Happy First Day Adam, Zander, Eloise, Winn, Wesley, Sophie, Brayden P, Victoria, and Zoe!
Today began with a short morning meeting. The children learned a bit about the expectations of whole group times in junior kindergarten. We will continue to teach the children more expectations and reinforce the ones the children already know as we go through the first few weeks. Today the focus was having the children raise their hands and wait to be called on when they have something to share. Then it was time to read the morning message. The morning message is written on the whiteboard and gives the children a short overview of the day. You may notice that it is written in two colors. There is a main color and then an accent color. The accent color is what teachers write words that the children will see each week or even multiple times a week (i.e. special classes, specialists names, subjects). This helps draw the children’s attention to these words and they begin to recognize them.
After reading the message the children will answer a sign in question each day. This question will most often connect to a lesson from the previous day. Teachers will use the children's answers as a means of formative assessment (Formative assessments provide ongoing feedback during the learning process). Other times you may see a question that helps teachers prep for an upcoming lesson or helps children to build their decision making skills. Today was a fun question: do you like ice cream? You can ask your child what their answer was to start an evening discussion about their day.
Visit with Sheryl:
Today we welcomed Ms. Sheryl, our Occupational Therapy (OT) specialist, into our classroom for a quick visit! Ms. Sheryl will be joining us in the classroom each week, as well as inviting us into the gym to explore and strengthen our gross and fine motor skills.
For our first visit, the children had the chance to say hi to Ms. Sheryl and are excited to get to know her more next week. It was a great first introduction, and we are excited to continue building fine and gross motor skills through fun experiences with Ms. Sheryl throughout the year!
Literacy:
Today the children decorated their very own library bags! They had so much fun creating and personalizing their bags, and each one is as unique and special as the child who made it. We can’t wait to put them to good use!
Beginning this week, we will visit the library every Friday. Each week, the children will have the opportunity to choose books to bring home and enjoy with their families. Books will be returned to school the following Friday when we visit the library again. We are so excited to begin our weekly library adventures and help foster a love of books and reading!
Closing Meeting:
At the end of the day teachers read: What To Do With An Idea
Choice Time:
As part of transitioning the children into the more academic and structured JK day today there were several opportunities to play in the classroom. Choice Times included opportunities for art, building, math, pretend, and literacy. Building experiences are foundational for so many skills for children at this age. The children were able to build with: small blocks, magnet shape builders, train tracks, big blocks, and magnatiles. In addition to the geometry that is included in building, the children played with the cash register in pretend and worked on a counting puzzle. In the book loft the children engaged in literacy skills when they read books with teachers. At the easel the children were able to paint on corrugated paper. In pretend the children made meals, created a store, and cared for the babies. To build fine motor and science skills/knowledge the children explored: with gems, pink water, slotted spoons, and cups in the sensory table and playdoh, sticks of various sizes and shapes, playdoh scissors, and beads at a table.
Fun on the front yard:
Please note that while the back playground is under construction JK North will be visiting the front yard twice a day Monday - Thursday. As well as, once on Fridays.
Reminders
If you have not done so please send in a crib sheet and a thin blanket for your child during rest time. Your child does not need to sleep; however, everyone does take some time to relax on a rest mat.
If you have not done so please send indoor shoes for your child such as hard sole slippers or crocks.
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