Classroom News

One of my favorite quotes I overheard recently was one student saying to another, "Kindergarten seems like it would be not very fun, like it would just be too hard, but it's so much fun, isn't it?"  We are loving learning... see what we've been learning about below!

Math

Along with continued practice to strengthen our counting skills, we have done a lot of work recently with shapes.  We worked together as a class to manipulate tangrams on our Mimio in order to fit into various templates.

We also began working with ten frames.  We learned that we fill in a ten frame in the same manner that we read a book.  Starting on the left side, we fill in the top row, then move to the left side of the bottom row and move to our right again.  Ten frames can help us to visually analyze a number, counting how many spaces are left until we reach ten.  For instance, if we have seven boxes filled, we can easily see we need three more to make ten.

 Next, we went on a number walk around our school, and spotted numbers in various places.  I was so impressed with some of the numbers my kindergarten friends noticed that I had overlooked!  Here are some of our findings:

 Finally, we discussed and identified shapes, and then worked together on a shape sort with items that we would find in our everyday lives.

Reading

During reading workshop, we stop during read alouds to "turn and talk" with a partner about what we've been reading.  Now we have learned that there are helpful phrases we can use to share our thoughts in an organized and respectful manner.  We can start by saying, "I think...because" or "I notice..." and then giving our partner the opportunity to agree or disagree.  Our partner can respond to our statement by saying "I agree...because" or "I disagree...because".  We learned that it is not a bad thing for partners to disagree with one another, but that it is important to always back up our statements with a "because", explaining why we feel that way.

Next, we learned that we can read stories again and again, and that helps us to become stronger readers.  When we read something that is familiar to us, it gives us the chance to read more fluently and with expression.  We also may spot details in the story that we didn't notice the first time! 

We began choosing books for our book bins, and practiced using the strategy of studying the cover, looking inside the book and thinking, "Does this interest me?" in order to select our books.  As we choose books, we take care of them by making sure to use two hands to handle them carefully, turn the pages at the top corner, and place them back in the book bin with the covers facing out and right side up.  These kindergarten readers took this VERY seriously, and were so careful choosing their books!

Jolly Phonics & Sight Words

We have recently introduced the following sounds and added them to our Jolly Phonics notebook and the Jolly Phonics sound rings in our blue book baggies:

/g/ as in "girl"
/o/ as in "on"
/u/ as in "umbrella"
/l/ as in "lollipop"
/f/ as in "fish"
/b/ as in "bat"

We also spent time reviewing the sight words we have introduced so far:
I
can
we
the

You can practice those at home by using the sight word flashcards in the blue book baggies, as well as reading them in context using the mini books in the blue book baggies.  We practiced the word "we" by writing, coloring, finding/circling, and stamping the word.

Writing

We spent some time reviewing our writing workshop procedures and the process that authors go through as they write.  We are taking each of the four steps and reviewing them, then putting them into practice on a new writing piece.  Authors think, draw, label, and then write. 

 As we reviewed the "think" step, we read the Elephant & Piggie book, I Broke My Trunk! by Mo Willems.  We discovered the Mo Willems told the story by telling who was there, what happened, when it happened, and where the characters were.  We then used these guiding questions to turn and talk with a partner about our own "Ouch" story, and shared an experience where we got hurt!

Science

We began our Tracking the Weather science unit by graphing our September weather in our science journals.  We completed three different graphs, one to show the type of weather we had each day (sunny, cloudy, rainy, etc), the temperature, and if the day was windy or not.  We will continue to track the weather each month, and keep track in our science journals so we can compare the weather from month to month.  We also talked about how our clothing changes with the weather, and how our indoor clothing may differ from our outdoor clothing.

Centers

Centers continues to be one of our favorite parts of the day.  We were very excited to add the listening center to our rotations!

