What a Wonderful Year!

The end of the school year is always bittersweet for a teacher. I am so proud of all of the hard work of these amazing children, who came to me in August a little smaller, and maybe a little nervous about what kindergarten held in store for them. Throughout our year together, they have grown and learned so much, both academic content and skills, as well as important social skills and school expectations that will support them throughout their lives. I feel truly lucky to have had this class full of kind, curious, respectful learners. They will be so missed as they head off to the exciting world of first grade. The following quote sums up how I am feeling right now:

"I call my students "my kids"
because in our year together
they aren't just kids on my class list,

                        they become a part of my heart." -Unknown

Thank you again for sharing them with me and for supporting us all during our time together. I wish you all a wonderful summer full of exciting adventures and special times together! 

Pajama Day

After all of the students in Room 8 earned over 100 stars, we decided to start working towards a class celebration at the end of the year. Together, these amazing students earned 248 stars and we decided to have a final pajama day to celebrate all of this hard work! We got lots of funny looks and questions like, "hey, did you all forget to get dressed today?!" We spent the day reading silly books, writing persuasive pieces asking our parents if we could stay up late, and designing and building our reading forts. We had so much fun! Please enjoy these pictures of our busy day. 

Building our reading tents.

 

Violet and Ruby in their fort.

  

Eliza shows off her fort plan.

 

 

 

  

 

What pajama party is complete without a little treat?!

 

Dear Mom and Dad, Can I stay up on Saturday because I am not tired and I will tuck you both in. Love, Levi

Dear Mom and Dad, Could you please let me stay up late because I will go to bed very early the next day. Love, Sawyer

Dear Mom and Dad, I think that I should stay up to 8:30 because I will help you fold laundry. From, Eli

Dear Dad and Mom, I want to stay awake because I will give you $9.00. Love, Ava

Happy Pajama Day!

Farm Fun!

We spent time over the last several weeks learning about farms in preparation for our visit to Shelburne Farms. We had lots of fun and learned a lot about various farm animals. We also read many wonderful fiction and informational texts to support our learning.

Eliza and Harper visit with a goat.

Hiking!

We made it to the top!

Ava the Farmer!

Jos and Levi work on a puzzle.

Ruby holds a chicken.

Michaela holds a chicken.

D'Marcus holds a chicken.

Sawyer milks a cow.

Levi holds a chicken.

What a wonderful field trip!

Our very own farm in the hallway outside of our classroom! Yee haw! 

Ladybug Number Stories

In math, we have been working very hard on solving addition and subtraction stories using a variety of strategies. While we were learning about ladybugs, we decided to write our very own number stories. Please listen to them here!

Reader's Theater Videos

Over the last few weeks, we have been practicing reader's theater plays during guided reading as a way to practice reading more fluently. The students had a wonderful time learning their lines and practicing with their groups and could not wait to perform for each other. They loved performing so much that they wanted to take the show on the road and have performed for the other kindergarten classes and any other audiences that are willing to watch them! Please enjoy these videos of your wonderful readers!

Michaela, Jos, Sawyer and Eli perform "The Three Little Pigs"

Liam, Theo, Allyson and Levi perform "The Mitten"

Eliza, Harper, D'Marcus and Jade perform "Chicken Little"

Ava, Rian, Violet and Ruby perform "The Little Red Hen"

Lovely Ladybugs

Hopefully, you heard about the special guests that we had visiting our classroom during the month of May. It is always one of my favorite times of the year, as ladybugs are a wonderful way to learn about life cycles. Our ladybug larva arrived in the mail from a great company called Insect Lore. We then spent time each day as scientists, readers, and writers, observing and recording what we noticed was happening to these interesting little creatures. After about three weeks, the larva had gone through the pupa stage and emerged as adult ladybugs. We watched them for a few more days and then released them in our school garden, where they can be the protectors of all of our wonderful plants!

The ladybugs about to be released in the garden. Those are raisins in there for them to eat while we were observing them.

The ladybugs were very friendly and crawled all over us!

Liam and Eli watch a ladybug.

Goodbye, Ladybugs! Keep our gardens safe from aphids!

We read the book The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle, and then practiced our grouchiest faces.

I'm sure you've never seen these grouchy faces at home!

Eli, the grouchy kindergartner.

Michaela, the grouchy kindergartner.

We Are Stars!

As a part of our school-wide behavior program, adults throughout the building give students paper "stars" when they are caught exhibiting the desired behaviors of our core values (Belonging, Sharing, Trust, Accepting Responsibility and Respect). This is a wonderful way to acknowledge students who are making good choices and is a way to encourage students who are struggling to make good choices to change their behavior. I am happy to report that every single person in Room 8 has over 100 stars! To mark this impressive accomplishment, students receive their 100 star t-shirt. To celebrate, we all wore our bright red shirts to lunch and had a cool treat! I am so proud of these "stars" and all of their hard work!

Dance Party!