It was a spooooky week in kindergarten!

Science 

 It was a spoooooky week in kindergarten!  This week we began learning about the creepy and crawly creatures associated with Halloween.  We started with bats.  I introduced CER (claim, Evidence, Reasoning) this week.  CER provides opportunities for student to process their experiences and communicate their findings through scientific explanations. 

·         Claims are accurate and specific statements:  Bats are different than birds.

·         Evidence is all of the scientific data that supports the claim: 

o    Bats are mammals.

o    Bats are nocturnal

o    Bats hang upside down.

o    Bats are born alive.

·         Reasoning is the explanation that connects your claim to the evidence that supports it.

 

Initially in kindergarten, we provide the scaffolding needed to ensure their responses are thorough and well supported. 

 

 

 

Art/Fine Motor  

The kindergarten artists have been hard at work decorating our centrum.  We marble painted spider webs, made spiders out of our handprints and created black bats to practice our scissor skills.  We also practiced symmetry by making symmetrical bats.  We painted a bat wing on one half of a piece of paper and transferred it to the other half.

Writing Workshop

Our budding authors are now working on our next unit called, Launching Small Moments. This unit builds on the skills and enthusiasm from the oral language unit while introducing students to the world of written language.  When writing or drawing about a small moment, children learn to take the everyday events of their lives and make them into a story. Some students are writing/drawing on a single page.  Some are moving into multiple page booklets.  My goal is to make sure that students can keep themselves engaged as writers!

 

Reading Workshop

In Making Meaning (our reading comprehension program), we are learning routines for “Turn & Talk.”  This is where kindergartners learn to share their opinions about the book and practice their comprehension strategies with a peer.  We are learning what to do when we are the speaker and listener.

We also discussed the differences in a Reader’s interest as well as learning how to handle our classroom books correctly. 

  

 

Math

We graphed our favorite Jack-o-lantern face.  Then we analyzed our data.  The mad face had the least amount of votes.  The happy face had the most.  I encourage you to continue to use the words most, least and equal with your kindergartner.  When counting money, toys, or cars on the road, questions of most and least are good to keep in mind.

 

We also played a new math game called “Give the Next Number.”   We sit in a circle and choose a number to start. Then we begin to count!   Each child gives the next number.  We practiced counting by ones and tens.  As the year progresses, we will play counting by 5’s, 2’s and backwards.

Our patterning skills are progressing!  Your kindergartner has been working on:

·         copying patterns that others have made

·         extending patterns that others have started

·         telling what is missing if part of a pattern is hidden

·         comparing and talking about patterns that arise from their daily experiences

·         Recognizing patterns in the environment - e.g. fence posts: short, tall, short, tall...

Kindergartners are also creating their own easy or complex patterns at various difficulty levels.

 

B is for Blocks and Bones!  We made block skeletons this week. I am always amazed at the kid’s creativity!  When we work with blocks we are …..

·         Learning how to share & cooperate

·         Increasing eye-hand coordination  

·         Strengthening our fingers (fine motor skills)

·         Problem solving & spatial relationships

·         Experimenting with gravity, balance, and geometry

·         Testing our ideas (cause & effect)

·         Using our imaginations to create structures

 

 

Hooray for Letter Vests!

We started using our letter vests this week. We will use them in a wide variety of ways to enhance alphabetic knowledge, phonics, and word wall words.   Ask your kindergartner what letter(s) they wore.

 

 

 

Thank you to Griffin’s dad in Ms. Hartley’s class.    We learned a lot about fire safety!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

We are learning lots and having fun!

Writing Workshop

Another busy week in kindergarten!  We are learning lots and having fun!

We are learning we are all writers!   We are writing our names beginning with a capital letter followed by lowercase letters.  This is a hard transition to make.  Lots of praise and practice needed!

 We are also writing pattern sentences together with our word wall words (I, see, a & like).

 Examples:           I see a dog.

                   I see a cat.

                   I like apples.

                    I like pizza.

