Kinder News!: Weekly News (Nov. 4-8)

Math
We used the interactive white board this week to solve addition and subtraction number stories similar to the one below. We used the words "more" and "less" to help us understand the concepts of adding and subtracting.

The students also practiced sequencing the numbers from 0-20 using a set of number cards that they had to put in order. The children did a great job with this activity, especially with those teens numbers! In our number book this week, we learned about the numbers 14 and 15. We continue to reinforce the concept that the teen numbers are made up of a ten "plus some more." The children also learned a new game this week called the "Train Game." In this game, the children roll a die and count out that number of cubes. They attach the cubes in a line to form a train, then they figure out how many more cubes they need to make a group of ten. They roll again and add more cubes to their train, figuring out each time how many more cubes they need to make a ten.

Click the link below to play a variation of the Train Game that involves adding and subtracting train cars.

http://media.emgames.com/emgames/demosite/playdemo.html?activity=M1A041&activitytype=dcr

Jolly Phonics
We began Book #5 in Jolly Phonics this week. The children learned the sounds and motions for the following letters:

Zz as in "zoo"
Ww as in "wind"
ng as in "sing"

Thank you so much for all your support at home with our Jolly Phonics notebooks. Please keep practicing the sounds we have learned. The extra time practicing really pays off when the children are reading and writing. The short vowels and double letter sounds are trickier and could use some extra practice!

Literacy
This week we introduced the sight word "see." We highlighted the new word in our sight word books and brought them home earlier in the week. Please add this book to your child's plastic baggie. We read several books with a bat theme this week including: Stellaluna, Bats Around the Clock, and Fantastic Bats. Before reading our bat books, we completed a graphic organizer together as a class that listed our ideas about what bats can do, what bats have, and what bats are. Later in the week we added new ideas that we learned and modified some of our original thinking about bats. Take a peek at some of our thinking below!

The children were also able to watch the movie version of Stellaluna, which made for some great conversation as we made comparisons between the book and the movie. The afternoon class also welcomed a guest reader this week. Kelsey's dad read Bear's Loose Tooth by Karma Wilson, which the children loved! I know Karma Wilson's books will become some of our class favorites after we do an author study on her series of Bear books later this year. The children also enjoyed a beautifully illustrated book called Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns in recognition of the Islamic New Year.

The children were busy with their handwriting this week as well, as they learned how to write the letters Jj, Pp, and Rr. Our goal is to be finished learning all the letters by Thanksgiving break!

Social Studies
The children also learned about the upcoming Veteran's Day holiday on Monday. We talked about what it means to be a veteran, and we made cards that will be delivered to veterans in honor of their service.

The children began learning about Thanksgiving during centers this week while listening to a nonfiction book about Thanksgiving. They also strengthened their fine motor skills by creating a turkey craft project this week. Our new turkeys have really brightened up our room!

Centers
While the children were working in centers this week, I was meeting with students in their small guided reading groups. I was also able to do some assessing this week for report cards. I was assessing the students in the following areas: identification of upper and lowercase letters, letter sounds, sight words, number recognition up to 31, shapes, counting up to 100 by 1's and 120 by 10's, counting a collection of objects, and pattern recognition. The students worked in the following centers this week.