First Week of School

We have had a terrific first week of school!  I have been amazed by the way these Kindergarten friends have caught on to our classroom routines so quickly.  It has been so much fun getting to know this sweet bunch of little ones, and watching them make new friends and enjoy exploring new things with old friends!

Throughout the first week, many of our activities have been linked to the lovable book character, Chester the raccoon.  On the first day, we read the book, The Kissing Hand, about Chester the raccoon, who was nervous about going to school and missing his mommy.  His mom gave him a special kiss in the palm of his hand, so anytime he was missing her, he could put his hand to his cheek and remind himself that his mommy loves him.  After we read the story, we noticed a clue that Chester the raccoon had left in our room, which led us on a search around the school for him!  We kept spotting raccoon footprints on the walls in the hallway that reassured us we were on the right track.  On our scavenger hunt for Chester, we found important places in the school, like the LMC, the art room, music room, gym, and office.  When we returned to our room, we found special sparkly hearts that Chester must have left for us on our supply boxes while we were touring the school!  We are keeping these gifts from Chester in our supply boxes, so if we are ever missing someone at home during the school day, we can hold the heart in our hands to remind us that our grown ups love us!  Over the next few days, we read more Chester stories, A Pocketful of Kisses, Chester and the Big, Bad Bully, and Chester the Brave. Chester helped us learn about overcoming our fears and being a good friend.  The students also made their own kissing hand projects, coloring and cutting out a poem about The Kissing Hand, painting their hands to press to the paper, and adding a kissing hand sticker to the middle.  They had such fun!

To end the week, we explored a set of Chester games, which focused on practicing matching our uppercase and lowercase letters, recognizing numbers, counting and matching numbers, and playing memory.  We also worked on a first week of kindergarten book this week, which helped us to not only practice the routines of getting our supplies out and putting them away, but also listening and following directions, coloring, and writing.

I am looking forward to seeing these sweet, smiling faces on Tuesday!  Enjoy the long weekend!