Starting the Day

I know, because I have my own children, that the daily conversation about school goes something like this:

"How was your day today?"

"Good."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Well, I'm sure you did something."

"I don't remember."

One of the reasons I love a classroom blog is that it shows you what is happening in the classroom through pictures.  It's a perfect opportunity to sit down with your child and and say, "Tell me about this!"  Usually, kids will get excited when they see something they recognize and become eager to tell you all about it.

So, here are a few snapshots of our typical start of the day.

Calendar time is on the Smartboard.  We talk about days of the week, months, and the year.  We work on counting and patterning.

Part of the phonemic awareness portion of our Treasures program suggests reciting Nursery Rhymes.  The kids love the felt board, so we use our felt pieces to retell familiar Nursery Rhymes.

Every. Single. Day.

That's how often we will practice our letters and sounds.  I promise we will work on letters and sounds so much that your kids will be able to say these with their eyes closed!

Our classroom is filled with books and we usually read several each day.  Right now we have camping, back to school, and fall books on our little shelf by the carpet.  We will read just about every book on this shelf as a read aloud and then they will be replaced by the next season's books.

I love, love, love Heidisongs!  Heidi is a teacher who makes up cute little songs and dances to teach letters, sounds, sight words, and even math concepts.  I use these in my classroom as often as I can and I really feel it helps certain kids retain their learning.  After all, we know people can remember an amazing amount of material when it's set to music.  867-5309. That's all I need to say about that.  (Maybe the parents out there are younger than I am.  I may have just dated myself.)

Kindergarten is a fast moving place!  That seems like a lot of ground to cover, but that is only the first 20 minutes, or so, of our day.  There is much more to come!

Happy learning!