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.

Welcome to a New Class!

What a day!  I would guess we were at near record temperatures with the heat and humidity, but spirits were high. This crew worked and played happily while experiencing so many new things.  Today we went through every part of our schedule to get a sense of the routine and took extra time and care to talk about HOW we do things at Orchard- we take care of ourselves, each other and the environment (or "space around us).  I will post again this coming weekend with highlights from the week but thanks to Miss Libby, we have some photos to share from the today

Sorry this one is tilted- we are picking mint and lavender!

Another tilt but here are some morning mandalas in the works

A Blast at the Beach and a Sad Good Bye

We've arrived at the last post of the year.  An adventure all the way along, we were fortunate to end the year with a perfect day at North Beach.  Have a look at fun in the sand and sun as well as us relaxing and looking like the day is done.  Thanks for checking in with the blog I hope you enjoyed following our learning.

Show What You Know

Rounding out the year here are some odds and ends that show how we've grown.  In the following pictures you can see the class working collaboratively to share materials and teach one another techniques to put together the June calendar.  You can also see a writer hard at work- inspired by a book character and actively writing his own "spin off" adventure of Captain Underpants. Lastly, you can an example of the kind of community we fostered all year as two of our students engage in a game of Connect Four with the help of a big buddy- all three learning and all three having fun.

Making Memories

This week I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves you can have a look at us enjoying Field Day, making our own Frog and Toad Stories, having a picnic lunch and getting creative with an art themed Candle Day.  Catch a glimpse...

Above were the three steps to our original Frog and Toad stories: imagine and write the words, add the pictures, make it into a book!