Tapping Out

Throughout the week, the kids have been practicing, "tapping out" CVC words.  Write these words out on a paper and have your child show you how they use their "tappers" to read words like these.

cat - bat - hat - sat - mat - rat - fat - pat
hip - tip - rip - sip - mit - bit

Reading to End Racism

Today, we had a guest reader, Paul, come to our class to read Dr. Seuss' Sneetches.  Paul volunteers for a program called Reading to End Racism.  This group shares stories, activities, and discussion with kids from all over.  During and after reading the book, Paul raised many questions about the Sneetches.  Dr. Seuss told the story of how a group of star bellied Sneetches were in the "in crowd" while the Sneetches without stars were shunned and very unhappy.  Throughout the book this changed and the Sneetches learned a valuable lesson that neither plain-belly nor star-belly Sneetches are superior, and no matter which one they are, they should get along and be friends.  Your children learned about what prejudiced means and how nobody should treat others based on what they have or by what they look like and instead should get to know the person before assuming things that may not be true.

4 winds-Snow

On Tuesday, Shannon and Sigrid came in for an interactive, hands on science lesson all about snow.  We began the morning closely observing snowflakes.  We were lucky it was snowing so we could catch snowflakes on our black felt squares.  Once we caught a flake, we used our eagle eyes to observe it up close using our magnifying glasses.  We also collected snow and made hypothesis about how much water would be left once it melted.  We were quite surprised at the end of the day to find very little water in each of these cups.  Many of our hypothesis were far off!

After coming back inside, Shannon and Sigrid put on a very engaging, entertaining puppet show.  During the show, we learned about different types of snow crystals: capped column, hollow column, needle, stellar, and plate.  We also learned that snowflakes form while falling from a cloud and no two snowflakes are the same.  In our science journals we added pictures of different types of snow crystals and we made snowflakes to decorate our classroom.  We also used an old fashioned slide projector and observed different photographs of snow crystals in varying forms.

Thanks so much to Shannon and Sigrid.  It was a great informative and fun morning. See the side bar for some interactive snow related activities to do with your child at home.

On Wednesday, we went to the computer lab to listen to the story of Snowflake Bentley on the projector.   Ask your child who Wilson Bentley was!  We will continue to learn about snow and observe the weather over the next few weeks.

tricky teens and sub zero temps

In math today we began talking about what teen numbers are.  We are learning that a teen number is made up of a group of ten and then some more. We practiced this using our math hands and then played a simple game of drawing a number and creating it using a group of ten and then some ones.

We were surprised to hear the weather was just 1 degree at math time today.  The students were introduced to what a negative number means. This is a higher order concept that is learned in later grades, but we had the perfect day to talk about the frigid below 0 temperatures!  Brrrr....

The class is working on analyzing simple bar graphs using our morning message.  After eating our math cheerios for breakfast, the kids practice using math language such as more, less, and, equal after analyzing the results of the data.

details

We are working on adding more details to our stories during writers workshop.  Most kids at this age tell the most important thing and leave out all the details.  We discussed how good authors don't just tell the basics.  They go in to depth describing the events and details in more than one sentence.  We compared the short stories I wrote and noticed that the one with more details about the day out with my friend was much more interesting than the one I wrote about just meeting up with a friend.

Thanks

A big thanks from our class community to Alanna, Andrew, and their families for sending in new supplies for our art center.  The kids were in complete glory today with all the new materials and recycables.  I'll be sure to post some of their creations later this week as I just bought a new camera!  Stay tuned...

Kindergarten Sight Words

Have fun practicing these high frequency words with your child at home. Have your child repeat the word after listening.  After much practice, challenge your child by pushing mute and having them do it on their own!

