We have an ELF!

I am sure you've already heard by now, but our classroom has a special elf from the North Pole! He's not any ordinary elf; he's an Elf on the Shelf. The idea of Elf on the Shelf comes from a rhymed children’s book explaining the story of Santa’s scout elves who are sent to be Santa’s eyes and ears at children’s homes around the world. These elves don't just visit houses, but they also come to schools! We found ours last Tuesday, December 1 and named him Chippy. 

Day 1: He illustrated a wintry scene and left us a special message.

Day 2: Chippy got into our connecting cubes and made a tree.

Day 3: Gone fishing..

Day 4: Chippy took a selfie and posted them on my computer!

Last week brought snow so I had the class bundle up and go outside to do a snowflake exploration with magnifying glasses. We caught little snowflakes with black construction paper and were able to see that they're made up of different shapes. And of course, we made time to catch some snowflakes on our tongues!

Making snow angels (my clever way of wiping any mud off)

The winter season brings a lot of ATTIRE! Jackets, mittens/gloves, hats, scarves, boots, and snow pants... I developed a system for how students should put on their clothing as well as how to store it in their locker. We have been going over both procedures every day so eventually they will remember it on their own.  My goal is to minimize the time it takes for students to put on their winter gear. Last week was excruciating. It is quite the process for kindergartners to (1) independently gather all of their gear from the locker, and (2) be able to put on everything (without adult help) in a timely manner. I would like my students to be able to do things themselves, including zipping or buttoning up their own jackets, snapping or buckling their snow pants, and putting on both gloves with their own hands. I already saw improvement by the end of the week!

In math, we've been learning about repeating patterns. We colored our own patterns and turned them into legs for elves.

 Our reading stations are gingerbread themed.

Matching beginning sounds to words

Searching for popcorn words around the classroom

Word families/rhyming

Beginning letter sounds

Rhyming words

The class and I have been talking about how reading is like a super power because reading gives us knowledge and knowledge is power. We are reading superheroes who can use reading superpowers to help us read. Our superpowers include using illustrations to help us figure out a tricky word, sounding out unknown words, and pointing as we read. My kindergartners have accomplished so much as young readers that I want to celebrate with them and make superhero capes that they can customize and wear. I'm collecting white adult-sized t-shirts and plan on having the kids decorate and eventually wear them while reading with their masks!

In science, we've been learning about weather. We started to check what the daily temperature is during our math calendar time and the helper of the day measures it using an electronic thermometer on the Smartboard. We've also been talking about hot vs. cold weather and the differences between the two.

In social studies, Mrs. Sudlow who is our speech pathologist, comes in every Wednesday and talks to the class about social conversations and feelings. She and the class have been talking about cooperation and played a spider web game where they had to greet each other with yarn, which created a big web. This was a multitasking lesson for my students because when it was their turn with the ball of yard, they had to grab and hold onto the string of yarn with one hand and throw the ball of yarn to someone else using the other hand. We were able to take turns and have everyone hold onto the yarn. This took a good 20 minutes to do! As the year goes on, I may go back to this activity again and have the class try to un-web themselves using cooperating skills.

Here's to another NEW week ahead of us!