Reading Workshop
During our initial Reading Workshop lessons, we have been focusing on what it means to listen, share, and read. We practiced doing "turn and talks" with our reading partners to share our thoughts during read alouds. We discovered that it helps us to understand the story more when we discuss it with our partners! It also helped us to understand on a deeper level when we took the time to study the illustrations before reading each page. There were many details we spotted that gave us clues about what may happen next, or how the characters were feeling! Another focus of our lessons was identifying the differences between a letter, word, and sentence.
As our procedures for reading routines are falling into place, you may notice the blue book bag in your child's backpack has two plastic bags inside with a growing collection. The smaller bag contains sight word cards. So far we have only three, I, can, and we. The larger bag contains paper mini books that go with the sight word of the week. We will keep adding to these bags! These are great ways to practice the sight words in context. Please keep reviewing these at home with your child, and keep them in the blue bag in their backpack! Once our Guided Reading routines begin (where I will meet with small reading groups at their varying instructional levels), you will also see a book at your child's reading level in the bag to practice.
Jolly Phonics
Our Jolly Phonics notebooks are growing! We typically add a new sound each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so look for your child's notebook to come home on those days. At home, you can support your child by asking them to tell you about their drawings, helping them stretch out the word to add sounds in their labels, and come up with more examples to add to their page! Each page should have at least 3 examples for the beginning sound we are focusing on for that day. Thank you for your help with this at home! In the classroom, we have been reflecting on our coloring using a self reflection rubric. It's so wonderful to see them thinking about the rubric and putting forth their best effort!
Math
Our first unit in math is underway, and we are learning about numbers from 1-5 in depth, and are working on identifying what is the same and what is different about various objects. We also identified matching objects, and used manipulatives to practice making a match with our partners. We have practiced sorting objects by attributes such as color, shape, and size. This helped solidify our thinking and made it easier to discuss with our partners why objects are similar or different.
Play Centers
I think most of our Kindergarten friends would agree that centers are their favorite part of Kindergarten! They have been doing a wonderful job of learning how to share, take turns, work together, and handle disappointment if they are not able to go to their first choice of centers right away. This week, I even heard conversations that tied into our math lessons as the group discussed what was the same and different about the structures they were building with the magnetic blocks! Music to a teacher's ears!
LMC
The LMC has been full of excitement these past two weeks! We began with a an emoji hunt in the library to learn about important places and procedures in the LMC. The kids worked together in a small group so nicely, with the guidance of myself, Mrs. O'Kelly, or Mrs. Kenney, to find each stop on their scavenger hunt, and scan the QR code with the iPad to find emojis at each important place. They had so much fun!
This week, we practiced our click and drag skills on the touchpad of the laptops with a few fun games that went along with the book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We will keep practicing basic tech skills throughout the year as part of our LMC lessons!
Guest Reader
This week, we started our "All About Me" bag routine, where I modeled the procedure for sharing our "Me Bags" to tell about ourselves. Each child has their own assigned week to share their "Me Bag", and on Friday of your child's week, you are invited to be a guest reader in our class! Because my own parents live far from here, Mr. Glaser served as my guest reader and shared one of our son's favorite books, Ten Little Dinosaurs! In the red folder you received on Curriculum Night, there is a letter about the Me Bag, and on the back of that letter is the schedule for the year. I am excited to learn more about each of our friends in K-3!
Dryden Kids Care
This week, Dryden will be collecting donations to help students in Texas and Florida recover from the hurricane. Please label any envelopes with donations "Hurricane Help". As we learn about the pillars of good character, so far we have introduced good citizenship and responsibility. This week, we will learn about respect, caring, trust, and fairness.
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