Inside Recess

Because of hearing screenings, we had to stay inside for recess this afternoon. After Aaron (my son who is in college) donated his Lego collection, the kids started hoping for inside recess. The boys especially love making interesting creations!
Some of the girls enjoyed reinacting Caps For Sale with miss Teressa. It was fun to see a mom enjoying inside recess as much as the children. Some of the girls found working with pattern block templates more interesting. You should have seen the detail in their work.

Reading at Briarwood

Both classes went to Briarwood today.

The morning group practiced the songs they will be singing next Thursday night in the West Ward Spring Program. I recorded them on my new Flip, but have to figure out how to post the video to share. I will work on that this weekend.

Here are several photos I took during the afternoon visit where we read books to the residents. Both the residents and the children had a wonderful time. A newspaper reporter was there and took several photos.

Noisy Science

We worked on our sense of hearing this week with a series of experiments on vibration.

Here we are strumming rubber band guitars - we see and feel the vibration.

After feeling vibration using tuning forks, we tried to transfer the vibration from the tuning fork into water. This experiment created a big splash!

Guest Reader from Briarwood

West Ward has partnered with Briarwood Assisted Living. We enjoyed a guest reader on Friday in the morning group. She read The Little Old Man Who Couldn't Read and we enjoyed the story very much!

PM Center Activities

Learning centers today included pattern blocks, test taking skills, comparing and measuring volume with sand, and computers. Holly's beautiful design - WOW!!! Can you belive a Kindergarten student did this?

We are really working hard on reading skills in our class. Here we are taking a theme test in preparation for testing in first grade.

We try to make every lesson in our classroom as fun as possible. Here Mrs. Cady is working on measurement and comparison of volume using the sand table.

Mouth Picture Cards

We worked on organizing mouth picture and letter cards by how the sounds are formed in our mouth. The children looked in a mirror as they made the sound of each letter card and put it with the correct mouth picture. The child pictured is ordering the "stoppers". This is just one small part of the brainwork we are doing to become great readers.

We Love To Read!!!

Snack - Our Favorite

We enjoyed wonderful creme cookies at snack today. We learned about stealer c. Did you know that c makes k's sound if it is followed by a, o, u, or a consonant? Did you know c makes s's sound if it is followed by e, i, or y? We are learning amazing reading foundation skills in our class!

Spring Fever

Spring fever has hit West Ward! The sun was out, the temperature was over 60, and the kids were exited to be out without having to wear coats.

AM Class Reads at Briarwood

The morning class visited the residents at Briarwood on Friday, 3/13/09. The children each read three stories to a resident and enjoyed cookies as a snack. It is wonderful to see joy on the faces of both children and residents. This was the first of three visits each of my classes will be making to Briarwood to show off our reading skill between now and the end of the year.

Patterning

Learning Centers offer a great opportunity to work on skills in small groups. We are working on patterning in these photos.

AM Center Activities

I took a few photos during learning centers on Tuesday.

This is a number writing center. We were working on writing numbers on a growing number scrolls. We will continue working on this project over the next few weeks.

Look Mom - I got to 80!!!We are working on our yellow jacket art project. Only 5 more letters and we'll be done with all the letters of the alphabet. These are going to be great books when they are done.

Muffins for Moms

West Ward celebrated our Moms this morning with special treats at school this morning. I snapped a few photos of my students with their Moms.

PM Pajama Day

Because they earned 10 tally marks, the afternoon class celebrated today with a pajama party day. Besides looking absolutely adorable, the kids had a great time enjoying cupcakes, reading quietly with stuffed animals, and having a laid back pajama type of day. Here is my favorite photo of our special day:

AM Dear Time

I snapped a few photos while my morning students were reading quietly. I hope you enjoy.

PM DEAR Time

While the girls read to Mr. Dalm, the rest of the kids read independently (or with a friend) in the classroom. Here are a few photos:

Two Girls Read To Mr. Dalm

After reading the book Love Stinks to me last week, two of my girls asked if they could read it to Mr. Dalm. We made an appointment and they skipped excitedly down the hall to show Mr. Dalm how well they are beginning to read.