Our First 2 Days of Kindergarten!

Our two days of kindergarten have been fantastic!  The children have settled in rather quickly and have started making friendships right away.  They did an amazing job with following directions (as there were plenty) and learned daily routines quickly.  They also learned what our 3 school rules were and all about "warm buzzies".  Ask your child to name the school rules and tell you what warm buzzies are and how you can earn them.

Here are the books that I read during the first 2 days of school:

After reading Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, we each shared what we did to get ready for kindergarten.  Many responses included getting a new backpack and lunchbox.  Then, we illustrated what we did, which will be turned into our first class book.

After reading The Kissing Hand, we talked about how Chester was feeling and why he was feeling that way.  Then, we shared how we were feeling on our first day.  As the children were sharing, I wrote their responses down on chart paper.  Once everyone shared, we read our shared writing piece together as a class.  Ask your child how he/she was feeling on the first day of school. 

Today, we read the book Splat the Cat, which the children loved! The children did a guided drawing activity that had them drawing Splat (just his head).  We also shared and illustrated what we would bring to school if we were Splat.

In anticipation of getting ready to do some weekly inquiry science tasks including drawing observations in our science notebooks this school year, I asked the children to draw themselves as scientists.  Many children asked "What is a scientist?" and drew their best drawings in their notebooks .  We then read the book What is a Scientist?, which only shared what they do (make observations, draw pictures, ask questions, use tools, etc.)  I'm hoping as we continue on with the school year with carrying out experiments and reading books about science, the children will develop an image of what a scientist is. 

During our two days, we also had some free explore time in the classroom and on the playground and did guided discovery (learning about the expectations of using materials and places)on markers, scissors, using the bathroom, washing our hands, and the cafeteria.

Here are some pictures taken the last two days. Enjoy!

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