Weekly News (Oct. 19-23)

Wow! What an amazing fall week we've had. It's hard to believe November is right around the corner. Time sure flies when you're having fun in kindergarten!

Math
This week in math we learned a new game called Spin a Number where the students had to spin the spinner, read the number where the spinner landed, and move the corresponding number of spaces on the game board. This game was a great way for the students to practice number recognition and one-to-one correspondence while counting the spaces on the board. Family game night is a great time to practice these skills at home. Some of our family favorites include: Candyland, Shoots and Ladders, Sorry, and Trouble! Take a peek at us playing Spin a Number below.

We also spent some time this week working with patterns. We learned that patterns surround us everyday and can be made with colors, shapes, movements, and even different sounds to form music. Click on the picture below to practice making patterns!

We have also been busy this week counting by 1's up to 100.  Our goal for the end of kindergarten is for students to be able to count by 1's to 100 with smooth transitions at the 10's. Click on the picture below to get some exercise while counting to 100!

Jolly Phonics
This week we learned the following three new Jolly Phonics sounds:

/g/ as in gas
/o/ as in octopus
/u/ as in umbrella

Literacy
Reading Workshop
This week during reading workshop, the children learned three more ways to be strong readers. We learned how to:

1. solve problems that arise during independent reading time all by ourselves.
2. visualize and make a movie in our heads while tracing the pictures in a book and saying what is happening out loud.
3. use connecting words such as once, next, then, after that, later, and finally to help us tell the story from the beginning, to the middle, and to the end.

Writing Workshop
This week the children learned how brave writers can "publish" their work by making their writing the best it can be so that others can read and enjoy it. Using some of our writing from previous weeks, the children began publishing a book on a topic they know a lot about. They worked to add details and labels to their pictures and to add words at the bottom of each page to match their drawings. The children are doing an amazing job, and they can't wait to share their books with our fifth grade buddies!

First Draft and Final Draft--adding more labels

First Draft and Final Draft--adding more detail and words

Science: Collections in Nature
This week we took a closer look at our leaf collection and used field guides to identify different types of leaves. We spent some time sorting our leaves by color, size, and shape, and we couldn't believe how many different types of maple leaves we had in our collection! We also played a game of "Twenty Questions" to help us carefully observe the distinct differences of each leaf. We were even able to answer some of our "I Wonder" questions this week!

All About Me
The class loved learning all about Cara this week. We learned that Cara loves to fly kites and play cards games like Go Fish. She likes stuffed animals, especially her elephant stuffed animal, and she also loves sports and playing catch. Cara likes spending time with her sister Ella and doing fun things with her family like going to the pumpkin patch!

A big thank you to Cara's mom who came in
to read Love, Ruby Valentine. What a great story!
We loved it! :)