Kindness!

This week in our Scholastic Let's Find Out magazine we learned about Martin Luther King, Jr.  We watched a short video and learned about how he worked very hard to get unfair laws changed and to bring more kindness and peace to the world.  We then read several books about kindness. After reading The Kindness Book, the children each brainstormed what kindness means to them and created heart sun catchers for our classroom window!  Stop by our windows to check them out!

We have been immersed in nonfiction books! We began the week by looking through the books in our library determining which books are fiction and which are nonfiction.  We figured out that non-fiction books are about real things and are used to teach us facts and often have photographs.  Fiction books are stories that are made up and often have drawn illustrations.   We talked about how nonfiction books are used to teach or inform us about a topic. Prior to reading, it's important to consider our background knowledge about the topic and that helps us realize when we have new learning while reading.  We read a book about Polar Bears and stopped every few pages so classmates could share their new learning.  Did you know polar bears can swim up to 90 miles at one time?? We also read a non-fiction book called Wish for a Fish which taught us all about the different zones in the ocean and what creatures live in those zones.  As we read, we listened for important information and asked questions, and thought of "wonderings" about the zones.


During Fundations, we continued practicing our uppercase letter formation with the letters E, F, G, and H. This week we used a new tool to help us practice building words: a magnetic board and letter tiles.  We used the Fundations boards to find letters when I gave a sound and then I tapped out three sounds and the children built the word.  They did a great job listening for the sounds and identifying what letters are needed to make a word. Way to go!

Lastly in math, we have moved into a Geometry unit.  This week, we explored shapes by using pattern blocks.  We made observations about circles, spheres, squares, triangles, trapezoids, hexagons, and the rhombus.  The children were able to notice a variety of attributes of these shapes: sides, corners, and even parallel lines!  I was impressed!  You could ask your child to find some of these shapes in your home!  We also spent some time sorting pattern blocks by shape and then the children learned how to make bar graphs to show how many of each shape they had!

Please make sure to check your child's Friday Folder this weekend.  In his or her folder is a progress report for the first trimester of Kindergarten.  We have finished our narrative writing unit so there are also some writing pieces for your child to share with you too!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Sea Creatures!

A little snow fun at recess this week!








This week we began started our first science unit about sea creatures!  We began by brainstorming what we know about sea creatures and their habitat.  I found out that our class already knows a lot about some interesting sea creatures!  We then read Sea Life and Commotion in the Ocean to start familiarizing ourselves with more sea creatures.  We also read about an ocean and sea creature expert, Jacques Cousteau, and his love of the underwater world in a book called  Manfish.  We all got a new early reader for our book boxes about sea creatures and we learned two new sight words: can and of.  On Thursday, each child chose a sea creature to learn more about and become an "expert"!  In your child's Friday Folder is a note to you about an at-home project to complete with your child about his or her sea creature.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

During Reader's Workshop, we read a new Scholastic Let's Find Out Magazine.  This week's magazine helped us understand the difference between fiction and nonfiction text by comparing the story of The Mitten by Jan Brett to how animals really stay warm in winter.  In the book, all the animals squeeze into a mitten to say warm.  Our magazine shared information about how those same animals actually stay warm in winter...heavier fur, digging underground, or more feathers.  We also explored the difference between fiction and nonfiction by reading a National Geographic easy reader about sharks and comparing that to a fiction story called Misunderstood Shark.  We found that many nonfiction books have photographs and labels and that many fiction stories have animals that can talk and have drawn illustrations.  Be sure to ask your child if he or she can tell you the difference between fiction and nonfiction!

We enjoyed reading The Mitten so much that each child got an easy reader pattern book of the story for their book box.  We also acted out the story several times in the classroom as we practiced retelling the story.  There are some picture cards in your child's Friday Folder of the characters in the story if you and your child want to practice retelling this fun story at home!

In math, our focus has been on money this week!  We learned the names and worth of two coins: penny and nickel. We spent a bit of time making observations about the coins and then used them to play three games:  Which Coin Will Win?, Money March, and Beat You to 15 cents.  In these games, the children practiced recognizing coins, adding up coins, and trading pennies in for nickels.  See if your child can identify coins at home and tell you how much they are worth! A few friends even learned a new math game called Skip-Bo (the game in the pictures)!  A fun game to play with your family!

