Welcome Back

What an exciting week for the K-1 keiki.  School is now in full swing.  The children are getting accustomed to the morning routine of dragging their frog into the pond on the IWB and placing their bags on the hooks. The best part is using an iTouch and selecting a word or math game while sitting on the carpet before the school day officially begins.

You are always welcome to view the children's creative work displayed around the classroom. Your child can share his/her work  as they put much effort into it.

Library class started Friday.  Mrs. Okamura reviewed how to handle the books carefully and return them on the due date. Hope you and your child have many opportunities  to share reading experiences with our Library books.

Mrs. Yoshikawa  has volunteered to be a  room parent.  She  requested help from another parent to share in the fun. Please contact me if you are interested.

Tidbits:

1. Blankets were sent home home on Friday.  They should be brought  back on Monday.

2. Please be sure your child has a snack for  first recess so they can better concentrate in school.

3. Show and Tell started today.  This activity will  be part of the class routine on Wednesdays through Fridays.
4. If your child sees any interesting picture(s) of a local or global event in the newspaper he/she is encouraged to cut it out.  The picture(s) can be brought to class and posted on our K-1 Buzz wall. 

Bright Vacations is all about some activity the students enjoyed this summer. Detailed  and colorful illustrations with captions were glued to the children's 'sun'. Super work from the new Kindergarteners!

What was the Best Part of Kindergarten Summer School?

Time sure flies by because Summer School has just ended. Everyone had grown physically and academically these past 6 weeks. To add closure to their time together before departing for a few weeks of rest, the keiki offered thoughts of their favorite activity.

Wishing everyone a safe and fun-filled summer vacation!  See you all in August!

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk is a  timeless folktale loved by children around the world.  The K-1 keiki enjoyed listening to the story and seeing the illustrations from the picture book. But, do you wonder what Jack would look like if you cut and glued parts of his body together with construction paper through the eyes of  a Kindergartener? The students were so excited as they created, collaborated and shared their version of Jack.  They also used their Math skills to measure various parts of his body.

When asked what they liked about this activity, their responses were genuine and spontaneous.

Bastien - Helping my friends doing the things I need to do
Reise - When we measured Jack
Zaffron - When the pants were big and fat
Sydney - When we measured the shirt

Michael - When we had to cut and paste the pieces for Jack
Brooke - Gluing all the pieces to make Jack 
Jake K. - Measuring Jack
Ashley - Everything

Mimi - It was fun because I like to make things.                                                                                Chase - Gluing on the shoes and measuring it                                                                                Stephanie - Doing the head and gluing the stuff on                                                                      Courtney - Gluing the pants and arms

Jake  L. - Measuring all the pieces                                                                                                   Christa - Working together                                                                                                                Aidan - Measuring the body

 

Junie B., First Grader (at Last!) by  Barbara Park is our current  Literature unit of study. This  story has fun plots and bridges the gap between summer school and the new school year that is quickly approaching. Have conversations with your child about their thoughts and feelings of entering first grade.

Where Can I Read?

After reading Green Eggs and Ham  by Dr. Seuss, we created a list of rhyming words.  The list was quite long, which was a good sign. We decided to write rhyming words of favorite places we could read.

Math is filled with  hands-on and collaborative activities.  All the keiki enjoyed  the Shapely Jungle  lesson where they formed animals from plane figure shapes, Scenes of Symmetry where colorful symmetrical shapes were cut to create a picture, and Shape It was an opportunity  to use Play Dough to form solid shapes. Maybe you can practice with your child identifying  objects that have symmetry in your home.

Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July weekend.

Peter's Chair

Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats is truly a classic. A new baby girl is now a part of Peter's family and his parents have painted his cradle and crib pink.  He wants to keep his baby chair for himself, but discovers it is too small for him.  Peter offers it to his dad so it can be painted pink.

The children created their own "How I've Grown"  illustrations and sentences about themselves as a baby and something they could do now. Listen to their  stories.

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Counting money and telling time  were covered this week in Math.  There was much laughter and priceless smiles when they were engaged in activities such as Cup of Coins (counting money) and Our Human Clock. Please continue to connect these math concepts when you are with your keiki because Math is used in everyday life.

Jennie's Hat

Jennie's Hat  by Ezra Jack Keats is about  a little girl named Jennie, whose favorite aunt was sending her a hat. Jennie was sure it would be beautiful with big colorful flowers.When the box arrives, the hat is very plain. However, she receives a surprise from some special  bird friends who decorate it for her.
After listening to the fanciful story, the children had the opportunity to decorate a dream hat of their own. Everyone was so excited to show off their hats!!

Slideshow personalized with Smilebox The children continued to listen to other books written by Ezra Jack Keats including: Whistle for Willie, Apt. 3, Hi Cat, and Peter's Chair.   They could compare themselves to the main characters and their problems as they face these challenges in their everyday life too. Math topics covered this week through games include Addition and Subtraction, Place Value to 100, and Greater and Less Than. Reinforcing these Math concepts in real life situations can be entertaining and amusing.....so please continue the good job you've all been doing with  your keiki!

We All "Bee-long"

Aloha from our  K-1 Happy Talk blog. Over the course of the summer school session,  we hope to open a virtual door to our classroom so you can  stay informed on  our learning experiences.

This week has been exciting as the keiki  listened to  different picture books by Ezra Jack Keats. They discussed the problem the main character faced and his/her solution. Then  they  compared the problems and solutions from the different stories. Some activities after the read alouds included writing and illustrating a place a newcomer  to their community could visit, writing about a problem they had, and coloring a pair of goggles .

Math is mostly about hands-on games, such as: Link Patterns, Roll It, Tic Tac Toe, and Scrambled Eggs. The  3..2..1.. Triangle Flash cards were taken home this weekend. Please encourage them to  practice their Math facts.....which takes time to memorize.....just like Rome wasn't built in a day.

We All "Bee-long" on PhotoPeach