Solving Problems With Others

With all the days we have had off this month, we are a little behind with our units.  We have been working on a Social Studies unit called "How Do I Solve Problems With Others?"  In this unit, we are learning that everybody has problems and sometimes we have problems with each other.  The focus of this unit is that when we do have problems with friends or siblings, there are ways we can solve them peacefully!

One of our activities was to learn a song about what to do to solve a problem.  There are four key steps to solving a problem and you may even hear your kindergartner singing this song at home!

Step 1:  I stop. Calm down.

Step 2:  I talk and listen.

Step 3:  I think of ways to solve the problem.

Step 4:  I agree on a plan and try it!

We also brainstormed lots of ways to calm down when we are feeling angry or frustrated.  You could count to 10, do 5 jumping jacks, go to your room and close the door, read a book, take a walk, take five…these were just a few of our excellent ideas.  Our kindergartners have lots more suggestions!

Please take some time to review these problem solving steps with your child.  We are definitely working on this in school and hopefully it will carry over to all aspects of life!

Some New Surprises!

I must say I am missing my kindergarten friends!  On our days off, I was able to spend some time working in our classroom and getting some new things in order for the return of the students this week. I hope they like the new surprises!

As you may know, our district is implementing a new literacy program.  Part of this implementation includes some new furniture for our classroom to enhance our learning…a large rug, guided reading table and a new easel.  Even though we did not have school, Mr. Ball was kind enough to get these things delivered to our room and set up before the students return.  Thank you, Mr. Ball!!!

Here is a sneak peek...

   

In order to accommodate our new things, I did need to rearrange the tables.  It will be so exciting when the kids arrive tomorrow to see the new stuff and find their new table spots!  I can't wait to see them!!

Sock Snowmen Go Home

We brought our super cute sock snowmen home today.  Mrs. Bunker in the office was awfully sad to see them go.  She said they really brightened her days.  We hope they will now brighten your days at home!

Have a great weekend.  Stay warm and keep an eye on the forecast.  We are keeping our fingers crossed for warmer weather!

Meet Ms. A.!

Northview has a new family member!  Meet our new Physical Education teacher, Ms. Maribel Arellano!

Ms. Arellano, or Ms. A. as we call her, started teaching at Northview yesterday.  Before coming to Northview, she worked at Knowledge Beginnings so she already knew some of our kindergartners.  She is very excited to be at Northview and we are glad she is here, too.  Welcome, Ms. Arellano!

Look who came to be our Guest Reader today.  Yes, Ms. Arboe.  She stayed and had lunch with us, too.  She is officially a substitute teacher for District 196, so we may see her around Northview from time to time.  Congratulations, Ms. Arboe.  We are proud of you!

We have had lots of indoor recess lately.  Luckily we get to spend time in the gym for our indoor recess time.  We still love our Free Choice time, too!

   

   

Stay warm!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today we learned about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  He was a person that believed that all people should be treated as equals.  He also believed that people should not be judged by the color of their skin, but rather by their character.  Dr. King believed that people could and should solve their problems in peaceful ways.

We talked lots about how unfair it would be if we were treated differently just because of our skin color.  We would not like it.  It wouldn't be fair!  But we also discovered that Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that people should do things for others…he believed in service and serving others.

We read the story "Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King" by Jean Marzollo.  Then we completed our Martin Luther King project, which is a circle of hands surrounding a heart.  The heart represents love and the hands represent the different colors of our skin and that we can use our hands to help one another.

   

For Writer's Workshop today, we wrote about our dreams.  In his most famous speech, Dr. King spoke about his dreams.  Everyone has dreams so we wrote about what our dream is and put it on the back of our project.

We had a Guest Reader today.  Mr. Ryan Mahoney, Liam's dad, came and read us the story "Dragons Love Tacos" by Adam Rubin.  In this story, the dragons LOVE tacos.  Buckets and buckets of tacos!  But if a dragon accidentally eats spicy salsa…oh boy!  You are in for some trouble… tummy trouble!!!

It was a fun story.  Thanks, Mr. Mahoney.

   

Good Stuff Snowmen

We read the story "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert this week.  In this story, some kids fill a sack with "good stuff" and they wait for a day when the snow would be just right for making snowballs.  When that day arrived, they made a snow dad, a snow mom, a cool snow boy, a little snow sister, a snow cat and a snow dog.  They used the good stuff in the bag to decorate all of their snow creatures!

We decided to do this ourselves, only we made a snow creature out of torn paper and decorated them with our own bag of good stuff that we brought from home.  It was kind of a mess, but we came up with some beautiful creations!  Enjoy our "good stuff" snowmen!

   

   

   

   

   

   

Golden Tray Award and a Guest Reader

It was a big day in Kindergarten Plus.  Mrs. Hansen from the kitchen stopped by to pay us a visit.  The reason for her visit was to award our class the "Golden Tray Award".  This is given to the class that consistently stacks their lunch trays neatly after eating lunch each day.  We were just a little excited...

She also brought us each a coupon for a free chocolate or white milk at McDonald's because we are the only class that always drinks all of our milk.  Every day.  :-)   These coupons will be in our Friday Folders tomorrow.

This afternoon we had our first Guest Reader.  It was Mrs. Colleen Frank, Liam's mom.  She read us the story "The Day the Crayons Quit" by Drew Daywalt.  It was a great story and reminded us to use all of our crayons when we are coloring.  Thanks for coming, Mrs. Frank!

Tomorrow I will post photos of our spectacular "Good Stuff Snowman" project.  Be sure to check out the blog for this.

Loop Snowmen

We completed another cute winter project for our classroom…a loop snowman.  We cut out two loops and a circle, attached them together, added details, and hung them in our classroom.  They are adorable and remind us of the fun things we can do outside in the winter!

Stay warm!