**Thanks so much for your attendance at Open House/Curriculum Night. I know that there was a lot of material presented. Please read through your curriculum handouts. If you have any questions or would like to meet to go over anything, please email me. I know the students had a great time! They were a bit sleepy eyed the next morning, but full of conversation about who they saw and the teachers they introduced you to. Thanks again!
**Pacer's Running and Walking Club is going well! The students are very enthusiastic about their walk/run. Irving School is using Pacer's to get students ready for the FUN RUN Fundraiser on Friday, October 14th. It is our PTO's biggest fundraiser! You will be receiving info on this soon.
**Eagle Extra Classes begin on Monday, September 26th. I have received a roster of names for each class. An adult Eagle Extra supervisor will pick up all kindergarten students from their classrooms at dismissal. They will will be taken to the auditorium where the Eagle Extra teacher will meet them.
**All baseline assessments will be completed this week and Route to Reading skills specific groups will begin on Monday, October 3rd. You will get notification of the skill your child is working on and the teacher teaching it. The skill will be taught for 3 weeks and then assessed. 90% mastery is needed for a student to move on to the next skill. Students can remain at the skill, move to the next skill or even skip/test out of a skill. All kindergarten teachers as well as Ms. Chinn, our Language Arts Specialist and reading tutors Ms. Cruz, Ms. Cairns and Ms. Diehl will each have a group of students. Route to Reading will meet 3 times a week for 30 minutes on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
**EGG DROP/ACADEMIC FAIR sign up is now on line on the Irving website! I will be speaking to the students about this event on Monday. Do you have a topic that you are interested in? Do you have a question that you want answered on a certain topic? Can you construct a vehicle that will keep an egg from breaking when it is dropped from a 3rd floor window??? Think about it!! Be part of the Irving School's Academic Fair and/or Egg Drop contest on Wednesday, October 19th. Ms. Creehan will be coming around next week to show examples to students and chat a bit about ideas. I would love to see our class represented. The Egg Drop contest will take place on the playground beginning at 12:15 pm. Students can present their Academic Fair projects (places for them in the gym) to their classmates in the morning and again to the public beginning at 6:30 pm.
**There was no Friendship Club this week.
**Our Second Step lesson this week focused on following directions. The concepts taught were--listening and following directions are important skills for learning. Repeating directions helps you remember them. Following directions involves using your eyes, ears, and brain! Of course, our puppet friends, Puppy and Snail assisted in the lesson and activities!
**In Library this week, Ms. Noonan continued discussion and activities on selecting Fiction and Nonfiction books.
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer read the story "Ten Black Dots, " by Donald Crews. The story uses a certain number of dots that become part of a larger picture. Next week, the students will get a chance to "think outside of the box" by coming up with a picture that includes a certain number of dots. Cool!
**We will have on first meeting with our Book Buddies (Ms. Balicki's 5th grade class) on Friday! Each student will be paired with a 5th grade buddy or two. They will be interviewing each other. They will create a getting to know me book! Stay tuned!
**Information on our first FIELD TRIP will be out next Friday. We will be going to the MORTON ARBORETUM on Thursday, October 27th from 9-1:30 pm. This trip will enhance and support our very first SCIENCE UNIT--TREES and WEATHER. I will need 5 parent volunteers to accompany us on our trip. Email me if you are interested.
This week:
It was all about getting ready for Open House! The students worked hard on projects to display in the hallway. They made sure the room was tidy. They are moving about the building with ease and are able to deliver their own Eagle Slips to the office and well as take the morning attendance down. Station day activities this week included a game format where students worked on math (counting/cardinality) (number writing) (classification) and reading (sight words-walk your words) (beginning letter sounds-letter /sound bump, Little Red Riding Hood sound/symbol) (upper and lowercase match-Froggy Froggy, Where's Your Home?) (reading to self) (reading to a partner) (sentence building) and finished the day with activities from the tripod grasp strengthening box.
