The first week of school and we introduce the routines and procedures of moving through the day.We begin each day with journal writing. On this day, (top two photos) the children drew self-portraits to put on the cover of the folders they made to keep their journal entries in.
One of the new materials included in this years shipment was a bucket of gears. There are no unit blocks, just some giant legos which are not very flexible for building, and some small colored wooden blocks. Oh, how I miss those unit blocks. The gears have been most intriging with the boys however. By the end of week, the two boys on the left--who had continuous conflicts from day one--were working together to build a complicated gear structure and then take turns operating it (with a little support from me, of course.)
About the curricula--how I miss all the planning already prepared in OWL--now I am trying to put together all the pieces in an OWL like fashion to integrate the day in a way that makes sense to me and the children.
Everyday Math--seems similar to Building Blocks, but it has a "math" workbook for each child with worksheets, and a "homework" workbook to send home with each child. It also has an interesting collections of games. Good "Math Minute" activities to use at transitions.
Many of the lessons I will use during small group time.
A Phonic program by Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas--most of the activities I can do during my SWPL time.
There is a science curriculm FOSS--of which the kindergarten only does two units--Trees and Wood & Paper--the materials look good--lots of hands-on experiments (the other two units designed for Kdg are done in Preschool) The two FOSS units will be two of my themes during the year. I'll be looking for some good story books to use during the units. Please let know if you have any suggestions.
The social studies we are told is just "Sense of Self and Others" and a week on Senegalese awareness. The other kindergarten teacher and I have plans to expand this and include more about Senegal. The "others" will be those in the community and community jobs. We have brainstormed a list crafts people to invite to the classroom. And during the unit on Wood and Paper we will have a field trip to visit wood carvers in Dakar.
The school has just invested a ton of money on buying level readers from Scholastic, for every grade level, Kdg to 5th grade.. There are six copies of each title, ten titles in each box--and I received at least ten boxes. This program was designed by Gay Su Pinnell. I haven't had time to even look at them. The boxes were delivered to the classroom the day before we started.
The writing curriculum is "Six Traits"--I have some ideas about how to integrate in my Journal Writing. The materials include a book to read which illustrates each of the traits. Haven't begun this at all. One of the books is "No David" which I consider one of the worst books to read--I immediately removed it from the set and stuck it in the back of the closet.
There is nothing about reading aloud to the children! Luckily, the kindergarten has a number of books, from which I have found a few good titles for my story time, to tie into themes. And the librarian at the school is great.
Specialists--I wasn't really expecting so much specialists time, but Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I don't have the kids at all in the afternoon, as the last three periods after lunch are spent with specialists. The children have Music & PE 2x a week, art & computers once a week, French every day is their last activity. The children have French with the other kindergarten class and the 2 first grade classes--they are divided into four groups depending on level of proficiency.
I have scheduled one of the 4th grade classes to come once a week for a half hour for Reading Buddies. The children met each other Friday. One of my children, Peter, has an older brother in the 4th grade class and they worked together--Peter seemed to love having a big brother in the class. The children also go to Library once a week, when they are read to and they can check out a book to take home each week.
The school policy is not to assign homework in kdg, but some parents are already asking for it! I have said that I will not be giving homework but I am asking parents to read every day to their child, and as children want to take home beginning readers, they can read to their parents. We do have many games which I can send home for parents to play with their children. The Everyday Math kits has lots of games which can be sent home as well.
About the curricula--how I miss all the planning already prepared in OWL--now I am trying to put together all the pieces in an OWL like fashion to integrate the day in a way that makes sense to me and the children.
Everyday Math--seems similar to Building Blocks, but it has a "math" workbook for each child with worksheets, and a "homework" workbook to send home with each child. It also has an interesting collections of games. Good "Math Minute" activities to use at transitions.
Many of the lessons I will use during small group time.
A Phonic program by Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas--most of the activities I can do during my SWPL time.
There is a science curriculm FOSS--of which the kindergarten only does two units--Trees and Wood & Paper--the materials look good--lots of hands-on experiments (the other two units designed for Kdg are done in Preschool) The two FOSS units will be two of my themes during the year. I'll be looking for some good story books to use during the units. Please let know if you have any suggestions.
The social studies we are told is just "Sense of Self and Others" and a week on Senegalese awareness. The other kindergarten teacher and I have plans to expand this and include more about Senegal. The "others" will be those in the community and community jobs. We have brainstormed a list crafts people to invite to the classroom. And during the unit on Wood and Paper we will have a field trip to visit wood carvers in Dakar.
The school has just invested a ton of money on buying level readers from Scholastic, for every grade level, Kdg to 5th grade.. There are six copies of each title, ten titles in each box--and I received at least ten boxes. This program was designed by Gay Su Pinnell. I haven't had time to even look at them. The boxes were delivered to the classroom the day before we started.
The writing curriculum is "Six Traits"--I have some ideas about how to integrate in my Journal Writing. The materials include a book to read which illustrates each of the traits. Haven't begun this at all. One of the books is "No David" which I consider one of the worst books to read--I immediately removed it from the set and stuck it in the back of the closet.
There is nothing about reading aloud to the children! Luckily, the kindergarten has a number of books, from which I have found a few good titles for my story time, to tie into themes. And the librarian at the school is great.
Specialists--I wasn't really expecting so much specialists time, but Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I don't have the kids at all in the afternoon, as the last three periods after lunch are spent with specialists. The children have Music & PE 2x a week, art & computers once a week, French every day is their last activity. The children have French with the other kindergarten class and the 2 first grade classes--they are divided into four groups depending on level of proficiency.
I have scheduled one of the 4th grade classes to come once a week for a half hour for Reading Buddies. The children met each other Friday. One of my children, Peter, has an older brother in the 4th grade class and they worked together--Peter seemed to love having a big brother in the class. The children also go to Library once a week, when they are read to and they can check out a book to take home each week.
The school policy is not to assign homework in kdg, but some parents are already asking for it! I have said that I will not be giving homework but I am asking parents to read every day to their child, and as children want to take home beginning readers, they can read to their parents. We do have many games which I can send home for parents to play with their children. The Everyday Math kits has lots of games which can be sent home as well.
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