We’ve been busy learning about nouns! The parts of speech can be an abstract concept for young children so I like to give them fun, concrete ways to reinforce those concepts. The students have learned that nouns, or naming words, as we sometimes call them are divided into three groups: people, places, and things. Sometimes we add a separate category for animals. I do not introduce the concept of nouns also being ideas yet. Last Friday we made binoculars and went on a “hunt” for nouns around our campus. Every student had a clipboard so they could document their noun sightings. It was wonderful to see them grasp the idea that everything they could see on our walk was a noun! What a fun way to end our noun study.
Once a month the kindergarten classes have a Flashlight Friday. They bring books, flashlights, and a stuffed animal or blanket from home. The lights go off and the flashlights get turned on. They love that they are getting out of “school work” for part of the afternoon. I love that for 30-45 minutes they are snuggled up with a good book and a friend to share the joys of reading. Sometimes I hear the words, “but I can’t read”. Although now that they have quite a few sight words under their belt and are beginning to sound out some words those comments are happening less often. I try to remind them that not all “reading” is done with words. The illustrations tell an important story as well!
We celebrated Halloween last week at St. James and it was so much fun! It was exciting to see some giant pumpkins and compare those to the small pumpkin we carved in class. We read the book Pumpkin Jack and studied the life cycle of a pumpkin. Our Pumpkin Jack is starting to decompose quite nicely. So gross and so cool at the same time! Many thanks to Mrs. Denise for the hayride and Coach Nicole and the middle school students for the games. Halloween at St. James is a group effort!
September 26 is John Chapman’s birthday. You might know him as Johnny Appleseed. That makes September a great month to study apples. We learned about the parts of an apple, studied the life cycle of an Apple tree, and read about the life of John Chapman. The worked hard on their directed drawings of an Apple tree and portrait of Johnny Appleseed. Our classroom smelled wonderful on the day we made applesauce in the crockpot. We had a taste test of three types of apples and found out that Granny Smith apples are the favorite apple in kindergarten!
Listening activities are wonderful for the kindergarten student. We will do lots of listening activities throughout the year but one of the games we play early in the school year is “What Did I Whisper?” You might know it as “Gossip” or “Telephone”. I start the game by whispering a short phrase to the first student then they pass the phrase along in whispers. The last person tells us what they heard. The phrase has almost always changed a little, sometimes it changes a lot! The students love to hear what is said at the end but they are also learning some important skills during the fun. This simple game lets them see how important it is to speak clearly and listen intently. They are also learning self regulation. It is hard to sit quietly while waiting for your turn. It is even harder to not shout out the correct answer when you hear someone make a mistake!
