Visit from a furry friend

Today, we were so excited as we had a visit from a lovely golden retriever. 

His name is Gable and he is 9 years old.

Gable’s owner Kate told the students about what things Gable needs.

She had a book about how he’d grown.

Since Gable is a certified therapy dog, Kate talked about who he visits, what he does, and how he helps.

We each got a chance to ask questions, give him a pet and get a little snuggle!

Throwing Snowballs

The dollar store sells these pompoms that look like and are marketed as snowballs. We were wondering how to use them in an educational manner because, who doesn’t love to throw snowballs? We came up with a classroom game where the students are throwing the snowballs towards some solo cups. Each cup has a number on it. Once the student has knocked down a cup, he or she goes and picks it up, makes note of what number they knocked down and then marks it off on a small sheet of paper.

It is so simple, yet valuable. The throwing motion towards a particular target helps motor development and by having to throw at “numbers”, ensures the students know and are becoming increasingly familiar with the numbers. 

Circle Time with Mrs. Farrell December & January

Circle Time with Mrs. Farrell December & January 

December and January were focused on recognizing numbers in fun ways, singing songs, playing interactive games and reading stories! 

The senior kindergartens worked on recognizing simple sight words through a variety of interactive games. They also practiced number recognition and counting by 10's all the way up to 100! As well as solving simple math questions with a fun interactive penguin game!

The junior kindergartens worked on recognizing numbers 1-10 and once they got a general understanding on those numbers we challenged them with numbers 10-20! They also enjoyed learning some fun repetitive songs!

Find the "present" Working on numbers counting by 1's 1-10 with juniors

Working on numbers counting by 10's 10-100 with seniors

5 little reindeer jumping on the Sled Song! JK's enjoyed acting out this song with antlers and all:)

Where is Santa Song? Both JK and SK students love this song!

Mitten Match Game focusing on numbers 1-10 with 1:1 correspondence

Famous: Blizzard Game! Focusing on higher numbers 1-20!

Close your eyes! No peaking!

Snowman are you Hungry? Feeding Mr. Snowman "snow balls" 

Juniors working on numbers 10-20!

Seniors working on simple sight words

Snowman Dice Game :) With a fun snowman hat and carrot nose!

Piper the Penguin Game
"Piper the Penguin has just one wish and that's to eat lots of fish, fish, fish!"
Juniors working on recognizing numbers
Sensior working on simple math questions

Where's the snowball hiding? 

Juniors working on numbers 1-10 counting by 1's

Seniors working on numbers 10-100 counting by 10's

Some of the Books we got to enjoy:

Stick Man oh Stick Man

Harold and the North Pole

Finding Christmas

Sadie and the Snowman

Sounds Like Christmas

Deep Snow

Willabee the Bumblee

Ribbon Rescue

Snow Bugs

Not a Stick!

This week, we read the story called, “Not a Stick”.

The main character in the story imagines that his stick is a variety of other objects. We challenged our seniors to do something similar on our nature walk. Here are some of their imaginative answers!

This is not a stick, it is a horse!

This is not a stick, it is an old mans cane!

This is not a stick, it is a saw!

This is not a stick, it is a paddle!

This is not a stick, it is a witch’s broom!

This is not a stick, it is a razor for a man’s beard !

This is not a stick, it is a toboggan!

This is not a stick, it is a horse!

This is not a stick, it is a wand!

This is not a stick, it is a saw!

This is not a stick, it is a hot dog!

This is not a stick, it is a unicorn horn!

Grandpa Dan’s Toboggan Ride

It has been a while since we have acted out some of our stories. This week, we read “Grandpa Dan’s Toboggan Ride” with each class. 

It is a story of a grandfather impatiently waiting for his granddaughter to finish tobogganing so they can go home and get warmed up. Grandpa Dan accidentally falls on the toboggan while offering a push. As the toboggan gains speed and momentum, other characters fall onto the long slide. A baker, police officer, mailman, hockey player accidentally join them.

At the end of the story, all the characters have had so much fun, they decide to take “one more run”! The story provides a great opportunity to do a retell. The students used the props and could tell the story themselves. This forces participants to think about details and sequence. 

Bus safety presentation

On Friday, all of our students had the opportunity to attend a bus safety presentation. It is really well done and includes a robotic bus that moves and talks. “Buster the Bus” teaches the students all about bus safety and has the audience participate in a quiz.

Even one of our students got to participate and contribute to the quiz!