During Fundations, we are beginning to build small words and are tapping out the sounds of those words and then blending them together.  We also are working on identifying the final sounds in words.  Both of these skills are helping us in our "best guess" spelling! We have also begun a quick review of uppercase letter formation.  This week we practiced uppercase A, B, C, and D.

Lastly, during our Read Aloud time after lunch I have begun reading from chapter books this month.  One child's family introduced us to a series of books and read one of them this week. The series is called Zoey and Sassafras.  The book we read was called Dragons and Marshmallows.  The children LOVED this book and it has some great science vocabulary incorporated parts of the scientific method: hypothesis, observations, and conclusions.  Just thoughts I would share this with you if you are looking for some new read alouds at home.  It might be a good reading weekend (or skiing!) seeing that we are getting more snow!  Happy Weekend!

Nearby Nature!

 On Tuesday, we had our monthly Nearby Nature lesson with Christine and Jackson.  This month we were learning about how animals stay warm in winter and how they use different pieces of the ecosystem to help them survive the cold.  Through our puppet show and a memory match game, we learned that many animals stay active in the winter and have to conserve body heat by seeking out shelter or putting on extra fur, feathers, or fat.  Be sure to ask your child if he or she can tell you about some of these animals and how they stay warm!

During Reader's Workshop, we continued to strengthen are reading powers!  We talked about how readers re-read books to become more fluent in their reading.  We looked for patterns in the words of our emergent reader books and practiced reading those smoothly.  We also began to notice punctuation in our books and noticed how that helps us read the book.  We found exclamation points and question marks and changed the tone of our voices to match the punctuation.  We also got a new book for our book boxes from the Scholastic Let's Find Out magazine.  This book was about building snowmen and had a new sight word in it: be.  The children did a nice of job of following the pattern in the book, which helped them to read more smoothly and less like robots!

In math this week, we turned our attention to measurement and comparing numbers (greater than and less than).  We spent much of our math time using popsicle sticks and unifix cubes to measure the length of items in the classroom. Then we compared those numbers and talked about which were greater and which were less.  We also learned about the  <, >, and = signs that mathematicians use to compare numbers! Ask your child to tell you about the "shark mouth"!  Next week, we will work with coins: nickels, dimes, and pennies.





During Writer's Workshop, we continued to write our personal narratives with a beginning, middle, and end.  The children are continuing to tell their stories with detailed illustrations, but also adding more sentences.  I am so impressed with their work!  Our big focus for the week was putting spaces between our words.  This helps the reader better understand our stories!




We finished learning all of our lowercase letters and sounds this week in Fundations with Z and Q.  Now we are moving on to spelling and tapping out C-V-C words, such as map, cat, sit, etc.  For each letter in a word we tap a finger on our thumb and then "zip" the sounds together to say the word.  See if your child can tap out a word for you!  This knowledge will help with their reading and also their "best guess" spelling in Writer's Workshop.

Lastly, we welcomed a new student this week to our class!  The children were very excited to meet her and show her around our room and school!

Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year!

Welcome back!  It was great to see the children these past two days!  They were sure happy to see each other too!  We eased back into school by reviewing the classroom and school expectations and re-establishing routines: participating in morning meeting, writing in our writer's notebooks, and reading from our book boxes.

We welcomed in the new year in Kindergarten by reading Squirrel's New Year Resolution.  We talked about what the word resolution means and then the children brainstormed a resolution for themselves for the year.  Our resolutions focused on getting better at something for ourselves or helping others.  We have Kindergartners who want to become better readers, to become better at football and soccer, to help their siblings, and to help their friends to be happy!  Be sure to ask your child about his or her resolution.  We also did a self-portrait project to go along with our resolutions.  The children made themselves...wearing new year's party hats! They are hanging in the hallway and look adorable!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Holidays!!!

