Happy Holidays!

Social Studies

Happy Holidays from Kindergarten!  The kids are so excited this time of year.   It is a wonderful opportunity to learn about different celebrations, customs and to respect others and their beliefs.   So we have been “traveling” around the world and learning about different holidays that are celebrated in various countries. 

One way we learned about Hanukkah was assembling menorah puzzles and playing with dreidels.  We also spent time learning about Los Posadas by reading books and making pinatas.  For Christmas we made a reindeer and candy canes.

 

This week we also read more versions of the Gingerbread Man.  We are fabulous at making connections between the stories!  Ask your kindergartner about…

·        Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers

·        Bad Boys Get Cookie

·        Gingerbread Friends

·        The Musubi Man

·        The Gingerbread Super Hero

·        The Gingerbread Man Goes to School

 

 

 

Writing Workshop

Since reading and writing go hand in hand… we have been continuing to write pattern books just like the ones we have been reading during Reading Workshop.   We have been focusing on “stretching out” (sounding out) our words when we write.  We call it Kid Writing.  I am encouraging the kids to record the sounds they hear.   
 

Reading Workshop

      We continue to work on the comprehension skill of Making Predictions.  Making predictions activates students' prior knowledge about the text.  By making predictions about the text before, during, and after reading, students use what they already know—as well as what they suppose might happen—to make connections to the text.

      To help your kindergartner make predictions use the following language…

“By looking at the cover I am guessing or predicting the story will be about…”

"Hmmm… my prediction that the story would be about ____ was right, but I did not think that ____ would happen. I'll make a new prediction that _____ will happen based on what we read." 

 

Math

In math we continue to focus on those tricky teen numbers and tally marks.  Tally marks help us count efficiently.  Tally marks are also a helpful tool for organizing and showing information.

YIKES! The cold weather is here!   When it is time to go home, we have 24 kindergartners that have to get ready.  It is very important the kids can dress and undress themselves in their winter apparel (putting on boots, gloves, snow pants, zipping coats, etc.).  Please practice these skills at home and don’t forget to label everything.  We have a poster in our room that shows the best and quickest way to get dressed.  It works great here in the classroom.  I attached a copy again so you can reinforce it at home. Thanks so much! 

 

Thank you for all the donations for our gingerbread houses.   It is greatly appreciated!  We had a blast making our houses with our 3^rd grade buddies from Ms. Mulligan’s class.

I WISH YOU A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SAFE WINTER BREAK!  BE PROUD OF YOUR CHILD’S ACCOMPLIISMENTS, THEY ARE WORKING HARD IN KINDERGARTEN!

 

 

 

Step Inside the Gingerbread Man

Wow! Is it really almost December?!  I can’t believe our kids have been in kindergarten for three months!  We had an eventful week as we learned the story of the gingerbread man.  We read MANY different versions of the classic story.  One of our favorite versions was The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.  Another favorite was The Stinky Cheesemen by Jon Scieska – it was hilarious!  We even enjoyed listening to and singing a version from one of our favorite singers - Jack Hartmann.  We also had fun retelling a version of the story with our story telling props! 

Last, we “Stepped Inside” the Gingerbread Man and gave our viewpoint of what we thought the Gingerbread Man was thinking.

Ask your child what version was their favorite…

·        Gingerbread Girl

·        Gingerbread Boy

·        Gingerbread Man

·        Gingerbread Cowboy

·        Gingerbread Pirates 

·        Stop That Pickle

We didn’t stop the fun there…
We painted our own gingerbread men and made tear-art candles.

Writing Workshop

We are currently working on our fourth unit called, Pattern Books.   Students are invited to write multiple pattern books just like the ones they have been reading.  Since reading and writing go hand in hand, this unit will help make this connection very visible to students.

While this unit uses patterns to help students write, the focus of this unit is on meaning. Students learn that pattern books are not just books with repeating words but rather they are books with repeating words that communicate meaning; and that even the smallest books can hold big meaning.

Reading Workshop

We have been working on our comprehension skills. We have been comparing, contrasting and making connections between the different versions of the gingerbread stories.  We spent time talking about story elements, such as, the characters, setting, and plots.  We are using our “thinking words:”    “I notice…I wonder…This reminds me of…”

Math

In math we continue to work with gingerbread 10 frames.  We played Ten and Teen Frame Flash.  Young children need to see quantities when they work with numbers.  When children have mental images for numbers, they have more flexible strategies to apply to computation.

What is Center Time?  Center time is a flurry of activity during which an incredible amount of learning takes place!  It is the time of day that most kindergartners eagerly look forward to (besides recess!). When the children explore centers, it allows them to get hands-on learning experiences.  They are actively engaged in the learning process as they are thinking and doing!  Up to this point in the year, I have been available to the children during center time.   Beginning in December, I will be using Center Time to give your child individual or small group instruction while the other children are independently working.  I am confident the children know our classroom rules and routines.  This should be a smooth transition for most.  Please check in with your child next week and ask if they are being responsible for their work during Center time.  I appreciate your support!

 

 

 

 

 

A week of thanks!

Writing Workshop

It was a week of “thanks” in kindergarten.  As a group, we wrote a thank you letter to Mr. Kevin for keeping our school so nice.  We wrote a thank you letter to our office staff for giving us ice and taking care of us when we get sick.  We also wrote to Mrs. Bussell for teaching us really fun games in gym!  The Kinder-Kids really did a nice job of recognizing all the components to letter writing.   During Writing Workshop we have been talking about quality work and trying our best. 

