Weekly News (Jan. 24-27)

It's been a busy week in kindergarten. Check out what we've been up to the last few days!

All About Me

The class loved learning all about Aida this week. We learned that Aida is an avid dancer. She enjoys doing ballet and tap. She also likes collecting stuffed animals, and she enjoys writing. Aida loves spending time with her family and her three adorable dogs!

A big thank you to Aida's mom for coming in to read!

Math

This week we practiced moving forward and backward on the number line to solve number stories that reinforced addition and subtraction concepts. The children also practiced sequencing the numbers from 0-20 and reviewed how to play the game Top-It, which is similar to the card game "War." We learned how to write the number in 7 in our Handwriting Without Tears journals too!

Literacy

Reading Workshop

This week we finished the last few mini lessons of our Fiction Unit. Using the book A Balloon for Isabel and a short story called Camping at Grandma's, the children reviewed and practiced how to pull out the key ideas from a text using a story map. We also practiced using the following words to help us retell the major events. We will begin our Nonfiction Unit next week!

Writing Workshop

We are excited to begin our Narrative Writing Unit next week. In this unit, the students will be learning that a personal narrative tells a story about a real moment from your life. They will also learn that good narratives focus on small moments and will be writing about a time they were really happy!

Science

We continue to collect weather data each day, and the students made a great observation---it's been a very cloudy January. Hoping for more sunny days in February!!

LMC

As an extension of our reading workshop lessons, Mrs. O'Kelly prepared a fantastic lesson in the LMC this week for our kindergarteners. Using an app called Nearpod, Mrs. O'Kelly guided the students through a lesson on "author's purpose." The children learned about the different reasons authors write books such as to persuade, to inform, or to entertain. The children then worked with a partner to identify the author's purpose for different books by voting using the Nearpod app on the iPads. Then they worked together to sort a collection of books into two piles--fiction and nonfiction. 

Art Appreciation

The class really enjoyed the art lesson presented by Josie's mom this week. The students learned all about the painting The Fifer by French artist Edouard Manet. Then they designed their own fife and used them to march around our room while listening to an audio recording of the fife. What a fun lesson! Thank you!

Check out this week's collection of photos here.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Jan. 16-20)

Here is what we've been up to this week!

All About Me
This week we loved learning all about Jaala and some of her favorite things! We learned that Jaala is very creative and she loves to do crafts. She also enjoys doing ballet and gymnastics, and she is a big fan of the Disney characters! She loves fashion and music, especially artists Adele, Beyonce, and Bruno Mars. Her favorite foods are pizza and tacos, and she loves spending time with her family!

The Day the Crayons Quit...a class favorite! A big thank
you to Jaala's mom for coming in to read it to us!

Math
We revisited the concept of weight this week and used the pan balance to determine which objects were heavier or lighter. We also learned a new math game this week called the Train Game, which reinforced one-to-one matching while counting as well as the concepts of addition and subtraction. The goal of the game is to build a train with 12 train cars. After rolling a die, students have to add or subtract train cars depending on what they roll until the train is 12 cars long. They LOVED playing the online version of this game on the Everyday Math website! We also practiced writing the number 6 in our handwriting books.

Literacy
Reading and Writing Workshop
We continued to learn about strategies that good readers use when reading fiction. We learned that readers are able to describe a character's physical traits (what we see on the outside) and personality (who they are on the inside) by studying the illustrations and paying close attention to what the characters say and do. We also practiced "stepping into a character's shoes" and making inferences about what the different characters might say or do.

We followed up our reading workshop lessons with a writing activity that encouraged the students to use speech bubbles in their picture to help us understand what Goldilocks may have been thinking or saying as she moved about the bears' house.

Social Studies

This week we learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and read a story called The Crayon Box That Talked about a box of crayons that is not getting along because the colors do not like each other. In the end, the crayons realize that when they work together and appreciate each other's differences, they can make a beautiful picture. 

Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!
See you next week!

Weekly News (Jan. 9-13)

It's been another productive week in kindergarten! Take a peek below to see what we have been up to.

All About Me
This week the class loved learning all about Dhilan and some of his favorite things. We learned that Dhilan enjoys playing baseball and soccer, and he loves spending time with his family. He is also an avid reader, and he loves building with Legos. He is currently working on building a Star Wars set that has over 2,000 pieces. Wow!

A big thank you to Dhilan's mom for coming in to read
The Three Little Pigs and Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach.

Math
This week we used our interactive white board to solve addition and subtraction number stories similar to the one below. We used the words "more" and "less" to help us understand the concepts of adding and subtracting.

We also played some number games this week like the one below where we had to arrange a set of numbers in order from the lowest number to the highest number. We learned a game called "Top It" too that is similar to the game of "War" that can be played with a regular deck of cards. Students can find the online version of "Top It" by logging into the Everyday Math website.

