Wow! Between two short weeks, an author visit, a behavior board celebration, and three guest readers, we have had so much fun in Kindergarten these past few weeks!
Math
Since the last blog update, we have been working hard on numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9. We have enjoyed songs and rhymes that help us to count up from one. Here we are acting out a rhyme about train cars puffing down a track, with a new train car being added to the train with each increasing number.
Through our hands on activities and math notebook pages, we have been practicing pointing to each object as we count, which helps us to count accurately.
We also tie this into our handwriting curriculum by learning the correct number formation for each of those numbers and practicing them in our handwriting books and on our chalkboards. Many of the math activities we have done throughout this unit focus on matching groups of objects that have the same amount. A trick we have learned is that in our math book, the objects are sometimes organized with a row of five on top, and the rest of the objects on the bottom row, so we can easily see which collections have more, less, or the same amount of objects.
We also work together to match collections of objects and numbers through the use of our cubes or picture cards.
Writing
During Jolly Phonics time, we are now doing the two letter blends, and are only adding new sounds on the first two days of each week. I also just sent home an updated set of Jolly Phonics cards to add to your child's practice ring in their blue book bag for additional review at home! Now that we have so many sounds added to our command of letters and sounds, we are able to communicate our ideas in writing much more effectively. Each time we write, we continue to follow the four step process of Think, Draw, Label, and Write.
Reading
During reading workshop time, we introduced all of the mentor texts we will be using during our first unit of reading workshop. These are read aloud books that we use to introduce a variety of skills. The typical format that our workshop lessons follow include a whole group reading lesson where a skill is introduced, followed by group or partner time to practice this skill together, and finally independent practice with our book bins. We selected books that we would like to read from the classroom library to add to our book bins for this independent reading time.
We also practiced the routine for turning and talking to our partners on the rug.
LMC
During LMC, we have been learning how to use the Pebble Go website to learn about various topics. We go step by step through the process, from plugging in our headphones, to locating and opening the browser, navigating to the LMC page, and listening to Pebble Go read to us about the chosen topic. Our kindergarten friends are building skills that will help them as they learn to do research!
In preparation for the author visit, we also read the book, It's Picture Day, by Megan McDonald, and then used the Chatterpix app to make a silly talking picture of themselves.
We also had a great time welcoming Megan McDonald to Dryden, and hearing about her life as an author!
All About Me
We loved learning about our friend Lucas! He shared that his family is from Romania, and pointed it out to us on the globe. We also learned about his favorite toys, that his favorite food is pizza, and enjoyed seeing the pictures of his favorite place- downtown Chicago, and hearing about his family! Lucas's mom joined us to read one of his favorite Curious George books!
We were also lucky enough to have Shlok's mom visit us to read Danny and the Dinosaur!
Most recently, we learned all about our friend, Mikayla! She shared a nice family photo and told us about each of the people in her family, and also showed us pictures of her favorite guitar and dolls. We learned that she loves to read, and one of her favorite books is The Little Engine That Could, because she also likes trains! She also brought art supplies that represent her favorite colors, because she loves art.
We filled our class behavior board by demonstrating good behavior as a whole class! We voted, and for our reward this time, we chose to have an extra recess time. It was so fun to have the playground all to ourselves! We now have a pumpkin patch behavior board up, and when our pumpkin patch is full, we will vote on a different reward. Way to go, kindergarten friends!
Speaking of pumpkin patches, we made our own pumpkin patch in the hallway! We created pumpkin glyphs to represent ourselves and our preferences. This task also included lots of practice with direction following and fine motor skills as we colored, cut, and glued!
Centers
Our most recent round of centers included activities focused on counting, building our fine motor skills, matching, and identifying uppercase and lowercase letters. As always, anything involving play dough is a favorite!
When you are in for conferences, make sure to stop by the hallway outside the art room to check out our art projects on display! Mrs. Fuglestad showed the proud kindergarten artists their work!
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at conferences! Enjoy the long weekend!
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