Happy September!

September is here, and the Kindergarten class is in full swing. We certainly enjoyed our second week together. It was packed with many fun adventures. Here is a peek into our past week. These kiddos are so cute and full of so much excitement.


GD Read Aloud: Every Tuesday during Group Discussion, Ms. Carly reads from The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. This week, Omakayas, the main character, was laying on the ground of her home listening to the rain outside. When we returned to our class for rest time, the Cottontails were excited to lay in their rest time spot and listen to the pouring rain outside - just like Omakayas had done in the story. What a great text to self connection!


Math: Math and numbers are on the brain! There were many moments of real life math that took place throughout our week. Here are just a few wonderful stories.

When a friend asked how many minutes until lunch I mentioned that there were two more minutes until lunch time. Approximately two minutes later, this Cottontail mentioned that she had counted to 120. She proceeded to share with me that there were 120 seconds in two minutes and 120 minutes in two hours! What a great time teller!

Another Cottontail wanted to know if we could study a googolplex this year. The desire to study a googolplex in Kindergarten started with a Cottontail class from a few years back. The Cottontails' interest in a googolplex continues on for another year!

Other friends were interested in counting as high as they could. How high did they count? They counted all the way to 1100. When one friend asked the other, "What comes after 1099?" The other friend quickly responded, "1100, of course. That's math!" He was right, that right there IS math!


Investigating Books: The Cottontail Rabbits are really excited about the books in our classroom library. Reading books has become a favorite Center activity. As a class we began talking about the parts of a book - the front cover, back cover, title page, dedication page. During Center time the Cottontails wanted to inquire further. Their question? How do we know how old a book is? What a perfect moment to show them where to find the copyright date. We learned that the first Curious George book was written in 1941, 70 years ago. One friend commented, "Wow! That means Curious George is old! He should know better when he is causing so much trouble then." So cute!


Respect: Throughout the week, we focused on our first Core Virtue, respect. We defined respect and used a web to finish the sentence, Respect is… Check out our web displayed outside our classroom. We read many books about showing respect. One book, Chrysanthemum, was about a cute little mouse with a long name. The Cottontails were sad for Chrysanthemum as the other mice in the story made fun of Chrysanthemum and her long name. The class thought Chrysanthemum's classmice were being very disrespectful. One friend suggested that Chrysanthemum should give the other mice an "I-Message". Another friend agreed and thought ALL of our Four Steps would help Chrysanthemum solve the problem. I love that the Cottontails were looking to use our own problem solving techniques to help this mouse feel better!


Friday Morning Sing Along: Friday morning marked the beginning of Sing Along Fridays at Willowwind. Today, the K-6 students gathered together to sing some favorites from last year's Sing Along. The Kindergarteners have been eagerly awaiting this event. Every other Friday, we will meet our friends in the GD space to sing some of our favorite songs. Each month, we will learn a new song, focusing on reading the lyrics and following along with the words as we sing. You are always invited to join in if you'd like!


Partner Reveal: During Friday's GD, students participated in the much anticipated Partner Reveal. Here students learned who their partners for the year are. Each Kindergartener is partnered with one or two older friends. Throughout the year, your child will have opportunities to participate in many activities with their partners. The relationship that is created between partners is truly special. The older friends adore their younger partners and the younger partners truly look up to and respect their older friends. Great friendships were created today! Ask your Cottontail who their partners are!


I've updated our pictures from the month of August and now September. Take a look!


DON'T FORGET! $5 is needed by Tuesday, September 6th to help cover transportation costs for next Wednesday's field trip to Kent Park.


There is no school on Monday. Enjoy your long weekend!