New Year's Resolutions
We started the new year thinking about our goals for 2020. After reading, Squirrel's New Year's Resolution, the students wrote about their own resolutions for the year. They also made some goals for at home and school using Seesaw.
Math
We recently finished Chapter 6, which focused on teen numbers as well as comparing and ordering numbers 0-20. The students have done a great job learning that each teen number is a group of "10 plus some more." We have been using ten frames and building towers to help students visually understand teen numbers and introductory place value concepts.
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| Using ten frames to show teen numbers. |
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| Taking steps forward to compare numbers. |
We also began our shape unit this week. Students will learn the characteristics of both 2-D and 3-D shapes. We have already learned that we can see many 2-D shapes on the faces of 3-dimensional objects. The morning class practiced sorting shapes using the Seesaw app, and they went on a shape hunt in the classroom. The afternoon class will do this next week as well!
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| Sorting 2-D Shapes |
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| Shape Hunt |
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| Tracing shapes using 3-D objects |
The students loved our fiction unit and they are just as excited about our newest reading workshop unit--Poetry! As we wrapped up our fiction unit, the students reviewed story elements and created a story map for the book A Balloon for Isabel. They also learned to take a closer look at a characters' facial expressions and dialogue to better understand how each character in a story is feeling. Using a wordless picture book titled The Wave, students also practiced retelling the story in their own words thinking about what happened in the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story. During our independent reading time, students have enjoyed reading books in their quiet reading spots and have been working hard to build their reading stamina!
Our kindergarten writers have been getting lots of opportunities to practice their writing skills. Although students are working on their own individual goals for writing, as a class we are continuing to work on the following skills:
- Beginning our sentences with a capital letter.
- Leaving spaces between words.
- Using a period at the end of our sentences.
- Using lowercase letters.
Now that we introduced all of the lowercase letters through our handwriting program, we are encouraging the students to use more lowercase letters when writing. Two of the main things we focus on when using lowercase letters are:
- Using a "magic-c" when writing the following letters--c, o, a, d, g, and q
- Staring letters from the top, not writing from the bottom up
Any reminders you can provide at home with these two skills would be great!!
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and read a story called The Crayon Box That Talked about a box of crayons that is not getting along. In the end, the crayons realize that when they work together and appreciate each other's differences, they can make a beautiful picture!
All About Me
Morning Class
We loved learning all about Gabe and his favorite things. Gabe is a big fan of nonfiction. He was excited to share a neat 3-D pop up dinosaur book and some interesting facts about wooly mammoths. He likes playing with Transformers, especially Optimus Prime, and he likes playing music too. He also enjoys art, using his smart watch, and spending time with his brothers and his cousins!
It's easy to see that Colin is a huge hockey fan! Go Renegades!! In addition to playing hockey, Colin also likes playing with his monster truck and car collections. He enjoys helping his dad around the house with construction projects and building with his Legos. He also loves playing with his brother, and he's very excited to welcome a new baby sister!
Maria enjoyed sharing some of her favorite things too! We learned that Maria loves the color red, and she enjoys spending time with her family, especially at fun events like a New Year's Eve party! She loves visiting the beach and collecting seashells, and she is a fan of mini Beanie Boos!
Afternoon Class
The afternoon class loved learning all about Jenna and some of her favorite things. We learned that Jenna is a fan of Disney movies, and one of her favorites is Lilo and Stitch. She also likes playing with her American girl doll, and it's easy to see Jenna takes very good care of her! Jenna enjoys doing puzzles and getting dressed up for special events. She also likes playing soccer and spending time with her family!
It was fun to see some of Leo's favorite things, and it was easy to see that he is a huge football fan and roots for the Chicago Bears!! His favorite colors are orange, blue, and white--of course!! Leo loves learning about sharks, and he also enjoys playing basketball. He is a big fan of Pete the Cat, and he likes to use his puppets to act out stories. He really liked our gingerbread unit and even got a mini gingerbread stuffy! He also likes using his Stick Bot and spending time with his family!
The afternoon class loved learning all about Elianna too. We learned that Elianna loves dancing, especially ballet. She also loves playing soccer and reading. She loves spending time with her family and enjoys special outings like visiting downtown Chicago!
We had fun learning about Ethan's favorite things too. We learned that Ethan loves monster trucks, and he is a big fan of the Cars collection of movies. He also likes to play with his army guys and play card games. Ethan likes swimming and playing soccer. He also enjoys spending time outdoors and building towers. He likes spending time with his family too!
Farewell to Miss Gries
We were so fortunate to have Miss Gries as a student teacher. She did an amazing job teaching in our kindergarten classroom, and the children really enjoyed working with her. We wish Miss Gries the best of luck in all her future teaching endeavors!!
I hope everyone's 2020 is off to a great start!
Thanks for reading!
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