Classroom News (Jan. 7-18)

I was so excited to see all of my kinder friends after winter break, and I loved hearing about their fun adventures! I was pleased to see how quickly the students jumped back into our classroom routines and how excited they are to learn new things! Take a peek below to see what we have been up to these first two weeks of 2019!

Math
Our current math unit focuses on developing a strong number sense and confidence with numbers 0-20, with a specific emphasis on the "teen numbers." We reinforced the concept of a "ten-frame" and learned that our teen numbers are a "group of 10 plus some more." We continued to reinforce the concepts of one more and one less while the students played a game where they had to work together to sequence a set of numbers in order to figure out which "mystery number" was missing.

This set of ten frames represents the number 15.

Reading Workshop
Using the book I Broke My Trunk! by Mo Willems, the children learned how to infer characters' feeling and traits by thinking about what's happening in the story, studying the characters' facial expressions and body language, and listening to what the characters say and think. We also completed an activity on Seesaw where students had to match emotions with different characters' feelings.

We also worked to create a story map after reading the book A Balloon for Isabel. As we listened closely to the story, we identified the characters and the setting as well as the problem the characters were trying to solve. In this story, the characters were very resourceful and made several attempts to solve their problem before finding a solution that would work. We learned some valuable lessons from this story as you can see from our story map below!

Guided Reading
The children absolutely LOVE meeting in guided reading groups each week, and they are doing a great job reading the books in their blue book bags. I can tell they are practicing at home! During our group time, we work on a variety of activities that match each group's reading level such as: reinforcing sight words, completing word work activities, and developing comprehension strategies. Please continue to check your child's blue book bag each night and encourage your child to read their books and practice the items in their bag regularly.

Identifying number of syllables

Writing Workshop
This week we started a new writing routine--weekend writing! After each weekend, the students will be able to draw and write about something they did over the weekend. We also began working on a different type of writing--making lists!

New Year Goals
To kick off the new year, students used the Seesaw app to draw and talk about some goals for the new year. Students chose a personal goal such as learning how to ride a bike or tie a shoe. They also picked a new food they wanted to try this year as well as a book they wanted to read or a topic they wanted to learn more about.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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 realized that when they work together and appreciate each other's differences, they can make a beautiful picture!

All About Me
We had a great time learning all about our "Me Bag" friends over the last two weeks. In the morning class, we loved learning all about Nathan's favorite things. We learned that Nathan is a big sports fan, and he loves playing baseball and watching the Cubs. He also enjoys Pete the Cat books, and he likes to play with Legos. Nathan also loves spending time with his family!

Thank you to Nathan's parents for reading one of his favorites to the class!

We also loved learning about Alex and his favorite things. We learned that Alex is a huge fan of Mario and The Jurassic Park movie series. He also likes Minecraft and watching the show Teen Titans Go! Alex loves spending time with his family, and he had an amazing time on a family trip to Disney!

Thanks to Alex's mom for reading One Bear Lost!

The morning class enjoyed learning all about Henry and his favorite things too! We learned that Henry is a HUGE fan of cars. He enjoys collecting toy cars, looking at real cars, and reading about cars in Road and Track magazine. Henry also likes to color and his favorite color is red. Henry enjoys swimming, and he loves spending time with his family and their dog Bondo!

Such great stories! Thank you Henry's parents for reading aloud to the class!

The afternoon class loved learning all about Kelsey. We learned that Kelsey enjoys playing soccer, and she loves to read. She is also very creative, and she loves to sing and act. Kelsey likes to do crafts, and she enjoys spending time with her family!

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

We also loved learning about Gretchen's favorite things in the afternoon class too. We learned that Gretchen loves doing gymnastics, and she enjoys reading. She loves to collect dolls, and one of her favorites is a Russian nesting doll. Gretchen also loves to draw and spend time with her family!

A big thank you to Gretchen's mom for reading After the Fall. Such a fun book!

Looking forward to another great week in kindergarten!

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!

I hope you have all been enjoying time with family and friends over break. I am excited to see the children again tomorrow. I am looking forward to an exciting, engaging, and productive new year!

We definitely closed out 2018 with a bang! Take a peek at some of our pre-winter break highlights below!

Math
We reviewed the concepts of same and different while we read the story The Ugly Duckling. We also reviewed the concepts of one more and one less and introduced the concept of fewer. Identifying how many fewer objects there were when comparing two sets of objects was difficult, but we used a variety of math maniupulatives and played several games to reinforce these concepts. We also continued to practice counting by 1's and 10's and played dice games to strengthen our addition skills!

Literacy

We completed our Gingerbread Unit before break. Using several different versions of The Gingerbread Man, we were able to learn about the different features of fiction text. The children had a great time making predictions before reading each book, and it was exciting to listen to their conversations as they compared the different versions of the stories we read!

During writing workshop time, we worked on several different gingerbread themed writing activities. We also worked on a flip book after we read The Gingerbread Baby that helped us review the story elements: characters, setting, problem and solution.

LMC
We explored our Bee Bot robots in the LMC before break. The class did a great job learning how to program our robots to follow a series of commands. Our goal was to move the Bee Bot around the game board to revisit different scenes from the story Boris and Stella and the Perfect Gift.

Winter Wonderland and Mr. Bob Day!

A huge thank you to the PTA, Mrs. Sessler, and Mrs. Beane for organizing our Winter Wonderland for the students on the last day of school before winter break. We kicked off our wonderland experience with a proper send-off for Mr. Bob on his last day at Dryden. We honored Mr. Bob with signs that expressed our thanks and highlighted his amazing qualities that helped shape our school and community over his years at Dryden. The students also wrote letters to Mr. Bob and made a winter craft. Fun was had by all!

Gingerbread House Engineering and 5th Grade Buddies
The kindergarteners were fully engaged in this year's cardboard challenge--designing and creating gingerbread houses! Students used some of their background knowledge from all of the gingerbread books we read and their imaginations to plan, design, and create their own gingerbread houses. They were excited to share their houses with our 5th grade buddies before break. We also enjoyed listening to the stories the 5th grade students wrote to go along with different wordless picture books!

Special Presentation
A huge thank you to Myra and her parents for sharing a special presentation about Down Syndrome with our morning class. It was a meaningful way to help us learn more about Down Syndrome and to remind us that people with Down Syndrome are just like you. They are strong, smart, funny and kind. They want to play and learn and make friends just like you!

All About Me
The morning class loved learning all about Vivienne's favorite things! We learned that Vivienne has an amazing collection of "Squishies," and she is a big fan of accessories too. We also learned that Vivienne is creative and loves fun books, like this Brieficase book from her Uncle Teddy. She also loves spending time with her family and going on fun outings like their trip to see Santa!

A big thank you to Vivienne's mom for sharing two family favorites!

The afternoon class loved learning all about Nicholas and some of his favorite things. We learned that Nicholas is a big fan of super heroes, and he enjoys playing with his super hero figures. Nicholas also likes the color yellow and keeping time on his watch. He loves spending time with his family, especially his brother, and cuddling up with his favorite stuffed animal!

A big thank you to Nicholas' mom for reading a sweet snowman story!

I CANNOT wait to see all of the children tomorrow! I have been missing my kinder friends! It has been exciting to see how much they have grown this school year, and I can't wait to see what 2019 has in store for all of them! See you soon!