The school year is off to a great start! Our classroom is filled with positive and enthusiastic students, and we can feel like we are a family already. Our week was so full of new and exciting things. 

We began by exploring our classroom filled with cool toys and areas. Last year  students kept noticing the differences and similarities from before. We took our new students on a mini tour of our school, so they knew where the bathroom, gym, language classrooms, and playground areas were. We even found our siblings’ classrooms!

We read the book “Try a little Kindness” by Henry Cole, and we discussed the meaning of kindness and how we can show it to others in and out of our classroom. (Ask your child what kindness means.) We began practicing kindness from day one, with each other, with our pets, and especially with younger students from other classes during recess. I have to say I am proud to hear them being polite with each other and trying their best to be helpful. Yay!

We talked about our classroom mission: BE KIND, BE SAFE AND TAKE CARE OF OUR CLASSROOM. We discussed why it is important to be safe, what being kind means, and how we take care of our classroom. Ask your child about this important statement.

Journals. We began working in our journals by “writing” facts about ourselves. Journals are one of the first attempts at written communication in the classroom. They create drawings and symbolic markings that represent their thoughts and ideas. It is just the beginning of a series of stages that children progress through as they learn to write. You’ll be able to see their progress as the weeks go by.

Specials. We got to meet all of our teachers. On Tuesday, we met our Greek teacher Kiria Sophi and one of our PE teachers, coach Danny. We met Coach Lexi on Wednesday and danced with Kirio Yianni on Thursday. And on Friday, we learned new songs in Spanish with Maestra Ericka. Soon, you will start hearing the songs at home. 

Popular spots. One of the areas that have been a major hit this year has been our dentist’s office. They became patients and dentists, took cavities out of each other’s teeth, took temperatures, made appointments, and explained what foods are bad for our teeth. 

Our water table has also been a popular spot, but instead of water, I added beans and a variety of containers for them to play with. Beans are such a great learning tool! We learned about Gravity when we play with beans (we notice how the beans drop back down when spilled, poured, or dropped.) Cause and effect (When we tip the cup or dump the spoon, we make the beans fall.) Weight (the scoop of beans feels lighter with only one bean and heavier with more beans.) Motor skills (we strengthened our fine motor skills with all the scooping and pouring.) Self-awareness (we share the space and need to be respectful of each other. Also, sometimes we want to dump the beans all over the floor, but then we find out that we have to clean them up, which is not as fun.) 

Measuring. While waiting outside the bathroom, some students compared themselves to see who was taller. I asked them to think about how we could find out. A student quickly said: “with a measuring tape!”. After pointing out that we did not have a measuring tape at the moment, another student said: “with the building things.” When we returned to the classroom, we looked for the building “things” they were talking about, and we started our task: stacking the linking cubes and counting them. It was a good idea until most students got stuck and needed help counting after 30. So I asked them to figure out a way to measure ourselves without much help. We are still pondering it, and I asked them to think about it over the weekend. I cannot wait to hear more ideas about this on Monday.

Soraya Castro