WELCOME BACK!

Oh, it is good to be back with my kinders.  I missed seeing them each day. 🙂  

We jumped right into learning this week. We talked about setting goals for what we might want to learn or do this coming year and wrote them down.  We added our writing pieces to a fun Happy New Year craft. 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.  Our ‘party people’ will come home soon but for now they are decorating the hallway by our room for the first part of January.  Welcome 2019!!

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.

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 also enjoyed reading Move Over, Rover! by Karen Beaumont, a fun story about animals climbing into Rover’s doghouse. We made a text to text connection between these two books by noticing that animals climbed into a mitten and a doghouse.

 

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 number partner equations 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 out the correct number equation (5+4=9) or write each number and write = or not = between the numbers to compare the numbers.  Ask your kinder….they can show you how to play.

HANDWRITING:  We focused on learning the proper formation of the STRAIGHT AND SLANT letters N,M,K,Z in their booklets and with play dough. 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. 🙂  The kinders were excited to find a paper with their last name added to their pencil box.  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 continued working on using our super powers during reading. Readers learn words and practice them so that they can read them in a snap. Paper and a pencil were added to the kinders’ book bins so that they can practice this.  We also added SOUND POWER to our chart.  Readers can’t always rely on using just PICTURE POWER when they encounter an unknown word. They need to make the first letter sound to figure out the word.  For example: Did the author use “rabbit” or “bunny” in the writing.  By seeing a “r” and sounding it out, a reader can say “rabbit”.  

SPLIT LIT:  The kinders worked on writing lower and upper case letters, identifying the middle sound in words 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. Rossback, 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.

WRITING:  We began a new unit about writing Small Moment stories, otherwise known as Personal Narrative. I introduced the kinders to the difference between a “watermelon” story and a “seed” story.  A watermelon story like what happened over winter vacation is too big for us to write. However, seed stories of specific events like opening gifts, visiting family, watching a movie are considered small moment stories. These stories are easier to write. 

  

We started our learning by creating a simple bubble map of the many things we did over vacation…opening gifts, going on a trip, taking down the Christmas tree, playing with friends, visiting family, etc.  We decided to write our first small moment story about “opening gifts” during our book exchange. The kinders practiced telling  what happened first, next and last and stretching those details across their fingers.Then we drew pictures depicting this event. We worked together to stretch out sounds in unknown words and used popcorn words as much as possible.  They did a FANTASTIC job!!  We will begin another new story next week.

MYSTERY READER:  Wednesday afternoon Zander was very surprised to see his grandma.  She read us the classic book Petunia.  It was different to see some pages were black & white and others were colored.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

 Zander turned 6 on Sunday but we celebrated his birthday on Monday.  Thank you for the birthday treat!

 

REMINDERS

*BACKPACK SNACK:  Thank you for remembering to pack TWO quick, healthy backpack snacks each day.

*CLASSROOM TEMPERATURE:  The temperature in our classroom changes daily….sometimes it is warm and sometimes it feels a bit chilly.  Please dress your kinder in layers so that they are comfortable throughout the day.

*OUTSIDE CLOTHES:  Thank you for dressing your child in warm outside winter gear.  Sending an extra pair of mittens or socks inside their backpacks might be helpful and more comfortable to wear later in the day.  

*JANUARY CALENDAR:  The January calendar has been posted under CALENDARS at the top of the blog.  It contains information about specials, birthdays and monthly events.   A paper copy was sent home prior to break.

*TAKE HOME BOOKS PROGRAM:  A schedule has been created and was sent home with those who have volunteered.  This exciting reading program WILL BEGIN MONDAY, JANUARY 21!  Thank you for volunteering and being part of your kinder’s education.  Practice reading the book that will come home on Jan 17 and RETURN THE BOOK INSIDE OF THE BAGGIE ON MONDAY, 1/21.  

UPCOMING DATES:

*Monday, January 14— GYM; Book orders due (online or paper form with a check)

*Tuesday, January 15—ART

*Wednesday, January 16—STEAM;  LIBRARY Please remember to return your kinder’s book

*Thursday, January 17—MUSIC;  TAKE HOME books sent home

*Friday, January 18—GYM

*Monday, January 21–return and read TAKE HOME books   

~~~Have a great weekend and welcome back to the school routine!  Stay warm this weekend.  Mrs. Bohl