Math
The children were excited to bring home their December calendars this week. I was so happy to hear from several families at conferences how useful the calendar is at home. The children are always sharing with me how many more days until it's someone's birthday in their family or the number of days until another special event. Counting ahead on a calendar is a great skill for the children. This week we practiced moving forward and backward on the number line to solve number stories that reinforce addition and subtraction concepts. The children also learned a new math game this week called Top-It, which is a game similar to the card game "War." Using our set of number cards from 0-20, the children sat side by side, flipped their top card, and compared the two numbers to see who had the higher number. The one with the higher number added both cards to their stack. Directions for this game will be coming home this week so you can play at home!
Jolly Phonics
This week the children learned the first three sounds in Book #6. Next week we will finish the sounds for Book #6, which will leave us with Book #7 to finish! These are the sounds we learned this week:
Yy as in "yogurt"
Xx as in "box"
Ch as in "chocolate"--yum!
Gingerbread Literature Unit
This is one of my favorite times of year in kindergarten. The children have been loving our literature unit comparing several different versions of the familiar story The Gingerbread Man. This week we read the Jim Aylesworth's retelling of the original Gingerbread Man story, and then we read The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst. After reading both stories, we compared the characters, the setting, and the major events in both stories. We also talked about the differences in the main chorus of both books, which the children loved reading along with me. They did a fabulous job with their comparisons, and they can't wait to hear other gingerbread stories next week!
In celebration of our gingerbread literature study, Mrs. Schellinger and I transformed the kindergarten hallway into a Gingerbread Wonderland! The children were so surprised Friday to see the hallway decorated with the gumdrops and candy swirls they made earlier in the week. We ended the week learning "The Gingerbread Song" to the tune of Jingle Bells and painting our own gingerbread boys and girls!
The children learned the sight word "to" this week and brought home a new sight word book to add to their growing collection of books. We also began a mini unit featuring different December holidays. We began the week reading a nonfiction book about Hanukkah and completed a worksheet to sequence the order in which the candles are lit on a menorah. We also read a cute story titled Sammy Spider's First Hanukkah about a spider who watches a family celebrate the eight nights of Hanukkah, and wishes he too could spin his own dreidel. After listening to the story, the children then completed a worksheet that required them to find words that began with the same sound as the word "menorah."
We also enjoyed the book Too Many Tamales and completed an activity that reinforced listening for the ending sounds in words.
Thinking Lesson
The children have been enjoying "Thinking Lessons" from Mrs. Schwarz, our Advanced Learning Facilitator. This week the children played a thinking game that reinforced the concept of attributes. The children would choose a shape from a basket and name all of its attributes--size, color, thickness, and shape. The children enjoy Mrs. Schwarz's lessons once each week!
Centers
The children worked well in centers this week while I worked with students in guided reading groups. Check out this week's centers below!
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| Sight word reading and writing practice using iPads |
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| Geoboard shape designs |
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| Writing Center |
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| Kitchen |
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| Gingerbread Bear at the Listening Center |
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