We have some special dress days coming up to celebrate Character Counts week:
October 21: wear GREEN for responsibility
October 24: wear YELLOW for respect
October 25: wear RED for caring
October 26: wear BLUE for trust
October 27: wear ORANGE for fairness
October 28: wear PURPLE for citizenship

Classroom News

I can hardly believe all we have accomplished recently!  Here is a little update on what our hard working kindergarten friends have been up to:

Reading Workshop

During reading workshop, we spent time thinking about who we are as readers.  As we explored various genres, we discovered that we are all unique readers who have different interests in books!  Some of us like poetry books, while others enjoy books about animals.  Some of us were excited about dinosaur books, and others love fairy tales.  Identifying these favorites will help us choose books that are a good fit for us, but we learned that it is also important to try different kinds of books to see what else is out there that we may enjoy!

We also learned about the differences between fiction and non-fiction books.  These smart thinking kindergarteners used what they learned to look through a bin of books and determine which ones were fiction and which were non-fiction.  Another reading skill that was introduced is how we use illustrations to help us make meaning of the words as we read.  Finally, we learned that a story has a beginning, middle and an end, which helps us to follow and understand the storyline.

We also introduced the punctuation marks that we see most frequently- the comma, period, exclamation mark, and question mark.  We read together and practiced pausing at commas, stopping at periods, and changing our voices as we read sentences with an exclamation mark or question mark.

Writing Workshop

Now that we have a few pieces of writing in our writing workshop folders, we met with our writing partners to share what we've written so far.  It was so exciting to hear these authors sharing feedback and compliments with one another!  We also added stickers to our writing folders- a red sticker on one side for work that is finished, and a green sticker on the other side for pieces that we are still working on.  We learned that "when you think you're done, you've only just begun", and authors often go back to a piece and add to the pictures, and add to the words to improve their writing!

Math

Our table groups worked together to explore the concept of volume.  We took turns scooping, pouring, and counting to measure how much each container could hold!

Another mathematical concept we worked with was different ways to make patterns.  The pictures above show us working on color patterns.  We also played a fun game where we used body movements to make patterns with our actions!

Next, we worked in cooperative groups to sort coins.  We discovered there are many ways to sort coins!  Students sorted by color, size, thickness, by smooth or rough edges, and by what they found on the tails side of the coin.  

A few weeks ago, we explored the concept of shorter and longer, and this week, we took that a step further as we identified objects around the room that were shorter or taller than we are!  The students drew and labeled an item in the classroom of their choice, and then added it to our chart to show if it was taller, shorter, or about the same size as they are.  

LMC

Computer time in the LMC is always a highlight of our week!  Most recently, we have practiced our click and drag skills with a shape sort, and learned how to login to PebbleGo.  PebbleGo is a fantastic resource we will use to research various topics.  It is very kindergarten friendly, as the text is read aloud to you on each page!  If you would like to check it out at home, feel free to email me and I will send you the login information!

"Me Bag" Sharing

When Nicholas shared his "Me Bag" with the class, we learned so much about him!  We found out that he has a pug named Bruiser, he loves his stuffed bear, spending time with his family, and playing with Legos.  We also enjoyed a visit from his dad as our guest reader, with the story, Mean Jean the Recess Queen!

Sloane was next to share her "Me Bag", and we learned that she wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up!  She also loves dogs, her baby doll Isabelle, and spending time with her family.  Sloane also shared that she moved here from sunny Florida, and her favorite place to visit is Sea World!

Name Centers

During center time the past two weeks, we have really enjoyed exploring one another's names with our name centers!  We matched letter cards and magnetic letters to spell our names, and those of our friends, did name puzzles to reveal a hidden picture, completed an ABC train puzzle, and sorted uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet and put them in order.  

Science

One of our science units this year focuses on weather.  As a part of this year long unit, we will track the weather.  We do this as part of our daily calendar routine, and at the end of each month, we transfer the weather data we collected into our science journals.  We can't wait to see what patterns develop!

Speaking of calendars, in your child's backpack on Friday, they brought home an October calendar and a letter about how to use it at home.  It is a great way to reinforce some of these mathematical concepts we are learning at school!

Thank you for all of your support at home!