Glow Day 2024!

 GLOW DAY!!!!

Yesterday was Glow Day and we had SO. MUCH. FUN!

We started the day doing our phonics notebooks.  We started working on reading words and the kids are doing a great job and they are trying so hard!  Some friends are reading words and some friends are SOOOOO close! We did phonics as normal, except instead of using regular paper, our phonics was copied on NEON paper so it glowed so bright!

After that we read the book Creepy Pair of Underwear... this is a fabulous series if you haven't ever read them, you should!  The kids LOVE them!  After reading the story, the kids made their very own pair of Creepy Underwear to display in the classroom! 

We then did some dot painting and cup stacking.  Mr. Buttenhoff, our assistant superintendent, came in and spent some time with us during this time.  He had so much fun with the kids!

We also played a couple rounds of Alphabet Bingo before it was time to go to recess and lunch!

The afternoon was full of centers!  The first round of centers were literacy centers!

The first center was write the room.  The kids used highlighters and clipboards to find glowing words around the classroom.  They then sounded out the words and wrote them on their paper. 

The second center was working on letter recognition and letter sounds.  My daughter Whitney came to help.  She called out a letter sound and then the kids found the letter and hit it with a sticky hand! Lots of laughter could be heard at this station. 

The next station was working on matching uppercase and lowercase letters! My mom got to help out at this station!

The next station was the sensory big.  I used neon paint to create rice that glows under the black lights.  The students drew a word out of the word bin and sounded it out.  Then they found the letters in the bin to make the word. 

The last center was a fine motor/word center.  They took a word card and then used the beads to fill in the words. 

After literacy centers we jumped right into math centers!

The first math center was a fine motor center where they had to put as many glowing rubber bands onto a black Popsicle stick as possible. 

The second math center was playing memory where they were matching the number cards with the correct number of dots. 

The next math center was roll and color.  Some friends rolled two dice and added them together and some friends just rolled one dice.  It really depended on what they were ready for! Once they rolled their dice, they colored in the spot on their sheet that corresponded with their roll. 

The last math center was counting to 20.  They chose a card and then filled in the ten frame with the corresponding number of beads. 

Finally we made GLOW VOLCANOES!  This is probably the best part of the day!  It is so cool to watch!

Here are a few more pictures from our super, epic, and awesome day!

 

 

Shiver Me Timbers! It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

 Ahoy Matey's!

Today my Kindergarten friends came into our classroom being a pirate ship!  We quickly got eye patches and pirate hats and went to work at being a pirate!  I told LOTS of pirate jokes that the kids did not find funny at all.... I found them hilarious though! 

We learned about the letter Gg today in phonics, and then we spent the rest of the day doing pirate things! 

We created pirate maps, sang pirate songs, read pirate stories, did pirate themed learning centers and even watched a little Jake and the Neverland Pirates!

Arrrrrgggghhhh treasure maps turned out great!

We are really working on coloring the whole picture and talking ARRRGHHH time to stay in the lines.  

During learning centers we worked on counting, writing letters, matching uppercase and lowercase letters and sorting letters and numbers. 

For snack,  we even had some pirates booty!

We had the most fun ever today!

Welcome to the 24-25 School Year!

 It's hard to believe that summer is over and it is officially back to school time!  I am SO excited to be teaching kindergarten again at Clark Elementary School. This will be my 19th year teaching.  I spent the first 13 years of my career at Pecatonica Elementary School where I taught art, second grade, first grade and kindergarten, depending on the needs in our building.  Kindergarten has my whole heart!

I know that a new school year can be a little bit scary for young students.  Hopefully seeing some pictures of our classroom with ease some nerves!  It is *almost* finished.  I just have some organizing and small final touches to add! 

Another thing that my help them feel better about starting the school year, is coming to Meet the Teacher Night tomorrow night!  We will meet behind Clark School at 5 and then move into the classroom. Please bring your child's supplies with them as well. 

I am looking forward to a great school year with these kiddos!