Unity Day

While "Unity Day" was a few weeks ago, we still have been learning and sharing about ways we can be kind friends and stop bullying at AES. Amy, our school social worker, visited us last week and read the book Spookley the Square Pumpkin.  You can find a reading of the book below. We were reminded that differences make us special.

Later in the week we watched a Sesame Street video clip about including others. It's a great message!  You can find the clip here:

Here we are looking awesome in our orange shirts!

Our Schema

During readers' workshop this week we learned about SCHEMA. Our schema includes all the ideas that stick to our brains.... ideas learned from books, families, websites, conversations,  TV, and any other life experiences that mold us. We found out that our schemas are all different because our experiences are different. Our schema will influence how we comprehend as we read.  We enjoyed writing and drawing about ideas we have a lot of schema for. Then, using a sticky lint roller, we "picked up" our ideas to show them "sticking" to our brains. The kindergartners picked one area they really have a STRONG SCHEMA for and shared that idea below.

Signs of Fall

We have seen signs of fall everywhere....Fair Haven Farms, the playground, outside our classroom windows, and in our own yards. Here are some of our favorite sights!

Our Forever Books

We know strong readers read books over and over. We loved checking out each others' favorite "Forever Books" from home.

This free picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Cheers to our Writing!

On Thursday we had our first writers' workshop writing celebration. We sure had a lot to celebrate! Since the first day of school, we have written stories about our life using words and pictures. We are getting better at stretching our words, adding details to our pictures, and using periods.

At the end of our writing unit, we each selected a story to "fix and fancy". As part of our celebration, we sat in a circle and shared one page from our special story. Next, we used juice to "toast" all the fantastic writing we have already done this year...as well as the wonderful stories yet to come! Cheers!