Now I know my ABCs...

I just had to share this. Oh, the life of a kindergarten teacher! I love it. Plus it is SO true. 

This week revolved around the alphabet. We started our ABC poetry journals. Every day, we create something out of the "Letter of the Day" and highlight that specific letter (uppercase and lowercase) in a poem.

We have continued to work on our fine motor skills of cutting, gluing, and writing. The pictures below show students doing their morning work. It gives them time to settle in and socialize with their classmates, but also still focuses on their academics. 

Another ABC activity we did was practice coloring big letters with markers. The class was SO excited to use markers--you wouldn't think that it would be such a big deal, but it so was!!! I showed the students how to properly use them and that there's a difference between coloring and scribbling. As a teacher, I limit how much we use the markers for several reasons. (1) The ink runs out very quickly! (2) They are messy and get on kids' hands, face, tables, etc (you get the picture!). (3) There are other coloring supplies we can use, like crayons.  I guess it's just more my own personal preference. The class enjoyed the markers so much the other day that we ended up skipping playtime and colored instead. 

In math, I introduced graphing; what is a graph for? What information does it show? We are using the vocabulary words: most, least, ties; and looking at data. 

We started using the SMART room. We tagged along with Mrs. Seidensticker's kindergarten class and learned all about the different stations. I'll try to get pictures of them next week, but there are 8 stations: monkey bars, mini trampolines, balance beam, tunnel, spinners, alligator crawl and pencil roll (on two rainbow mats), and fine motor skills (buttoning, zipping, tying shoes, using buckles). Each day, we learned how to use a new station so hopefully next week, we can get in full swing with the SMART room. The kids love using the stations plus it gives their bodies a break from sitting! A definite must when teaching kindergarten. 

Along with introducing markers this week, we started using white boards! I will be utilizing these a lot during my whole group lessons because it really helps me gauge how much my students are understanding the academic material plus it keeps them engaged. 

The next photos have more to do with what we did last week, but I wanted to share them because they are too cute. As you know, we talked about bus safety so we made our own buses and hung them up.

Here's our class poster for one of our class expectations: We use hands to help. 

I love kindergarten drawings in the beginning of the year. They will change as the year goes on. The growth that occurs at this age is just incredible, both socially and academically. Trust me, just wait. 

I absolutely LOVE my class, and it's only been 3 weeks! I have been very blessed and fortunate to have taught at such strong school districts and work with such amazing, supportive families. With it being my first year at Jeffers Pond, I have to say I love it here and don't plan on moving any time soon. I have a girlfriend who's also a teacher and was in the same boat as me last month--just with applying for teaching positions and going on interviews. She ended up getting hired at a charter school in the Twin Cities and within the first 2 days of school, she quit. The school environment was not positive and the communication between staff and families was very confusing. I hope to never have that feeling! My door is always open so please talk to me if anything ever comes up. I am so happy to be doing what I am doing and to do it in such a positive, happy place! Thank you for being so involved in your child's education. It truly makes a difference! :)