Fostering Jade...

One of the "pets" we have for Fostering is "Jade". She is a cute little (stuffed) black kitten that loves to go home with Kindergartners. Take a look at some of the fun she had when Jade went home with JonLuca:

Foster Pet Parents....

After our experience with Freddy the Cat, we thought it would be both fun and interesting to try fostering pets in our homes. Obviously, we can't take REAL pets home, but we have several stuffed dogs and cats that would LOVE to go home with a Kindergartner for a few days. We have several pets. Our cats are Maggie, Jade and Tiger. Our dogs are Mocha, Onyx and Mr. Maxx. We all wrote our names on a little paper "doggie bone" and every few days Mrs. Blakely pulls a name from the can. That child can choose a pet to take home for a few days. They can journal about their adventures and take photos to share. Take a look at the adventures Onyx had when she went home with a couple of our friends.

Helping Pets in Need...

This year we decided to reach out to our community in a new and fun way. We thought it would be nice to help pets in need. We contacted the folks at the Almost Home Foundation and are joining with them to do what we can to help pets that have been rescued and are living in "Foster Homes". We think of it as taking time to help, or pausing to help pets.
Thus we say: PAWS to Help Pets! :-)
Each month we plan to collect items to donate to the Almost Home Foundation. Our first collection was "Pennies for Pets". We sent out notes and asked families to send in pennies. We think it was a huge success. Our school collected $394.07!!! Then Mrs. Rose, of the Almost Home Foundation came to visit with her special friend Freddy! We were so excited. First she talked with us about what a "rescue" does to help pets. She also used a puppet to show us the proper way to greet a dog we don't know. She said always ask the owner if you can pet the dog. Then let it sniff your hand and rub gently from under the chin. Then she brought out Freddy to meet us. He was very patient as each child got a chance to come up and pet him. We hope that we will inspire some of our blog visitors to see what you might be able to do to help pets in your area! Our local PetsMart hosts pet adoptions each week. Maybe yours does too!

Same and Different...

In Kindergarten, part of becoming good readers and writers is being able to notice how things are the same and how they are different. One day in class, quite by accident, a few friends came dressed almost the same. Take a look at our little video to see what is the SAME about them; and what is DIFFERENT. What do you notice? Take a second look to be sure! ;-)

Learning Letter Sounds...

We are working hard to learn all the letter sounds. We have several games and songs to help us with this. Sometimes pictures help us learn. Videos like this help too....

Poetry in Motion...

As part of our "Being a Writer" curriculum, we are exploring writing about things we can do. We read a poem called "Just Watch" by Myra Cohn Livingston. We thought it would be fun to act out the poem. Take a look at how some of our kids interpreted the poem. (Note: Michael, I am still working on getting your part to work...sorry!)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bubble Gum in Class...

We made a book about bubble gum. It took a few days to finish, but we got it done! Each child made their own book to take home to begin a nice collection of books that we'll make and that they can read at home. On the last day of bookmaking, we got to have bubble gum. We tried to blow a bubble. Most kids are still learning how to do it. We had a little poem we were chanting... BUBBLE GUM BUBBLE GUM JUICY AND WET, CAN YOU BLOW A BUBBLE YET? Take a look at our video to see who can blow a bubble, and who can't just yet:

We're Here...

Well, we're off and running into a new school year. We started last week, but it took a few days before we were ready to post! This year we have very full classes, which means we'll have a lot of interesting things to add to our blog.
We began our first day working with TUBS for TubTime (math) and working on our Bubble Gum book. Take a look at our very first day in Kindergarten! There were a few tears (from both kids and parents), lots of smiles, and tons of anticipation!
We hope you will come back often to see what's happening in our classroom. Feel free to leave your comments too!

Same and Different...

Aren't these two pets adorable? Our friends over at Manaia Kindergarten have been sharing their pets at school. (We are going to do something similar when school starts up again in a few weeks). Some of their students have cats and others have dogs. They are welcoming comments from others that will help kids (and big people too) know the similarities and differences between the two pets.

Click on over to their site and share a thought or two:

Manaia Kindergeraten Cats & Dogs.

Dog& Cat image borrowed from Manaia Kindergarten's blog.

The Before is After...

Here are pictures of our Kindergarten Patio BEFORE the work began with Lowe's and our Volunteers. I searched for the pictures and just found them! (They were on a different disk).

You can see what a mess our patio area was before the project began. Thanks again to everyone who helped create such a wonderful place for us to play and work.