What a busy month we have had! I cannot believe we are already starting to think about turkeys and Thanksgiving!  Look below for how we have kept very busy in kindergarten.

Symmetry:

Students loved taking what we have previously learned about symmetry to create a symmetrical monster.  Students painted one side of a face they cut out, then closed the face to create a mirror image.  The kids loved adding google eyes and decorating the monster for Halloween season.

Pumpkin Glyphs:
Students used shape identification and names when answering pumpkin themed questions about themselves.  They used the glyph key to determine which shapes they used for each part of their jack-o-lantern.  Can you guess your little pumpkin's jack-o-lantern?

                                             Reading

Setting
During our whole group reading we have been focused on parts of a story. All narrative stories have characters, setting and a beginning,
middle and ending. This month we have looked at characters, the people or animals in the story. We talked about character traits they have and how characters often change during the story.  We have also learned about the setting of a story. We created this anchor chart to help us retell the setting of new stories.






Cause and Effect:
This week we have been looking at story events and why they happened.  Students LOVED listening to a read aloud of Pete the Cat My New White Shoes.  They all joined along with the reader sang his new shoe song :)  Afterwards, we used a thinking map to chart the colors his shoes turned and why they changed color.

Rhyme Time

The kinders are doing amazing with rhyming! We have been practicing the phonemic awareness skill of rhyming daily.  Students have loved listening to familiar nursery rhymes, Dr. Seuss stories and poems while listening for rhymes.   Last week we used sentence starters and picture cards to create our own rhymes – and as you have seen – the class had some creative answers! 

This week we are off to a great start, practicing rhymes in small group games and whole group activities such as “I spy a rhyme.” We played with picture cards “I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with the word goat (i.e. coat).” This game would be great to play at home, in the car or when you are out and about with your child! 

I am even more pleased to hear from our music teacher that our kinders are applying the rhyming in her class as well! Students love sharing rhyming words with Mrs. Baney!!

Scholastic Reading Club

It’s that time of the year! Your child should be bringing home a Scholastic book order in their folders this week.  Scholastic orders are a great and inexpensive way to add to your child’s personal library. Ordering via scholastic builds points that our class can redeem to develop our classroom library as well!

Ordering can be completed using the paper order forms located on the last page of the Scholastic booklet and cash/check; or the Scholastic website.  Using the website, scroll-down on the “parent tab” and enter the class code: Q8XWH.  From here orders can be placed using credit/debit card. 

Book orders are due by September 21st. 

All About Me

Many parents in our Kindergarten community are already families at CE. This is awesome! However, it means to many of you I am the dreaded "new teacher".  I wanted to take a moment to introduce who I am.

Originally from Ohio (Cincinnati), I moved to Tucson, Az where I graduated from The University of Arizona with a BA in Elementary Ed.  We relocated to Columbus, Ohio while my husband earned his Masters of Science from OSU and stayed there until he was moved to Indy for his career.  We arrived in Carmel this summer and have been warmly welcomed by the community of Carmel, especially the families and staff here at Carmel Elementary.  

My teaching experience started in upper elementary teaching 5th grade in Tucson, I loved it! When we made it back to Ohio I began working with younger elementary, starting with PreK.  I have spent 2 years working as a Reading Interventionist (3rd grade),  working in small groups of 3-5 students who were falling behind grade level and giving intense intervention to help close the reading gap.  I then decided I missed having my own classroom and began working at Innis Elementary as a Kindergarten teacher.  I remained at Innis for 6 years, teaching Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades.  I am so excited for our new school year, and cannot wait to see the kinders shine! 

Getting to know me:
My family consists of  my husband Michael (biologist), 2 daughters Caitlin (almost 4) and Melanie (11 months), and our bulldog Piper.
A few of my favorite things:
I am a huge football fanatic! During the season you can find me cheering on the Arizona Wildcats or OSU Buckeyes in college games. On NFL days I will be wearing orange and black while I watch and cheer on the Cincinnati Bengals!!!
If you see me around Carmel I will probably be with my 2 girls and holding a venti Starbucks, I am a coffee addict and cannot get enough!
You may also notice I have quite the sweet tooth. I could eat sweets breakfast, lunch and dinner! Ice cream and chocolate are my go to choices and I am so glad to have seen a Graeter's Ice Cream here in Carmel!