Reading/Language Arts: The students have completed the prep Start Smart for our Treasures Reading series. We will begin Unit 1 FAMILIES on Monday. We continue to review consonant and short and long vowel sounds. We are also imprinting sound to symbol or letter. Our mirror exercises continue to assist the students as another modality in solidifying the automaticity of producing letter
sounds. The students began work on their sight word vocabulary. The sight words I, go, we, see, can, am, yes, no, the have been introduced. The students "Walked their Words" using the word feet and making a path. The students also worked with partner to build a sentence using their sight words and pictures. They shared their sentences with the other partners. The students brainstormed words that show ACTION. I read the trade book, "Jazz Baby." Before reading, the students made predictions about story content. They were able to point to the title, title page, front and back cover of the book and the spine of the book. They were also able to tell that the book was fiction. During the reading, the students were able to tell me about the words that showed action in the story. (dance, sway, sing etc) After a second reading, the students were able to use the retelling cards to retell the story. Some students volunteered to write some words about each picture. It was a group effort to sound out words and record letters to create sentences. Great team work! During our group read aloud of the paper story "I Can," the students were spot on at naming the action pictures and words.
We continue to work on tracking words in a sentence from left to right and only reading the words we see on each line. The students are loving volunteering to read while the others are following along. In our formative text study this week, we read the story, "Duck on a Bike." In the first reading, the students continue to work on setting, characters and main events in the story. I read and they elbow chat with a partner about those story elements. They also volunteered to act out their favorite parts. We use the sequencing board to sequence the events in the story using pictures. In our second reading, the students help me (We do) to complete a Blueprint Workmat that is projected on the screen. They volunteer to draw pictures and help me to write down the characters, setting and some main events. Students did their own Blueprint Workmat of the story. (You do) What do you remember? (sequencing, comprehension, story elements) It is pretty cool to see their thinking reflected in their drawings and a little more attempts at writing words or letters. I continue to provide support by recording what they tell me about the characters, setting and events. Next week, we will begin our summative text, "How Rocket Learns to Read." The students continue their work with exercises from the Haggerty Blue Book which include letter naming, rhyming syllables, counting words in a sentence, beginning and ending sounds, adding, substituting and deleting word parts. Workstations this week included upper/lowercase match, write the room--sight words, walking your words, practice read and discussion.
Math: The students continue to work on number formation rhymes 0-9. Morning math sessions concentrate on number writing, counting quantities, sequencing numbers and tracking the weather. In our afternoon whole group math sessions this week, the students worked on classifying into pre-determined categories using toys with a wide range of attributes to facilitate sorting, classifying into 3 categories and determining the count in each and classifying into 3 categories, determining the count in each and the reason about how the last number named determines the total. Partner activities Birthday Candles and Show Me Another Way assisted in providing fluency practice. Math workstations this week included working with attribute blocks classifying into 3 categories, pattern block shape recognition activity, counting quantities-record number, writing numbers. We ended the sessions with a Subitize Challenge. The students are becoming more observant at recognizing patterns in numbers or ways to say numbers---6 can be 3 and 3 etc.
Writing: The students set up their Writer's Workshop journals. They now have a journal paper, a place to put finished pieces and pieces they are still working on and sight words and sound/symbol pictures to assist them in their composing. In Writer's Workshop this week, we chatted about the idea that writer's often "visualize" or create a picture in their mind before they write. They picture the topic and then all the details into the pictures and words. We also had a conversation about showing action in your pictures. I did a mini lesson on stretching your words out to write them. (slowly saying and recoding the sounds you hear--inventive spelling) and adding labels to pictures. The students are very enthusiastic about their writing journal. They are working on their drawings and trying their hand at writing something down. At the journal conference with each student, I am having students chat about their drawing and I will model writing, or ask students to read what they wrote. We are having some beginning chats about starting with an uppercase letter and spacing between words. It is getting exciting!!!!
Technology: No new apps introduced this week. I am in the process of securing usernames and passwords in order to begin iPad Boot Camp and Lexia Core 5.
Literature: "Hop on Pop," "I Will Try," "Pete the Cat," "Made From Clay," "Night Animals," "Paper Wasps Nests," "Duck on a Bike," "David Get's in Trouble," "Jazz Baby."
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Saturday, September 17, 2016
UPDATES for 9/12-9/16 2016
**Come One, Come All to Irving School's OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT on Thursday, September 22nd from 6:30-7:30 pm. I will be speaking to parents at 6:30 for about 30 minutes on our class routine, classroom management, special area classes, assessments in Kindergarten, Route to Reading specific skills groupings and all curriculum. You can drop off your child in the auditorium for a supervised special feature before you come to see me. I will also have handouts with other information on our year. There will also be SIGN UP SHEETS for PARENT CONFERENCES and other COOL EVENTS on the table outside of my room. Please pick up your child after my presentation and they will become your TOUR GUIDES as they bring you to meet the teachers who will be working with them. I will give you a list with teacher names and room numbers as an assist. Hope to see everyone!
