Work on Writing

We started a new element of our Daily 5 literacy block today called Work on Writing. The children "write" a story using mostly pictures, but contains story elements such as characters, a setting, and words. For many, words are labels for the details they have drawn in their picture. Some are writing a sentence for their story by writing the initial letter of each word to represent a word in their sentence. Much like Read to Self, we began by writing for only 5 minutes and will work our way up to a longer time. To my excitement, when I stopped the group after 5 minutes more then half were disappointed to have to stop, and were eager to continue writing! It looks like we're going to have a class of wonderful, eager writers!

ECO

We had an amazing first day of ECO! We joined with Mrs. Koch's class, and spent a lovely morning at Harrison Field. Our focus today was on establishing routines and learning about the Three Cares: caring for ourselves, our friends, and the earth. We practiced "fox walking", "deer ears", "owl eyes", and "raccoon touch", and learned how to identify deciduous and coniferous trees. Be sure to ask your child to share more about our day with you!

Fire Prevention Week

We had some special guest visitors today in honor of Fire Prevention Week. Three firefighters visited from our Montpelier fire station including Deputy Fire Chief and kindergarten parent, James Quinn. We played a game called "What's Hot or Not", and learned about the importance of getting out of a building quickly when there is a fire and staying out. We also learned about a firefighter's gear and clothing and watched a firefighter put on their "turn out gear". You will find a few gifts in your child's folder tonight including a pencil, sticker, and coloring book. Thank you firefighters!

FUNdations

The kindergartners are learning how to identify, write, and learn the sounds of letters. In addition to learning the letters in our names, students have been introduced to the lowercase letters, t, b, and f. We use a program called Fundations which uses visual cues and hand motions (similar to sign language) to teach the alphabet, phonics, and spelling. Today we got a little messy and used shaving cream and our sense of touch to practice our letters and the sight word, "see". Lot's of fun!!

Fine Motor Skills

Mrs. Solomon, our school's occupational therapist, works with our class every Tuesday on helping students develop their fine motor skills. We have worked on such things as picking up small pieces of paper with tongs, playing with clay, and looking for "treasures" in putty. All of these activities will help as we work with scissors, and develop our handwriting skills.