The month of November kindergarten had many great activities! 

Before the November break, Kindergarten focused on Thanksgiving and what they are thankful for. The kiddos got to decorate pine cones that some helped gather and created turkeys out of them. We also made caramel apples- they were very excited to show us what their favorite toppings on their apples were. 

When we got back from break the theme was mindfulness, breathing, and feelings week. We started off with handprint emotions, where they would describe a feeling for each finger. We then did breathing bracelets that they were thrilled to make on their own.  Which when they felt like they needed a deep breath, they would move the beads up and down. A science project that was a big hit was a mind jar.  The different colored glitter represented all of our feelings, and they loved expressing which colors meant what emotion.  This jar could also be used for breathing exercises. Watching the glitter of “emotions” fall to the bottom of the jar, instilling calmness and peace with their emotions. We ended the week by having our mentors do a snow owl activity with our group.  Any time the mentors come in the kindergarten faces light up!

We look forward to another amazing month ahead! 

These past two weeks in kindergarten our themes were halloween and harvest. We created our very own candy corn paintings, with googly eyes to bring our creations to life. We also made mummies, and a big hit was the halloween stress balls made from balloons and rice. They were thrilled to make their very own and couldn't wait to show all the other LEDP teachers! 

Wrapping up Halloween, we started harvest week. We created pumpkins, skeletons, scarecrows, and Fall trees with a tracing of their hand as the tree trunk. As requested by the K group, the skeletons that first graders made were a big hit, so we decided to make our own. They loved getting to do something that the older kiddos have done and couldn't wait to show them their creations. 

A highlight of this week was the halloween parade. It was so wonderful for us teachers to see the little ones all dressed up in their costumes, and their excitement filled the rooms later in the day. 

As the leaves are changing, so are kindergarten themes. These past two weeks we focused on Fall and dinosaurs. We also welcomed our behavior chart where the kiddos try to fill the pumpkin patch to earn a reward party in October. They are loving watching the pumpkin patch grow! They have been doing a great job earning them- we currently have four pumpkins and our goal is to get ten pumpkins.

We welcomed Fall with some fun season inspired activities- starting off with making our own pieces of pumpkin pie. They made leaf handprints with stamp pads and fall trees. A big hit in the kindergarten room were the fall bracelets!  To end off the autumn themed week, we learned about all of their favorite apples where they even taste tested them! We took a poll to find out Kindergartens favorite and the winner by a landslide was honey crisp!

The following week we learned about dinosaurs! This was a big hit in the K group. They were all thrilled to teach us about the fun facts they know about dinos! Kindergarten students became paleontologists this past week by making their own fossils! They really enjoyed being able to create their fossils with  clay, and they loved it even more when we were able to paint them. Wrapping up dino week we ended with a fizzy experiment. Each of them had their own egg with a hidden dino inside. They got to use vinegar to dissolve the hidden dino and find out what kind they had. We look forward to what the rest of October brings to the kindergarten group!

These past two weeks in kindergarten we focused on transportation and community helpers. 

The K group got to make their own hot air balloons that are lined along the LEDP hallway. We also got to make our own license plates and helicopters. The kiddos really enjoyed being scientists for a day with our float a boat experiment. They loved guessing how many marbles and pennies it would take to sink the boat and had a blast slowly adding the weight, penny by penny, marble by marble!

Community helpers week was also very enjoyable in kindergarten. They were thrilled to tell us all about the community helpers they knew and what they wanted to be when they grew up. We focused on fire safety, and they had many pointers on the safe steps to take if there is ever a fire. We practiced our first fire drill in kindergarten and even though they did one with their own kindergarten class, each student took it very seriously and the group had a great first fire drill. We made our own fire safety dogs in the classroom, which was followed by an experiment called the bubbly fire experiment. The kiddos got to observe the experiment and became little scientists and described what was happening during the experiment and what colors they saw!

Kindergarten has quickly learned  our routines in LEDP, they have finally settled in and all are participating in our activities. We have had a great two weeks despite the rainy days, we made the best of it. All three teachers love seeing them finally expressing themselves, and can't wait to see more of their personalities.

This week we welcomed our new kindergarteners into LEDP! We focused on introducing the routines along with rules and expectations in the K classroom. We love how all of our new friends have jumped right into our routines and activities. We started the week with an "All About Me," activity and a science project! The kindergarteners became little scientists and observed a classroom-made lava lamp! The joy and excitement they had during the science project made it the hot day just a bit more bearable!

Week two of LEDP we had "Respect," week in the classroom. They got to make their own respect cones, which each had kind words to spread through the Lawrence hallways. We focused on how words can make an impact on friends and the words and actions we should use to spread kindness. Another science project our group did was making our own rainbows and ended the week strong with a kindness quilt!

A friendly reminder that LEDP does not provide snacks for later in the day, so please have a snack packed for your little ones. If you packed a snack, it may be helpful to write LEDP on them, so the children know which one to save for their LEDP day.

We are so thrilled to have such an energetic group we love getting to know each unique personality. We are excited to see what the year brings for the K group!