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.

Lowe's & Spring Trail Work Together....

During the school year Mr. & Mrs. Mazzei secured a Heroes grant from Lowe's. This grant was used in conjunction with funds from our P.T.O. to fulfill a long time dream to landscape the Kindergarten Courtyard.

On the last weekend in May several volunteers from our school, Lowe's and SOS Landscaping worked together to turn the area just outside of our Kindergarten classroom from a patch of dirt and old very old mulch to a wonderful brick patio. We spent several hours raking out the mulch and dirt. We relocated it to other spots on our school grounds. Then we smoothed the surface, covered it with gravel and sand, and smoothed it some more. After a few hours we realized we were short on gravel. Just when it seemed our backs were to the wall, Jeff of SOS Landscaping showed up. He made a few phone calls and a few trips with his truck and brought loads of gravel for us. He also allowed a couple of his workers to spend the day helping us. It was as if an angel had been sent to us in the form of Jeff!

We worked for 3 days placing the paver bricks. It was hard work and could not have been completed without the generous support of the volunteers from Spring Trail, Lowe's and SOS Landscaping. To name a few.... Mr. & Mrs. Borczak, Mr. & Mrs. Baughman, Mr. & Mrs. Garner, Mr. & Mrs. Mazzei, Mrs. Butler, Mr. Gennuardi, Mr. Schoewe, Mr. & Mrs. Matticks, Mr. & Mrs. O'Connor, Mrs. Shields-Zars, Mr. & Mrs. McGee, Mrs. Jablonski and Mrs. Mangoni.

In addition to our Spring Trail volunteers, we had volunteers from Lowe's (thanks Josh for helping organizing everyone) and SOS Landscaping to guide and help us.

Tony, of The Dogfather donated lunch for us on Saturday. Pietanza's Pizza delivered dinner.

Hot Off the Press Promotions made our T-shirts.

It has been a long time dream to have this space transformed into a useable space for kids. With the finished space, we can extend the Kindergarten classroom space. Take a look at some of the many photos taken of us working and then enjoying the space.

Thanks again to EVERYONE for all your help! It was a great showing of community and support!

Duck or Rabbit?...

At a course I took a few weeks ago, my friend, Mrs. Partyka shared the book, DUCK! RABBIT! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I really like the book and thought you might like it too. I found a video promoting the book at YouTube.

Tell me, which do you see, the DUCK or the RABBIT? ;-)

Thanks for sharing this great book Mrs. Partyka!

4th of July...

This video was posted here last year to celebrate the 4th of July...it's well worth celebrating again:

Interactive ABC Book....

We spend a lot of time learning letters and letter sounds in Kindergarten. We play all sorts of games to help build our skills. Here's a fun interactive ABC book created by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich. All the animals in the book have been created using the letters of the animals name in Bembo font  and punctuation marks only! Amazing! I hope you enjoy it:

Bembo's Zoo