Gingerbread Unit

I hope everyone is having a relaxing break!  Tomorrow I will be off to visit family in Columbus, OH and Pittsburgh, PA.  

I wanted to share some pictures of the students during our Gingerbread Unit.  Students seems to really enjoy and connect with this unit.  We had so much fun reading different versions of stories, acting out the story, singing songs about the Gingerbread Man, counting cookies, making gingerbread houses, and decorating gingerbread cookies! The last day of our unit, my mom was able to come in and spend the afternoon in Kindergarten.  The students were very interested and confused as they asked, "Miss Gilbert, you're a grown up.  You have a mom??"  My mom, Mrs. Gilbert, read the students a Gingerbread story, answered many questions, and helped us decorate gingerbread cookies.  The students were sad to see her go, but I'm sure she'd be more than willing to come back! :) 

Take a look at some pictures from our unit! 

Working on our Gingerbread houses...

Mrs. Gilbert reading Gingerbread Friends By Jan Brett

Decorating our Gingerbread Cookies

The whole silly bunch! 

Comparing Gingerbread Stories

For the past two weeks, we have been reading different versions of the Gingerbread Man.  Students have been so excited each time I pull out another version.  After we read the stories, we discuss the book and compare it to previous versions that we have read.  To do this, I created a chart that shows a picture of the cover of the book and 4 categories: the title, the characters, the repeated phrase, and the ending of the book.  I decided to attempt to get 'crafty' and make our chart into a gingerbread house.  Needless to say it didn't turn out exactly how I had imagined it-but the kids still thought it was awesome! :)

Which version was your student's favorite?

Book Exchange

Yesterday, students were giving the opportunity to pick a book and take it home to add it to their home library.  The students were very excited to be getting a book to keep.  Here are some pictures of the students sharing their books!

6 Simple Things

1. Watching students give each other a high 5 after a game of dice.
2. Listening to students read books on their own.
3. Getting a Starbucks coffee on my way to school.
4. Observing students during Gingerbread stories.
5. Our AB pattern movements.
6. Skyping with my family in Chicago.

6 simple things

Life has been moving so fast lately I feel like I haven't had time to reflect on myself and my teaching.  I'm finally settling into my new apartment and life is returning to (somewhat) normal speed!  So here we go...the six simple things making me smile this week:

1. Being back at Fox Hill with my cheerful Kindergarteners
2. My new nephew, Michael Christian.
3. Watching my students being independent problem solvers during station time.
4. The smell of my new holiday candle.
5. Students making new friends and being sure to remember their old ones
6. Getting new books to add to our classroom library.

What has you smiling this week?

Little Red Hen

We have been learning about Harvests in our current IB unit.  To help us understand, we have been reading various versions of The Little Red Hen.  Yesterday, we read our final version: The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.  Students got to act out the play (They are great actors!) and afterwards, we all make a mini pizza.  We had a fun afternoon and made many memories.  Check out some photos below:

Students enjoying their pizza

 Students acting out The Little Red Hen

Author's Celebration

Friday before Thanksgiving Break the students were able to share their writing during a special time that I call, Author's Celebration.  We invited families to come and listen to their student's writing.  Students also could pair up to share their stories, or come to a small group setting with myself and Mr. Alumbaugh.  It was a wonderful time!  We will be hosting another celebration in December.  Hope to see you then!

Learning Manners

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving a little early by having lunch in the classroom.  Before we ate, we talked about different manners that we should use while we are eating.  Here is what we learned:

Jamiya said: Don’t put your elbows on the table.

Saniyah: Don’t eat with your hands!

Jabes: Don’t put your face in your food.

Lewis: You say, "Please pass the pasta!"

Brianna: Put your napkin on your lap.

Tajuan: Don’t make a mess! Use a napkin or a placemat!

Camrin: Don’t put your tray on your head!

Noah: I learned not to put my feet on the table.

Aidan: Say please and thank you.

Asia: Don’t lick your fingers.

Riviera: Don’t sit on your food.

Aundrea: Wait for everyone to sit down before you start eating.

Dilan: Don’t stand on the table.

Chew with your mouth closed!!

Erica: Don’t blow your nose at the table.

We had a great lunch talking with friends, listening to music, and enjoying our 'fire' on the Promethean board.  Happy (Early) Thanksgiving! 

6 Simple Things

Coming a day early this week....

1. Students giggling at the word 'but' during phonics time.
2. Hearing the students cheer each other on when someone wins a game.
3. Signing the lease to my new apartment!
4. The class enjoying seeing pictures of each other when they were babies.
5. Being Kindergarten Pen Pals with Mrs. Gray's class.
6. Watching the students create scenes with our new puppets (Thank you Mrs. Pfadt!!).
BONUS! Starting November, the best month of the year!!

