We had another busy and fun week in Kindergarten!  On Wednesday, Eli Smith visited our classroom.  I was proud of the students showing him kindness by including him in everything we did.  Eli will be joining our class on Monday!  We are now up to 20 🙂  Please welcome Eli and his family to ZCS!

This week Wednesday is our first field trip to DeGraaf Nature Center.  Please remember to have your child dressed for whatever the weather may be and have comfortable walking shoes.  Drivers, please look for an email from me Monday 🙂

Bible-This week we read from the Bible about Adam and Eve and the Fall, Noah and the Flood and the Tower of Babel. These stories showed us people make mistakes all the time, but God has kept his promise to save us. By sending Jesus, we are forgiven for our mistakes (sins). God always keeps his promises!

Each month this school year we will also focus some time on the fruit of the spirit. In September we focus on love. After reading in the Bible about how great God’s love it, we shared ideas about how we can show love.

Math-We continued activities that work on number recognition and subitizing (the ability to see a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting).

Read A Loud-This week our featured read a loud book was No, David! By David Shannon. We learned about the word infer. As we read the book and looked at the pictures we thought about the clues the author was giving us and made inferences from those clues. It was a favorite book for many in the class.

Handwriting-We worked on forming letters D and P. We are working hard on proper formation that starts at the top and goes straight to the bottom. For D, we want to see the big curve start at the top and reach the bottom as well.

Writing-Before we begin writing stories, we are telling stories. This oral language practice helps children form ideas and sequence events. All students have told short stories to the whole class.

Word Wall-We added our first word, I, to the word wall. This week worked on recognizing I through two games. The first game used the doc camera to project one student name at a time. The class would say whose name was on the screen. Every few names I would project the word I on the screen. When students recognized I they need to jump up and say “I!” The next game we used a favorite song, “The Freeze” to dance around. When the music stopped, students need to freeze on a word on the floor and tell me what word they were on. This week we had I and the. Each week I will also send home a book that uses the word wall word of the week in it. Your children are very good at reading it! J

Book of Friends-This week we added two friends to our book, Brady and Elliot. We read each letter in a name and this week we tried to think of other words that started with the same letter sound. We write our friends name and draw a picture of them. This week we worked on adding details to our drawings.

Science-We went on a nature walk and explored the natural surroundings with out sense of sight. To help get an even closer look, we brought out magnifying glasses to study the trees, grass, ants and leaves.

On Wednesday afternoon we used our muscles to take field corn off the husk.  Then we made shapes, letters and numbers from the kernels.

We have been in school for three weeks now!  The temperature was cooler this week and I could see the children becoming more comfortable in the classroom.  This week we practiced listening to our friends and teacher and raising hands to share ideas 🙂  It is wonderful to hear each child’s thoughts, but it was also necessary for us to practice being respectful while we wait for a turn to talk.

Thank you for sending your children in ready to learn.  You are reassuring them they are loved and cared for at home and at school!  Children know if they are getting hot lunch and how they are going home.  Thank you!

This week we will start classroom jobs.  Each week I will rotate who will be line leaders, door holders, table cleaners and trash collector.  The class has been eager to help in these areas so it will be good to schedule turns so everyone has a chance to help.

In Bible last week we completed reading how God created the world.  It has been fun to see the class become excited when they start listing all the animals and plants God made and understand he is creative.

I told a story of a little boy who was bored playing with his toys so his mother challenged him to find a little red house with no doors or windows and a star inside.  After searching and asking several people the little boy sat down underneath an apple tree.  The wind began to blow and an apple feel near him.  He picked it up and thought he found it!  He went back to his mother and asked if there really was a star inside the apple.  I cut open an apple and showed the class God put a star inside of the apple.  We talked about apples being similar to us.  God made people and apples with all different colors of skin. God put a special star inside the apple and God put something special in us.  The class suggested the special thing in us was our heart, mind, and Jesus 🙂  Later in the week we taste tested three apples: red delicious, golden delicious and granny smith.  Once again the class was amazed that all the apples had stars inside.

In Math this week we reviewed shapes by making our Shape Monster book.  It is a fun book to read with your child and have them read to you!

We started handwriting this week by practicing letter F and E.  Using Handwriting Without Tears we begin by using a small chalkboard.  Students first practiced the strokes (big line, little line, little line) using a wet sponge, then they used a paper towel to dry and finally chalk.  It is important to master these basic strokes and build the habit of starting top to bottom.  We also practiced writing F and E with pencils and our workbooks.

Read to Self

During our Daily 5 Read to Self we made it to 9 minutes this week!!!! We were so excited!  Students have been able to pick out two new books for their book boxes and are just amazing me with their stamina to read the whole time.  I have a few pillows and cushions for the classroom, but I would like a few more.  Before I head to the store, please let me know if you have something we could use.  It can be throw pillows or small cushions.  I have also heard of using (new) toilet seat covers (the ones that look like bath mats) as soft reading spots!

Each week we continue to look at poetry.  After reading Goodnight Moon we read two  poems.  The class recognized the repeating words Goodnight and Goodmorning. They also enjoyed completing a poem by filling in items they would say good morning to.

A few quick reminders:

-We continue to get updated information on the new field trip driver policy.  Here is the latest:
Every driver must turn in a copy of their driver’s license and valid proof of insurance to the ZCS Main Office. These will be kept on file for the duration of the school year. Parents are responsible for checking to make sure the copies on file are valid and not expired.
Each time a parent drives, he or she will need to sign the “Driver Guidelines” agreement indicating they will abide by the safety standards laid out in the agreement. They will also confirm that the license and proof of insurance on file in the office is up to date.
We are grateful for all of our parent drivers. So, we want to make these new requirements as easy to meet as possible. Please feel free to send copies of your license and proof of insurance to school with your student and the teacher will turn it in the office. Or, stop by with the documents and we will gladly make copies for you.

