September Came and Went!

GEEZE A LOO, I have no idea where September has gone, but IT. IS. GONE.

I have so enjoyed trying new things with the kids this month, such as the coconut unit! The kids were so engaged and I felt like I could really push them far to write about our topic at hand-- awesome!

We also have enjoyed using GoNoodle.com for brain breaks in the classroom.  Brain breaks last anywhere from 1-3 minutes.  We usually do a GoNoodle activity between each lesson-- so 3 to 4 breaks a day.  Sometimes if the kids are really good, we do them during lunch! Every time we take a brain break, we get one point.  That point helps our class "pet" grow big and strong! This week, we say GOODBYE and GOOD LUCK to Flo Yo, our little monster. We have done Zumba, math marathons, Freeze It, Yoga, and lots of other fun things with her!!

FINALLY, we enter October with the help of Class Dojo.  It's a free app on my phone and can also be accessed by internet! :) IT'S AMAZING! For me, anyway.  Basically it's positive (or negative, depending on how I use it) reinforcement for behavior.  I put it up on the screen during chatty times, like morning work, lunch, and center time.  When kids are doing a nice job, I use my phone to send them a point.  If they are misbehaving, I can also take points away.  The kids just hear the loud "ping" and immediately stop talking to see who got points.  It's awesome!!!!!

Anyway, if you want to see how many points your kiddo made today, check it out!

Download the ClassDojo app from your phone (any smart phone should have it) OR go to www.classdojo.com/parent

Click on the green Create New Account button, then click Parent

Enter the parent code (I sent home a paper with your personal code on it.  If you don't have it, email me and I'll send it to you! jescalera@auburn.wednet.edu)

You should be able to see how good you kid is doing!

 

Please DO NOT panic if you see that your kiddo got a few "red" reinforcements, or were not on task. I try to focus on changing behavior.  For example, if you see 4 reds and 5 greens, it could be that they had a lot of energy in the morning, but then reflected and did better in the afternoon! And THAT is what we are looking for :)

 

Check out the apple pictures under the September tab!

 

Love,

Miss Escalera 

Crazy Coconuts!

Today we are enjoying the world of coconuts! Check back for updates :) In the mean time, here's "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z47NljuPBFE

Please click on the SEPTEMBER tab to see what coconut things we were up to this week! :)

ALSO, if you aren't already using Instagram, I encourage you to check us out! Lots of pictures you can see instantly!

Social Skills & Sneezes

Hi, families!

Social skills are a huge part of kindergarten! This month's focus is kind words. We are also learning to deal with our friends if we do not hear kind words.  When student's tell me someone called them a mean name, or someone made an unkind face at them, I tell them to tell that friend "I don't like that."  I have seen lots of children successfully teach their classmates to be kinder simply by saying those words! :) Today we got a visit from the counselor and she talked to use about filling each other's buckets.  This is a metaphor for keeping each other in high spirits rather than putting each other down. Feel free to check out the following videos for more information!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaddbqEQ1NE Filling Buckets song by Learning Station

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5R6-2m_qHk  How Full is Your Bucket? Book on Video

Additionally, I am battling the sniffles.  We hand sanitize A LOT but sometimes there is just no way to avoid the germs.  We are in kindergarten, after all! We have lots of snotty, sneezy, coughy, tired friends this week, so please make sure we are all loading up on vitamin C and lots of rest!

=]

PS: I absolutely love your kids.  I can't wait to get to work each day to hang out with them!

Love,
Miss Escalera

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

Hi, families!!

Last week we explored Pete the Cat and enjoyed every minute of it! Pete helps us learn color words as well as taught us the sight word: love. We were very excited to learn our LOVE spelling song! 

This week we are diving right into the jungle theme. We started with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom today! Tomorrow we will read Chicka Chicka 123 and then Walking Through the Jungle. 

Enjoy the following video...your kids will love singing along! 

Chicka Chicka video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtB5iGHgNVY

We have some awesome photos up on Instagram! Don't forget to follow me at @missescalera! 

Also I made a big boo boo for remind.com!!! Please re text the number using a 424 area code. I think I wrote 425 on the open house paper work!!!

Happy Monday! 

Love, Miss Escalera

Day 1 is in the Books!

Well, folks, I am pleased to report that this was the BEST first day of Kindergarten EVER!
This is how I know:
1) No one cried.
2) No one peed their pants.
3) No one escaped and ran up and down the hallways.
4) And everyone got home successfully!

=) Celebrating all night long!!!  (By all night, I mean until my strict 9 PM bedtime. I'm telling you, Teacher Tired is an entirely different kind of tired!)

Tomorrow, Tuesday, will be something a little different.  Because of full day kindergarten, Washington State requires us to complete something called WAKids Testing.  The kids will be "testing" from the minute they arrive until the minute they leave! The state's goal is to find out how successful pre-school is, and see how prepared kids are when they are entering kindergarten.  We have a group of trained paraeducators ready to go in the morning with centers and fun activities for the kiddos all day so they don't realize they are being tested. 

Thanks for having such wonderful kiddos! Everyone made it to blue today on the rainbow chart.  I think my biggest complaint is "chattiness," and honestly, if THAT'S my biggest issue, we have nothing to worry about! =)