new

Today we ended the first quarter of school! It is really hard to believe that we have been in school for nine weeks. I cannot believe how much my kinders have learned in such a short period of time. We are reading some basic sight words, students are beginning to blend sounds together to make simple words, most of the students know nearly all of their letters and numbers, we're starting to decompose numbers 4 and 5, we can identify groups of ten and count to forty by ones and tens. We are rock stars.

And then, at recess today, I received a new student. She is a sweetheart, and tries exceptionally hard, and she shows so much promise. However, I feel that her last kindergarten teacher did not fully tap into that promise. She is itching to jump into this learning game, and I am excited to take her there. She still struggles with her letters, but can write her name. She can count. She can identify the first sounds in words. We're off to a good start. I cannot wait for the new quarter to start on Monday so that we can really build onto the basic skills that she came to me with and rocket her to the level that the majority of my students are sitting at right now.

Here's to a new quarter, a new student, new materials, and new goals. Here's to fall break as well!