Weekly News (May 20-23)

Math
This week in math the children learned a new way to think about math facts using a "function machine" or an "in/out machine."  For example, if the number 3 goes into our machine with a rule of +1, then a 4 must come out of the machine.  It's a great way for students to practice their math facts in a more visual way.

Literacy
The students brought home their final sight word book of the year, and we began working on the last Treasures workbook of the year as well.  Our theme this week focused on dinosaurs.  We read several stories about dinosaurs this week and learned about several different dinosaurs in the LMC.  We had a blast acting out a poem about dinosaurs too!

Sand, Dirt, and Water
We wrapped up our study of Dirt, Sand, and Water this week making mudpies and investigating the properties of clay soil.  We added some water to our soil sample and then used our hands to form mudpies.  I added some grass and hay to my mudpie and asked the children to describe how the mudpies were different.  We then talked about how the mudpie made with grass and hay would make a great bird nest!  The children also spent some time exploring some clay soil, and they even had some time to create their very own clay masterpieces!!

Making Mudpies!

Clay Creations

Thanks for reading!

K-2's Weekly News (May 13-17)

Math
This week the students practiced making our "tens buddies" by using counting loops---a loop of ribbon strung with 10 beads. The students would separate the beads, placing some beads on the left and some on the right of the loop.  Then we would name our "tens buddy"--two digits that make a ten such as: 1+9, 9+1, 2+8, 8+2, 3+7, 7+3, 4+6, 6+4, and 5+5.  The children brought their counting loops home this week.  It will make a handy tool for math fact practice! 

Counting loop showing that 4 + 6 = 10

Literacy
We completed several writing activities this week including a sequencing activity.  The students were given four different pictures that showed the steps a girl used to build a sand castle.  The children had to put the pictures in order and write sentences to describe each step using the words first, then, next, and last.  It is amazing to see how far they have come as writers this year!  We also introduced the final two sight words for the year--me and where.  Please continue to practice all of our sight words with your child.

The children also listened to a beautiful story this week called Make Way for Ducklings, which was a story about a pair of ducks looking to find the perfect place to raise their family.  After listening to and discussing the story, the children drew illustrations and wrote sentences to tell about what happened at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story. 

After listening to Eric Carle's A House for Hermit Crab about a hermit crab looking to make his shell more beautiful, the children created their own hermit crab with a decorated shell.

Dirt, Sand, and Water
The children did a great job predicting and investigating what happens when water is added to a variety of materials.  Through our observations, we learned that some materials dissolve in water, some materials sink to the bottom, some float to the top, and some materials don't mix at all.

We mixed water with the following materials:
dirt, sand, flour, rice, salt, red paint, oil, and dish soap.

The children also learned about the concept of displacement this week.  We filled a glass with water and then added a large rock to the glass.  The children could see the level of the water in the glass rise.  When I asked the class why this happened, I got a great response--"The rock pushed the water out of the way and the water had no where to go but up."  What a great description of displacement!

The children also learned a little about erosion this week.  We place a pile of dirt in one tub and a large piece of sod in a second tub.  We poured water in each tub and observed how much water and mud collected at the bottom of each tub.  The children could clearly see that the water quickly ran across the dirt forming a big, muddy puddle at the bottom of the tub while very little water and dirt drained to the bottom of the tub with the sod.  It was a great demonstration of how the grass and the roots in the soil help absorb the water and help prevent water from eroding the land.  Take a peek at our before and after photos below!

Before

After

Gymnastics Assembly
The children also had a chance to watch a gymnastics show performed by some of the gymnasts from Elk Grove Gymnastics Club.  They even got to see a performance by a gymnast from the Special Olympics and a handstand from me!!  It was a great show!

Thanks for reading!

K-2's Weekly News (May 6-10)

Math
We continued to reinforce counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's.  We worked on writing and sequencing numbers, and we also played a new game called the Plus and Minus Game.  Using a "ten-frame board" and a die labeled with the numbers 0, +1, +2, +3, -1, and -2, the students took turns rolling the die and adding or taking away chips to their boards.  Before passing the die to the next player, the children would have to say how many chips they had and how many more they would need to get to 10.  The first player to 10 was the winner!  The children had a great time playing the game and reinforcing all the facts that add up to 10.

Literacy
We continued to read and write about interesting sea creatures.  We read a nonfiction book titled Fish Faces about many unique fish that live deep in the ocean.  We also read two stories about a shark named Gilbert (Gilbert the Great and Gilbert in Deep) that the children just loved.  After reading Gilbert in Deep, the children had to write a book review that explained why they liked or didn't like the story.  I also met with all the children in reading groups.

Dirt, Sand, and Water
Our enthusiastic scientists continue to explore the different properties of dirt, sand, and water.  We took a closer look at the properties of ice this week, and we even made our own sand by pretending we were an ocean crashing our waves down on the rocks at the bottom of the sea.  Our ocean was actually a baby food jar with a rock inside, and we were the waves crashing the rock into the sides of the jar. 

Kindergarten Musical
Thank you all so much for coming to see the children perform in our Kindergarten Musical.  They did an AMAZING job!!

K-2's Weekly News! (Apr. 29-May 3)

Math
We revisited number stories this week.  In their math journals, students drew number story pictures and then wrote a number model to match their picture.  We also learned how to tell time to the hour.  For this lesson, we used the ladybug clocks the students made (thank you SO much for all your help preparing these for class), and we also played a matching game to reinforce how to tell time on both a digital and an analog clock.  Please keep your child's ladybug clock in a handy place at home to practice telling time to the hour!  We also practiced making tallies when we did a coin flipping activity.  We flipped 3 different coins (a penny, a nickel, and a dime) multiple times and tallied the number of heads and tails.  We were all amazed that tails won for every coin!  We used popsicle sticks to work on place value this week as well.  We took a bagful of sticks and bundled the sticks into groups of ten and kept a pile of our leftover sticks.  Then we counted by 10's and then counted on by 1's to figure out how many total sticks were in the bag.  We also introduced the concept of number collections this week in math.  We talked about how there are many different ways to name a number.  For example, other names for 5 could be: 1 + 4, 6 -1, five tally marks, or a nickel.  This was a great exercise for students to get them thinking about different ways to name a given number.

Literacy
This week we continued our theme of insects.  The students did some informational writing this week and shared many of the interesting facts they learned about ladybugs.  The did some creative writing as well about what they would do if they had a ladybug.  You can see some of their work below!  We also introduced two new sight words--has and look--and sent a new sight word book home.

Dirt, Sand, and Water
The children were thrilled to begin our study of "Dirt, Sand, and Water" this week.  They worked like real scientists this week, exploring, investigating, and making some great observations about these three different materials.  We were able to take an even closer look at sand this week using our proscope.  Take a peek at our Super Scientists below!!

A close-up view of sand using our Proscope.

Bullying Presentation from Mrs. Sessler
Mrs. Sessler came in for a visit this week to talk to the children about bullying.  She did a great job explaining the three steps children should take if someone is doing something they don't like--Stop, Walk, and Talk.

1. Stop--Ask the person to STOP in a firm voice.
2. Walk--Walk away if the person does not stop.
3. Talk--Find an adult if the person still does not stop.

Two of our students debuted their acting skills and did some role playing to help the children understand how to "Stop, Walk, and Talk."  Take a peek below!

Wow!  Another busy and productive week in Kindergarten!

Thanks for reading!