Weekly News (Sept. 21-25)

It's hard to believe we have already been in school for four whole weeks! The children have learned our classroom routines and how to transition between activities, and we are off and running now! Take a peek to see what we have been learning this week.

Math

We began exploring the concept of patterns this week, which lays the foundation for many math concepts. To help students begin to understand the concept of patterns, we first used sounds and motions to create and extend a variety of different patterns. Then 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! 

Pattern Painting

Pattern Painting

The children also had their first introduction to coins as we worked together to find ways to sort a collection of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. We will continue to revisit coins throughout the year.

Coin Sorting

Coin Sorting

Coin Sorting

To practice sorting coins, click here.

To practice with patterns, click here.

Jolly Phonics

This week we learned the last two sounds in our first Jolly Phonics book. We learned the following sounds:

/p/ as in "pig"

/n/ as in "noise"

Literacy

Reading Workshop

This week during our reading workshop time, the students began to think about and develop their own identities by reflecting on themselves as readers. Thank you SO much for working with your child to complete the "Who Am I as a Reader?" and the "Book Favorites" surveys. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through each and every survey and talking about our favorite books in class. During our interactive read aloud lesson this week, we read But Excuse Me That is My Book by Lauren Child, which is a story about a girl named Lola who goes to the library to check out her favorite book only to find out that some else has already checked it out. Her brother Charlie tries to help her see that there are other books at the library she might enjoy. As we read through the story and Charlie showed Lola different kinds of books, the students gave a thumbs up or a thumbs down to show their interest in a particular genre. They had some time to talk about their favorite books with a partner too!

In another reading workshop lesson, the students learned how to use pictures to help them read words and make meaning of a text. Using an "action rhyme" poem called Catch the Moon, we learned that good readers use pictures to help them read and understand words. 

The students also did a great job learning about the collection of books in our classroom library. We learned that books in our library fall into two categories--fiction and nonfiction. The students learned about many different features of nonfiction text during an interactive read aloud of the book Apples, and they had opportunities to share their thinking about the book during "turn and talk" time.

Using 1:1 matching to read each word

Using 1:1 matching to read each word

Using 1:1 matching to read each word

Using the pictures to help us read the words.

Using the pictures to help us read the words.

Sorting books into fiction and nonfiction

Sorting books into fiction and nonfiction

Writing Workshop
This week during writing workshop time, the children learned two new techniques to help them communicate their ideas. First, we learned how to use visualizing to help us add detail to our illustrations, and then we practiced really stretching out the sounds we hear in words to help us label our pictures and write an idea about our picture. 

Centers

The class had some time in centers this week as a way to interact with peers and to practice working cooperatively. Here are a few of the centers from the week.

All About Me

The class was extremely excited to have our first "Me Bag" presentation. We loved learning all about Timmy and some of his favorite things. We learned that Timmy is a huge Cubs fan and loves to play baseball. He is a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, especially Michelangelo, and he enjoys playing card games. Timmy loves math, and he enjoys spending time with his family.

A big thank you to Timmy's mom for coming in to read.
We loved the stories!

Have a great weekend!
Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Sept. 14-18)

I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather this weekend! Take a peek to see what we have been up to this week in kindergarten.

Math
We practiced many math skills this week. We took a closer look at the numbers 1-9 and practiced matching number names, quantities, and written numerals. We also used our interactive whiteboard to practice our graphing skills when we made a pictograph showing our class birthdays. After surveying the class and analyzing our results, we reinforced the math terms: fewest, greatest, more than, less than, and equal. The children also did a great job using our "magic pen" to sort a collection of buttons. After listening to one of our Frog and Toad stories called The Lost Button, we sorted buttons by size, color, shape, and number of button holes. Check us out in action below!

Sorting by size

Sorting by number of holes

Sorting by size AND color

Graphing our birthdays

Looks like September has the most birthdays in K-2!

Click here to practicing counting, matching, and ordering numbers.

Jolly Phonics

The children did a great job learning our new Jolly Phonics sounds. This week we learned the following sounds:

/a/ as in "apple"

/t/ as in "tennis"

/i/ as in "pin"

This week we learned our first two vowel sounds--/a/ and /i/.  The sounds for our short vowels can be a little harder to learn since there is only a subtle difference between each sound, but the more practice the students have with these sounds, the more confident they will be when trying to use them when writing and reading new words.

Thank you again for your support at home helping your child with his or her Jolly Phonics notebook. Please continue to check your child's notebook each night for a new letter. On the nights when we don't have a new letter, please spend a few minutes reviewing the sounds we have learned. 

