The First Week of School!

What a absolutely fantastic first week of school for the Whales! On the first day of school, we read “Lenas Shoes are Nervous” by Keith Calabrese. We had a community discussion about how it is okay to feel different emotions about starting something new, like kindergarten! We made a chart to show how each friend in our classroom was feeling about the first day of school. Some of us were feeling happy, some were excited, some were nervous, and others were “ner-vited” (both nervous and excited). After looking at the chart we could see how many Whales were feeling each emotion. We applauded each other for sharing how we were feeling. We are already building such a tight-knit community filled with kindness, and love.

We started our week measuring different parts of sunflowers. To do this the Whales learned how to use a ruler to measure. We looked at the inch side of a ruler and talked about what an inch was. We used inch worm blocks to help us visualize this concept. Some friends had sunflower parts that were as long as the ruler, 12 inches! We practiced writing our numbers next to our traced sunflower parts. At the science table, the Whales used a pro-scope to look at the head of a sunflower up close. Some Whales even found bugs tucked in between the seeds. The Whales have been working hard through out the week using tweezers to pull out sunflower seeds. Next week, we will do some big counting with those seeds using ten frames to help us. At the storytelling table, the Whales made magical stories of their characters at a sunflower farm.

On Thursday the Whales started to learn all about the brain. We learned about 3 parts of the limbic system. The prefrontal cortex (wise leader), amygdala (controls feelings), and the hippocampus (memory saver). We looked at a diagram of the brain and saw where each of those parts are located. In the Whales classroom, we make decisions using our prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex helps us focus, so that our hippocampus can take new information and store it. We ask the Whales to use their prefrontal cortex and hippocampus when we are learning something new. Next week, we will learn more about how meditation and mindfulness can help grow and strengthen our brain.

The Whales have had a blast playing in the Cedar Classroom. They are practicing using the monkey bars, and climbing the big logs and rocks. Many of the Whales have been enjoying the giant sand box and using the water to make pathways in the sand. However, we can’t forget about the piazza. The Whales love playing with the giant blue blocks, and building creative structures, like castles and boats. We also noticed that the sunflowers in the Piazza are blossoming just in time for our sunflower unit. Next week, we will be scientists and investigate our own sunflowers in our very own piazza.

We wrapped up our week, with our first sharing day! Whales did such an amazing job using their strong voices to tell their classmates all about their sharing. We heard about stuffies, books, photos of fun trips, rocks, petrified wood, a slithering wooden snake, and so so much more! Sharing is such a fun time where we get to learn all about the important things in our friends lives.

We are only 3 days into the school year, and we can already tell it is going to be a spectacular year! Full of growing, lots of learning, new friendships, and so much fun!