October is always a busy month of learning!  Many of the important routines, schedules and expectations have been established so we are free to do a few more adventurous activities. One big highlight is our field trip to the Manhattan Fire Department and then to Little Munchkins Pumpkin Patch. 

During Fire Prevention Week, we practice many safety skills like "Fall and Crawl" under smoke, how to dial 9-1-1, and "Stop, Drop and Roll".  The highlight at the Fire Station this year was getting to go through the fire truck, hearing the sirens and getting an awesome fire helmet.  

We had a wonderful afternoon at Little Munchkins Pumpkin Patch exploring, running, laughing, jumping in the hay and playing with the animals. It's great to be outside and get those experiences!!  Our trip ended with getting to pick the perfect pumpkin to take home!

Our final activity in October is Halloween.  We enjoyed learning about the life cycle and different parts of a pumpkin.  My favorite teamwork activity is to "carve" pumpkins.  So first the kids work together to clean out the pulp. Some kids absolutely LOVE this, others are NOT going to stick their hands in that gross stuff and still others really don't even like the smell!! Then they work as a team to pick out pieces to create their pumpkin masterpiece.   

Thank you all for a great First Quarter!  November and December will bring more learning, adventures and good times in the kindergarten room!! Thank you for sharing your children with me!! 

We survived Week #1 and the kids did great! This is a wonderful bunch!  We started by learning the letter U and it's short sound as in umbrella.  We played a name game by trying to figure out who was hiding under the umbrella. We played several other games this week working on math skills, literacy skills and the all important social skills. Turn-taking, sharing, and playing by the rules were some important conversations we had this week. I encourage you to play a game with your child this weekend -- there are some valuable lessons to be learned -- especially that everyone has to lose every once and awhile.  We ended the week with some extra time on the playground with our new friends and enjoying a yellow frosted balloon sugar cookie to remind us to "Be Brave" just like Daredevil Duck.  Thank you all for a great first week!! ​

Kindergarten is the beginning of many new adventures -- adventures that are new and sometimes scary!  But in our kindergarten classroom, we have only one expectation -- BE BRAVE!  Be brave as we learn about our new friends, how to share and take turns with 22 other 5-year olds, how to get our lunch tray, check out library books, what are the rules on the playground and on and on and on!!  Today we read Daredevil Duck who overcame his fears with a hero helmet, x-ray glasses and super hero cape.  After discussing some of our fears, we made a class book with our self-portrait and glued on a super hero cape to remind us to be brave as we learn the ropes at Alma Elementary!  Enjoy our first day photos and our first class book!