Monday, September 4, 2017

The Three Billy Goats Retelling

Using puppets is a wonderful way to retell stories. Students are taking turns using the The Three Billy Goats Gruff puppets to retell one of our favorite Star books. A Star book is a traditional story that the children hear a few times until they are able to "read" or "retell" the story by looking at the pictures and noticing the words. Some other Star books include: Caps for Sale, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Carrot Seed.

Star Name of the Day

Star Name is another kindergarten tradition that not only helps reinforce letters and sounds but helps the children get to know one another. A name is randomly picked out of a box. It is written on the board. We count out letters, clap out syllables, cut up the name and mix it up so that the "Star" can put it back in order and mix it up again to have a friend put the name in order. We also see what the new name has in common with other names that have been chosen. Students get to ask the "Star" questions and then they draw a picture of that person with one of things discussed. We put all the pages together to make a book and the "Star" gets to take the book home as a keepsake.

Partner Reading is beginning

The children are getting into the rituals and routines of partner reading. They include sitting side-by-side with the book in the middle and sharing it with their partner. This takes a lot of practice and patience to get this right. At this age, both students are excited to show their book to their friend but it is best to take turns and look at the book together. This is where the partner can show "Wow" pages of interesting findings and other great pictures to share.

Kindergarten Self Portraits

 One of our traditions is to have the students draw a self-portrait of themselves the first week of school. We cut them out, mount them on construction paper, laminate and display them throughout the year.
 This is a great way to see how the children see themselves. They are very careful and take this project seriously.
At the end of the year we like to have them draw another self-portrait and compare the two. They are the most surprised at their growth as an an artist.

Kindergarten Pow Wow 2019

Our tribe this year was the Inuit. Our students learned about the Inuit culture which included their food, housing and shelter. They sang ...