Five for Friday!

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a weekly recap.

Thursday was our official 100th day of Kindergarten! One of my favorite celebrations! Check out all of the fun 100 themed activities we did here. It's hard to believe our school year is already 1/2 over!

100 Days Welcome Sign

One of our amazing 1st grade teachers wanted to try this idea with all of the Kindergarten and First grade classes - a HUGE 100s chart! Each student got to decorate their own number before we hung it in the hallway.

"My name is Skippito Friskito (clap, clap)..." has been chanting in my head ever since I started reading my favorite kitty books: Skippyjon Jones. I usually read the first book each year to see if my kids take an interest (since the Spanish vocabulary can be confusing for some of them). Well.. this class can't get enough of this imaginative, silly, (sometimes naughty), Chihuahua wanna-be, Siamese cat! I'm going to have to stock up on more books as I only have 5 and I know there are many more.

In Kindergarten, we celebrate ours Moms on Valentine's Day by inviting them to a special Mother's Valentine Tea. We have one last week to put the finishing touches on our Mom Valentines and practice our songs. Each year the students draw a picture of their mom and fill out an All About Mom questionnaire. We put them on display for the Moms to see when the come for tea. Aren't they adorable?

You can find the All About Mom questionnaire here.

More symmetry practice! This was tricky, but my students enjoyed the challenge of finishing the other 1/2 of the picture with pattern blocks.

Another favorite symmetry activity is freeze dancing. Choose a jam and start dancing. When the music stops, shout out "symmetrical!" The student have to freeze and strike a symmetrical pose with their body.

I have been searching for different ways to help some of my students that struggle with pencil grips. Two of my kiddos hold the pencil straight up instead of letting it rest between their thumb and pointer finger. I came across this trick using a rubber band... and... it works great! It holds the pencil down with a gentle amount of resistance to help them get used to holding it that way. The only problem is when they need to erase something...hmmm.... no perfect solution... YET!

I am always impressed at how far their writing comes compared to the beginning of the year! AMAZING!

Happy Friday!