Weekly News (April 10-14)

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! Take a peek to see what we have been learning in kindergarten.

Math
We explored the concept of time and talked about different tools we could use to keep track of time including clapping a steady beat. Then we clapped the number of beats it took to walk, run, and tiptoe across the room. We recorded and compared our results, and then we talked about how our results would change if we clapped faster or slower. We decided that it was important to keep a steady beat when counting! We also learned about the nickel and spent some time exploring its uniquie features. We learned about 3D shapes too including: sphere, cone, cube, rectangular prism, and cylinder. Then we worked together to sort a collection of shapes!

Literacy
Reading Workshop
This week we learned how poets use words and phrases to help us better visualize and understand poetry. We read two poems, Snuggles and Rain Song, and identified words that "leapt" off the page.

We also learned how to use context clues to help us understand the meaning of new or unfamiliar words. Using the poem Houdini, we were able to us clues to help us understand the meaning of the words wriggles and slats.

We also learned how poets use literary devices like the ones in the chart below to help us know how to change our voices as we read poetry. These devices not only make poetry more fun and enjoyable, they help us better understand the meaning of the poem too!

Writing Workshop
Our weekend writing routine has been a great opportunity for the students not only to practice their writing skills, but it has also been a great opportunity for them to talk to their friends and me about their weekend adventures! It is exciting to see them gaining more confidence in themselves as writers each week!

Guest Readers
We were excited to welcome two guest readers this week--Tyler and Jeanie. They were winners of the ABC/25 raffle prize of reading to a kindergarten class. They did an unbelievable job reading to our class! Take a peek at them in action below!

Thanks for reading!