Mid-September

We have been very busy this month getting used to our daily routines, activities and responsibilities.  The kids have enjoyed going to the computer lab on Friday afternoons and have worked hand-eye coordination skills such as grabbing and dragging "stickers" onto a page, number sequencing, labeling pictures, "writing" with the mouse as well as simply signing on to the program that we are using for the day.  It's a lot... and these Kinders are used to touch screens so they are quickly learning about older technology ;) 

One day at recess, we were THRILLED to watch a landscaper dump a huge pile of mulch right outside our fence.  

Mrs. Rudakevych, one of the FCPS Primary Talent Development Teachers, came to our classroom for our first lesson.  She worked with the kids on understanding how our brains work... including the parts of the brain and the way that neurons make connections when we learn new information or skills.  

A recent Math rotation incorporated fine motor skill practice with ordering numbers.  The room was filled with the smell of fresh play-dough!

They also put specific numbers of pom poms into cups and ordered them.  The back table in this picture has beads and pipe cleaners and the kids were threading the number of beads according to each "flag" on the pipe cleaners.  

On Friday, we had a few extra minutes in Math so we got out the playdough number again.  

As part of our study of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, the kids made their own coconut trees with their own names running up and down the trees.  

Back to the computer lab :)

In Social Studies this week, we talked about taking care of items both at school and at home.  The kids really enjoyed sharing their special items with their classmates.  

Another Math activity that incorporated cutting practice into sorting and one-to-one correspondence practice involved cutting up some magazines.  The kids sorted items with a common attribute (or two) and then made sure that they had the number of items that they themselves had assigned that category.  

Our Anchor Chart included 7 food items and 5 dogs :) 

Another shot of reading time.  The kids are really enjoying "Talk and Turn" and readily share with their classmates their reactions to the various books that they are reading.