Happy Thursday Parents and Guardians!
We have had another busy week here in Kindergarten. Here is what we have been talking about and working on since last week ...
Math: We have continued learning and practicing our sorting. We have also begun to learn about patterns. Our calendar pieces are in a pattern, so we have been focusing on reading and predicting the calendar piece that comes next on our calendar. We have continued our work on number stories, working on stories up to 10. We have also started playing math games with dice. The students should be bringing home a copy of the Turkey dice game we played this week. Ask them if they can show you how to play.
Literacy: We have been talking lots about what it means to be Thankful as we approach our Thanksgiving day long weekend. We have been reading lots of stories, including my favorite "The Thankful Book" by Todd Parr. We also watched the following videos ...
Kid President 25 Reasons to be Thankful: https://youtu.be/yA5Qpt1JRE4
What does it mean to be Thankful (For Kids): https://youtu.be/PcVQGoalfnk
We divided our visual journal page into 4 squares and drew/wrote about 4 things that we are most thankful for. Some of the students are ready to copy the print from our brainstorming chart, some are sounding out words on their own and some are dictating their ideas while I do the print. It's important that the activities we do in Kindergarten allow for different entry points where all students can be successful, regardless of where they are in their learning journey. We really tried to focus on drawing detailed and colorful pictures. I am trying to increase their stamina and length of time that they are focused on their work as well. Some of us like to rush and get our work done as quickly as we can and I find setting the visual timer for a set amount of time (today it was 20 minutes) where they CAN'T be done before the timer goes. It does help ....
We read the story "Decibella and Her 6-inch voice" at the end of last week and have been really working on using appropriate voice levels while in the classroom and the hallway. We have visuals on the whiteboard to remind us of what voice level we should be using when. Ask your child if he/she can tell you about the 6-inch voice and how it looks and sounds. Can they tell you what some of the other voice levels are?
We talked about the letter "T" and its sound this week and continued our discussion on the /th/ (naughty friends sound). See the pic below for our best "naughty friends" impersonation!
Poetry Books: We have been practicing 2 poems that we added to our Poetry books this week, "Alligator Pie" and "The Turkey is a Funny Bird". With "Alligator Pie" we worked on finding the words "Alligator", "to", "I" and "my". With our turkey poem we spied the words that have a "t" in them as well as circling the words "turkey" and underlining wobble and gobble. We were excited to "read" our new poems to both Mrs. Gelfand and Ms. Rooke. They can't believe that we are reading already! Thank you for remembering to send your child's poetry book BACK to school next week so we can add a new poem that we can bring home to share with you. We ran out of time in the afternoon class, so were unable to circle any familiar words. You might want to do this with your child at home this weekend!
Art: We had fun doing our first guided drawing, learning how to draw a turkey! We are in the process of painting them and they will be displayed on our back wall. We also had the opportunity to work with Mrs. Ferrari and make some clay pumpkins. We will be bringing them home after they are fired, glazed and fired again. We can't wait! Today we had to follow a set of instructions to make our turkey headbands. We are working on using scissors and not having "chicken wings" when we cut (you will have to ask your child about this one ... it's too difficult to explain!). We are also working on following directions ...
Library: I am excited to see that most students are remembering to bring their library book back by our library day. Thank you for reminding them!
Last Friday, the afternoon class was excited to have our first ever FLASHLIGHT FRIDAY! We covered the windows, turned off ALL of the lights and had fun reading by flashlight with our grade 5/6 buddy class. The morning class will have their first FF this coming Friday.
Just a reminder that there is no school tomorrow, Friday, October 11 or Monday, October 14. Enjoy your long weekend with your family!
Another reminder to make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather whether they walk to school or take the bus. Many of my bus friends were quite chilly this morning as they arrive at the school at around 7:45 meaning that they are outside for around 15 minutes before the bell rings. Mitts, hats and snow pants are encouraged!!!
I've attached a couple of pictures of our learning this week. I am only allowed to post pictures of students who have returned their Media Release form (the blue form) with the box checked that allows for your student to be photographed. Without signing and checking permission on the 3rd party side, I am unable to post pictures of your child on the blog. If you have changed your mind about giving permission, please send me a quick email.
