Weekly News (Dec. 8-19)

The last two weeks before break have been great! We have been busy learning and are excited for our winter vacation!

Math
In math, the students learned about ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc,) and practiced putting a series of objects in order as they completed a Kwanzaa themed worksheet.  We also completed several "gingerbread math" activities.  We used pennies to cover an outline of gingerbread man and counted the number of pennies to see how many would fit.  It was a great way to introduce the children to the concept of area and review our counting skills.

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. We completed a graphing activity as well that the children absolutely loved and played a game of "Roll and Record" too!

Jolly Phonics
HOORAY! We did it! We learned the last of our Jolly Phonics sounds! The students have now been introduced to all 42 sounds. Many of the children are already using some of the double letter sounds we have learned in their writing and recognizing these sounds while reading. We will continue to review and practice our sounds. Keep up the great work!

Literacy/Social Studies
I loved seeing how excited the children were to find out what new gingerbread story we were going to read each day.  We read several versions over the last couple of weeks including: The Sourdough Man (an Alaskan version of the Gingerbread Man), Gingerbread Cowboy, Cajun Cornbread Boy, Gingerbread Baby, and Gingerbread Friends.  With each new book we read, we continued to discuss the similarities and differences between the main characters and the setting of each story as well as the major events and the refrain in each story.  They loved this unit!!

The children learned the sight word "have" and brought home a new sight word book that focused on ending sounds.  Please add this book to your child's plastic baggie and keep reading those books at home too!

In celebration of our gingerbread literature study, Mrs. Schmidt and I transformed the kindergarten hallway into a Gingerbread Wonderland!  The children were so surprised to see the hallway decorated with the gumdrops and candy swirls they made. 

We even made our own gingerbread boys and girls, and we learned "The Gingerbread Song" too, which follows the tune of Jingle Bells. You can hear it in action below!

All About Me
We loved learning all about Danny this week! He is an avid hockey player and enjoys playing games like Memory. He likes watching movies and playing with his Skylanders. He also loves to color and spend time with his family!

A big thank you to Danny's mom for coming in to read a story. Stick Man was a big hit!

Art Appreciation

The class really enjoyed the art lesson presented by Callie's mom this week. The students learned all about the painting The Fifer by French artist Edouard Manet.

Thank you for reading!

Wishing you all a wonderful winter vacation and a

Happy New Year!

Weekly News (Dec. 1-5)

The children have done a great job jumping back into our daily routines after the long Thanksgiving break, and our December is off to a GREAT start!

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.  Thank you for encouraging them to use their calendars at home! 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 practiced sequencing the numbers from 0-20 and made a set of number cards that they will use next week to play a new math game called Top-It. This game is similar to the card game "War."  The children were also able to use our pattern block templates to create their own gingerbread houses. They did a great job using a variety of shapes to add detail to their houses. What a creative group we have!!

Jolly Phonics
This week the children learned the first two sounds in our final Jolly Phonics book including the sounds:

/qu/ as in "queen"

/ou/ as in "house"

Gingerbread Literature Unit
This is one of my favorite times of year in kindergarten. We have begun a literature unit where we will compare several different versions of the familiar story The Gingerbread Man. This unit provides us with a great opportunity to engage in some close reading exercises. This week we read The Gingerbread Man by Karen Schmidt and The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst.  After reading both stories, we compared the characters, the setting, and the major events in each story.  We also talked about the differences in the main chorus from each book, 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!  

Making our own "gumdrops" to add to our class gingerbread house.

Making swirl candies for our gingerbread house too!

Literacy and Social Studies
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."  

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!

Geoboard Creations

Computer Center

Reading from our book bins

Creating our own Gingerbread Bears
after listening to the story in the listening center!

Writing Center

All About Me

We had a great time learning about Callie and all of her favorite things this week! We learned that Callie is very creative, and she loves to paint and color. She also enjoys doing ballet and playing with Lego Friends. Some of her favorite foods are strawberries, Goldfish, and apple juice. Callie lovers her dog, and she enjoys spending time with her family!

A special guest came in to read Zoomer. It was a hit and a perfect read aloud for this time of year!