Weekly News (Jan. 5-12)

What a chilly way to start off 2015! I hope everyone stayed warm and enjoyed the days off from school. 

Kate and James keeping busy on one of our snow days!

Math
This week in math, the children were introduced to calculators for the first time this year. We learned about the different keys and functions of the calculator, and we even played a math game using our calculators! The students also continued to work in their "Teen Number Books." They will bring home their books soon! We spent some time reviewing our shapes while the children had their first introduction to the concept of area.

Jolly Phonics

Now that all the Jolly Phonics sounds have been introduced, please continue to review these sounds with your child regularly. Knowing their sounds well really helps when learning to read and write. I can tell many of the children have been practicing. Keep up the good work!

Literacy

The children learned some new routines during Reading Workshop this week. They are learning how to be an active listener during our read aloud and shared reading lessons and an active participant during our "turn-and-talk" activities with classroom partners. I have also begun to reassess the students' guided reading levels. It is amazing to see how much they have grown since the beginning of the year! Students will not bring a new guided reading book home this week. 

During Writing Workshop, the children learned about "small moment" writing. We used the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats to help the students identify small moments throughout the book. Then the students had a chance to talk about and begin writing about their small moments from our two day cold days off from school. The children will be working through the writing process to edit their sentences, add more detail, and create a final draft of their writing. Can't wait to see their finished pieces!

Centers

The students have been working in centers on a variety of word work activities such as: sight word practice, labeling practice, writing CVC words, identifying missing sounds in words, and working on RAZ Kids. 

Looking forward to a great week in kindergarten!