Ten Timid Ghosts

In Kindergarten not only do we begin to learn to read, but we also focus on comprehension of what we have read.  One awesome way to assess comprehension of text is by retelling the story.  We read, "Ten Timid Ghosts," an adorable story about a witch that tries to trick the ghosts into leaving their house so she can stay there.  Then, we created a way to retell the story using all of the characters in the story.  It was also a wonderful way to discuss sequencing; what comes first, second, etc. in the story.  The awesome thing about this activity is that we also got to practice some math skills!  We talked about taking away (subtraction) when the ghosts leave to go to the woods.... addition when the ghosts come back to the house.... and we counted all throughout the retelling to make sure we had the right number of ghosts in the house and woods.  I LOVED this activity!  The students loved it as well... and they will be bringing home all of their retelling supplies to you so that they can show you what we did.

Our ghosts are lima beans.... aren't they cute?

Retelling the story

Here is what you will see coming home soon.  Please have them retell the story to you as well!!  

Look, there are only two ghosts left in his house! :)

Last but not least we made a recording of us chanting the book. (One hint... the kids got kind of loud during the main verse so you might want to turn your sound down a little).... enjoy!:

Mrs. Bagby's Witch School!

Halloween is coming.  It is one of my favorite holidays!  We read, "Which Way to Witch School" by Scott Santoro.

I rephrased some of the verses in the book, and made up my own verse.... then we turned ourselves into witches and wizards and displayed our "Witch School" out in the hallway.  By the end of the week I hope to have them memorize the poem, but oh my goodness, our display is SOOOO cute and the sweeties just LOVE it! (Oh, and don't worry... I won't turn them to mice) ;) 

We have been very busy during center time.  Here are some pictures of what we have been doing!

Playing "Shoo Scarecrow!"

The kids had to roll to see how many scarecrows were going to fly to the barn.  Whoever got all of their scarecrows to the barn first was the winner! :)

Planting pumpkins in the field!

The kids had to roll to see how many pumpkins to plant.  After all of the pumpkins were planted we counted to see how many we had in our field.  

Practicing our letters!

Making our class book!

Rolling the cubes to make and write words!

Great job! :)

Working on our wizards and witches for the hallway display!

Painting candy corn for a story sequencing activity later this week.

Last week we did an awesome unit on SCARECROWS!  I purchased this unit from one of my favorite, favorite, favorite creators on Teachers pay Teachers, Deanna Jump.  You will see a lot of stuff coming home this year with her name on it.  :)  Anyway, we made a scarecrow book, including circle maps and diagrams, and made an absolutely adorable scarecrow that is hanging out in our hallway.  

Our scarecrow circle map!

Writing in our book!

Making our scarecrows!

Part of our book.

How awesome is this?!

Our finished product!

We also took an opportunity last week to learn about living and non-living things.  

See what fun we have been having in Kindergarten?!  Love it! :))))

Leaf Fun!

I hope everyone enjoyed spending more time with your children over the two week fall break.  I had a great break myself.  I didn't do a whole lot; just enjoyed spending time with my own kids.  I did get to go on a field trip with my son's class to the fire station.  How strange it felt to be the parent and not the teacher!

We are now in one of my very favorite times of the year.... FALL!  We have been super busy this week doing all sorts of fun Autumn activities and I would like to start out by sharing with you pictures of the leaf book we made.  The kiddos had to find a leaf, then we measured it with cubes, chose a good description word to write, counted how many seconds it took for it to hit the floor after we dropped it, counted how many pennies it took to fill its surface, and finally counted how many pennies it took to sink it!  Whew! :)  We really had a blast doing this activity and I hope you enjoy the slideshow I created!

This photo slideshow created with Smilebox

Last, but certainly not least..... we have a new Shoe Tying Expert!  Way to go buddy! :)))))