Back to School

The first day of school was Thursday, August 6. It was a very exciting day for everyone. Ms. Marzoni's class had a great start to the new school year. The students came ready to learn and excited about Kindergarten.

During the first two days of Kindergarten we did many activities that helped us learn about one another. One activity that we did was to create a "Friendship Salad." One of our favorite things to do in Kindergarten is to cook and this is a fun recipe to help us learn how to be good friends and helpers in our classroom. Here's the recipe:


Ingredients:
large mixing bowl
1 jar of Mandarin oranges, drained
1 can of pineapple, drained
1 can of mixed fruit, drained
mini-marshmallows
yogurt
1 very old and rotten banana

Begin by explaining that the large mixing bowl is like our classroom, there are many important things that need to go into our classroom to make it a fun place to learn.

Add the oranges, explain that the oranges are like our friends that follow directions and are kind.
Add the pineapple, explain that the pineapple are like our friends that are hard workers in our class. They are always trying their best and they are "busy bees."

Add the mixed fruit, explain that these are the friends that share. They work together well in centers and share their supplies.

Add the marshmallows, these are the kinds words spoken in our classroom. These words make us feel good and make our classroom a happy place.

Add the yogurt, the yogurt is sweet and represents the happy days we will have in Kindergarten.

Then pretend to add the rotten banana, ask students if they would like to eat the salad once the banana has been added. Explain that when we don't share and are not kind it is like adding something old and rotten to our salad. Things like this will add trouble to our classroom. We discuss ways to keep our classroom happy and agree to have a fun time learning in Kindergarten.


The students really enjoyed this activity and the salad was YUMMY!

We also read the book The Gingerbread Man. After reading this book we went on a gingerbread hunt of our own. We explored the school in search for the gingerbread man. We visited the library, cafeteria, P.E. room, music room, speech class, nurse's office, counselor's office, and finally found the gingerbread man in our Principal's office. It was fun to go on the search and visit all the places in our school. Afterwards, we got to eat some yummy gingerbread cookies.

We also learned a lot about our friends when the students brought some of their favorite items from home. On Thursday night the students filled a "Getting to Know You Sack" with things that they enjoyed. Then on Friday everyone got to share what they brought from home. It was fun to see that many of us enjoyed the same things.

Next week starts our first full week of Kindergarten, we have a great class and I know they are going to learn so much. I'm looking forward to a fun and exciting year!!