** I would suggest that if you think you are going to drive on a field trip this year, to send in a copy of your license and insurance ASAP.

-Our first field trip is Wednesday, September 28 at DeGraaf Nature Center.  Please have children dressed and ready for any weather.

-Picture Day is October 4 for our class.  I am sending home forms in red alert folders Monday.

-Book It is also starting in October.  Look for a reading calendar to fill out and turn back in each month.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I will see you Monday!

Here are a few photos from our first day of school!

Last week during play, some of the children wanted to use our bathroom Stop and Go sign for their cars.  This would cause a little confusion for people needing to use the bathroom, so we decided they could make their own signs!  They turned out great.  Good problem solving 🙂

Here are a few activities that are set out during arrival time.  There are days when I set out manipulative and other days when it may be a paper and pencil activity.

This week we brought chalk outside.  It was so much fun!

Miss Kelly is our morning aid.  She brought the class popsicles and it was such a nice treat on this hot day!

It has been a terrific first 7 days of Kindergarten! Your children have learned many routines, participated in Spanish, Library and Gym and have been building friendships.

In Bible we have been focusing on creation.  It is amazing to think of the power God has to speak and create our beautiful world.  We have learned about days 1-4 of creation.

In Math we are working on number recognition 1-10 and counting.  Students were able to read Anno’s Counting book.  In it, the first page is number 0 and shows nothing on page.  The next page shows number 1 and a scene begins with 1 tree, 1 person, 1 building, etc.  As the book continues adding numbers and objects.  As the numbers increase, the scene also changes seasons from fall to winter.  The children enjoyed counting the objects in each page and we were also able to talk about how God created seasons and we could see the changes.

I will talk about Daily 5 all year long as our Literacy block.  To introduce Daily 5 we talked about why we want to become good readers.  Children eagerly answered that becoming a good reader will help them learn!  We also talked about 3 ways to read a book: 1. Read the pictures 2. Read the word 3. Retell the story. I also introduced Read to Self.  We brainstormed about what the children needed to do during this time and they came up with a great list:

• read the whole time
• be alone
• no talking to a friend
• stay in one spot
• read in your head
• have a book

We are building stamina and charting how long we can Read to Self with the above behaviors.  The first day we made it to 1 minute and 45 seconds.  The second day we made it to 1 minute 36 seconds and the third day we made is to 2 minutes and 41 seconds!  We are improving 🙂 It is important to stop when I see even just one child not focusing.  We are really trying to build good habits.  It is fun to see the children excited about improving their time/stamina for reading.

This week also introduced hot lunch and bussing to our students.  Those riding the bus are doing an amazing job staying with the “bus buddies” (other classmates on the same bus) and children not riding the bus are waiting in the class with our afternoon aid, Miss Kendra.  As always, there are kinks and timing to be worked out, but they are doing well.

If you would like to order hot lunch for your child, please go to sendmoneytoschool.com to make sure there is money in your account and http://www.zps.org/files/2012/11/September-2016-Christian-Menu.pdf to look at the menu.  Please talk to your child about their hot lunch choice before school.

I am sorting through the many papers you have submitted at the beginning at the school year.  If you know you have any at home, please turn them in this week!

As you have noticed there are many days that the red alert folders are not sent home.  We are doing a lot of hands on activities in the classroom that do not have papers.  Please continue to check your child’s backpack in case there is an important paper coming home.  You’ll see poems sent home about twice a month on a salmon colored paper.  You can read these with your child and ask them to point out letters or listen for the rhyme.

Library books came home this week! Kindergartners are able to check out one book.  Enjoy reading these at home with your child.  Please return library book by Wednesday morning.  I have a black crate in the classroom for our library books.

Our first field trip is Wednesday, September 28 to DeGraaf Nature Center.  I am planning on Wendi Kapenga, Lisa Koedyker, Katie Stewart, Betsy Wiersma and Kelly VanDyke to drive.  Please mark this on your calendar and dress for whatever weather God gives us that day! 🙂

Thanks for reading this long post! Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Bronsink

Welcome to our Kindergarten blog!  I didn’t want to write my blog. Even though I am writing it, this is a place to keep you informed of happenings in your child’s classroom and it is truly a partnership between all of us to educate your children.

It was wonderful to see all of the children again and all of you last week.  We had a fun and full first three days of school!  I love seeing the class together.  Some knew each other from last year or even outside of school, but they are ALL learning to be good friends.  Last week we focused our devotional time on celebrating how God created us uniquely.  We have some similarities and many differences.  Our differences make us special! We also focused on treating each other with kind words and actions.

Last week we also worked on building our routines and expectations.  This week we will continue to work on these.  Some may change as we see what works best for our class.  This week as students come into the classroom, they should hang up their back packs and then place their red folders in the cubby (plastic tote) above their hook.  There are not many papers coming home the first few weeks, but it is good to start the routine of bringing the red folders to and from school each day.  There may be times that I send home papers or projects that have been done in the afternoon to students who leave at 11:50.  This work is optional for you to do at home.  Last week I sent calendar pieces home with students who were not in class in the afternoon.  Each month we will put together a calendar.  These are to be kept at home and used as a fun way to talk about special days in the month.

This week students should also go out to the playground if they arrive early.  Students will remain on the playground until 8:40, then line up with the adult on playground duty in the morning.  Thank you for your help setting this new routine!

Other new additions this week are the start of hot lunch and bussing!  Please talk to your child about these and please let me know of any changes! Thank you 🙂

I am looking forward to another week with our class!