**The ALL SCHOOL FRIDAY PACERS RUNNING/WALKING CLUB began on Friday. The students were really fired up to run around the block and get their card marked. The students each have a bracelet and for each time they run around the block, they will get a foot charm. We will be making a special envelope to keep our bracelet in. The special envelope will go on our PACERS CHART. At the end of the year......each child will have a great bracelet FULL of feet charms.
**All KRT and DIBELS Testing is completed. I will be working on Aimsweb Math Baseline and Phonic Screeners this coming week as I continue planning for your child's academic trimester.
**The students checked out their first book from the Irving Library. It is due next next Wednesday. Please keep the book in your child's back pack when not reading. Next week, the students will be able to check out 2 books!
**Eagle Extra Classes begin on Monday, September 26th. I will be getting a list of the participants from my class. The students will be picked up from my class by an adult supervisor and taken to the auditorium to be picked up by the Eagle Extras teacher. There are some cool after school classes. Check it out!
**Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills Sessions will begin this coming Tuesday. He will use small group and whole group activities and projects to encourage thinking outside of the box.
All lessons will be taught on multi levels to support and to challenge all learners. Stay tuned!
**I continue to work with our Computer Tech to secure usernames and passwords for our Kindergarten students. I am hoping to complete this sometime this week. We can then proceed with iPad Boot Camp for Kinders.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey reviewed with students what whole body learning is and began the conversation about the ZONES of REGULATION......or how to regulate your own behavior! I will be sending you some information on this in the coming weeks.
**Fall Class and Individual Pictures will be taken on Tuesday, October 11th. I usually try for an early morning time.
**Our FIRST FIELD TRIP--Morton Arboretum on Thursday, October 27th from 9-1:30. This trip will enhance and support our very first SCIENCE UNIT--TREES and WEATHER. Look for more information soon! I will need some parent volunteers to come with us.
**Our BOOK BUDDIES this year are the students from Ms. Balicki's 5th Grade Class. We are in the process of arranging our first meeting! Each Kindergarten student will be matched up with a 5th grade buddy. We will be meeting roughly every month and sharing stories, writing, projects. So Fun!!!
**Future Events: Irving School's Annual Egg Drop and Academic Fair to be held on Wednesday, October 19th all day and in the evening. I will be sending out information on this very awesome event that even a Kindergarten student can participate in! Also.....Each classroom will be a part of the Fun Run Fundraiser on Friday, October 14th at 8:15 am. It is one of our PTO's biggest fundraising events of the year. Stay tuned!
This week:
It was all about letters and numbers. The students found letters and numbers throughout our classroom and school. What is the difference between letters and numbers? The students began a conversation about consonants (letters that have 1-2 sounds) and vowels ( letters that can have many different sounds.) The students found the consonants and vowels in their name. They then compared that number to the number of consonants and vowels in a friend's name. We are counting everything in sight--chairs, markers, feet, socks, plates, fingers shoes etc. The students worked on their number formation rhymes 0-8. Station Day activities included pattern block create/count/record, creating a specific number tower and recording the number, letter/sound activity and experimenting with our tripod grasp strengthening activities.
Reading/Language Arts: The students are working to complete Week 3 of our prep for our Treasures Reading series called Smart Start. They continued their work on imprinting sound and observing what their mouth does when they create a certain sound. It was great fun but also fascinating to see the students experiment with small mirrors when reproducing target sounds. They "elbow chatted" with a partner to describe what the sound of Bb or the sound of Cc looks like. Pretty cool! Opened or closed mouth? puff of air? vibration in the throat? where is your tongue? We reviewed rhyming sequences and our current sight words. The students used their sight words, pictures and ending marks for sentence building with a partner. Each student built 2 sentences to read to their partner. The partner did the same. Planning, recall and tracking from left to right were in play in this activity.
The students worked on their first read aloud paper story, "I Can!" They worked on listening and following along with their "famous pointing finger" as a student read. We reviewed what a sentence does----it is a group of words that names and tells! The students found the title, the front and back cover and the spine even though it was very skinny. What is this story about? How do you know? The students continued to work on tracking words in a sentence from left to right, noting that a sentence begins with an uppercase letter and has an ending mark. Finger pointing is essential!! During our workstations students chose from a group of sight word texts to read to themselves and then read to a partner and "elbow chat" about the title, characters and setting.
