Classroom News

We are wrapping up October, and are excited to celebrate Halloween tomorrow!  I will be sure to post pictures of these little cuties in their costumes!

Jolly Phonics

Recently, we've added six new sounds to our Jolly Phonics notebooks and rings.  They are:

/ai/ as in train
/j/ as in jar
/oa/ as in oak tree
/ie/ as in pie
/ee/ as in deep
/or/ as in corn

Reading Workshop

Last week, we began practicing our reading stamina, and continue to track our progress as a class.  We have been graphing how many minutes we can read without interruptions.  We also worked together to create an anchor chart about what problems may come up during Reading Workshop time, and how we can solve those problems if Mrs. Glaser is working with a reading group.  My fantastic Kindergarten actors did a great job helping me stage these pictures so we can remember what each problem and solution is when we look at the chart!

We also practiced making movies in our minds of the books we are reading to help us remember and understand the book.  We traced the pictures with our fingers, said what was happening, then closed our eyes and made the movie in our minds.  Finally, we practiced retelling books using the words once, next, then, after that, later, and finally to help us connect the events in the book as we discuss them with our friends!

Writing Workshop

As we reviewed the four steps we take when writing: think, draw, label, and write, we continued to develop our "Ouch" stories.  We practiced saying the sounds in a word to help us write a label, and then saying the words in a sentence to write our thoughts.  Finally, we worked on a rubric as a class to help us self evaluate our writing.

 Handwriting

Mrs. Taldone, our Occupational Therapist, has been working closely with us as we learn to correctly form our letters and numbers.  One strategy we use is the "wet, dry, try" routine with our mini chalkboards.  We first use a wet sponge to make the letter, then use a pom pom to dry the letter, then we use our chalk to try writing it.  Next, we move on to more practice using our pencils.  So far, we have instruction with the letters E and F, and numbers 1 and 2.

Along with the number writing, we have also worked with patterns, shapes, and counting games during math instruction.

Centers

For the past two weeks, we have taken turns completing center rotations with the following centers:

Ten Frames practice

Lego table

Book shopping & reading stamina practice

Listening center

Sight word practice with the word "the"

Character Counts Week

This week, we introduced the 6 pillars of good character and learned the basic idea of what each pillar means and what that might look like at school.  We also enjoyed two Digital Citizenship lessons with our technology facilitator, Mrs. Frantz.  She taught us about how to use technology in a safe way, and how to demonstrate good character as a digital citizen.

We practiced those skills as we used the iPads to practice logging into our accounts on ABC mouse, and creating our avatars!

All About Me Students

We learned more about our friend McKenna, who shared with us a book she wrote about Dryden, her special leotard, cupcake erasers to represent her love of cupcakes, a pumpkin because she enjoys pumpkins, and a card because she loves to play cards- Go Fish being her favorite game.  

McKenna's sister and her friend joined us to read an Elephant and Piggie book, and even brought a puppet along to help act out the story!

Next, we learned about Nash!  He shared a picture of his family, a medal he won, a baseball because he loves baseball, a Superman book because he likes superheroes, and a Star Wars puzzle to represent his love of Star Wars.

 Nash's dad joined us to read Curious George Visits a Toy Store, which was special since Curious George was a character that his dad enjoyed as a child, too!

4th grade visit

We were invited to visit Mrs. Schwarz & her 4th graders to read with them.  It was so sweet seeing the Kindergarteners eyes light up when a 4th grader read to them, and to see the 4th graders enjoy the responsibility of reading to the younger children.  What a fabulous reading community we have at Dryden!