Weekly News! (Sept. 23-27)

Wow, what a beautiful start to the fall season!  It has been a great week.  Here is a glimpse at what we've been up to.  Enjoy!

Math
We continued to work in our math books this week and learned how to write the numbers 4 and 5.  We chanted the rhymes below as we learned the new strokes for each number.

Down and across and down once more,

That's the way to make a four.

Fat old five goes down and around.

Put a flag on top and see what you've found!

We reviewed our shapes this week as well as the names for the coins--penny, nickel, dime, and quarter.  We also played more counting games and completed an activity on our interactive whiteboard looking at the numbers 1-10.  Check it out below!

Interactive Whiteboard Math Lesson

Jolly Phonics
We completed Jolly Phonics Book #2 this week and learned the following sounds:
Rr as an "rabbit"
Mm as in "moon"
Dd as in "drum"

We watched a Jolly Phonics video to review all the sounds we learned in Book #2 and practiced blending some of these sounds to read words!  Please continue to review all of the sounds we have learned and keep encouraging your child to stretch out the words when they are labeling their pictures in their notebook.  This is great practice for them.  I have already seen many of the students taking more risks with their writing and getting more sounds down on paper during our Writers Workshop time.  As a reminder, the children do not have to have the words spelled correctly.  They should be doing the spelling of the words.  You can help them practice stretching out the word, but please have your child write down the sounds they hear.  Thanks so much for your support with this!  

Watching a Jolly Phonics Video

Literacy
We began the week reading a book about fall, and then together as a class we completed a fall word web showing our ideas about fall activities, weather, and foods.  We continued our apple theme this week and read several apple themed books this week including: The Picnic at Apple Tree Park, Little Mouse and the Big Red Apple, Amazing Apples and A is for Autumn.  We even made our own apple themed book titled I Like Apples, Yum!  I know it will be a class favorite!  We introduced a new sight word this week (the) and sent home a new sight word book to practice reading this word.

The children are doing a nice job practicing their handwriting skills.  This week we learned how to write the letters: Vv, Ww, and Tt.  When we practice our handwriting, we focus on the following skills: using the lines as a guide for where to start and stop letters, starting letters from the top of the line, using the correct strokes to form letters, and holding the pencil with a comfortable and appropriate grip.  Handwriting is something we will continue to practice throughout the year.

This week the children completed two quick assessments in class that that looked at their phonemic awareness.  They completed a rhyming assessment and as well as an assessment that looked at their ability to identify beginning sounds in words.  We will complete two more quick literacy assessments next week, which will provide me the last bit of information I need to help me form guided read groups.  

Computer Lab
The children LOVED exploring the Starfall website this week in the computer lab.  Click on the link below to check it out at home.  

http://www.starfall.com

Playing Starfall in the Compter Lab

Playing Starfall in the Computer Lab

Centers
The children continue to do a great job during center time.  They are learning how to work cooperatively with their peers and taking turns when playing games.  They are also learning how to work independently, which will be important once I begin meeting with small groups for guided reading.  Here are the centers from the week.

What's for dinner?

Rhyme Time Matching Game

Roll an Apple Tree

Spin a Number

The Teeny Weeny Tadpole

Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Sept. 16-20)

Happy 1st day of fall!  Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful fall weather.  We've been busy learning this week with some activities that followed an apple theme.

Math
The children practiced their patterning skills this week as they completed two apple-themed patterning activities.  They also practiced their one-to-one counting and number recognition skills as they counted a given number of apples and identified the corresponding number.  We continued to work in our Number Books as we learned how to write the numbers 2 and 3.  These are the rhymes we chanted as we practiced tracing and writing these numbers:

Around and back on a railroad track,

Two, two, two.

Around a tree, around a tree,

That's the way to make a three!

We also played a game of "Simon Says" to review positional words such as: above, under, beside, between, on top, and below.  We also introduced a new math game called Spin a Number that works to reinforce number recognition and one-to-one counting.  The children will be playing this game in centers next week.  

Jolly Phonics

This week the children learned the sound and motion for the following letters:

Cc as in "cat"

Kk as in "kite"

Ee as in "elbow" (We are focusing on the short sound for /e/ right now as opposed to the long vowel sound for "e" such as the sound in ear or see.)

Hh as in "hot"

Literacy

This week the children learned the sight word we, and they brought home a new sight word book to add to their collection at home.  The children used our new sight word during Writer's Workshop this week as they wrote "We can ______" sentences. 

Writer's Workshop

The children also enjoyed listening to several apple themed stories this week as well as a nonfiction book about how apples grow.  As we read this book, we took a closer look at many of the features of nonfiction text including: the table of contents, labels, captions, photographs, and the glossary.  It was a great introduction to how we use nonfiction texts to locate and read information on a particular topic.  We continued to practice our handwriting skills this week as we learned the strokes for the letters o and s.

Computers

This week in the computer lab, the children spent some time exploring some of the alphabet games on the website abcya.com.  They played the following games: Alphabet BINGO and Alphabet Puzzles.  Click on the link below to play at home!

http://www.abcya.com

Centers

The children rotated through several centers this week.  Check them out below!

Listening Center

Dr. Seuss on the iPads

Coin Sorting

Uppercase/Lowercase Letter Match

Pattern Block Puzzles

More Pattern Block Puzzles


Looking forward to another great week!

Weekly News (Sept. 9-13)

I can't believe another week has flown by!  Here's a peek at what we have been learning this week.  Enjoy!

Math
This week the children had their first introduction to coins as we watched a video about the quarter, dime, nickel, and penny.  We will continue to revisit coins throughout the year.  To watch the video, click here.

The students also practiced counting up and back from 10 and then played a game called "Give the Next Number."  The students sat in a circle and had to listen for a number and then had to say the next number.  We talked more about measurement this week and the concept of length.  The children had to find objects in the room that were both shorter and taller than a kindergartener.  Our findings are shown below!