The students did their first formative blueprint with prompting and support. Again, we used the formative text, "Chrysanthemum." The goal for the students was to draw and write about the characters, setting, main event and why the event is important. Quite a task! In the beginning, drawing pictures and talking about key concepts is happening. I am providing support by recoding what the students tell me. Some students did some writing and labeling. As we work throughout the year on this format, more and more writing will occur. We will begin our next formative text,"Duck on a Bike" next week.
The students continue work on foundational skills in the Haggerty Blue Book which included letter naming, rhyming, initial and final sounds, syllables, adding, substituting and deleting word parts and counting words in a sentence.
Math: The student work on calendar books is becoming more routine. Morning math activities included a shape hunt around the room looking for basic shapes as well as pattern block shapes. Students looked for circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals, trapezoids, hexagons and rhombuses. The students also continue work on number formation 0-8 reciting their number form rhymes and using their white boards and dry erase markers. The students also continued using games and activities that reinforced counting and cardinality. Our afternoon math session focused on our new Eureka Math curriculum. This weeks lessons were all about analyzing to find 2 objects that are exactly the same or not exactly the same, analyzing to find 2 similar objects--these are the same but....and classifying to find 2 objects that share a visual pattern, color and use. Student are also learning common terminology and participated in counting beans and fingers and learning to count following the number glove. ( I will show you this on curriculum night.) Math workstations included animal picnic--set the table with plate and cup that reflect visual classification of pattern, color and use, egg carton math, number writing 0-8, spin a number, shape create/count/record and working with attribute blocks classifying with a partner.
Writing: The students are learning that lines make letters. They looked at straight lines, slant and curved lines. Using the Handwriting Without Tears format, each student used the wooden pieces to make the first letter in their name. The students used the lines to form MAT MAN. We even sang a song about him. MAT MAN has all the lines that writers use to form letters to make words. Next week we will begin formal letter formation learning our Frog Jump Capitals. The students experimented with the tripod grasp activity box. (I will share it with you on curriculum night.) In Writer's Workshop this week, the students shared pieces of their writing. We talked again about how writers write what they know about. Using our idea web, the student made idea "light bulbs" drawing and sketching subjects and using stickers to show ideas they can write about. We also talked about the idea that "instead of saying we are done," we can go back and see if we can add anything else to our drawing... a detail.....something that makes our drawing/writing clearer to us and to others that we share it with.
Technology: The students continue to participate by using apps that are projected on the screen. In reading, the students used the app Sound Sort to match pictures according to their letter sound. They continue to delight in setting their sight words, letters and numbers on "fire" using the app Fire Finger." In math, I introduced the app Easy Match working on matching quantity to number and examining number patterns.
Literature: "Curious George Goes to School," "Mean Jean the Recess Queen," "Chrysanthemum," "I Can," "At School," "We Go to School," "It's Okay to Make Mistakes," "David Goes to School,"
**The ALL SCHOOL FRIDAY PACERS RUNNING/WALKING CLUB began on Friday. The students were really fired up to run around the block and get their card marked. The students each have a bracelet and for each time they run around the block, they will get a foot charm. We will be making a special envelope to keep our bracelet in. The special envelope will go on our PACERS CHART. At the end of the year......each child will have a great bracelet FULL of feet charms.
**All KRT and DIBELS Testing is completed. I will be working on Aimsweb Math Baseline and Phonic Screeners this coming week as I continue planning for your child's academic trimester.
**The students checked out their first book from the Irving Library. It is due next next Wednesday. Please keep the book in your child's back pack when not reading. Next week, the students will be able to check out 2 books!
**Eagle Extra Classes begin on Monday, September 26th. I will be getting a list of the participants from my class. The students will be picked up from my class by an adult supervisor and taken to the auditorium to be picked up by the Eagle Extras teacher. There are some cool after school classes. Check it out!
**Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills Sessions will begin this coming Tuesday. He will use small group and whole group activities and projects to encourage thinking outside of the box.
All lessons will be taught on multi levels to support and to challenge all learners. Stay tuned!
**I continue to work with our Computer Tech to secure usernames and passwords for our Kindergarten students. I am hoping to complete this sometime this week. We can then proceed with iPad Boot Camp for Kinders.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey reviewed with students what whole body learning is and began the conversation about the ZONES of REGULATION......or how to regulate your own behavior! I will be sending you some information on this in the coming weeks.
