Look what we learned in kindergarten this week
ALL ABOUT PRESIDENTS: In honor of Presidents’ Day this past Monday, the kinders learned some interesting facts about 2 famous presidents. We learned that George Washington was our very first president, he owned 5 farms, he wore white powder in his hair (Ewww…many thought this was strange), his picture is on the quarter and the one dollar bill. Abraham Lincoln was an honest man who lived in a log cabin. He was the 16th president, he wore a stove pipe hat and kept important papers inside of it and his picture is on the penny and the five dollar bill. We read some books to learn facts and placed facts on posters. The kinders enjoyed making a fun President flip craftivity to complete their learning. Did you ask them what they learned?
READING: We learned that we can use more precise words to tell how a character is feeling besides just happy or sad. When the character was happy, we tried to think of a word that would describe happy in more detail – like excited or thrilled. When the character was mad, we tried to think of a word that would describe mad in more detail – like angry or frustrated. We learned that avid readers make goals to help them be better readers – something that we are each going to work on during reading time.
WRITING: Our opinion writing topics this week were: 1. Eating ice cream in a bowl or in a cone. 2. Favorite holiday…Halloween, Christmas or Valentine Day. 3. Favorite special…Art, Steam, Music, Gym. The kinders are really working hard during this time. They are enjoying using my microphone to read their reasons to their friends. I am proud of them!
POPCORN WORDS: HAD BAD MAP
MATH: We practiced adding “food” from the “grocery store”. We used some of our play food and added different food items together. Then we pretended we ate some of the food and practiced subtraction. We also continued practicing teen numbers. We wrote the equation and then showed the group of ten and extra ones. We compared numbers using the terms GREATER THAN and LESS THAN and solving addition and subtraction math stories. The kinders completed pages in their math workbooks, used 11-20 mats and manipulatives.
LITERACY/PHONICS: We worked on listening for beginning, medial and final sounds in words and identifying sight words. We activated our word-part power to add a letter in front of a snap (sight) word to make a new word. (f-in=fin, p-in=pin, m-an=man, r-an=ran). We sang a fun song to help us practice this power. We also sang “Down by the Bay” to practice rhyming words. We used this week’s sight words to create new words by substituting letters in the beginning, middle and end. For example: mad-map-mat-hat-hot-pot OR bad-bed-red-ted-ten.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: RUBY BRIDGES This week we learned that Ruby Bridges showed courage and bravery when she never gave up and became the first black girl to go to a white school. Thanks to her, anyone is welcome to attend a school of their choice.
ASSESSMENTS: Assessing your kinder in their literacy and math skills are underway. I am so proud of the progress I am noticing. Notes stating your kinder’s independent reading levels are starting to come home. Notice that their TAKE HOME books have reflected the change in levels. Please continue to work with your kinder at home by writing upper and lower case letters with proper formation, reviewing their popcorn words, reading books with them and listening to them read to you. Don’t forget the math skills of counting by 1’s and 10’s to 100, writing numbers 1-20 with proper formation, telling, drawing and solving addition/subtraction stories and looking for number partners (2+4=6 & 10+4=14). As you can see, we are very busy learning and reviewing many skills in kindergarten. I am excited to share your kinder’s personal progress with you at our March virtual conferences.
BEHAVIOR: As we move into the last of February and hopefully the beginning of spring as well as our curriculum grows it is essential for our kinders to be ready to learn. Following classroom rules class rules (in the classroom, in the hallway, on the playground) is a must. Our rules are simple: 1.FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS QUICKLY. 2. RAISE YOUR HAND TO SPEAK. 3. MAKE SMART CHOICES 4.BE KIND. 5. MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY. Being in a class filled with friends can be a challenge for a 5 and 6-year-old. We always strive to help the kinders to remember “how is my behavior helping or hurting my team (class)?” We also let them know that mistakes are important because it helps us to learn red choices (bad) and green (good) choices. Please encourage your kinder to try to be and do the best that they can. Thanks for your continued support!
KOOL KINDERS SPREADING KINDNESS AND A BEING BOOK LOVER. The kinders are showing kindness by playing with their pets, giving their mom and dad hugs, reading a book to Grandma and more. It is fun reading books at school that the kinders like reading at home.
NEW KINDER: We are so excited to welcome another new kinder to our class family. This week Junseo (pronounced ChoonSaw) Choi from South Korea joined our class. This is Junseo’s first experience in American school so this is a big adjustment for him…especially since he is learning how to speak and understand English too! I am so proud of the way the kinders are modeling how to do things, showing Junseo where things are located and just being kind kinders. We LOVE how our class family continues to grow!
REMINDERS
WINTER GEAR: Please remember to send your kinder with snow pants, boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and coat every day! Unless the wind chill is below -0, we go outside for some fresh air and exercise.
SNACK & WATER BOTTLE: Please remember to send 2 healthy snacks AND a water bottle with your kinder each day.
UPCOMING DATES
*Monday, February 22—STEAM
*Tuesday, February 23—MUSIC
*Wednesday, February 24—GYM; TAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget your books! Homework packet due
*Thursday, February 25—ART
*Friday, February 26—STEAM
*Tuesday, March 2 Dr. Seuss’ Birthday…Dress in your Seuss-ish attire (black, white, red colors or your favorite Dr. Seuss character?)
*Friday, March 5– Fast Friday (Early Release) 12:15 p.m. Dismissal
*Monday, March 8 and Wednesday, March 10…Parent/Teacher Zoom style conferences
Enjoy the weekend! Be safe and stay warm! Mrs. Bohl