Fall Fun

Yesterday, I decided that we needed a fun afternoon activity to keep the kids engaged and not too focused on the pounds of candy they were about to eat.  We use shaving cream to practice writing our sight words.  There were a few student who were hesitant to squish the shaving cream, but soon enough, became comfortable playing and writing in the shaving cream. It was a messy, but great afternoon!

Indy Parks

Yesterday, we had a visitor come to our room from Indy Parks. Our visitor's name is Mrs. Roche and she will be coming once a month to teach us about animals.  The first animal we learned about was spiders.  I was a little nervous since I'm scared of spiders, but the kids loved it.  Here's what we learned:

Jayla: I learned not to smush spiders.
Caleb: You put rubber on a dead spider and then you can keep it as long as you want.
Sedric: Don't step on spiders!
Asia: I learned not to kill spiders.
Ava: Leave spiders outside where they belong.
Carlos: Some spiders make webs but some don't. Wolf spiders hunt for food.
Kennedy; If you want to pick up spiders you need to get a cup and a piece of paper.
Jabes: Don't pick the spiders up with your hands. 
Aidan: The things that make the webs are on the bottom of the spider.
Mya: The spider webs are sticky  so the bees will stick to it.
Jamiya: You don't have to touch spiders, you can just look at them.
Sebastian: We got to see spiders!

Patterns

We had a busy week!  Students were learning about patterns and were able to use many different manipulatives through the course of the week.  On Friday, students made noodle bracelets that had used patterns.  Below you can see pictures of students creating patterns during discovery time.

Fall Break

I hope everyone is enjoying their time off this week.  I have been busy visiting family in Chicago.  Today, I took some time to plan for my lessons and realized how much I missed my students!  I just wanted to share a favorite picture of the students enjoying their books.  Hope you all have a safe and relaxing rest of the week!

Read to Self

Students have been participating in a daily time that we call Read to Self.  Students are able to take a book that they have in their book bags and 'read' the books quietly at their tables.  Students can read the words, look at the pictures or retell the story.  These are important strategies for our students to learn and work on daily.  Here is a picture of our friend Caleb enjoying Read to Self time:

What is your favorite book to read with your student at home?

6 Simple Things

Here's what is making me smile this week...

1. Students being able to sign their names in Sign Language.
2. Asking great questions to get to know more about our Student of the Day.
3. Students finding sight words in our classroom library books, on signs around the school, and on papers that get sent home.
4. Counting by 10's during calendar time.
5. Greeting each other in different languages each morning
6. Being fortunate enough to go to two different workshops this week to continue to better myself as an educator.

Here are some pictures of the students enjoying their time at recess:

Sight Word Practice

We have been busy in Kindergarten!  We have learned every letter in the alphabet and are spending our time this week reviewing the letters.  Students have the opportunity to play a variety of educational games and participate in learning activities.

In addition to reviewing letters, we are also continuing to learn and review our sight words.  The word for the week is 'see.'  To help the students review the words, we have been playing a game called "Roll & Record."  Here are a few pictures of students reviewing some sight words:

What tools, games or activities do you use to practice sight words?

Work Stations

We have recently started going to stations in our classroom (Thank you Debbie Diller!).  Students get to go to two different stations for 15 minutes each.  The stations will continually change, however, this week we are working on the computers, creating words with magnetic letters, alphabet puzzles, reading to self, and a letter match game.  Here is a picture that the students use to know where they are headed:

Students are working hard and are learning a lot!  Eventually, I will be pulling students to work in a small group setting.  Below are pictures of students working during stations. What is your child's favorite station? 

Six Simple Things That Make me Smile

Every Friday I like to reflect over the previous week and remember those moments that made me smile.  I decided to share my reflections as many of them include moments from our classroom.  So here they are...my 6 simple things that made me smile this week:

1. Having an amazing turnout of parents and students for Back to School Night.
2. Mya recognizing our sight words in a book from our classroom library.
3. Starting stations and the students doing a great job moving from each one.
4. Students ending the day on the red and being so proud of themselves.
5. Getting a McDonald's Diet Coke after a long school day.
6. Caleb asking a great question during Writer's Workshop.

What 6 simple things made you smile this week?


Here are a few pictures that were taking during Stations:

Back to School Night

Back to School Night will be September 13 from 5:30-8:00pm.  You will learn more information about our blog, classroom procedures, and see what your child has been learning! Hope to see you there!