Friday 10/4

                      

Autumn is here!  The leaves are beginning to change and soon enough the cold weather will be here.  For now we will gladly enjoy these beautiful September days! 

During our ECO time this week we read a book about the coming of Fall and then found a sit spot, a quiet spot in the woods to journal some observations. Students continue to find new creative ways to perform on our outdoor theater.   This week I will be completing the thank you package to Donor's Choose to thank the donators for this project! A few pictures will be submitted of students performing on the stage.

This week we celebrated International Dot Day and the International Day of Peace.  Our Peace assembly was a beautiful gathering of students and staff coming forward to build a collective mandella around our peace pole.  

We began our Word Of The Week -W.O.W!  Once a week students will be introduced to a new delicious word.  We will include this word in our journals. By the end of the year students will have a journal filled with wonderful words that they can use in their speech and writing!   Our first word was  twinkled. We read the endearing story of Leo the Lightning bug to introduce this word. 

Kindergarten Math students continue to practice composing and decomposing groups of 5, number identification and formation.  Students are learning through games, songs, and are getting familiar with the 5 frame.  

First Grade Math students started working on addition story problems.  They are learning to use multiple strategies to solve the problem in the most efficient way. These strategies include math models, number line, and 10 frames.  Nex week, we will introduce subtraction, story problems, and games to practice fact fluency.  

Open House: This Tuesday 9/24  from 6-7  Open house is a wonderful time for your child to show you some of the fun things we have been doing in Kindergarten and First grade! Please know there will be many families in the classroom so we cannot have a private conversation about your child. Fall conferences will be happening in mid-October so I will send a sign-up for that very soon!

Hike, Classroom Rules, and Dreams for the Year!

What a gorgeous month September is. What have you noticed and wondered about lately? Kindergartners and First graders took to the trails this week and took a wonder walk.  The book we read left us wondering some interesting thoughts.  We had a lovely time frolicking through the woods, field, and enjoyed a picnic while listening to the crickets, Jays, and crows.  

Kindergartners enjoyed creating puppets for two songs this week.  These type of songs help students with math, language, and literacy skills. And don't forget the fun factor!  I hope they put on a performance for you at home. Kindergarteners also dove into our Heggerty lessons. Heggerty is a program that we use that works on Phonolgical Awareness.  Daily we practice manipulating phonemes (sounds) through language play.  They are learning to isolate the first and last sound in a word, repeat rhyming words, count the words in a sentence when they hear one, and manipulate compound words. They are rocking it!

First grade math - Students are continuing to work on using efficient counting strategies.  In addition, students learned how to log on to their iPad and work independlty in a math program called Happy Numbers.  Next week we will start learning strategies to solve addition word problems.  

SEL - This week we talked about how we can have many types of emotions.  These emotions can tell you the zone that you or somebody is in.  The ideal spot is the green zone but we all fluctuate in and out of these zones. We can use strategies like slow breathing, take a break, ask for a hug, or talk to someone about our feelings to help navigate back to the green zone. 

                                                Sorry, these videos won't always be so long.  

                                              There is just so much to capture in the beginning!

Notes:

*Hearing and Vision screening will begin next week for kindergarten, 1st grade, and 3rd grade students.

*ECO will be on Wednesday afternoons and Thursday mornings during early dismissal weeks.

*Sept 24 - Tuesday UCS Open House (6:00 - 7:00p)

*Sept 26 - Thursday School Picture Day (27th - Rain Date)

The Ants Go Marching!

                                🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜

September has started off beautifully with sunshiny days!  Kindergarteners and First graders are settling into routines nicely and realizing that working together has its benefits.  We are looking to an ant colony for inspiration.  Ants are social creatures who work hard together to keep their colony running smoothly. Starting next week each student will have a job for the week which will help our classroom to run smoothly!

This week we talked about the importance of using whole body listening and having arrow eyes on the speaker.  When we listen with our bodies (keeping our bodies calm) when someone is speaking to us it helps us take in what they are saying, as well as it makes that person feel good that you are listening to them.  

We also talked about how we all have our wonderful, unique brains!  Our brains have thoughts.  We can imagine that we have thought bubbles that float over our heads.  These thoughts can often be categorized by being green (thoughts that make you and others feel good), yellow ( thoughts that can be okay to say to some people but not others, be cautious with these), and red   (hurtful thoughts that make others feel uncomfortable, mad, or sad). We talked about how our thoughts can be like a garden and we want our garden to be blooming beautiful flowers!  Students worked on making a flower that will be hung in our classroom to remind us to grow beautiful thoughts, words, and deeds!

Kindergarten Math- Students were introduced to the word attributes.  We looked at the attributes of buttons (round, square, 4 holes, etc.) and shapes (3 sides, 4 corners or vertices, etc).  

First Grade Math update from Mrs. Hackett- This week First Graders worked on getting to know our math community and learning the expectations of math time. Our current focus is counting and quantity. Learners explored counting boxes and efficient counting strategies.

Lastly, Kindergartners were welcomed to UCS at our All School Morning Meeting on Friday and received a carnation from the 4th graders. 💮

Notes

 *Our consistent ECO time will be moving to Wednesday afternoons for now.

Early Dismissal this Wednesday. 

Sept 24 - Tuesday UCS Open House (6:00 - 7:00p)

Sept 26 - Thursday School Picture Day (27th - Rain Date)