We started our Friday off with a bit of a "zig zag" in our schedule! We had Mix it Up with Mr. Badillo's middle school students. Five different times this year, we will get together with Mr. Badillo's class and do an activity to get to know one another and create a community feel in our school building! We read a book called All Are Welcome and then we welcomed the middle school students to join us for a bit of choice time. Middle school students certainly enjoyed playing games, coloring, building with blocks, and using the marble run with your children!
We began our Social Skills curriculum this week with a lesson from Ms. O on whole body listening. Ms. O is the special educator on our Kindergarten team and she will be visiting our classroom every Friday to implement a program called Second Step. Second Step is a program that our school is using throughout the grades to build social-emotional skills. You might have heard your child talk about Impulsive Puppy and Slow Down Snail. These are two puppets that Ms. O will be using to help teach her lessons. The first few lessons are all about being strong listeners.
We also read a book from the We Thinkers series. This is a series of picture books that focus on teaching children the skills they need to be flexible social thinkers and social problem solvers. As we read the books, listen to the We Thinkers songs, and have discussions, the children will learn about their own thinking (and others) to help them make better decisions when in the midst of social play and interaction. This week our book focused on that we all think thoughts and we all have different feelings when we are interacting with each other. Next week, we will read The Group Plan and discuss what it means to be a part of a group and that when everyone is doing and thinking about the same thing, it's called "the group plan" (rather than following one's own plan!).
In math, we have continued our work with the five frames and finding combinations that add up to five. We also played a game called Spill Five Beans. It not only helped us with 1:1 counting and combinations of five, but is also helped us to practice numeral formation. Ask your child to explain this game to you! This week we also practiced making the number 3. Next week, we will move on to four and five!
During Reader's Workshop, we spent some time exploring our classroom library. We looked at the types of books that are in our library and how the library is organized. Then the children each picked out three book for their book boxes! We use book boxes during our independent reading time. Once the children chose their books, they found quiet places in the room and read and re-read their three books. They read silently for five minutes....wow! Some children said it felt like an hour! We will keep building our stamina for reading the pictures and words in our books throughout the year!
We also celebrated the beginning of Autumn by reading a poem called "Fall is Here". We choral read the poem (all together) and echo read (repeating after me). Then the children learn their first sight word. Sight words are high-frequency words found often in text that are not spelled phonetically. This week's word was "is". We found it twelve times in the poem! See if your child can find the word "is" in any books at home!
Lastly, there is a fundraiser packet in your child's Friday Folder from the PTO. You can read through it and decide if your family is going to participate. Participation is optional; however, some of the money raised will come directly back to our Kindergarten Team for special activities.
Happy Fall...and enjoy the weekend!
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