 

We also revisited the concept of probability this week and used the terms certain, possible, and impossible as we played a game using the interactive whiteboard.

Literayc
Reading Workshop
During our mini lessons for our Fiction Unit, we learned several more strategies that good readers use. We learned that readers make personal connections while reading to better understand the characters' feelings and the events in the story. We also learned that making personal connections makes a story more meaningful and enjoyable to read.

We also revisited the book I Broke My Trunk by Mo Willems this week. We learned that good readers are curious, and they ask a lot of questions while reading to deepen their understanding of the story. Good readers also look for "clues" or text signals like the ones shown below to help us read with expression.

Writing Workshop
The children continue to grow as writers, and they have been doing a great job setting goals for their writing and reflecting on their own progress using our writing rubric. We have been working hard to stretch out the sounds we hear, and we are also working to:

• start each sentence with a capital.
• use spaces between words.
• use a period at the end of each sentence. 

Keep up the great work kinders!!

Handwriting

We also learned how to write the number 5 and the letters V, W, and X, and we practiced in our Handwriting Without Tears workbooks. 

Looking forward to another great week!

Have a great weekend!

Weekly News (Jan. 3-6)

Happy New Year! We have had a great start to 2017. Take a peek below to see what we have been learning in the new year.

All About Me
The class loved learning all about Brooks before we headed off for winter break. We learned that Brooks likes to play baseball, and he is a big sports fan. He enjoys watching the Miami Dolphins, and he is a HUGE Cubs fan! We also learned that Brooks likes to collect Pokeman cards and build with Legos. He LOVES tacos and spending time with his family too!

Thank you to Brook's mom for coming in to read to the class.
We loved listening to Leonardo the Terrible Monster!

Another great read aloud before break--Miss Nelson is Missing.
Thank you to Gia's mom for coming in to read it to us!

Math

This week in math we reinforced addition concepts by sorting a collection of dominoes by their sums. We also learned about the concept of weight and practiced using a pan balance. We passed around a cupful of silk flower petals and a cupful of plastic gems and made predictions about which set of objects was heavier. We used the pan balance to test out and confirm our predictions and learned that a pan balance is like a seesaw. The heavier side goes down and the light side goes up. We also learned that the pans are balanced when both sides have an equal amount of weight.

The students also loved learning how to play Monster Squeeze this week, which is a game where students have to figure out the "mystery number" using a number line. A paper version of this game was sent home during the week, but students can also play an online version of the game using the Everyday Math login info that was sent home at conferences. Students were also introduced to the app version of this game. 

Literacy

Reading Workshop

We began the mini-lesson portion of our Fiction Unit this week. Using two short stories, Where is Little Bear's Hat and Waking Up Farmer Fred, the children learned how to make good predictions and practiced retelling the story in order. They also practiced listening for repeated phrases and patterns within each story. The students also had time to shop for new books for their book boxes--always a highlight for the week! 

Guided Reading

The children were thrilled to begin meeting in guided reading groups this week and were excited to bring their new book home to read. During our guided reading time, I meet with students in groups to read a book at their instructional reading level and to work on a variety of literacy and word work activities that match the needs of each group. A letter was sent home this week with information about how you can support your child at home, but if you have additional questions, please feel free to ask at any time! We will continue to add books to our blue book bags each week. Be on the lookout for a new book next week!

While I am meeting with groups of students for guided reading, the rest of the class works on a variety of math and literacy activities as well as some self-selected options. They have been doing a GREAT job working independently!

 

Writing Workshop

I absolutely LOVED reading all about what the children did over their winter break! I could tell everyone thoroughly enjoyed the time off with family and friends. This week we took our writing up a notch by writing and illustrating two sentences about our break. Their confidence as writers continues to grow!

The students have also been doing a great job setting goals for their writing each week and then reflecting on their work. Take a peek at them in action below!

Handwriting

Now that we have finished learning our Jolly Phonics sounds, we have bumped up our handwriting instruction using the Handwriting Without Tears program. The students will be learning and practicing 2-3 letters per week. Once we finish learning the capital letters, we will move onto lowercase. Below you will find a guide for forming each letter as well as the language we use to learn the order of the strokes.

Jolly Phonics

Now that all the Jolly Phonics sounds have been introduced, please continue to review these sounds with your child regularly using the flashcards in your child's blue book bag. 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 great work!

Gingerbread Engineering

Before winter vacation, the students worked to solve a problem that we noticed kept happening in many of the gingerbread stories we read---how can the gingerbread character get safely across the water? Working together in teams, the students identified the problem, developed a plan, and created a prototype of their design. Here are their final products. They did an amazing job!!

Thanks for reading!

Have a great weekend!