**Fall Class and Individual Pictures will be taken on Tuesday, October 11th. I usually try for an early morning time.
**Our FIRST FIELD TRIP--Morton Arboretum on Thursday, October 27th from 9-1:30. This trip will enhance and support our very first SCIENCE UNIT--TREES and WEATHER. Look for more information soon! I will need some parent volunteers to come with us.
**Our BOOK BUDDIES this year are the students from Ms. Balicki's 5th Grade Class. We are in the process of arranging our first meeting! Each Kindergarten student will be matched up with a 5th grade buddy. We will be meeting roughly every month and sharing stories, writing, projects. So Fun!!!
**Future Events: Irving School's Annual Egg Drop and Academic Fair to be held on Wednesday, October 19th all day and in the evening. I will be sending out information on this very awesome event that even a Kindergarten student can participate in! Also.....Each classroom will be a part of the Fun Run Fundraiser on Friday, October 14th at 8:15 am. It is one of our PTO's biggest fundraising events of the year. Stay tuned!
This week:
It was all about letters and numbers. The students found letters and numbers throughout our classroom and school. What is the difference between letters and numbers? The students began a conversation about consonants (letters that have 1-2 sounds) and vowels ( letters that can have many different sounds.) The students found the consonants and vowels in their name. They then compared that number to the number of consonants and vowels in a friend's name. We are counting everything in sight--chairs, markers, feet, socks, plates, fingers shoes etc. The students worked on their number formation rhymes 0-8. Station Day activities included pattern block create/count/record, creating a specific number tower and recording the number, letter/sound activity and experimenting with our tripod grasp strengthening activities.
Reading/Language Arts: The students are working to complete Week 3 of our prep for our Treasures Reading series called Smart Start. They continued their work on imprinting sound and observing what their mouth does when they create a certain sound. It was great fun but also fascinating to see the students experiment with small mirrors when reproducing target sounds. They "elbow chatted" with a partner to describe what the sound of Bb or the sound of Cc looks like. Pretty cool! Opened or closed mouth? puff of air? vibration in the throat? where is your tongue? We reviewed rhyming sequences and our current sight words. The students used their sight words, pictures and ending marks for sentence building with a partner. Each student built 2 sentences to read to their partner. The partner did the same. Planning, recall and tracking from left to right were in play in this activity.
The students worked on their first read aloud paper story, "I Can!" They worked on listening and following along with their "famous pointing finger" as a student read. We reviewed what a sentence does----it is a group of words that names and tells! The students found the title, the front and back cover and the spine even though it was very skinny. What is this story about? How do you know? The students continued to work on tracking words in a sentence from left to right, noting that a sentence begins with an uppercase letter and has an ending mark. Finger pointing is essential!! During our workstations students chose from a group of sight word texts to read to themselves and then read to a partner and "elbow chat" about the title, characters and setting.
The students did their first formative blueprint with prompting and support. Again, we used the formative text, "Chrysanthemum." The goal for the students was to draw and write about the characters, setting, main event and why the event is important. Quite a task! In the beginning, drawing pictures and talking about key concepts is happening. I am providing support by recoding what the students tell me. Some students did some writing and labeling. As we work throughout the year on this format, more and more writing will occur. We will begin our next formative text,"Duck on a Bike" next week.
The students continue work on foundational skills in the Haggerty Blue Book which included letter naming, rhyming, initial and final sounds, syllables, adding, substituting and deleting word parts and counting words in a sentence.
Math: The student work on calendar books is becoming more routine. Morning math activities included a shape hunt around the room looking for basic shapes as well as pattern block shapes. Students looked for circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals, trapezoids, hexagons and rhombuses. The students also continue work on number formation 0-8 reciting their number form rhymes and using their white boards and dry erase markers. The students also continued using games and activities that reinforced counting and cardinality. Our afternoon math session focused on our new Eureka Math curriculum. This weeks lessons were all about analyzing to find 2 objects that are exactly the same or not exactly the same, analyzing to find 2 similar objects--these are the same but....and classifying to find 2 objects that share a visual pattern, color and use. Student are also learning common terminology and participated in counting beans and fingers and learning to count following the number glove. ( I will show you this on curriculum night.) Math workstations included animal picnic--set the table with plate and cup that reflect visual classification of pattern, color and use, egg carton math, number writing 0-8, spin a number, shape create/count/record and working with attribute blocks classifying with a partner.