Wow...we have reach the 72nd day of school!  Hard to believe how quickly this school year is going!  I continue to be so impressed by all that your children have learned this year!  They have shown so much academic and social growth since the first day of school.  I look forward to sharing about their growth through the Progress Reports that go home on January 24th.

This week wrapped up our holiday tradition shares.   We learned about Leo's Christmas village, Joey's stocking and cookies, Lyvia's Christmas Eve box, Zoe's mom's birthday celebration, Camille's trip to Santa's Village, and Jr.'s Christmas tree and ornaments!  Now that the children have heard everyone's tradition and created illustrated pages, they are each bringing home a Holiday Tradition book to share with you at home.  I hope you are able to take the time to read through all the fun traditions from our class and admire your child's illustrations!

During Writer's Workshop, we are continuing to write and tell personal narratives (stories about ourselves and our families).  However, we are now working on telling our stories over several pages, with a beginning, middle, and end.  The children had the choice to continue working in their writing notebooks or to move to using booklets (three pages stapled together).  It was amazing to see their first stories.   Ask your child to tell you about the story he or she wrote in the booklet.  It should have three parts (or more)!

We learned our last two reading superpowers this week: sound power and persistence power.  We use sound power by looking at the first letter (and the ones after)  in an unknown word and saying the sound of the first letter(s).  This can help us to sound out and figure out the word. Persistence power means as readers, when we meet a word we do not know, we use all our powers to try to figure out the word.  We do not just give up!  We practiced this power while reading books in our book boxes. Everyone was really working on his or her persistence power!



In math, we continued to work on putting numbers in order and working on the number line. The children learned four new Work Places: Scrambled Numbers, Forest Game, Beat You to 20, and Foxes in the Den.  In Foxes in the Den, the children practiced addition and used the new strategy of counting on from the higher number. In the Forest Game, we worked on adding and subtracting by ones, twos, and threes (counting on and counting back) and in Beat You to 20 we were continuing to work on number recognition to twenty and finding efficient ways to count.


Lastly, we enjoyed reading a few more versions of the Gingerbread Man and then we got to taste Gingerbread cookies. I made and brought in a Gingerbread person for each child and we decorated them...and enjoyed them as a treat in the afternoon!  We also spent some time creating a family gift for the holidays.  Please check your child's Friday Folder for his or her gift for you.  They were all so proud of their work!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday and a happy and healthy 2020!  School resumes on Thursday, January 2nd.

That's all for now...see you in 2020!

You Can't Catch Me...I'm the Gingerbread Man!

We have been in full Gingerbread mode! This week our Let's Find Out Scholastic Magazine was about bakeries and the jobs that people have in the bakeries and we talked about how gingerbread cookies are made and gingerbread houses.  We also had some fun reading a few versions of The Gingerbread Man. We read The Gingerbread Baby, The Gingerbread Girl,  The Gingerbread Bear, The Gingerbread Boy, and The Ninjabread Man.  Which version was your child's favorite?  Lastly, the children got a new book for their book box:  Run, Gingerbread, Run.  They used their reading superpowers to help them read this new story!

Speaking of superpowers...our Kindergarten readers have been using their reading superpowers every day and it is helping them to become great beginning readers!  I hope they have shown you pointer power and re-read power when reading with you at home.  This week we learned about two new powers we need to activate when reading:  picture power and snap word power.  When we use picture power, we are using the illustrations in the story to help us figure out the words on the page.  This is one of our strongest powers right now!  When reading with your child, it is great to do a picture walk first (looking through the book and just talking about the pictures).  This gets the picture power activated and ready to use when trying to figure out tricky words.  We also learned about "snap word" power.  We use this power when we find and read our sight words in books...in a snap!  Ask your child to show you some of his or her reading superpowers this weekend!

In Writer's Workshop, we talked about what to do when you want to spell a big word and do not know how!  In Kindergarten, we call it "best guess" spelling.  This means the children are listening for the sounds they hear in a word and writing down the letters that make those sounds. This week we talked about following these steps to figure out how to write a word in a story:

• First, think of what you want to say
• Say the word slowly
• Listen to the sounds in the word
• Think about what letters make those sounds
• Write the letters for the sounds you hear

  

I was amazed today, during Writer's Workshop, to see these Kindergartners spelling larger words and writing sentences!  They should be proud! If your children ask you how to spell a word at home, instead of telling them, encourage them to use the steps I outlined above.  You will be impressed!

