Fire Safety Week

What a BUSY week we had! Firefighters came to visit, Climb Theater put on a play on bullying for K-2, Junior Achievement started, and we had Apple Day. Seriously--is there ever a boring day in kindergarten? :) We had Fire Safety on Tuesday. The Prior Lake Fire Department talked to the students about what to do in case there's ever a fire and then we got a chance to go on an actual fire truck. 

Climb Theater from Minneapolis presented to grades K-2 on bullying and what to do if you are being bullied or see it happen. While the actors were very entertaining and silly, the content of the play was very serious and meaningful to the students. We have been talking about conflict management since the first week of school so this play was a great refresher on how to solve problems with others. 

Junior Achievement started in our classroom. Mrs. Becker is a former principal and teacher from Prior Lake Savage District and will be coming to us every Tuesday in October to teach lessons that introduce the role people play in the economy. Students will learn about choices, money, the importance of saving and giving, and the value of work. In the first lesson, Mrs. Becker read a story about a boy who went to the farm and traded goods for other things. 

To get to know the students more, Mrs. Becker had students draw their favorite animal. 

Apple Day Fun

Crockpot is ready to go for applesauce making!

Apple activities for the day

Sorting our apples into a graph based on their color

Here we are graphing the results

We got to use an apple peeler to core and peel our apples. The kids loved this!

We sang this 5 Little Apples song and wrote all the different ways we can make 5. 

Our apple graph results

Our apples cooking! The past few years, I've used a hot skillet. The apples cook up a lot faster using the skillet so our applesauce this year was more chunky! But nonetheless still delicious.

My little helpers stirring!

Taste testing our applesauce..

THE VERDICT: THE KIDS LOVED IT! A lot of them said this was "the best applesauce they've ever ate." And I had a lot of comments saying "I am the best teacher ever!"

Reading Stations

Matching letters to the appropriate picture

Beginning sounds in pictures

Letter sorting

ABC scavenger hunt

Color words/sight words

Math Stations

Pattern block fun

Fine motor lacing

Whiteboard number writing

Sorting bears

Shapes

Finishing patterns

Counting dots on dice and writing numbers

More shape work

Counting and writing numbers

Graphing data

Poetry Journal Entries

Odds & Ends

We made our own Pete the Cats! This project took a couple days to finish, but we finally got our cats done! We love Pete.

I love how each Pete has their own personality! Cracks me up. 

We started sticker charts last week. Each student gets their own sticker chart and whenever I see them making a good choice or working hard, they can earn a sticker to put on their chart. Once their sticker chart is full, they can choose from 2 prizes: (1) treasure box prize or (2) lunch with me in the classroom. Elliana filled up her sticker chart earlier this week and chose to eat lunch with me in the classroom! She got to choose a friend to join us. Here we are enjoying our lunches together!

Your child will start bringing home a reading folder every night after MEA break. They will be responsible for reading one book each night as well as reviewing sight words and letters/sounds. This academic responsibility will be key to their reading success in school! More info to come. 

To end this post, I want to share a little secret: I am a huge PACKER fan! I went to my first ever Packer game last Sunday versus the Detroit Lions. What a game! Sorry Minnesota Vikes fans. :) Have a great weekend!