Weekly News (Sept. 9-13)

I can't believe another week has flown by!  Here's a peek at what we have been learning this week.  Enjoy!

Math
This week the children had their first introduction to coins as we watched a video about the quarter, dime, nickel, and penny.  We will continue to revisit coins throughout the year.  To watch the video, click here.

The students also practiced counting up and back from 10 and then played a game called "Give the Next Number."  The students sat in a circle and had to listen for a number and then had to say the next number.  We talked more about measurement this week and the concept of length.  The children had to find objects in the room that were both shorter and taller than a kindergartener.  Our findings are shown below!

Morning Kindergarten

Afternoon Kindergarten

The children were also introduced to the concept of a "Ten Frame" this week (see example below).  The format of the ten frame helps children develop number sense.  For children and adults, it is easy to immediately recognize quantities less than 5, however, recognizing quantities beyond 5 is more difficult.  The ten-frame helps students visualize the numbers between 5 and 10.  The children fill the top row of the ten-frame with objects from left to right before filling the bottom row to promote recognition of "5 and some more" patterns.  For example, the ten-frame below represents the number 7---5 plus 2 more.

Jolly Phonics
This week we learned the following Jolly Phonics sounds:
Ii as in "icky"
Pp as in "pig"
Nn as in "noisy"

We reviewed all the sounds this week and watched our first Jolly Phonics video, which the children really enjoyed!  Please continue to review all of the sounds we have learned at home too.  In class, we practice naming each letter, its sound, and the motion that helps us remember the sound.  I continue to be so impressed by the students' Jolly Phonics notebooks.  It's great to see the children listening for and stretching out the sounds they hear when labeling their pictures.  It's a highlight of our day to share our pictures! 


Literacy
This week the children were introduced to Writer's Workshop, and they have been doing an amazing job.  They are feeling more comfortable with the four steps we follow during our writing time--think, draw, label, and then write--and they are gaining more and more confidence each day.  We have been using the sentence starter "I can______" for our writing this week, and the children have been doing a great job really stretching out the sounds they hear.  They are doing a nice job listening for the beginning sound and some children are hearing the ending sound too.  As we continue to practice our writing and learn more sounds, the children will eventually begin to hear those sounds in the middle as well.  

The children also received a new sight word book this week titled I Can.  We practiced reading the book together, pointing to each word as we read.  We also used the picture as a clue to read the tricky word at the end of each sentence, and we double checked the sounds in the tricky word to make sure what we said matched.  Please add this book to your child's plastic "My Books" bag at home and encourage your child to read at home with good finger pointing.

For our read aloud stories this week, the children loved listening to books written by Audrey Wood, and they were excited to learn that many of her books are illustrated by her husband Don or her son Bruce!  In The Napping House, a small little flea bites a mouse, causing a chain reaction in the napping house and wakes everyone up.  Silly Sally was a fun book about Sally who walks to town backwards and upside down--the children had a good laugh during that read aloud!  We practiced counting back from 10 in Ten Little Fish, and we solved the mystery of the missing letter "x" in Alphabet Mystery.  And finally, we finished the week learning about opposites in Audrey Wood's book Quick as a Cricket.  The children loved her stories!

We continue to practice our centers each week as well, and the children continue to do a great job working quietly so I can meet with students.  

Way to go girls!

Handwriting
We began our handwriting practice this week.  We will be following the sequence of the letters for the Handwriting Without Tears program, which introduces the letters in a sequence where the letters build off of each other.  The children learned the letter "c" this week.

Looking forward to another great week.

Thanks for reading!

Weekly News (Sept. 3-6)

For a short week of school, we sure were busy...and very productive!!  Take a peek below to see what we have been learning about this week.

Math
We spent some time reviewing our shapes and focused on the square.  We completed another dinosaur shape sorting activity where our picky dinosaur would only eat squares!  The children reinforced their sorting and fine motor skills during this activity.

We also spent time this week talking about different ways we can sort objects.  We talked about the different characteristics, or attributes, we could look at to group objects together.  During an interactive whiteboard activity, the children used our "Magic Pen" to sort a collection of buttons using a variety of different attributes.  Check out our work in action below!

Sorting buttons big and small in the morning!

Sorting buttons big and small in the afternoon!

Sorting buttons by number of button holes.

Sorting buttons by size and color.

Wow!  Sorting buttons by color, shape, and number of button holes.  This one took a lot of thinking but we did it!!

We began exploring the concept of patterns this week in math as well, which is a foundational skill for many math concepts.  First we used our bodies to follow a pattern such as---clap, clap, stomp, clap, clap, stomp.  We even followed some patterns that involved humming and chirping like a chick!  At the end of the week, we worked on color patterns and talked about the different patterns we could follow such as an AB pattern, an AAB pattern, or even an ABB pattern.  Check out our color patterns below. We even painted our own dot patterns during center time!

Sound and motion patterns with the morning class. 

Sound and motion patterns with the afternoon class.

Color patterns

Jolly Phonics
Hooray!  We learned the first 3 Jolly Phonics sounds this week!

Ss as in "snake."
Aa as in "apple."
Tt as in "tennis."

The children are doing a TERRIFIC job with their Jolly Phonics notebooks, and we have a great time each day sharing some of our favorite finds!  It is great to see the children stretching out the sounds they hear.  Please remember that the children do not need to have correct spellings when labeling their pictures.  The goal is for children to write down the sounds they hear when saying the word slowly.  As we learn more sounds, the children will be able to write more.  I truly appreciate the time you are spending with your child completing their homework and reviewing our sounds!

Literacy
The students brought home two plastic baggies this week--one for sight words and the other bag for sight word books.  Please keep these bags handy and practice reading the words and books inside.  New words and books will come home each week in your child's folder for you to add to the bags.  This week's word wall words were I and can.  We also enjoyed several good read aloud stories these week!

