Wednesday, September 16, 2026

jknorth

Sep 16

4 min read

Meeting:

Our morning meeting was filled with excitement, conversation, and lots of learning today!

The children were eager to read our morning message, and it was wonderful to see how their understanding of this daily routine is growing. They are beginning to recognize that our morning message has important information about what is happening throughout our day. As we read the message together, the children noticed something very special, it was Teddy’s birthday! The children were so excited to celebrate their friend and wished him a very happy birthday!

We then moved on to our calendar routine. The children joined in as we sang the Months of the Year and Days of the Week songs. We looked carefully at our calendar and used the number pattern to help us figure out today’s date.

Next, we talked about today’s weather. The children connected our weather discussion to their own experiences during their walk into school. They have been noticing that the mornings are beginning to feel cooler, while the afternoons are still feeling warmer. It was exciting to hear them make these observations and recognize how the weather can change throughout the day.

Our Question of the Day- Place your name above the big line, connected directly to our recent Handwriting Without Tears learning. The children have been learning that letters are made up of different basic pieces: the little curve, big curve, little line, and big line.

During our Lively Letters lesson, we had fun learning about the letters t and d! We practiced listening carefully to the sounds each letter makes and discovered that T has a quiet tongue-dancing sound, as in “ten,” while D has a noisy tongue-dancing sound, as in “dog.”

The children enjoyed practicing the sounds and learning how their tongues help them make each one. We are building our letter-sound knowledge while making connections between the letters we see and the sounds we hear!

Math:

Today the focus of the math lesson was using and caring for math manipulatives properly. The lesson began with cards that have fish on them. The children counted how many fish they saw and then held up the same number of fingers. This activity has the same benefits as the finger cards. The difference is the number cards are posing a familiar visual pattern for the children to quick count. The fish are a new visual pattern and therefore a bit more challenging.

It was then time to break out into small groups. Each group worked with a different math manipulative on a rug or at a table. They practiced using the tools gently and in some cases for their intended purpose while other manipulatives were an opportunity for open ended play. When the bell rang the children had to clean up the area they were working in and then move to the next activity as instructed by a teacher. This repetitive practice will help the children as they move throughout the year using a variety of materials for different math lessons. In addition, giving children time to play and explore with materials before they are asked to engage with them in an academic setting helps the children focus when it comes to using the materials for a specific purpose.

To end the lesson the children represented their favorite number (1-9) in five ways. First they wrote the number in a small box at the top with the appropriate amount of support for each child. Then in four boxes below the drew that quantity of whatever they wanted (i.e. dots, lollipops, squares, lines, people, ect.) This activity ended the lesson with the children once again thinking about quantities.

Closing Meeting:

At the end of the day we celebrated Teddy's birthday!

Choice Time:

Today’s Choice Time was filled with creativity, imagination, and opportunities for children to learn through play! One of our tabletop choices was Play-Doh, which you will often see offered in our Junior Kindergarten classroom. Play-Doh is much more than a fun activity, it is an important tool for developing fine-motor strength and coordination. As children squeeze, roll, pinch, flatten, and shape the dough, they are strengthening the small muscles in their hands and fingers that will support future skills such as writing, drawing, cutting, and using classroom tools. It also encourages creativity, problem-solving, and sensory exploration.

The children also enjoyed a fun capital and lowercase letter matching key game, giving them an opportunity to strengthen their letter recognition skills while practicing matching capitals with their lowercase partners.

Our Dramatic Play area was open today, and the children jumped right into imaginative play! We heard lots of wonderful family role-playing as children played house, taking on roles such as the mom, dad, and baby. Through this type of play, children practice communication, cooperation, storytelling, and understanding different perspectives.

Some children chose to cuddle up in the loft with their teacher and read books, enjoying quiet time together and building their love of stories and books. Others gathered on the rug to build creations, from garages made with Magna-Tiles to a race track built with blocks, complete with race cars made from Tegu blocks!

It was also wonderful to see children independently visit our Creation Station and select materials on their own. They used their creativity and imagination to design their own unique, one of a kind masterpieces.