September 26 is John Chapman’s birthday. You might know him as Johnny Appleseed. That makes September a great month to study apples. We learned about the parts of an apple, studied the life cycle of an Apple tree, and read about the life of John Chapman. The worked hard on their directed drawings of an Apple tree and portrait of Johnny Appleseed. Our classroom smelled wonderful on the day we made applesauce in the crockpot. We had a taste test of three types of apples and found out that Granny Smith apples are the favorite apple in kindergarten!

Listening activities are wonderful for the kindergarten student. We will do lots of listening activities throughout the year but one of the games we play early in the school year is “What Did I Whisper?” You might know it as “Gossip” or “Telephone”. I start the game by whispering a short phrase to the first student then they pass the phrase along in whispers. The last person tells us what they heard. The phrase has almost always changed a little, sometimes it changes a lot! The students love to hear what is said at the end but they are also learning some important skills during the fun. This simple game lets them see how important it is to speak clearly and listen intently. They are also learning self regulation. It is hard to sit quietly while waiting for your turn. It is even harder to not shout out the correct answer when you hear someone make a mistake!

What a joy it is to be back in class with my kindergarten friends! These first two weeks have found us busy with learning all of the ins and outs of kindergarten but we’ve made sure to squeeze plenty of fun in too! The highlight of our first week was the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree building challenge. Students worked with a partner to plan and build a coconut tree that would hold up all of their letters. There were lots of unsuccessful plans and quite a few “boom booms” as letters fell but the class learned that each plan that doesn’t work just gets you closer to the one that will! I loved seeing them work together to solve a problem and show persistence when things weren’t going their way. They loved getting to be loud and make a mess!

Making a plan

Will it work?

It’s not quite right.

Making progress

Here’s what I’m thinking

Careful!

Success!

So proud!

Teamwork

Moms are our heroes and we wanted to show them a whole lot of love on Mother’s Day weekend. Mommy Spa is the perfect way to accomplish that. The class has worked hard all spring learning to write their address. When they had it down we mailed out the invitations. Then we had the get to work learning how to pamper the special moms in our lives. We practiced painting nails, massaging shoulders, and even drew special portraits of our moms. When the big day arrived we were ready! Moms came dressed in their comfiest clothes and we welcomed them to Mommy Spa. Of course we had a few gifts for them but the real gift was sweet time spent together.

Once a month on Friday afternoons Kindergarten cozies up with a good book, turns on their flashlights and settles in for a time of quiet reading. In reality it’s the not quiet for a few minutes but the giggles and conversations over the books are so worth it! The students love it because we turn off the lights and they get to bring stuffed animals to cuddle with. I love it because they are learning that books tell stories (even if they can’t read all of the words), that they can read a lot of words at this point in the year, and that a good story is worth sharing.