Hello Fall!

There is so much to share with you this week.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves...for the most part!  First, have a look at us saying goodbye to the sunflowers in the courtyard that welcomed us back to Orchard at the end of August.  To preserve their look, we made ripped paper collages that are now on display in the hall.

Early in the week we went on a fall scavenger hunt with our big buddies.  After finding pumpkins, a scarecrow, straw and more, we ended up just chilling for a while- reading together in front of the school.

In keeping with the fall experience we had a great time making applesauce.  Just apples and a touch of cinnamon and many friends asked for thirds!

Have a look at us taking a bird walk with visiting teacher, Julie from the Winooski Park's Department. Julie's knowledge about birds is amazing and we are so lucky to be able to explore the woods behind Orchard with an expert.  We saw some chickadees and learned their call.

A Day in the Life...

The point of this blog is to be a window into our classroom and I thought I would walk you through a "typical day" schedule wise  even though these photos were taken over the week. You will see... *glimpses of our Morning Meeting though one child's share 
* a literacy table job (journaling) 
* Reader's Workshop- a "share out" on the rug to discuss what we learned by thinking as we looked at books 
* hands-on math work with geoboards
* creating a class graph that continues our focus an ways we are alike and different 
* ...and the first meeting of Big Buddies.  Enjoy!

Hooray for the Fun Run!

The pictures might say it all but it certainly was a REALLY fun run.  I'm glad many of you were able to make it to cheer us on and I am incredibly grateful for all of the funds raised and organizing efforts by the PTO.  We are all incredibly fortunate to be part of the Orchard School community.  Have a look...

So Many Firsts!

This week 17 capable kindergartners placed beginning entries in their poetry journals, used the "wet, dry, try" method of practicing correct number and letter formation, and played an independent math game in which a person was not "the winner", but rather it was a race to find out which number would win.  All these experiences will be revisited and built upon in the weeks to come.  A highlight this week was a shape walk around the school where we realized that when we paid careful attention "the world is made of shapes"!  Miss Libby worked with the class to arrange the photos from our shape walk into a class book.

Getting to Know You

This first week of school has been all about getting to know each other and establishing the routines of school.  Although parts of our day like "Literacy", "Reader's Workshop"  and "Math Menu" don't play out exactly how they will in the weeks to come, we are still marking these periods of the day with the predictable formats they will always have- coming together for a mini lesson followed by time to practice the concepts and skills with materials either on the rug or at tables.  Of course we also took time to pick in the garden and swing- both great ways to practice our Core Values (taking care of ourselves, each other and the environment).  Have a look! You will see Ms.Lamphier, our Math Coach introducing Dominoes.  She is one of the many teachers your children will learn with this year.