A word wall is a wall on which to display words – but not just any words-truly important words.  Our first 20 word wall words make up about a third of all printed material.   The tricky part about our word wall words is that a majority don’t follow spelling or pronunciation rules.  Henceforth, they are hard words to read and write!  They have to be memorized and known by sight.  Good readers should be able to recognize and read them instantly.

To help us practice our word wall words we began working with our Word Work Centers. These are fun and engaging ways to practice the letters and words we are learning.  This week was mostly exploration to get use to working with different materials.  This week we used the following:

·        Dry Erase Boards

·        Sand Trays

·        Play doh

·        Shaving Cream

Reading Workshop

During Shared Reading the kids are participating in echo (they repeat after me) and choral (they read with me) reading.  They are reading big books, rhymes, songs and poems every day.  We are continuing to focusing on tracking print from left-to-right and top to bottom.     Below will always be the poem we have been reading together that week.  The kids love to use pointers and read them on large chart paper or pocket charts.  We look for capital and lowercase letters, rhyming words, punctuation marks, word wall words and sentence patterns.  

When we read together, we also learn that print goes from left to right and top to bottom.  We learn to read with expression and one-to-one correspondence.  The Kinder-Kids also practice the reading strategy of “pictures give us clues when we read.” 

We visited our 3^rd grade buddies in Miss Mulligan’s class to see Independent Reading Time in action!  We have been building our stamina and learning our Reading Workshop routines.

 

 

Math Workshop

We started our monthly math journals this week.  During Math Workshop I have been meeting with small groups of kindergartners and focusing on the specific math skills they need.  I am enjoying getting to know all my little mathematicians!

 

 

 Behind the Scenes!

We have been working hard “behind the scenes.”  One of the biggest parts of kindergarten is learning how to be a student.  We are working on…

1.     Walking in a line

2.     Transitioning from one activity to the next

3.    Waiting our turn.

4.    Unpacking and packing up independently when coming and going.

5.     Learning our daily routine

6.   Following our classroom rules:  Be Safe, Be Busy, Be Kind (We have especially been focusing on keeping our hands and feet to ourselves.)

 

Jog-a-thon

It was definitely the highlight of our week! The kindergartners had

a great time exercising!  It was wonderful to see the Hill Community coming together to raise money for our school!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talking Community

Writing Workshop

We have finished our first unit of study in writing. The unit is titled “Oral Language: Building a Talking Community.”  We begin the school year with oral language, or talking, because it is something that all children can do when they come to school.  By inviting children to tell stories about themselves and things they know and can do, we honor them for who they are.   It also helped us get to know each other!

In this unit, your child learned to:

·        Talk about things he/she knows and can do (everyday, ordinary events)

·        Use a voice loud enough for the listener to hear, and look at his/her audience when speaking

·        Listen when others tell stories

·        Think, picture, and say his/her story to him/herself and a partner

 

To support your child’s oral storytelling you can:

 

·        Tell stories  about things you know and can do (everyday, ordinary events to which your child can relate)

·        Ask your child to tell you the story he/she told at school

·        Help your child remember stories

·        Practice telling stories at home, and encourage him/her to tell these stories at school too

 

As your child is telling stories, say things like:

 

·        What is your story about?

·        Can you picture your story?

·        How will your story go?

·        What happens next?

·        Repeat your child’s story and ask if you got it right

·        Have your child repeat his/her story several times

·        Have your child tell his/her across his/her hand (On Saturday I went to the store- one finger, my mom and I got milk-next finger, etc.)

 

Have fun telling and listening to stories about things you and your child knows and can do!

 

 

 

Math Workshop

The Kinder-Kids worked very hard this week reviewing and learning about numbers.  I am so proud of them!  Their favorite activity was writing numbers on their dry erase boards to Dr. Jean’s Numeral Song.  This activity focused on number recognition and formation.   Ask your kindergartner to perform the Numeral Song for you! 

 

 

 

Thank You!
 

 

What a wonderful day at Blakes!  We had perfect weather!  Thank you to all of our chaperones. We had a fantastic time with you there to help us!