This Friday we experienced our first fire drill, the children lined up like experts, and we were out the door in less than 30 seconds. Everyone walked in line quietly and remembered to say “here,” in a clear loud voice when the teacher called their name. Our class did such a fabulous job; a kindergarten teacher told us that we were amazing! What a compliment! All of our practice paid off, and the children were very proud to tell us that they weren’t scared a bit. After the fire drill, we reiterated the fact that the word drill means practice, and that fire drills are practice for an emergency. After our discussion, we returned to the playground for some well-deserved outdoor fun.

            The rest of the week was devoted largely to practicing rules, continuing to learn names, and introducing new elements of our classroom routine. At the beginning and end of each day we have been singing our “hello/goodbye song,” to help the children learn all of the new names and faces. On the ledge near the teachers’ chairs, there are pictorial signs illustrating the different activities we do throughout the day. After each activity is completed a helper is asked to place the completed activity in a basket. This helps the children to define our daily routine, and to feel confident because they know what we will be doing next. They love to remind the teachers when we need to remove a sign. In the hallways, the children have been learning to “walk like mice,” single file, with voices off, and “walking feet” inside the building. For group discussion times, we have been practicing the essential skill of raising our hands, and waiting to be called on before talking. We have also learned to do a “body check” where the children make sure their body has its own space, and they are not touching anyone else. We also teach the children to “use their words” to solve disputes, and if that doesn’t work, to walk away, and get a teacher. This is modeled on the Irvington School Talk, Walk, Squawk method. These adaptive skills will be very helpful to the children upon entrance to kindergarten, and we hope that you will encourage your child to share the school rules with your family.

            In addition to practicing we have begun to discuss our first theme, which we will be carrying over into the coming week: our families and ourselves. At our daily group times we have been talking about our feelings, and about who lives with us in our homes. The children have had a wonderful time sharing stories about pets and family members during circle. To tie in with our theme, we have begun filling out our time capsules. This is a one-page snapshot of each child, where we ask a few questions about their favorite things, and write their height and weight at the beginning of the year. At the end of the year we will repeat this activity, and the children can see how much they have changed! This and a variety of their creations and photos will go into a memory book, which each child will assemble and get to keep at the end of the year.

            This week we also began our letter of the week, with the letter Aa. Children are welcome to bring in shares beginning with the letter Aa or related to our weekly theme. We will be continuing with the letter Aa next week, so please help your child to find Aa items around the house. This week Alton shared an Album with us, and Leland brought in an Acorn to share, Leland said it was a special acorn because it had its hat.  We also began learning our sign language alphabet, ask your child how to sign the letter A at home!


Friendly Reminders:

 What we did today notes will be posted on the outer door prior to pick up so families can read them. Thank you so much for your cooperation, and thanks for a wonderful second week of school!