Wednesday, September 27, 2011

What an exciting week!
We have had two birthday celebrations and also an after school picnic.

Sorry for the lack of picnic photos! This was an occasion when I wanted to focus on connecting with and enjoying our crew and crew families so I left the camera at home. Thank you everyone for joining us at Bison Park! Sorry if you couldn't make it! We will have more special occasions as the year progresses.

Tuesday was Gaspar's birthday. He loves our crew so much that instead of staying home to celebrate last night, Gaspar brought his family to our crew picnic!

                                                  We celebrated Gaspar's birthday at school.

Gaspar held the globe and walked around the sun one time for each year of his life.

                                   Mom and Ms. Lisa helped Gaspar to hand out birthday treats.
                                                                  Yummy fruit kabobs!

Children loved the fresh fruit on a stick!

Today we celebrated Logan's birthday.

We were delighted to have a visit from Logan's mom, grandma, and baby sister.

Ms. Lisa helped Logan share delicious fruit kabobs with his crew mates.

Logan relaxed and joined us for fresh fruit treats.

Happy Birthday Gaspar and Logan!

First Hike of the Year!

Today we experienced our first hike of the year. The children were so excited and so well prepared!

We hiked at Gateway Mesa Open Space. 

The sky was blue. It was not too hot and not too cold.

 A perfect day!

We spied signs of wild creatures having been in the area.

Technology will help us solve these mysteries at school

(we will research the scat and the holes)

We even found signs that led us along a "secret trail."

We sure were ready for lunch after successfully completing our two mile hike!

Our First Hike September 21, 2011

Today we embarked on our first kindergarten hike.
We went to Gateway Mesa open space near Founder's Village.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Drumming

On Monday morning, for the very first time, the children saw their completed drums and actually had a drumming circle. They were SO excited and it was a very special occasion!

We learned how to drum so that we don't hurt the skin on the top of the drum.

The skins are all so different and so colorful!

Drumming can be a solo activity or you can copy a friend's beat.

Looks like they were really concentrating!

Logan practices hitting the drum with his fingers not his palm.

Every Monday morning the whole school drums at Morning Meeting time.

What a great way to start the week!!!

Monday, September 12, 2011

We had such a great time on Friday at our school Bootcamp!
Our crew went outside at 2:10 p.m. (our time for IAs).
We broke up into small groups and went around the Bootcamp stations with a teacher or parent volunteer from our crew.
The children loved trying the different activities and everyone had a wonderful time!

Sydney demonstrates a push up technique

Henry eagerly participates in pull ups

Van gives the jump rope a good try

Sophia sure knows how to kick that ball!

Looking stylish with his bandana/cape, JJ kicks the ball

Mira gives that ball a good kick

Owen holds on tight

Crew members enjoy making goals with a soccer ball

Tug of War is always fun!

These were just a sampling of the many stations we visited.

What a great fundraiser! 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

What an Exciting Day!

First we went outside at 9 a.m. to witness a helicopter circle over our school multiple times and then drop mystery packages.

Can you see the mystery packages? 

Then, this afternoon, everyone completed making their very own drum. I took many photos.

Here are a few.

Applying glue

Placing the drum skin on the drum

Stretching a rubber band ready to hold drum skin in place

Putting the rubber band around the drum

What a beautiful drum skin!

So proud!

More photos tomorrow!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Kindergarten is the most magical age there is (in school).
Why? Because children are so thrilled and eager to learn!
I consider myself to be extremely privileged to be with your children every day engaged in helping, supporting, and watching children explore, discover, and learn.

                                                    Today we celebrated JJ's sixth birthday.
                                                            HAPPY BIRTHDAY JJ!

JJ walked around the rug one time for each year of his life.

We had tasty fruit kabobs. Thank you JJ!

Letter Formation and Number Formation
Why are these skills important?
Just think of all that goes into writing a letter (or number).
The child has to know what the letter looks like. Now he has the picture in his head, but.... how on earth does he make that letter? Unless the child has had systematic instruction in letter formation he may do any number of maneuvers in order to create something that looks like the letter he visualizes.
Now add on top of that everything involved in writing a word or even a sentence. The child has to think what he will write about. Next, he says the word slowly to hear and write down the sounds. O.K. now he has to remember the word he just wrote and the next word he wants to write...... Learning to write is very complex.

We remove a huge challenge when we teach the child how to correctly form each letter.

A number of our crew members have been practicing letter formation at home. Thank you moms and dads for all the support you have given your child in this area!

If you would like to know how to do this please contact me.

During the kindergarten year every child is expected to transition to writing using lowercase letters.
Each day we spend a few minutes working on letter formation (and number formation). Children who know this skill thoroughly are starting to move on to other activities.