Morning Kindergarten

Afternoon Kindergarten

The children were also introduced to the concept of a "Ten Frame" this week (see example below).  The format of the ten frame helps children develop number sense.  For children and adults, it is easy to immediately recognize quantities less than 5, however, recognizing quantities beyond 5 is more difficult.  The ten-frame helps students visualize the numbers between 5 and 10.  The children fill the top row of the ten-frame with objects from left to right before filling the bottom row to promote recognition of "5 and some more" patterns.  For example, the ten-frame below represents the number 7---5 plus 2 more.

Jolly Phonics
This week we learned the following Jolly Phonics sounds:
Ii as in "icky"
Pp as in "pig"
Nn as in "noisy"

We reviewed all the sounds this week and watched our first Jolly Phonics video, which the children really enjoyed!  Please continue to review all of the sounds we have learned at home too.  In class, we practice naming each letter, its sound, and the motion that helps us remember the sound.  I continue to be so impressed by the students' Jolly Phonics notebooks.  It's great to see the children listening for and stretching out the sounds they hear when labeling their pictures.  It's a highlight of our day to share our pictures! 


Literacy
This week the children were introduced to Writer's Workshop, and they have been doing an amazing job.  They are feeling more comfortable with the four steps we follow during our writing time--think, draw, label, and then write--and they are gaining more and more confidence each day.  We have been using the sentence starter "I can______" for our writing this week, and the children have been doing a great job really stretching out the sounds they hear.  They are doing a nice job listening for the beginning sound and some children are hearing the ending sound too.  As we continue to practice our writing and learn more sounds, the children will eventually begin to hear those sounds in the middle as well.  

The children also received a new sight word book this week titled I Can.  We practiced reading the book together, pointing to each word as we read.  We also used the picture as a clue to read the tricky word at the end of each sentence, and we double checked the sounds in the tricky word to make sure what we said matched.  Please add this book to your child's plastic "My Books" bag at home and encourage your child to read at home with good finger pointing.

For our read aloud stories this week, the children loved listening to books written by Audrey Wood, and they were excited to learn that many of her books are illustrated by her husband Don or her son Bruce!  In The Napping House, a small little flea bites a mouse, causing a chain reaction in the napping house and wakes everyone up.  Silly Sally was a fun book about Sally who walks to town backwards and upside down--the children had a good laugh during that read aloud!  We practiced counting back from 10 in Ten Little Fish, and we solved the mystery of the missing letter "x" in Alphabet Mystery.  And finally, we finished the week learning about opposites in Audrey Wood's book Quick as a Cricket.  The children loved her stories!

We continue to practice our centers each week as well, and the children continue to do a great job working quietly so I can meet with students.  

Way to go girls!

Handwriting
We began our handwriting practice this week.  We will be following the sequence of the letters for the Handwriting Without Tears program, which introduces the letters in a sequence where the letters build off of each other.  The children learned the letter "c" this week.

Looking forward to another great week.

Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Sept. 3-6)

For a short week of school, we sure were busy...and very productive!!  Take a peek below to see what we have been learning about this week.

Math
We spent some time reviewing our shapes and focused on the square.  We completed another dinosaur shape sorting activity where our picky dinosaur would only eat squares!  The children reinforced their sorting and fine motor skills during this activity.

We also spent time this week talking about different ways we can sort objects.  We talked about the different characteristics, or attributes, we could look at to group objects together.  During an interactive whiteboard activity, the children used our "Magic Pen" to sort a collection of buttons using a variety of different attributes.  Check out our work in action below!

Sorting buttons big and small in the morning!

Sorting buttons big and small in the afternoon!

Sorting buttons by number of button holes.

Sorting buttons by size and color.

Wow!  Sorting buttons by color, shape, and number of button holes.  This one took a lot of thinking but we did it!!

We began exploring the concept of patterns this week in math as well, which is a foundational skill for many math concepts.  First we used our bodies to follow a pattern such as---clap, clap, stomp, clap, clap, stomp.  We even followed some patterns that involved humming and chirping like a chick!  At the end of the week, we worked on color patterns and talked about the different patterns we could follow such as an AB pattern, an AAB pattern, or even an ABB pattern.  Check out our color patterns below. We even painted our own dot patterns during center time!

Sound and motion patterns with the morning class. 

Sound and motion patterns with the afternoon class.

Color patterns

Jolly Phonics
Hooray!  We learned the first 3 Jolly Phonics sounds this week!

Ss as in "snake."
Aa as in "apple."
Tt as in "tennis."

The children are doing a TERRIFIC job with their Jolly Phonics notebooks, and we have a great time each day sharing some of our favorite finds!  It is great to see the children stretching out the sounds they hear.  Please remember that the children do not need to have correct spellings when labeling their pictures.  The goal is for children to write down the sounds they hear when saying the word slowly.  As we learn more sounds, the children will be able to write more.  I truly appreciate the time you are spending with your child completing their homework and reviewing our sounds!

Literacy
The students brought home two plastic baggies this week--one for sight words and the other bag for sight word books.  Please keep these bags handy and practice reading the words and books inside.  New words and books will come home each week in your child's folder for you to add to the bags.  This week's word wall words were I and can.  We also enjoyed several good read aloud stories these week!

Assessments
The students were given two quick literacy assessments as part of our AIMSweb testing this week.  The students take these assessments three times each year--fall, winter, and spring.  The information provided from these assessments along with the information I have been gathering through our Fountas and Pinnell guided reading assessments will help inform my instruction as I work to meet the individual literacy needs of each student.  I so enjoy getting to meet with the students one-on-one.  I have learned so much about them already!

Thanks for reading!