See Think Wonder

We are learning lots in kindergarten!  This week revolved around pumpkins.  We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin – from seed, to sprout, to vine, to blossom to small green pumpkin, to large orange pumpkin, to jack-o-lantern.  The purpose of this learning was more than just the science concept.  I use the idea of life cycles to teach sequencing to children.  Learning about the order of things is essential when retelling stories and ordering events.  It also helps the children as they learn how writers organize their stories to make sense: telling a beginning, middle, and ending to a story.

Writing Workshop

 

We are working on adding details to our illustrations and labeling our illustrations.  We are working on “stretching out” the word and recording the sounds we hear.  

We have also been working on our drawing skills.  Our lessons help the kindergartners identify lines and shapes so they can accurately draw pictures that represent their thinking during Writing Workshop.

 

Reading Workshop

 

We read many books.  We loved The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything.  We especially liked retelling this story with our flannel board pieces.   We loved singing to the book, Big Pumpkin.  We also had a lot of fun acting out the 5 Little Pumpkins poem with props.  Retelling is an important part of reading comprehension!

 

 

 

 

Math

We played a new math game called “Monster Squeeze.”    It reinforces number relationships and number recognition.   The children have to guess what the mystery number is while using math vocabulary, such as greater than, less than, more than, & fewer.   The children continue guessing the number by using those terms until the monsters squeeze the mystery number.

 We continued to play Top It during Math Workshop.  Top It helps us learn and/or practice our teen numbers.  It also reinforces number relationships.  It is played like the game of War with the numbers 0-20.

 

 

 

 

Science

On Wednesday we went on a nature hunt.  We discovered all the beautiful fall colors around Hill.  We began our study of trees by doing a visible thinking routine called, SEE, THINK, WONDER.   Visible thinking routines promote:

·         Deeper understanding of content

·         Greater motivation for learning

·         Engaged thinkers and learners

 

Please join us in our tree and leaf study by taking your child for “autumn” walks in your neighborhood to observe trees and to compare how they are alike and how they are different. As you discover different kinds of leaves, collect a few of each kind.  Encourage children to use their senses to observe the many fall colors, to smell the leaves, to feel the texture of the leaves and to listen to the crunching sound when they walk through dry leaves.