Way to go Kindergarteners!

We finished our week with a K-4 assembly and talked about empathy and how to show kindness to our friends.  We also got to play a whole school game of Rock, Paper, Scissors...and our class won!  This our second time winning the golden assembly trophy!  We also were so excited to congratulate Lyvia.  She was chosen as the Principal of the Day for this month!  Lyvia was awarded Principal of the Day for kind behavior shown on the playground toward another student!





In our Community unit, we finished our houses this week!  After drawing the insides of our houses, we then used paint to add some details.  Their houses look great!  Then we started talking about maps and how people use map to find out how to get somewhere or to find a place in their community, or another community.  We read Me on the Map and made our very own maps.  These maps were of our bedrooms.  We decided our bedrooms are the smallest places in our community!  I loved seeing the details the children put into their maps of their rooms.  Next week, we are going to talk about community helpers and some of the places in Shelburne.

 In math, we have been exploring shapes in our calendar.  The pattern on our calendar has been flat shapes and three-dimensional shapes.  We have learned about spheres, cylinders, cones, and cubes.  We continued our work with shapes during a new Work Place: Pattern Block Puzzles.  The children had to fill in larger shapes with the pattern blocks and in a variety of ways.  Also in math, we been exploring the idea of pairs and counting by twos, using the story Duck on a Bike.  We counted all the wheels we would need to have a bicycle for each animal in that story.  The children each drew a bike with two wheels for a growing pattern chart and we used that chart to help us find the numbers we say when counting by twos.  Can your child count from 2-10 by twos for you?

During our literacy time, we focused on the letters D and S.  We brainstormed MANY words that begin with those letters!  We just couldn't stop!  We also practiced handwriting and making those letter sounds.  At Reader's Workshop, we have continued to partner read "old favorites".  This week we learned how to say more on each page and use transition words, such as "then" , "next", and "also" when we are reading the story from page to page.  We also had a new Let's Find Out magazine.  This week's theme tied into our Community Unit as well: all about fire fighters.  As we read the magazine, we noticed the word "are" a lot and it became one of our new sight words.  So far we have learned I, we, the, are, see, and a.  See if your child can find any of these words as you read together each night!

Lastly in Writer's Workshop, we talked about adding more details to our stories as we are drawing people.  We read the book Roller Coaster  by Marla Frazee and really studied the detailed illustrations of the people. We noticed hairstyles, skin color, clothing, and even expressions.  The children are trying to use what they saw in their own writing.  Our illustrations are really becoming more detailed!

Thank you to those of you who sent in contributions for the Stone Soup taste test next week.  We are looking forward to it.  Also thank you for sending your children with their winter clothes this week!  I think we are stuck with those clothes for awhile....until Spring!  Have a great weekend!