Many of the children are practicing writing their last names!  We remind the children, "Don't forget to start your letters at the top!"  (We sing a song about it too.  If you are interested in learning the song, let me know.  I would be happy to teach it to you.  :) ) 

Free choice time is an important part of our day.  During free choice time we look for opportunities to not only teach social skills, but also to scaffold student learning and enable problem solving skills.  We ask questions like, "I wonder why your tower keeps falling down?"  or "Have you ever tried it this way?"  

Look at the cooperation and collaboration to complete this puzzle!  

Working together in the trains might seem meaningless, but these children are practicing conflict resolution and problem solving as they create and work together.

Some of the friends used persistence as they made a tower out of the buildings.  Persistence is an important life long skill! 

They did it! 

Some of the friends created and refined their fine motor skills.  

We had fun watching Mrs. Zwettler empty out our rain gauge. We discussed the rain and storms last night too! 

You may wonder why we allow the children to make a mess during free choice time.  We do this so that they can learn to take responsibility for their choices.  Although Mrs. Zwetter, Mrs. Lipsey, and I model cleaning up, we intentionally leave the majority of the work to the children.  In this way, the children learn responsibility as well as independence. 

(Before) 

(After)

We are so thankful for our Principal, Mr. Huntington!  He visited us during snack time.  :)

We use finger plays and songs to make stretching in the gym fun and engaging. 

We then played Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox.  This game is fun, and it allows the children to practice counting. 

During small group time, we used wood pieces to make letters.  This helps break down the letters so that the children can remember the smaller "pieces" of the letters as they write them.  (Example: "D" is one big line and one big curve.) 

We worked on a salt and glue artwork.  We will complete this tomorrow by adding watercolor to the dried salt. 

We also made a number line for our classroom.  The children took ownership of this number line because it is their hard work.  This activity promotes number recognition, counting, and one to one correspondence.  

During Jesus time we learned that God created everything.  We learned that we are His special creation; He doesn't need a cell phone, a calendar, or reminders to remember things about us because He loves us so much!  He sent Jesus to be our Savior! 

After lunch and quiet time, we had extra free choice time.  (Kindergarten has the gym during gym time on Tuesday and Thursday.  :) ) 

Look how we incorporate writing naturally into our play!

Some of the friends made an airplane! 

After free choice time, we learned how to carry scissors safely. 

Then, Pastor Matt stopped in to say hello! 

During second small group time, we counted the dots on dominoes, and jumped that many times.  This promotes one to one correspondence, counting, quantifying, and it's also fun!  :) 

We made a picture with Mrs. Lipsey.  We then put glue and glitter on our pictures! 

Finally, we worked with the wood pieces once more.  (Look at all of the letters we made!)