Writing: The students are learning that lines make letters. They looked at straight lines, slant and curved lines. Using the Handwriting Without Tears format, each student used the wooden pieces to make the first letter in their name. The students used the lines to form MAT MAN. We even sang a song about him. MAT MAN has all the lines that writers use to form letters to make words. Next week we will begin formal letter formation learning our Frog Jump Capitals. The students experimented with the tripod grasp activity box. (I will share it with you on curriculum night.) In Writer's Workshop this week, the students shared pieces of their writing. We talked again about how writers write what they know about. Using our idea web, the student made idea "light bulbs" drawing and sketching subjects and using stickers to show ideas they can write about. We also talked about the idea that "instead of saying we are done," we can go back and see if we can add anything else to our drawing... a detail.....something that makes our drawing/writing clearer to us and to others that we share it with.
Technology: The students continue to participate by using apps that are projected on the screen. In reading, the students used the app Sound Sort to match pictures according to their letter sound. They continue to delight in setting their sight words, letters and numbers on "fire" using the app Fire Finger." In math, I introduced the app Easy Match working on matching quantity to number and examining number patterns.
Literature: "Curious George Goes to School," "Mean Jean the Recess Queen," "Chrysanthemum," "I Can," "At School," "We Go to School," "It's Okay to Make Mistakes," "David Goes to School,"
Sunday, September 11, 2016
UPDATES for 9/6-9/9 2016
**The students are becoming more familiar with our daily routines and expectations of all of their teachers and classes. Lunch is going well! At lunch, we are reinforcing eating our main entre first, drinking our beverages and recycling the school lunch trays and mild cartons. Don't forget to send a healthy snack each day! The students are learning to get out their snack and water bottles and place them on the bench next to their name. There is then less confusion about what is lunch and what is a snack.
**Thanks for seeing that your child's HOMEWORK FOLDER is in their backpack each THURSDAY. Students are learning to take out their homework and put it in the homework box. It was great sharing the "Getting to know me Heads." They are now up in our classroom. Games and paper stories can remain home in a secure place for future review. A reminder to please check HOMEWORK FOLDERS every FRIDAY for homework and other school information. You can also check the assignments page on my website for activities and due dates.
**It was fun to see some of you at the Irving Back to School Party. There was no movie due to the weather, but plenty of pizza!
**COME ONE , COME ALL to Irving School's OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd from 6:30-7:30 pm. I will be speaking to parents at 6:30 for about 30 minutes on our class routine, classroom management, special area classes, assessments in Kindergarten, Route to Reading specific skills groupings and all curriculum. You can drop your child off for a supervised special feature before you come to see me. I will also have handouts with other information on our year. There will also be SIGN UP SHEETS for PARENT CONFERENCES and other COOL EVENTS. Please pick up your child after my presentation and they will become your TOUR GUIDES as they bring you to meet the teachers who will be working with them. I will give you a list with teachers name, subject and room number as an assist. Hope to see everyone!
**I am continuing to finish KRT testing and also baseline assessments (DIBELS and AIMSWEB MATH and PHONIC SCREENERS, as well as baseline letter and number recognition in order to best plan for your child's academic trimester.
**The students had their first FRIENDSHIP CLUB meeting with Dr. Bell Bey, our social worker. She will be working with our class on a variety of lessons centering around fostering positive peer relationships and activities that support our Second Step Lessons. Stories, games, videos, role playing, acting and puppets are just a few ways she will approach a lesson. This week, Dr. Bell Bey gave an overview about being ready to learn and school manners.
**The students had their first LIBRARY meeting with Ms. Noonan, teacher librarian. Next week, the students will be able to check out a book and take it home for 7 days until the next library time. They return the book and can take out a new one. Ms. Noonan will be reading many types of fiction and nonfiction stories, helping with projects and showing the students how the library is organized, how to find certain books and assisting in supporting our Common Core Curriculum.
**We will have our first meeting with GTD Mr. Packer and his THINKING SKILLS sessions next week. He will be be working with whole and small class groupings.
**In the next few weeks, everything should be ready to our intro to iPad Boot Camp for our Kinders. I will keep you posted.
