WELCOME BACK!
Oh, it is good to be back with my kinders (at least for 2 days). I missed seeing them:) As stated in my letter, Mrs. Voss has been the teacher for the past 3 days and will be also be in the classroom through next Wednesday. I hope to be back later in the week.
We jumped right into learning this week. We talked about setting goals for what we might want to learn or do this coming year. We thought of goals that we can accomplish at school. For example: to add numbers, to be kind, to learn more popcorn words, to read books, to share. We made a fun Happy New Year craft. Our ‘party people’ will come home soon but for now they are decorating our room for the first part of January. Welcome 2020!!
POPCORN WORDS: WAS AT THAT
We added three more words to our growing list of popcorn words that we are working on identifying in a snap. Many of the kinders noticed right away that “at” is hiding in “that” and that they rhyme. We also talked about how some letters make different sounds like in “was”. We read 2 books using these words and added the books to our blue book bins. The kinders are doing an amazing job identifying “new” and “old” popcorn words. We even noticed that -at words were inside our shared reading poem My Cat has a Hat.
WONDERFUL WINTER: The snow outside was the perfect backdrop for learning inside. We read another book by Jan Brett (she wrote The Gingerbread Baby) called The Mitten. This is a great story about animals climbing into a mitten to stay warm. We used our retelling skills to sequence the order of animals crawling into the mitten. We made a connection that this book was similar to our popcorn book, The Mitten.
MATH: The kinders are working on telling and solving addition and subtraction stories by using objects or their fingers. As the kinders are beginning to learn this math skill, manipulatives are helpful in solving these problems. They also are working to see 5-groups for numbers 6-10 (ie: 5 and 2 more = 7) and to tell why that is useful when counting.
The kinders practiced sorting and classifying objects while giving reasons why they classified the items that way by using pictures of shapes and animals/people.
During Friday math games, the kinders played a game using paper snowballs, because real snowballs would melt in our room. The game focused on writing and the identifying = and not = symbols. I am sorry about not being able to show you a picture but here are the directions. Scatter paper snowballs on the floor. While counting up to 3, have 2 people pick up as many of the snowballs as they can hold in their hands. Lay and count the number of snowballs each person picked up. Write each number and write = or not = between the numbers to compare the numbers. Ask your kinder….they can show you how to play. They also played Hot Chocolate Math again to practice seeing tens and extra ones within teen numbers.
HANDWRITING: We focused on learning the proper formation of the COUNTER CLOCKWISE letters C,G,S,O,Q,U in their booklets. hey also had fun using play dough to form all of the letter learned so far. The kinders are doing a super job writing letters in isolation but transferring the proper formation during ‘regular’ writing time is not consistent. Extra encouragement as they write at home is always helpful. 🙂 I will be exchanging their names on their pencil boxes soon to include their last name. They will begin adding their last name to their papers, working towards writing their full name by memory.
READING: We began a new unit called Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles. The kinders learned that some books are considered challenging because they have more words and more lines, longer words, new words and surprise endings. That is when persistent power needs to be activated! Books that contain patterns makes reading fun so PATTERN POWER is needed! We learned that when readers figure out the pattern it makes reading easier. The kinders were encouraged to use their reading mat to organize their books as they read. Placing their books on the green dot side to start reading and moving the book to the red dot side when they are finished will allow them to go back and re-read their books again.
SPLIT LIT: The kinders worked identifying the ending sounds in words, putting words in correct sentence order and identifying and writing popcorn words during their independent centers. It is challenging for some kinders to stay focused during this work time so if papers like these come home incomplete, it is likely because they are not using their time wisely. In the time alloted for each center, the kinders should be able to complete most if not all of of the task. With Mrs. Bynum, the kinders practiced making more words by taking away “th” from “that” and adding different beginning letters to “at”. (cat, fat, sat, mat, etc). Have fun at home using your Cat slider to practice this skill. The kinders read books using whisper phones while I reassessed them on some literacy skills. With Ms. Voss they worked on making -at words and reading CVC words.
WRITER’S WORKSHOP: I am so proud of the kinders and their writing. This week we began writing HOW TO…. stories. We shared what we thought we could teach others to do with our partners. Some examples were: how to ride a bike, how to read a book, how to play football and more.We learned that writers write about what they know, use mentor books to help them write, ask themselves “Does this make sense?” when putting pictures in order and have partners ask questions while deciding the steps. Our writing topics were How to Brush your Teeth, How to Make Cookies, How to Wash your Hands and How to make Spaghetti. We did some cutting and pasting (instead of drawing) to put the pictures in correct order and then wrote words to tell the steps. The kinders did a marvelous job! We will write more HOW TO… stories next week.
MYSTERY READERS: On Wednesday, Evelyn was surprised to see her mom be the mystery reader. On Friday it was Landon’s turn to see his dad come in the room. Pictures were taken by Ms. Voss. I will share those pictures next week. Thank you for coming in.
REMINDERS:
*WINTER GEAR: Please send appropriate winter gear with your kinder each day. It keeps them warm when playing outside. An extra pair of socks, mittens or gloves might be a good idea to keep inside their backpacks if their original pair gets wet. Please take time to label your kinder’s snow pants and boots if you have not done this.
*BACKPACK SNACKS: Don’t forget we take a snack break 2 times each day…morning & afternoon. Please include your kinder in choosing their snacks. Some kinders are commenting that they don’t like the snacks that are packed. Thank you!
*TAKE HOME BOOK PROGRAM: I schedule has been sent home to all of the parents/grandparents who have volunteered. Books will come home late next week. Reading will begin on Monday, January 20. It is so exciting to see and help our kinders become readers.
UPCOMING DATES:
*Monday, January 13— STEAM
*Tuesday, January 14—MUSIC
*Wednesday, January 15—GYM; LIBRARY Don’t forget your book! Homework packets due
*Thursday, January 16—ART
*Friday, January 17—STEAM TAKE HOME books come home
*Monday, Jan. 20 return TAKE HOME books for reading
*Friday, Jan 31…Fast Friday (Early Release) @ 12:15pm
*Winter Break: February 1-4