Literacy

This week we read several Pete the Cat books that helped us learn "not to sweat the small stuff," and the children absolutely LOVED them! We even made our own Pete the Cats to display in our classroom and in the hallway. Click on the links below to hear the stories read aloud by the author.

I Love My White Shoes

Rocking in My School Shoes

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

Reading Workshop

This week during reading workshop, the children continued to practice our workshop routines so that we can grow and develop as readers. Using the chart below, the children learned about what good readers do when they are listening to a story and talking about a story with their partner. 

While reading the story Wild About Books, the children did a great job listening intently to the story, stopping to really think about what the characters were doing, and sharing their ideas with their "turn and talk" partners. Then during independent reading time, the children self-selected a book from tabletop bins and practiced looking carefully and closely at the pictures and thinking about what was happening. They were so engaged and did such a fabulous job! Keep up the great work K-2!

Writing Workshop

This week during writing workshop, the children learned and practiced how to solve problems that arise during our workshop time. We talked about how to determine when to start a new piece of writing, how to store our papers in our writing folders, and even what to do when our pencil breaks during writing time. It's amazing to see how much they are already growing as writers!

Library Book Checkout

The children loved listening to Alphabet Mystery by Audrey Wood in the library this week. In this fun adventure that brings the lowercase letters to life, Little x has left the alphabet because he is sad that he is hardly ever used. The children loved this story and were relieved when Little x was finally found!

Guest Reader
Next week we will have our first student bring in their "Me Bag" to share with the class. As part of each student's Me Bag Week, a parent or family member can come into our classroom to share a story with the class on Friday. A letter was sent home earlier in the week about our "Me Bag." If you have any questions, just let me know! This week it was Mrs. Riesing's week to share her Me Bag and her mom came in to read a story to the class. They loved it!

Mrs. Riesing's mom reading a story to the class.

Have a great week!
Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Sept. 7-11)

Time flies when you're having fun in kindergarten! Keep reading to find out what we have been learning this week.

Math

We began our math lessons this week using the Everyday Mathematics program. We explored our pattern blocks and talked about the different attributes of each block including color, size, and shape. We sorted the shapes by the number of sides and took a closer look at all of the shapes with four sides--so many differences! Click here to play a pattern block game online. 

We also explored the concept of measurement by comparing strips of paper cut to different lengths. We used the words shorter, longer, and equal to compare the different strips of paper. We also practiced counting up and down from zero.

Pattern Block Creations

Pattern Block Creations

The children have also been doing a great job with our calendar and weather routine in the morning. Each day our "Hello Helper" gives a weather report and adds the next number to our calendar. Our "Hello Helper" also counts the number of days we have been in school. We use a place value pocket chart like the one below to help us keep track of our days!

Jolly Phonics

We introduced the first Jolly Phonics sound this week! 

/s/ as in "snake"

Learning the Jolly Phonics sounds not only helps form the foundation for reading, it also helps the children as they learn to express their ideas in writing. We will continue to add new sounds to our Jolly Phonics notebook each week. Thank you for your support helping your child learn their letter sounds!

Literacy

It was an exciting week in Kindergarten. The children had their first experience with Writing and Reading Workshop. During Writing Workshop, the children learned that we are all writers who have ideas to share with others. Using Freight Train by Donald Crews as a mentor text, the children learned that they too could share their own ideas about a topic they know a lot about. During our first lesson of the week, the students were introduced to the first four steps in our Writing Workshop routine:

Then later in the week, the children learned a new phrase that good writers use, "When I'm done, I've only just begun!" That's when we introduced the final step to our Writing Workshop routine, which is "rereading" our writing to see where else we could add more detail to our pictures and our words. The children did an AMAZING job with their first go at writing in Kindergarten. They should be very proud!

Adding more details to our pictures and words

1. Think of an idea

2. Draw your idea

3. Label your picture

4. Write your idea at the bottom

5. Add more details

The children also did a great job during our first Reading Workshop lessons of the year. During our first lesson, the children were introduced to all of the mentor texts that we will be using during our Launch Unit. We practiced "turning and talking" with our partners on our rainbow rug, and we learned that good readers notice notice things. For example, we learned that words are made up of letters and there are spaces between words so when know where one word stops and another word begins. We also had a chance to explore books from our classroom library!

Specials
The children were eager to use the computers during computer time in the LMC this week, and they had a blast singing and dancing to the rhythm with Mr. Deptula in music class.

Computer Time in the LMC

Dancing in Music Class

The children loved listening and reading the book Taking a Bath with the Dog when Mrs. Sessler came in for an interactive read aloud.

Honoring Patriot Day

Doing a Good Deed!

Thanks for reading!
Have a great weekend!