**Don't forget--Gym shoes on Gym days!
This Week:
It was all about the student's continued effort to feel comfortable with our daily routines and meet all of their teachers for the year. It was about ABC'S everywhere! Why do we need them? What do they look like? How do they sound? What does our mouth look like when we say them? Many sounds? One sound? Uppercase? Lowercase? What happens when we put letters together? Station Day activities included creating a paper doll of themselves, creating a hand print, building with cubes and counting how many, building their number board and experimenting with the math games taught this week.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue to work on their prep for our Treasures Reading series using Smart Start. The students focused on letter recognition and sound foundation. They are learning about imprinting sound and how our mouth looks when we make that sound. What happens when a sound is produced? Is your mouth opened or closed? Can you feel a vibration in your throat? Can you feel air coming out of your mouth? Let's think about it! The students are working with me to create word webs on suggested topics--What do we do in Kindergarten? What do hands do? How do we look? These exercises generate conversation and participation that stimulate vocabulary. Students continue to listen for rhyming patterns in words. They are learning to chant the ending. Our mantra or chant is for example--cat, bat they end in at.
Students have begun work on sight word recognition. Words presented this week were YES, NO, I, GO, AM, CAN. We played "Hands Up, Hands Down" using our word cards. The students are working on tracking words from left to right in our days of the week reads. They are also counting the number of words in each sentence.
In our formative text study, using the story "Chrysanthemum," the students continue finding the title, front/back cover and spine of the book. Once again, we discussed the job of the author and illustrator. This week, we talked about who is in the story (characters) and where the story happens (setting.) We used the term event to describe something that happens in the story. The students began work on a group Blueprint Workmat identifying the characters, setting and important events they remembered from the story. Prior to this, some students volunteered to act out their favorite part. I projected the mat on our board and students helped me by drawing pictures or helping me with writing. The students will eventually complete their own individual Blueprint Workmat on selected stories. Pretty cool!
The students continued work on foundational skills using the Haggerty Blue Book. Whole group instruction, aided by our reading puppet, Mr. Happy, centered on upper and lowercase recognition, counting words in a sentence, isolating the beginning and ending sounds and counting word parts and beginning work on syllables. Small group workstations included letter hunt, rhyming board game, sequencing ABC's, beginning sound sequence and "Hands Up, Hands Down" using their sight words.
Math: The students are working in their daily Calendar Book. They are writing the number for the date and year, creating a pattern, forming their numbers using rhymes, learning about tally marks and ten frames and recording the weather. Small group workstations included "Listen and Count" count and object match activity, egg carton math, "Got It," "Spin a Number," using their number rhymes to write numbers 0-4 and basic shape recognition. Our Problem of the Day this week centered on positional words. Concepts above, below, next and under were included. Next week begins lessons in our new Eureka Math curriculum. A Parent Tip sheet is in your child's homework folder.
Social Studies/Emotional Growth: Our Second Step Lesson focused on how our Listening Rules help everyone learn. The puppet, Puppy, was super helpful!
Writing: The students are working on strengthening their hands and fingers by using clay. Kneading, squishing and rolling are great ways to get our fingers and hands moving. We continue to work on our tripod grasp when holding markers, crayons and pencils. Students are also using the giant tweezers (great tripod grasp tool) to "feed" the dog and to place colored beads into their matching cups. Next week we will spend some time trying some grasp strengthening activities from from a special finger training activity box. In Writer's Workshop this week, we continued our chat about writers writing what they know about. We discussed and recorded what writers can do, where writers can write and who in the class are writers? We also talked about what a sentence is--it is a group of words that NAMES and TELLS us about something or someone. Students added more details to existing writing pieces or began writing and drawing on a new topic of their choice. Some students have begun to use "inventive" or phonetic spelling. They are writing down what they hear. It may be the beginning sound or beginning and ending sound. It is what they are hearing that is important. Let them spell what they hear. During our writers conference time, students may read back to me what they wrote, ask me to help them write, show me their labeling of certain pictures or simply tell me about their drawing and I will record their responses.
Technology: We continue to work on foundational apps that are projected onto the screen for student interaction. We use the app Sound Sort focusing on beginning sounds. The app Fire Finger was used to set our numbers and uppercase letters on "fire." (recognition) Of course, Subitize Tree continues to aid in visual counting and finding number patterns. The app Weatherunderground, is used to familiarize students with current weather conditions in our area, temperature, precipitation and weather predictions.
Literature: "Chrysanthemum," "David Goes to School," "What Would the Fat Cat Sit On?" "If You Take a Mouse To School," "Mouse Loves School," "I Measure Myself," (poem) "The Mixed Up Alphabet."
**Thanks for seeing that your child's HOMEWORK FOLDER is in their backpack each THURSDAY. Students are learning to take out their homework and put it in the homework box. It was great sharing the "Getting to know me Heads." They are now up in our classroom. Games and paper stories can remain home in a secure place for future review. A reminder to please check HOMEWORK FOLDERS every FRIDAY for homework and other school information. You can also check the assignments page on my website for activities and due dates.
