The First Few Weeks of School

Wow! It is hard to believe that we have been in school for almost four weeks already! I am happy to report that I am lucky to be working with an energetic, curious, and capable group of kindergartners! They have already become very comfortable with the school, the classroom, the routines, and the expectations of being at H.C.S., and the learning has already begun! We spend time each day engaged in literacy activities, math exploration, and discussing various social science themes. Currently, we are learning about a favorite fall treat: apples! We enjoyed the autumn story, Lucky Leaf, as our story bit last week. Ask your child to retell this funny story using his or her cutout leaf story bit to remember what happened.

Early this week, as a part of building our classroom learning community and establishing rules and expectations, I asked each child to identify his or her "Hopes and Dreams" for this school year. Please enjoy reading through the varied responses that I received!

My hope and dream for this year is:
*to meet a lot of people!
*to go on the swings!
*to earn stars!
*playing games with my classmates!
*playing with people inside and outside!
*learning about a T-Rex!
*to learn more about my family!
*to make necklaces!
*sledding down the hill near the park!
*learning my ABCs!
*to enjoy the sunshine!
*to share a book at the library!
*to write home!
*learning more new letters and numbers!
*to learn about dogs!
*to get a lot of stars!
*to learn about wildlife!

I explained to the children that, if we all work hard to follow our classroom rules, we will all be able to achieve the "Hopes and Dreams" that we came up with!

By now, you have probably heard about the "Be A STAR" program. This is a way for children to learn and remember our school-wide behavior expectations. Be A STAR stands for:

Belonging
A
Sharing
Trust
Accepting Responsibility
Respect

Adults around the school spend time each day "catching" children practicing these core values. If a child shows one of the core values, he or she may earn a star: a paper voucher for a special sticker to be placed on the giant poster in the main hallway. I have found that this program encourages adults to be more positive and proactive in their approaches to managing student behavior, and children are encouraged to behave appropriately in all areas of the school. So far, I have an amazing group of "star" students who are earning more stars than I can count! Take a peek at the cool photo that was taken at last week's Be A STAR celebration:


I look forward to an exciting year with your little superSTARS!