Fantastic Friday

Our stuffed animal friends and Kindergarten friends had a fabulous, fantastic, festive Friday!  Alanna's Grandma came in for guest reader and kept us engaged and laughing while we listened to a few great books. We then divided up between Mrs. Slesar's third grade room and our classroom for some play time with our buddies. We played games with them, built extraordinary castles and lego contraptions, created art projects, used playdough, and played board games.  It is great to see this bond between the buddies develop as the year progresses.  During library today, Mrs. Frye taught us how to take out just right books from the library and Mrs. Scudder Chase lead us playing the bells.  Ending our morning, we had a popcorn publishing party. Most students read a piece that they have been editing during the last week while the audience munched on a bowl of popcorn.  You can read these in their green folders.  I am amazed at how far they've come.  During the afternoon, we were able to get to the computer lab to use One More Story to listen to stories of our choice.  Congrats also to the stuffies for following all our classroom rules.  They will definitely be welcomed back and we hope to meet some new friends next time.  Don't fret-if your child forgot theirs, friends shared an extra with them so everybody had company!

Stuffy Day

We've filled the marble jar once again. It was almost a unanimous vote to have stuffed animal day tomorrow. Children are allowed to bring in a stuffed animal of their choice (it must fit in a plastic bag or their backpacks) to have for company during different parts of the day.  We decided this at closing circle, so I aplogize if you don't read this until later.  I'm sure your child will remember. If not, I'm sure we'll have extras to make sure nobody is without a friend.

More assessments....

In addition to individual reading assessments, your children have been completing many other assessments this week.  They have learned what an assessment means and how important they are to a teacher.  They have learned that these activities are ones that they have to do ALL by themselves so I can see what they know.  It was also explained to them how a teacher looks at what each child knows in order to plan what to teach.  The students did a FANTASTIC job of practicing real assessing behaviors: being quiet, saying the answers in their head, looking only at their own paper, not asking a teacher or friend for help, trying their best, and simply skipping a question and moving on if it is too hard.

I have a dream...

We did not have time on Friday because of NAP to talk about our day off yesterday.  Today, we read books and talked in length about who Martin Luther King, Jr. was.  We talked about equality and his dream and compared what it was like for a child 40 years ago to how we are treated today.  The kids noticed how different it is today and we thanked MLK for standing up for his rights and making the world a better place. We then came up with our own dreams.  I was extremely impressed at some of their thoughtful responses. Here is a sampling of a few:

"I dream and hope that everybody can have enough food to eat."

"I dream and hope that the sun would shine everyday."

"I dream and hope that people would talk their problems out instead of having wars."

"I dream and hope that everybody could be friends with everybody."

"I dream and hope that all kids could get enough sleep every night."

"I dream and hope that all people will solve their problems by talking to each other."

"I dream and hope that everybody could go to school like me."

Art Center

No matter how many new toys I get for the classroom, the majority of the students are spending their choice time in the art/writing center.  It is amazing how much writing they are also doing during this time.  Letters, signs, and stories are being created during their free time!  YAAY! I try and stock this area with as many creative materials I can get my hands on. If you have any "stuff" lying around, we'd be happy to accept donations.  Or if you see any good clearance items, think of us!  We'll even continue to take toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls (unless you're tired of the telescopes continuing to be brought home)!  Also, please send in yogurt containers/small containers to be used as paint cups.  Anything else creative is greatly appreciated!

Report cards will be distributed at the end of the month. If you have any questions once these are received, please let me know.  Areas assessed are based on the district and state standards.

Chilly and Snowy NAP

On Friday we braved the cold and traveled to Sabin's pasture.  We were lucky to have the sun find us and warm us up as we walked uphill to a new field for Nature Adventure.  After a bit of free time making snow angels and burying ourselves in the knee deep snow, we enjoyed snack prepared by Melissa and Kellie (thanks!).  Amy then taught us how animals move through the four gait patterns: hopping, walking, waddling, and bounding.  We practiced each gait and pretended to be a variety of animals.  We then set out into the woods exploring and finding animal tracks. The children were asked a variety of questions as they looked for these animal tracks: how do you think the animal is moving, which gait is it using, where is the animal going, why does the animal move that way, how did it jump that far, and when did it move this way through the forest.  Although most of the tracks were made by falling snow, the children had a great time using their imaginations to make up their own stories of what animals could have been there.  That afternoon, we shared some of these stories back in the classroom.  

