the fifth day of school!

Our Outdoor Classroom Space

Over the weekend my little yellow pup, Sidney, worked in our outdoor classroom. She wanted the space to be ready for the children to visit this week. The children will get to see Sidney a lot this year; she loves to help with Kindergarten almost as much as she loves to rest!

The fifth day of school, but only the second day in school!

We had a busy and fun day together. During our morning transition, Helen helped to write a label for the math tool introduced in school and remotely last week; pattern blocks. We talked about how we stretch words and listen for the sounds we hear. She carefully stretched the words, recording a letter for each sound she heard. 

When we introduce and work with a new material or tool, I invite children to use their developing knowledge of letter sounds to write a label. Labels give us information. We can read labels and signs in our classroom, school, and world. We can help write these labels, too.

You have a place here!

During our morning meeting the children wrote their names on sticky notes and added their names to our morning message. We read each name and counted how many sticky notes. It was a powerful moment to watch each child carefully attach their name to our message. 

Snack, smiles, and stumps!

We followed morning meeting with snack in our outdoor classroom. It was a bit windy and cold, but the children loved our space. We talked about what we might find and see in the woods and meadow; fairies, chipmunks, mushrooms, and tiny magical creatures. We listened to the wind, told stories and laughed.

The Zones of Regulation

Following snack we read the book Jabari Jumps and thought about the big and important feelings we all have. Jabari's story helped me to introduce the zones; a tool we use for thinking and talking about how we feel. The children used a recording sheet to record how they were feeling this morning. Sam and Nora bravely shared what zone they were in and why. 

Our Daily Morning Hike

Our morning hike took us along a story walk. We noticed how we could use the pictures on each page to figure out some of the words. We also noticed that it was a rhyming book and a math book! Each page had two rhyming words and counted up by one. 

We also noticed more signs and labels in the woods! We made a plan to go on a search for signs to read during our hike on Tuesday. 

The Fifth Day of School!

To celebrate five days of school children at home and in school learned about a five frame. I invited them to use a five frame to collect five things in nature and record how many. 

Camden proudly shared his collection of 5 things during our Zoom meeting. 

At school we spent our math workshop collecting 5 things in nature. We warmed up by showing how many dots on a five frame using our math hands. Children practiced pointing and counting how many, they used their five frame to figure out how many more things they needed to make five, and they eagerly shared their work. Jillian proudly walked her recording sheet around our closing circle.