Have a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend!
Shauna
We have had another busy week here in Kindergarten. Here is what we have been talking about and working on since last week ...
Math: We have continued learning and practicing our sorting. We have also begun to learn about patterns. Our calendar pieces are in a pattern, so we have been focusing on reading and predicting the calendar piece that comes next on our calendar. We have continued our work on number stories, working on stories up to 10. We have also started playing math games with dice. The students should be bringing home a copy of the Turkey dice game we played this week. Ask them if they can show you how to play.
Literacy: We have been talking lots about what it means to be Thankful as we approach our Thanksgiving day long weekend. We have been reading lots of stories, including my favorite "The Thankful Book" by Todd Parr. We also watched the following videos ...
Kid President 25 Reasons to be Thankful: https://youtu.be/yA5Qpt1JRE4
What does it mean to be Thankful (For Kids): https://youtu.be/PcVQGoalfnk
We divided our visual journal page into 4 squares and drew/wrote about 4 things that we are most thankful for. Some of the students are ready to copy the print from our brainstorming chart, some are sounding out words on their own and some are dictating their ideas while I do the print. It's important that the activities we do in Kindergarten allow for different entry points where all students can be successful, regardless of where they are in their learning journey. We really tried to focus on drawing detailed and colorful pictures. I am trying to increase their stamina and length of time that they are focused on their work as well. Some of us like to rush and get our work done as quickly as we can and I find setting the visual timer for a set amount of time (today it was 20 minutes) where they CAN'T be done before the timer goes. It does help ....
We read the story "Decibella and Her 6-inch voice" at the end of last week and have been really working on using appropriate voice levels while in the classroom and the hallway. We have visuals on the whiteboard to remind us of what voice level we should be using when. Ask your child if he/she can tell you about the 6-inch voice and how it looks and sounds. Can they tell you what some of the other voice levels are?
We talked about the letter "T" and its sound this week and continued our discussion on the /th/ (naughty friends sound). See the pic below for our best "naughty friends" impersonation!
Poetry Books: We have been practicing 2 poems that we added to our Poetry books this week, "Alligator Pie" and "The Turkey is a Funny Bird". With "Alligator Pie" we worked on finding the words "Alligator", "to", "I" and "my". With our turkey poem we spied the words that have a "t" in them as well as circling the words "turkey" and underlining wobble and gobble. We were excited to "read" our new poems to both Mrs. Gelfand and Ms. Rooke. They can't believe that we are reading already! Thank you for remembering to send your child's poetry book BACK to school next week so we can add a new poem that we can bring home to share with you. We ran out of time in the afternoon class, so were unable to circle any familiar words. You might want to do this with your child at home this weekend!
Art: We had fun doing our first guided drawing, learning how to draw a turkey! We are in the process of painting them and they will be displayed on our back wall. We also had the opportunity to work with Mrs. Ferrari and make some clay pumpkins. We will be bringing them home after they are fired, glazed and fired again. We can't wait! Today we had to follow a set of instructions to make our turkey headbands. We are working on using scissors and not having "chicken wings" when we cut (you will have to ask your child about this one ... it's too difficult to explain!). We are also working on following directions ...
Library: I am excited to see that most students are remembering to bring their library book back by our library day. Thank you for reminding them!
Last Friday, the afternoon class was excited to have our first ever FLASHLIGHT FRIDAY! We covered the windows, turned off ALL of the lights and had fun reading by flashlight with our grade 5/6 buddy class. The morning class will have their first FF this coming Friday.
Just a reminder that there is no school tomorrow, Friday, October 11 or Monday, October 14. Enjoy your long weekend with your family!
Another reminder to make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather whether they walk to school or take the bus. Many of my bus friends were quite chilly this morning as they arrive at the school at around 7:45 meaning that they are outside for around 15 minutes before the bell rings. Mitts, hats and snow pants are encouraged!!!
I've attached a couple of pictures of our learning this week. I am only allowed to post pictures of students who have returned their Media Release form (the blue form) with the box checked that allows for your student to be photographed. Without signing and checking permission on the 3rd party side, I am unable to post pictures of your child on the blog. If you have changed your mind about giving permission, please send me a quick email.
Have a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend!
Shauna