Check out the video of the kids hopping like rabbits!

(THANKS FOR THE PICS, POLLY!)

Science

For the next few weeks we will begin looking closely at the weather.  What a perfect time to start observing winter weather after our storm on Wednesday.  Our meteorologist has started checking the weather each day this week and we have been discussing how the weather changes over time.  We compared the weather to when we first came to school and were sweltering in the heat, how it started getting cooler during the fall and now in winter it is snowing and icicles are forming everywhere.  We will start to collect, record, and analyze data we take on the weather and observe the changes it goes through over the course of the rest of the year.  We also learned what a thermometer is and talked about how it tells us the temperature outside.  Our meteorologist will start checking a weather website on the computer to tell us the temperature each day along with what they observe in the sky outside.

Math

During Math this week the students were introduced to the pan balance.  They learned that this tool compares the weight of objects and experimented using this tool to compare the weight of blocks of clay and teddy bears.  They tried their best to make both sides balance.

We also have been practicing sequencing numbers up to 20, and identifying numbers that come before a specified number.  In addition, we have sorted different sized shapes into a variety of categories, and have practiced writing our numbers as high as we could go. We continue to label our patterns (AAB, ABAB, ABC) and have played a few interactive games to help us learn the names of a rhombus, trapezoid, and hexagon.

Writer's Workshop

This week during writer's workshop we have been talking about different kinds of writing.  We brainstormed ways our families use writing every day and observed the different kinds of writing we have in our classroom.  So far this year, we have been focusing on telling stories about real events that have happened in our life.  I showed the kids that we can take a subject that we are writing about and do different kinds of writing using that same subject.  I modeled this by writing a story about going skiing over the weekend.  I then showed them that I could write a letter to my friend asking them if they wanted to go skiing on Saturday, a how-to ski instruction booklet, a list of equipment to bring, and a reminder note to myself to not forget my poles.  The kids experimented with doing all different kinds of writing.

We also began talking about what publishing means and brainstormed what we thought Jan Brett did before she published her stories.  The kids learned what editing is and that most authors do this before publishing their work.  At the Kindergarten level, this encompasses rereading their work, adding a few words in and making sure there are periods and capital letters in their work. Sometimes, it may include adding another idea by writing an additional sentence.  It also includes putting more details in their drawings and making their coloring their, "best work."  We have each chosen a piece to publish and will have a publishing party next week where we will all read our work to the group, have some popcorn, and display our work on a bulletin board in the classroom.

Substitutes

My class has been experiencing their first few days of having substitutes.  Please review the expectations with your child about respecting all teachers and following the same classroom rooms whether I am there or not.  We follow such explicit daily routines, that having a different teacher really threw them for a loop this week!  We have been reviewing the expectations and I would greatly appreciate any extra conversations at home!

Literacy

This week we have been focusing on learning more strategies to use when reading.  Students are using pictures to help them figure out words and thinking about the pattern in the text. They are also asking themselves whether what they read makes sense and if not, checking the text more closely.  They are learning that good readers read books to learn and to enjoy the story. If the words don't make sense and they can't understand what they read, they must go back, reread, and try a fix up strategy.  They are also learning how to choose books from colored coded baskets that are organized based on level.  These books may not be all just right readers and before choosing, they need to use the five finger rule to decide if that book is just right for them.

Our new sight word this week was was.  This word really confused them as most kids were spelling it phonetically in their writing.  We talked about how some words are trick words and they are not spelled easily by sounding out.  For practice, we arm tapped this word, sky wrote it, used white boards, wikki sticks, gel boards, and rainbow wrote it for extra practice.  Ask your child about the new game they played today called sparkle.  This game was a fun interactive game used to review all the sight words we've practiced so far this year!