 

Social Studies

We have been discussing the topic of “Now and Then.”  We had quite a few interesting talks about life long ago and life now.  The kids made the CLAIM:  It’s good to be a kid in 2013!  Their EVIDENCE:  video games, stores to buy toys, T.V., Movies, ipads, etc.  It is on display in our hall.

 

 

Throughout the month of December, we will be “traveling” the world.  We will learn about the different holidays celebrated across the globe.  We would love for you to share your holiday with us.  Some ideas are to bring in a book to read or craft for the kids.  It is great to learn and share with each other!

Reading Workshop

I am so proud of all the kindergartners’ growth so far!  They have done a great job learning their letters and letter sounds.  In Reading Workshop we are working on our CAFÉ menu.  It is a collection of highly effective reading strategies that the students will be taught to use, to help them become better readers. They are organized into four goals:

• C is for Comprehension: “I understand what I read.”
• A is for Accuracy: “I can read the words.”
• F is for Fluency: “I can read smoothly, with expression.”
• É is for Expanding Vocabulary: “I know, find, and use interesting words.”

You will be getting more information on our reading strategies as we dig deeper into Reading Workshop!

During IDR time, I have been reading with individual kids or small groups.  I have been listening to your child read, and helping him/her pick a reading goal, and suggest a reading strategy that will help. Research shows that when students know exactly what they need to work on, and why, they are much more successful in meeting their goals!

Math

We used the strategy of CLAIM and EVIDENCE to help us with our shapes.  There has been some confusion over our shape characteristics, especially the hexagon, rectangle and square.

Music

I can’t tell you enough how much this group learns through music.  This is allowing me to build vocabulary, math & reading skills.  When you can already sing the words of a song you can confidently read the words to a song as you sing it!   Even in a very simple poem or song there are MANY opportunities to look for and learn about written text. For early readers just touching the words as they sing is wonderful reading practice. Kids who are ready for more can be thinking about word wall words, punctuation, spelling and developing fluency.  So we are going to keep singing away!

Just a few of our favorite songs are:

·         Learning Letter Sounds (letter and sound recognition)

·         All Together (alliteration)

·         Numeral Song  (Number Formation)

·         Macarena Math  (skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s)

Thankful…

During this month when we are all reflecting on what we are thankful for, I would like to give special thanks for all the wonderful children and parents this year.  I feel very fortunate to have such fantastic families to work with!

  
 

Turkey Tug of War!

Turkey Tug-of War

We completed another Visible Thinking routine this week.  We asked the question…Should we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?  The children took sides and debated.  During our turkey tug-of-war the children were…

1.      Presented with the dilemma.

2.     Asked to identify the factors that "pull" at each side of the dilemma. These are the two sides of the tug of war.

3.     Asked to think of "tugs", or reasons why they support a certain side of the dilemma.  They were also asked to try to think of reasons on the other side of the dilemma as well.

We displayed our Tom Turkeys that were created at home around our tug-of-war.  The kids LOVE to look at them!  They are fabulous!

 

 

We also created turkeys and then”Stepped Inside” a turkey’s life.  This visible thinking routine helps students to explore different perspectives and viewpoints as they try to imagine things, events, problems, or issues differently.  They are also on display.  There is a lot to check out when you come for conferences!

Writing Workshop

 We are wrapping our third writing unit called, ‘Label and List in a Content Area,’   The kids have been collecting, observing, and studying leaves, trees, weather, shells, & rocks.  It has fit in perfectly with our science unit on trees!  We have been working on slowing down their writing from whole stories to using letters and sounds to labeling items and writing sentences. This has enabled students to take their time and record not only the first sound but also every sound after that.  Finally, this unit is supporting the idea that writing, science and learning about things in their world is important.

 

Let’s Stop Those Germs!

(Tune: Mary had a little Lamb)

 

Mary had a little lamb,
She also had the flu.
And when she left her school,
The others had it too.
So anytime your child is sick,
Please keep her home with you.
Then the children in our school
Will be happier and healthier too!

 

Please remind your child to “catch their sneezes and coughs in their elbows.”  This will keep their hands clean and stop germs from being spread.  Now is a good time to review hand washing and remind your little one to keep his/her hands out of his/her mouth and nose. 

Math

We continue to work on numeracy.  The children are thinking symbolically by seeing numbers as quantities or measurements of real objects.  Their thinking amazed me this week!   They represented the number 10 with tally marks, 10 Frames, objects, number stories, addition and subtraction sentences and ones and tens.

 

 

Science

The Kinder-Kids finished our science theme on trees and leaves.  This week we focused on the different seasons.   Fortunately, through our weather and landscape changes, we have had an excellent example of changing seasons.

 We also started our wood and paper unit.    We transformed the shape of wood using sandpaper and created plywood from thin pieces of wood.  We observed different kinds of wood and communicated our observations.   We also observed how wood interacts with water.  We are super scientist!

 

 

This week Hill celebrated Red Ribbon Week.  It is a campaign designed to present a unified and visible community commitment toward the creation of a drug free America. 

     We talked about the dangers of drugs, tied a red ribbon on our backpacks and we all signed a pledge to make healthy choices and say no to drugs.

Wow!  The Nursery Rhyme Recital was fantastic!!!!!  We have quite a few performers in our room!