Day Four and There's So Much More!!

Mirror, mirror on the wall - who has the best class of them all? The transformation in the students from Monday to Thursday has been amazing. They are really getting into the rhythm of the classroom routine. Today we started with our Morning Message, alphabet sounds, and Apple Annie book and song. Then the BIG announcement was that tomorrow starts "Star Names." "What are Star Names? ," you may be asking. A child's name gets picked out of a hat and that child is our "Star of the Day." His/her name is written on a sentence strip for the children to see. Then each letter is cut from the strip and scrambled. A student who thinks he/she can put the name in the correct order is called on. Then we think of different words that start like the Star Students' name. The child is interviewed: "What is your favorite thing to do?"; "Do you have any pets?"; "What is your favorite book?' I write the student responses on the board. The class then goes back to their seats and draws a picture of the Star Student and a class book is made and given to him/her to take home. The best bonus of all is that the Star of the Day gets to sit in the front of the classroom in a special chair and is the line leader for the day. It gets no better than that for a Kindergarten student. The educational merit of this exercise is that children start to recognize and read classmates names and start to make the connection with these words to other words. I was the Star Student for today!!
Reader's Workshop mini-lesson was "How to Behave During a Read Aloud." First I read the book, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." After a short discussion of the book (which they loved), I asked what was the classes' behavior during the reading of the book. I charted responses - and they were right on target - listening, not talk to others, ask questions after the book, etc. This chart will be posted for a few days to remind students of the proper behavior during a read aloud.
We had our first official Writer's Workshop today. Students were shown how to stretch a story over a few pages (by drawing and verbally explaining what is going on in the pictures.) They were able to staple their pages, thus creating their first book. Some students shared their work - thus inspiring others that they can do it too!
In Math I read a book about patterns in nature. We looked at patterns on students clothes in class and drew simple patterns.
Tomorrow is Friday and the close of the first week of Kindergarten. They have already grown so much from the first day. Mirror, mirror on the wall - I don't have to ask you anymore - I already know the best class of them all!!