We have been continuing to read a number of Jan Brett Books.  I'm dying to get my hands on The Three Snow Bears so if you have it, please send it in!  We have used these books to practice a number of reading comprehension strategies such as making predictions, visualizing, and making connections.  We have also been talking about different story elements including characters, setting, problem, and solution.  Ask your child what pictures help them remember these big words!  In addition we have been continuing to work on retelling stories and sequencing the events that happened.

Reading Assessments

On Wednesday, the kids will have a substitute again while I take the day to spend time with each student assessing their reading abilities.  Each assessment takes about 30 minutes and will allow me to find out what level they are at.  These assessments will give me information on the students accuracy, fluency, and comprehension and I will be analyzing their reading to see what strategies they are using to solve words.  This will guide me to plan for instruction based on the needs of the student.  After the assessments are completed, the students will be placed in a guided reading group based on their level.  I will work with the students in small groups to provide instruction at their individual level.  At this time, I will also start sending book bags home so the students can share their reading with you.

Literacy this week

The kids have been reading and writing new sight words every week.  So far this year, your child should know how to read and spell the following words: I, me, my, see, is, like, the, go, we, and can.  This week, the students have been identifying the ending sounds in words and learning the differences between a question and a statement.  We have also been perfecting our handwriting of lower case letters and discussed how words at the beginning of sentences must have uppercase letters.  We looked closely at the word The/the and realized that even though the words look different, they are the same!  Throughout the week we have focused on Jan Brett's story, "The Mitten."  With this book we have identified the characters, practiced many retellings using a mitten and each animal, and sequenced the events that happened in the story. Each child also read a just right version of the story. We have also compared this book to, "The Missing Mitten Mystery" and decorated our own mitten just like that of Nikki's!

New Year's Goals

We re-looked at the hopes and dreams we created at the beginning of the year this week.  We also reflected on what we have learned in the year 2010 during Kindergarten and talked about all the different things that we wanted to learn how to do.  We wrote about these goals.  I am amazed at the originality and effort the student's are putting into their writing this week.  Some of the things the students reflected on learning were: tying shoes, reading words, reading books, writing stories, counting really high, sharing, being nice to friends, solving problems without getting mad, and raising quiet hands and waiting a long time to talk.  Ask your child what they've learned this year and inquire about what their goals were for the rest of Kindergarten.

Math this Week

We have redesigned the Kindergarten schedule this week.  We now have Math after lunch and recess and do writer's workshop in the mornings.  During Math this week we have been practicing counting by 5's and continuing perfecting our counting by 10's.  We have also been practicing counting backwards using higher numbers. We continue to learn the days of the week, and talk about the changing weather patterns. In math centers this week, we have learned a new game, count and compare butterflies that focuses on counting and using the math terms more and less.  The kindergartners have been become experts at estimating and are now trying to challenge themselves by grabbing 2 handfuls of counters to estimate.  After making an estimate, the kids lay out their objects on ten frames and practice counting by tens and ones.   We also are making number lines by organizing numbers up to 20 and learning what a trapezoid, hexagon, and rhombus are.  The students continue to make more quilt squares during math to add to a class quilt.

Vincent vanGogh

We have begun studying a new artist.  The students are learning a bit about Vincent van Gogh's short life growing up in Holland.  The students learned that he was a pastor early on until he realized he wanted to become a painter.  They were fascinated to see the differences between his early work that was primarily composed of dark colors and some of his later pieces that included vibrant colors.  They were also taken back by the fact that art became more important to him than the basic need to eat and were surprised to hear that he would rather buy art materials than food.  They were very confused as they thought he should have been making a lot of money because he created such great artwork, but they found out that only 1 painting sold while he was alive.  We will be looking closely at, "The Starry Night" and doing a replication of this piece. We will also be looking at a variety of other pieces he created that have become popular in the last 100 years.

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a restful break and enjoyed spending time with their kids.  I look forward to seeing the children tomorrow.  We should have an exciting week transitioning  back into routines.  I am currently missing my camera, so I apologize for no pictures from day in the dark!  If you have an old camera that your family no longer uses, we'd love to borrow it!