During Fundations, we learned about the letters V and W.  We practiced our letter formation and brainstormed words that begin with that letter.  We also learned two new sight words this week: in and to.  They were in a snowman book we added to our book boxes! We have compiled quite a list of sight words so far!
a, are, am, do, I , it, in, see, the, to, we, you
Can your child point out any sight words in books at home!

We also enjoyed hearing about everyone's traditions this week!  We heard about Nora's special Christmas Eve breakfast, Alectra's decorations on the Christmas tree, Clementine's name pancakes, Roman's cookies, Alex's trains around his Christmas tree, Miss Carol Ann's picture calendar, Violet's visit to the Shelburne Tree Lighting, Henry's Green Friday, and Caroline's visit to the Waldorf School Holiday Mart.  Can your child tell you about anyone's traditions?





Lastly, in math we are working on ordering numbers from 1-20.  We learned about the number line as a math tool and have been practicing talking about numbers that come before other numbers and numbers that come after.  We have also been working on positional words in math using our December calendar.  Can your child demonstrate the positions, in front of, behind, inside, outside, to the left, and to the right?  Be sure to ask your child about a new game we learned called Avocado Smash!  We had a lot of fun playing it and it great for recognizing teen numbers!

Have a wonderful weekend!

A big week of learning!

 This week during theme we have been enjoying learning about each other's holiday traditions! It is fun to see all the similarities and differences we have around the holidays.  On your child's sharing day, he or she has talked about the tradition and shared a photo (if there was one) and then we all illustrated a picture to go with the tradition.  At the end of our Traditions unit, each child will bring home an illustrated book with all of our class' traditions.  This week we learned about Winona's gingerbread house, Arsenie's cookies, Madison's Christimas caroling, Sabine's trip to Mexico, Ray's Christmas in Minnesota, and Hannah's Chanukah menorah!  We are looking forward to learning about more traditions next week!  If you haven't sent me an email about your child's tradition, please do so soon!

This week in Reader's Workshop we started a new unit called "We Are Super Readers". In this unit, the children will be learning strategies for beginning readers.  We are learning we all have reading super powers that will help us to become the best readers we can be.  This week we were introduced to Pointer Power.  All the children were given a special pointer to use to point to each word as they read which helps them match their reading voices to the print on the page.  Developing one-to-one matching is on the early reading behaviors that will help the children move into more conventional reading.  Can your child demonstrate his or her power to you at home? Go Super Readers!

We had a new Scholastic Let's Find Out magazine to read this week.  It was about bears and other animals getting ready for winter and hibernating.  We used our "pointer power" to help us read the magazine and we learned a new sight word: "it". Also during our literacy time, we were introduced to two more letters: h and k.  We practiced forming the letters and brainstormed words that have that letter at its initial sound. We are almost to the end of the alphabet!  When we come back to school in January, we will quickly go through how to form all the uppercase letters as well.

In Math, we continue to study numbers from 1-20, with activities the include matching numerals and quantities, counting forward and backward, ordering numbers,  reading numerals, comparing quantities to determine more or less, and adding.  We were introduced to new game called Bicycle Race that helped us to practice doubling numbers and Grab Bag Five and More that required us to use tally marks to build numbers.

During Writer's Workshop, we moved from just labeling our illustrations in our stories with words to writing a sentence to describe what is happening in the story!  We practiced counting out the number of words in the sentence and then stretching out the words to write down the letters that make those sounds.  I was very impressed with our Kindergarten Writers!  They are working so hard on stretching out words and listening for sounds.  Everyone wrote at least one or two sentences!  Great work!


Lastly, we had some fun reading snow stories this week!  We were inspired by one story about a snowman so we made our own snow people!  They are pretty cute!

Have a wonderful weekend!