Assessments
The students were given two quick literacy assessments as part of our AIMSweb testing this week.  The students take these assessments three times each year--fall, winter, and spring.  The information provided from these assessments along with the information I have been gathering through our Fountas and Pinnell guided reading assessments will help inform my instruction as I work to meet the individual literacy needs of each student.  I so enjoy getting to meet with the students one-on-one.  I have learned so much about them already!

Thanks for reading!

Weekly News! (Aug. 26-30)

It's official!  We have successfully completed our first full week of kindergarten, and it's been a super week!  The children have done a great job learning our daily routines, and we are off to a great start.  Take a peek below to see what we have been learning this week.

Math
This week in math, we spent some time exploring and sorting our pattern blocks.  We talked about the different colors of our blocks as well as the number of sides each block had.  Then we named each shape.

We also worked together to create a class pictograph using our interactive whiteboard to show the different ways we get to school each day.  Then we counted up the total number of children for each type of transportation.  Check out our results below!

 K-2 How Do We Get to School?

We began reviewing some of our shapes this week including the circle, square, and triangle.  We completed a sorting activity with our dinosaur friend "Circle-osaurus!" Circle-osaurus was a very hungry dinosaur, but he was very picky.  He would only eat circles!  The children did a great job completing this shape sorting activity that also reinforced following directions and fine motor skills!

Literacy

The children absolutely LOVED our Pete the Cat read aloud stories this week.  They were still singing Pete's songs come Friday!  In all the books we read this week, Pete helped us learn that even when things don't go our way, we should keep a positive attitude and keep moving on because as Pete says, "It's all good!"  Below are the three Pete the Cat books we read this week.  I included a link to the song for each book.  I know the children will love hearing the stories again and again, and I am sure they would be thrilled to check them out at the library too!

Click here for link to this story.

Click here for the link to this story.

Click here for the link to this story.

We also reviewed our ABC's this week while reading a big book titled Animals in the Park during shared reading and during read aloud when we read Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten.  We completed several ABC activities that reviewed both upper and lowercase letters, and we reviewed the sequence of the alphabet while singing the ABC song!  We finished in our "First Week in Kindergarten Books" as well, which we will keep in our classroom writing portfolios.

Assessment

This week I began meeting with students individually to assess their literacy skills.  I have been using the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking Assessment to determine students' reading levels.  This information will help me to organize our guided reading groups.  I love meeting with the students one-on-one.  It really helps me get to know each of my students!  While I was assessing, the rest of the students were working in centers throughout the room, and they did an AWESOME job using whisper voices as they worked!

Gym and Music

Take a peek below to get a glimpse of music and gym class!

Morning Kindergarten in Music Class

Afternoon Kindergarten in Gym Class

Thanks for reading!  Have a great weekend!

Weekly News! (Aug. 21-23)

We did it!  We made it through the first three days of school, and it's been a great start!  I love getting to know my new students, and they have been doing a great job learning all of our daily routines.  Here are some of the activities we worked on this past week.

Math
As a class, we created a graph titled "How many letters are in your name?" Each student added their name to our graph, and we figured out which students had the shortest and longest names in our class.  We also counted the total number of letters in our names.  Check out the graph from the afternoon class below!

K-4's Name Graph

Literacy
The children have enjoyed listening to some Chester stories this week during read aloud.  After reading the Kissing Hand on Wednesday, we read another Chester story on Thursday titled A Pocketful of Kisses.  In this story, Chester becomes sad and a little jealous when he sees his mother giving his little brother a Kissing Hand too.  Chester feels better after his mother helps him realize that she has plenty of love and Kissing Hands to give.

The children also practiced writing their name and the letters of the alphabet in a "My First Week in Kindergarten" book.  We will also complete a "My Last Week in Kindergarten" book at the end of the year, which will be a great way to see the children's growth.

Hard at work!

Centers
This week the children had time to explore some of the centers in our classroom.  Our centers change regularly and reinforce many of the skills and concepts we are working on in class.  Our centers include activities with an academic focus as well as centers that reinforce creative play and social skills.  Take a peek at our morning class exploring some of our centers!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great weekend!

Our First Day in Kindergarten!

What a great way to start the school year!  The children had a wonderful day.  They were so excited to unpack all of their supplies and get their materials organized.  We played a getting to know you game, and we read a sweet story called The Kissing Hand.  It was about a little raccoon named Chester who was nervous about going to school until his mother shares a family secret called "The Kissing Hand."  By placing a kiss in the palm of Chester's hand, she tells him that he will always have his mother in his heart no matter where he goes.  The children loved the story, and they loved the scavenger hunt Chester sent us on throughout the school.  Chester left hearts for us to find, and along the way we met many new and friendly faces!  I cannot wait for another great day tomorrow!

Morning Kindergarten

Afternoon Kindergarten

Afternoon Kindergarten spotted a heart by the gym doors!

Morning Kindergarten spotted a heart near the library!

Ice Cream Social Night!

Thank you so much to all of the families who attended Ice Cream Social Night!  I had such a great time meeting all of my new kindergarten students, and I cannot wait to see them again on Wednesday!

Welcome to the 2013-2014 School Year!

Hello Kindergarten Families! 

I am so excited for the upcoming school year.  We are going to have a great year!  I hope you will be able to come to the Ice Cream Social next Monday, August 19 from 5:00-6:30.  You will be able to visit in our room from 5:00-5:45, and then you can head to the gym for an ice cream treat!  Both my morning and afternoon classes will be visiting our room at the same time, so you may have to weave your way through the crowd!  Can't wait to see you!