Daily 5

What a great day in kindergarten. The children were introduced to the multiple intelligences this morning and we will be focusing on one intelligence a day until all eight have been introduced. Today was Word Smart. It went along great with our focus today during the reading block.  I  introduced the children to the Daily 5 which is a structure that will help students develop the daily habits of reading, writing, and working with peers that will lead to a lifetime of independent literacy. The focus lesson was Reading to Self.  Today I introduced two ways to read a book. One, read the pictures and two, read the words. Tomorrow I will introduce the third way to read a book which is to retell the story. These are terms you will be hearing your child using as you read to them and they read at home. Looking at the pictures and talking about them is reading for a kindergarten child.  Encourage your children to look at the pictures and talk about what they see and think about the story. We are off to a great. I was so proud of the children as they came in today and remembered to get their things out of their backpacks and they had a lot to be responsible for.  I believe you teach a child how to do something and then get out of their way and let them do it. :)

God Bless,
Mrs. Catton

Fantastic First Day

WOW! We had a great first day. I know that the children must be tired because I am worn out. We had a full day of getting to know our new friends and visiting with old friends. We learned procedures for the classroom, hallway, lunch, restroom and recess. The children did a great job and I was very proud them. We even earned some compliments from other classroom teachers. Don't be surprised if they are moving slow tomorrow AM. Feel free to walk them in but start the process of encouraging independence of walking in on their own. Tomorrow we will walk out to carpool at 2:30 and then on Wednesday we will begin to walk out at regular dismissal time with the rest of the school. PLEASE remember to send in a snack for your child everyday. DO NOT send in drinks as they can get a drink from the drinking fountain in the hallway. The children who were so excited to show me their bag of snacks for the week. PICTURES are on Friday and I sent home the order form in your child's backpack today. I think it is going to be a great year and I am excited about the possibilities.
God Bless,
Mrs. Catton

Meeting

Dear Parents,
Thank you to all of you who attended the orientation meeting. I really enjoyed speaking with each of you and I am so excited to start on Monday. Please call me if you have any questions before Monday.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Welcome to Kindergarten

Welcome to Room 23! I am so excited about the possibilities this school year.  In conjunction with the Olympics, our school wide theme is Faith in Action Winning With Team Spirit. Our "torch" is the light of Jesus and we will keep our flame lit by Doing The Right Thing - Treating People Right. We will talk frequently about how our words and actions can either pass the torch or blow out the torch. In kindergarten we will be Exploring God's World. This theme fits nicely with our religion standards and  the Indiana  core standards.
God Bless,
Mrs. Catton

Notes

Dear Parents,
Thank you for taking the time to jot me a note about your experience reading the book I sent home with your child on Friday. I read each one during carpet time and the children were so proud to hear what you had to say about their reading.  Today we did a predictable chart where the children had to tell me one thing they learned in kindergarten and almost all of the children said "read."
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

Mother's Day

I would like to extend a Happy Mother's Day to each of my student's mothers and I would like to thank you for allowing me the honor of teaching your child and spending time with them. Each child is unique and so special. They have prepared somethings for you for Mother's Day so be sure to check their Friday folder and ask about each item inside in case they forget.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

The Hungry Little Catepillars

Hopefully your child came home and told you about the four living caterpillars we have  in our classroom.  We will be observing them and discussing the changes and if all goes as planned,  by the last week of kindergarten we will have butterflies. This week our shared reading is I'm a Caterpillar by Jean Marzallo. As you may have heard also, one of our hermit crabs died over the weekend. While it was sad, it lead to a nice discussion about the cycle of life. I heard that many of the children remembered Hermie in their nightly prayers. Today I had the honor of writing with the children a letter to St. Elizabeth / Coleman telling them that the kindergartners had earned over $348.00 in the Kindergarten Challenge. We had alot of fun estimating how many diapers and how much formula that would buy for the babies. We have been observing the classroom garden we planted and are writing about the changes that are occuring. We are checking on the chickens as we move about the school and on our way out to recess. They seem right at home here at Holy Spirit.
Hard to believe that we are into the last month of kindergarten. We will be visiting one of the first grade classrooms soon  and them we will be discussing similarities and differences between the two grades.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton