We are on the principal's blog!

Mr. Lyon featured our journal writing in his blog today!  Click  Mr. Lyon's Blog to see!

Write On!

Today we began journal writing!  It can be fun, challenging and little bit scary.  We did great!

Mrs. Parnell took some time to explain that when we write our letters have meaning and then she showed us some examples of what her writing might have looked like when she was a little girl.

We conferred with a classmate to discuss what we might like to write about.

No matter what letters and sounds we know we were all encouraged to try out best!  We also worked on illustrations to go along with our writing.

After recess we took some time to present our journals to one another.  Mrs. Parnell and Mrs. Hoyt were very proud of everyone.  Each student shared their journal entry with the class!

Now it is time to set goals for ourselves.  Each of our illustrations will match our words. Illustrations will have at least 5 colors and will include details like hands and feet on people.  We will try to leave at least two finger spaces between each word we write and we will try our best to write down all the sounds we hear in the words we are trying to write.

Week Two in Review!

Macarena Months is proving to be a favorite!  We are able to move and dance while we practice the names of the months!

Mrs. Dwyer, Pine Glen's guidance counselor visited us and participated in our Twinkle Friends Song.

The magnetic letter boards are fun!  We practiced using t, f and b.

 

If there is time after we do our jobs, we visit some stations and have some fun choices!

Our color exploration also included fun with some colorful clay!

On Friday we had our first reading of the Kindergarten News!  Students went home today with their own copy.  Please help them to finish "reading" and highlighting the news at home.  The news should stay at home and does not need to be returned to school.

Fire!

Not really.  We are prepared for everything in room 101!  Today we had a practice Fire Drill. The kids and teachers did great!

Students could teach us about technology!

Yesterday it was Mrs. Parnell and Mrs. Hoyt along with Mr. Callahan who were saying "Wow!"

Mr. Callahan stopped by first thing to help introduce the ipads and one of the apps we will be using this year.  We were very impressed with how quickly our students picked up on the explanations. In just a few minutes the children were explaining what all the graphics and images meant in the Drawing Pad App.  They instinctively knew how to navigate through the app and even demonstrated that they know the language of the tools!

Today Mrs. Parnell introduced Brain Pop Jr.  We will be able to explore various topics, play games and watch educational stories!  Students could not wait to start using the iPads!

Boys and girls also had an opportunity to touch the TouchIt board today!  We hunted for and identified letters in a game.  It was a great first experience for them.

It feels like only a few years ago that we were in school studying to become teachers.  None of us would have imagine that on the 4th and 5th day of kindergarten our 5 year old students would be telling us how to get "home" never mind that to save their work they should click on the icon that looks like a "flash drive"!

Mr. Callahan connected an ipad to the TouchIT Board so the students could see the  Drawing Pad App in action.    It was pretty cool!

Kindergarten is really a very busy place to be!  Students are practicing listening skills, and learning to cooperate and take turns.  This week we have focused on getting to know one another and learning each other's names.  We have jumped right in and have begun work on letter and numeral identification and formation.  We have explored various versions of the same story (The Three Little Pigs) and have read and reread new and classic nursery rhymes.

In writing we are working to make sure that we hold our writing utensils with an alligator bite instead of a gorilla grip.

We have much to accomplish and teach this year but our students are off to a great start and will probably be teaching us a thing or two in terms of the technology!

The introductions continue!

Meet some other teachers and staff who will be working with us this year!

Mrs. H. will be in to support us at various times.  Today she was especially helpful in helping us with how to properly grip our pencils and crayons.

Ms. Mills and Mrs. Groom were also in to help us today.  During the year they will be in to help us during our  ELA and math time.

We were all excited to meet Echo!  She helps us to learn the letters and letter sounds.   When ever she is around we know we should be echoing the correct sounds of the letters we are learning.  She is super soft!

Wow and Whoa!

