Friday, September 25, 2015

Apple Tasting and Apple Art

Happy Friday!
Apple Art

Apple Art
Today marks the end of our first apple-themed week!  We have been reading apple books all week and learning about how apples grow.  Today we made a multi-media apple art project with a water color resist and tempura paints.


We also got a chance to perform an apple taste test.  We sliced up red delicious apples, granny smith apples, and golden delicious apples.  After a good taste and a vote we realized that our class liked the yellow and red apples equally, with both winning our taste test!

Have a fabulous 3-day weekend and I will see the kinders on Tuesday!

Love,
Mrs. Griffith

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Field Trips on the Horizon

The following field trips will be happening 
in the month of October:
Field Trips
Bus Safety ~Thursday, Oct. 1st
For this field trip we will be watching a presentation from Beach Transportation regarding school bus rules and safety.  After the presentation we will take a short bus ride through our neighborhood (less than 5 minutes, but kiddos love it! J) Chaperones are not needed for this short trip.

Fire Station ~Friday, Oct. 9th
We will be visiting Missoula Fire Station #1 located on Pine St. This is an annual kindergarten field trip that is always fun!  We watch presentations given by local firefighters and even get to sit in a REAL fire truck.  All registered and background-checked chaperones are welcome!

Pumpkin Patch ~Wednesday, Oct. 14th
For this field trip we will visit the pumpkin patch located outside of the Missoula Alliance Church next to our friends at Chief Charlo Elementary!  While we are there will learn about pumpkins and even get to try some yummy pumpkin treats.  All registered and background-checked chaperones are welcome!


Hoping to Chaperone?

With field trips on the horizon, kindergarten is going to be needing chaperones!  If you are interested in chaperoning visit http://www.mcpsmt.org/domain/818 to register as a volunteer; all chaperones will need to pass a background check as well.  Please get started with this process as soon as possible as it may take a few days.
I hope that you can join us!

Love,
Mrs. Griffith

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Guest Teacher Success

Good Afternoon!
After checking in with the kindergarteners this morning and reading the notes left by the substitute, I found that the class had a great day with the guest teacher!  I am so proud of their success (and not surprised! I knew they would do well!).  We will look forward to our next guest teacher on Wednesday, September 30th.

Love,
Mrs. Griffith

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Guest Teacher

Happy Tuesday!

Today is a special day in kindergarten...our first guest teacher!  The substitute will be handing out PINK Bobcat Bucks today to kiddos who are being safe, respectful, responsible, and kind.  Our class goal is 25 Pink Bobcat Bucks to earn a special reward activity upon my return.  My fingers are crossed!
I will post an update of their substitute success tomorrow.
Until then...

Love,
Mrs. Griffith

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Growing in the Garden

Hello Friends!
This afternoon we visited the garden for the first time!  The kinders met Farmer Amy and Farmer Katie, and learned about the expectations in the garden: calm body, listening when someone is speaking, respect all living things, and don't "yuck someone else's yum".  
Kindergarten friends sitting patiently in the garden
We met on the stumps, listened to the expectations, and then were split into groups.  
My group's garden finds
Each group was given a set of color cards and a basket.  Our job was to find something from the garden that matched each color card.  My group found a purple flower, an orange tomato, a green leaf, a pink flower, and a red raspberry.  We used calm bodies when we walked through the garden and only picked a little bit of what we needed.


Next came the most fun (and tasty!) part of our garden experience.  The class was split into two groups, one with Farmer Amy and the other with Farmer Katie. 


Delicious ingredients
 We made Vegetable Faces from a whole wheat tortilla, a smear of hummus, and then used fresh veggies from our garden to make cute faces.  We used carrots, beets, onions, kale, tomatoes, and lemon cucumbers and got creative!
Our silly veggie faces

After leaving the Veggie Faces we discovered other yummy edibles in our garden.  We tasted dinosaur kale, kohlrabi, and tomatillos, as well as beautify flowers and even fall pumpkins!  Our last expectation "don't yuck someone else's yum" was tricky, but we were able to keep our opinions about the new foods to ourselves,  I was so proud of the kindergarteners for practicing this so well!
Pumpkins!
The kindergarteners LOVED their first garden experience and we cannot wait for our next lesson!

Love,
Mrs. Griffith

PS: See below for a few more pictures from our garden!





Delicious dinosaur kale

Friday, September 11, 2015

Full Marble Jar = Popsicle Party!

Happy Friday!

Something exciting happened for the first time on Wednesday....we filled our marble jar all the way up to the tippy-top!  The class earns marbles in the jar when they are making the teacher proud!  We put marbles in the jar when friends are following directions, listening quietly, or are doing their best work.  Wednesday we put the last 3 marbles in the jar and took a vote.  Did we want a PJ party or a popsicle party? The majority voted for popsicles, which worked out perfect because we got to enjoy one of the last warm and sunny days of summer outside while we ate our treat!
Give your kinder a huge pat on the back for working so hard and being awesome!
(We also do a cute little cheer each time we put a marble in the jar, ask to see it!)

You may wonder, what about the Bobcat Bucks?  We earn Bobcat Bucks in other parts of the school and collect them in a jar, but in our classroom we earn marbles! (This helps the Bucks keep their novelty and remain a motivator throughout the entire year!)

Have a fabulous weekend!
Love,
Mrs. Griffith

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Math, Bootcamp, and Animal Friends...OH MY!

Hello Friends!
It has been a busy Tuesday back in kindergarten.  We have worked on learning and perfecting the rules and routines of the classroom!  The kinders have also been meeting all of the Zoophonics Animal Friends during ABC Bootcamp!
Each day we focus on a letter in the alphabet.  Today was Ff day, we learned about the letter, how to write it, made a poster of words that start with Ff, and even met Francy Fish.

During math time we work on identifying numbers and learning important counting routines. The kiddos have also gotten their hands on various math manipulatives and have been starting to write numbers 0-10.

Be on the lookout for our first publication of The Turtle Times weekly newsletter to come home tomorrow in your child's turtle!

Until next time...

Love,
Mrs. Griffith

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Heads Up for Thursday!

Good Afternoon!

I just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 3rd is an early out day.  Kinders will be dismissed at 2pm.  It is also Open House from 6-7pm.  Come check out our classroom and
chat with the teacher!

Love,
Mrs. Griffith