Firemen Visit Kindergarten - Fire Safety

We were very fortunate to have the Jacksonville Fire/Rescue Unit visit us Friday and discuss fire safety. The firemen passed on valuable information to our students including having a meeting place in case of fire. They dressed up in their gear to show the children what they would look like and not to be frightened and hide if they see them.

 The firemen opened up all of the firetruck doors for the students to see all of the equipment in the truck. This was a huge firetruck that could be driven from the front or the back.

 The firemen showed the students how high the ladder can go. There was a gasp at how high it goes.

The children enjoyed seeing the firemen and firetruck up close. We appreciate our firefighters and we are so glad that they had the time to come visit us at Chets Creek and teach our students about fire safety.

Lucy's Boot - A favorite retelling

In Reader's Workshop, we have been enjoying acting out some of the books we are reading. One of our favorites is Lucy's Boot by Janie Spaht Gill.  Lucy needed help getting her boot off so her father tried to help her, then her mother, sister, brother, and dog all pulled to try to get the boot off.. "I't's stuck," she said. "It won't come off." "I don't know what to do!"  Then Lucy tells everyone to "Wait" and she unbuckles the boot. Lucy's Boot is a small book with a big impact for our young readers.

Building with Cubes 1 to 10 and 10 to 1

In Math, students have been working with numbers one to ten.  Using math manipulatives is a great way for children to see that by adding one more cube their towers grow. After they have built their towers to ten, they then went from ten to one to see how by removing one cube their numbers decreased and towers grew smaller. Verbally counting numbers and really understanding what these numbers mean and look like are important mathematical foundation skills for our young learners.

Literary Pumpkin Time - Kindergarten

This year we decided to make Nursery Rhymes our theme for our pumpkin display in the school lobby.  These rhymes are such an integral part of Kindergarten - developing rhyme and rhythm helps so much with beginning reading skills.

Students had lot of fun painting Humpty Dumpty Dickory Dock, and Jack and Jill.
The finished product was awesome!  Thank you room moms for helping the children decorate some of their favorite nursery rhymes.

Mrs. Wishy Washy Reader's Theater

One of our favorite books is Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley. The children love its simple story of life on the farm with a cow, a pig, and a duck who love to play in the mud. Of course, Mrs. Wishy Washy scrubs the animals clean and when she leaves, they can't wait to jump back in the mud. By using simple props, the students get to act out the story and have lots of fun doing it.