You know you are having a good day as a teacher when your students respond like that!  Wow!  That is what we heard this afternoon when we introduced the interactive part of our TouchIT board!  How cool.  We can write on the board!

We also worked on our math program using the board today.  We watched a video on counting and then played a game on the board.  It is fun!

Baby Echo is pretty soft!

Other highlights to our day today included meeting Baby Echo and singing and dancing the Dr. Jean song, Macarena Months!  Besure to ask your children to dance the Macarena for you and to share what we know about Echo. (Echo is a bird that is soft.  It is an owl.  It's head turns all the way around and it is nocturnal!)

All will admitt that recess is pretty high on our list of favorites.  But, boy was it hot this afternoon.  We do recommend that the children where sneakers and play clothes for safest mobility on the mulch and equipment.

FUNdations!

Room 101 is in for a great year!

We were introduced to the Fundations literacy program today.  We met Echo and Baby Echo.  During our morning greeting on Wednesday we hope to pass Baby Echo around.  Be sure to ask your child about pencil arms vs. spaghetti arms and the various lines (sky line, plane line, grass line and worm line).  We will be getting a little exercise in as we make sure we can point to all the appropriate lines!

Our eyes and our pencil arms need to point at the appropriate lines.

Dynamite Day Two!

Wow, we are having a lot of fun!  Day two was Dynomite!  Today we learned a few new songs:  Tooty Ta and the Story of the Three Little Pigs.  They are awesome!  

We did great remembering the names of our classmates and teachers.  On the playground we met even more kindergarteners and teachers from other classrooms.  Pine Glen is Great!

Meeting and Greeting!

We will spend a lot of time meeting and greeting people during our first week of kindergarten.

Here are a few of the people we met today.

Meet Mr. Callahan and Mrs. D'Elia they are the Library and Technology Center  Team!  (LTC).  We visited the LTC after recess today.  Next week we will be able to take a book out to bring home and read!  Be sure to keep up with all the happenings of the LTC by visiting the LTC blog at PineGlenInfo

Ms. Horton, literacy tutor to Pine Glen Kindergarten, will be working in our classroom one morning per week.

Day One!

We remembered to waive goodbye to our parents as we made our way into the building........we did not want you to be sad!

Day one was delightful!  

Students are learning the routines very quickly. Everyone unpacked and settled in like experts.

Each day we have a Meeting in which the children greet each other with a friendly handshake. Everyone seemed very comfortable and joined right in.

The children started a book about colors, a nursery rhyme book and will be making book about themselves. We also made our kissing hands and visors that went home today. 

One of the highlights of the day includes our trip to the playground for recess!  It was great to see classmates playing together, taking turns and giving each other a push on the swings!

Today we introduce the calendar routine and some fun classroom songs! We even got to sing "Happy Birthday"!

Orange Day is tomorrow.  We will learn about Peter, Peter the Pumpkin Eater, begin our "Getting to Know..." books, and will work on our classroom rules.  Be sure to get plenty of rest.  This first week of school makes everyone(teachers included)very tired.

Thank you to everyone for sharing your beautiful children!  We are looking forward to a wonderful year!

Kindergarten Orientation

It was so nice to see all of you yesterday at orientation.  We are looking forward to a great kindergarten year!  During our tours we took a moment to pose with our school secretary, Julie Gosselin and Principal John Lyons.

Mr. Lyons enjoyed posing with us so much, he also posted a picture on his blog!  Be sure to keep up with all that is happening at Pine Glen by also following Mr. Lyon's blog: pineglenprincipal.blogspot.com

Mrs. Parnell has sent a test email out to each family.  Please be sure to check for the email message and respond to let us know that we have your correct email address.  In addition, there is an attachment in the email message.  Double check the information about your student and send us any corrections so that we may print out a hard copy to have available.  

Remember to send the GREEN communication folder to school every day starting Monday.   Monday is Red day!  If you have red clothes you can wear them to school!

Enjoy the weekend.  Be sure to get some rest.  We will be very busy next week!