**It was fun to see some of you at the Irving Back to School Party. There was no movie due to the weather, but plenty of pizza!
**COME ONE , COME ALL to Irving School's OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd from 6:30-7:30 pm. I will be speaking to parents at 6:30 for about 30 minutes on our class routine, classroom management, special area classes, assessments in Kindergarten, Route to Reading specific skills groupings and all curriculum. You can drop your child off for a supervised special feature before you come to see me. I will also have handouts with other information on our year. There will also be SIGN UP SHEETS for PARENT CONFERENCES and other COOL EVENTS. Please pick up your child after my presentation and they will become your TOUR GUIDES as they bring you to meet the teachers who will be working with them. I will give you a list with teachers name, subject and room number as an assist. Hope to see everyone!
**I am continuing to finish KRT testing and also baseline assessments (DIBELS and AIMSWEB MATH and PHONIC SCREENERS, as well as baseline letter and number recognition in order to best plan for your child's academic trimester.
**The students had their first FRIENDSHIP CLUB meeting with Dr. Bell Bey, our social worker. She will be working with our class on a variety of lessons centering around fostering positive peer relationships and activities that support our Second Step Lessons. Stories, games, videos, role playing, acting and puppets are just a few ways she will approach a lesson. This week, Dr. Bell Bey gave an overview about being ready to learn and school manners.
**The students had their first LIBRARY meeting with Ms. Noonan, teacher librarian. Next week, the students will be able to check out a book and take it home for 7 days until the next library time. They return the book and can take out a new one. Ms. Noonan will be reading many types of fiction and nonfiction stories, helping with projects and showing the students how the library is organized, how to find certain books and assisting in supporting our Common Core Curriculum.
**We will have our first meeting with GTD Mr. Packer and his THINKING SKILLS sessions next week. He will be be working with whole and small class groupings.
**In the next few weeks, everything should be ready to our intro to iPad Boot Camp for our Kinders. I will keep you posted.
**Don't forget--Gym shoes on Gym days!
This Week:
It was all about the student's continued effort to feel comfortable with our daily routines and meet all of their teachers for the year. It was about ABC'S everywhere! Why do we need them? What do they look like? How do they sound? What does our mouth look like when we say them? Many sounds? One sound? Uppercase? Lowercase? What happens when we put letters together? Station Day activities included creating a paper doll of themselves, creating a hand print, building with cubes and counting how many, building their number board and experimenting with the math games taught this week.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue to work on their prep for our Treasures Reading series using Smart Start. The students focused on letter recognition and sound foundation. They are learning about imprinting sound and how our mouth looks when we make that sound. What happens when a sound is produced? Is your mouth opened or closed? Can you feel a vibration in your throat? Can you feel air coming out of your mouth? Let's think about it! The students are working with me to create word webs on suggested topics--What do we do in Kindergarten? What do hands do? How do we look? These exercises generate conversation and participation that stimulate vocabulary. Students continue to listen for rhyming patterns in words. They are learning to chant the ending. Our mantra or chant is for example--cat, bat they end in at.
Students have begun work on sight word recognition. Words presented this week were YES, NO, I, GO, AM, CAN. We played "Hands Up, Hands Down" using our word cards. The students are working on tracking words from left to right in our days of the week reads. They are also counting the number of words in each sentence.
In our formative text study, using the story "Chrysanthemum," the students continue finding the title, front/back cover and spine of the book. Once again, we discussed the job of the author and illustrator. This week, we talked about who is in the story (characters) and where the story happens (setting.) We used the term event to describe something that happens in the story. The students began work on a group Blueprint Workmat identifying the characters, setting and important events they remembered from the story. Prior to this, some students volunteered to act out their favorite part. I projected the mat on our board and students helped me by drawing pictures or helping me with writing. The students will eventually complete their own individual Blueprint Workmat on selected stories. Pretty cool!
The students continued work on foundational skills using the Haggerty Blue Book. Whole group instruction, aided by our reading puppet, Mr. Happy, centered on upper and lowercase recognition, counting words in a sentence, isolating the beginning and ending sounds and counting word parts and beginning work on syllables. Small group workstations included letter hunt, rhyming board game, sequencing ABC's, beginning sound sequence and "Hands Up, Hands Down" using their sight words.
Math: The students are working in their daily Calendar Book. They are writing the number for the date and year, creating a pattern, forming their numbers using rhymes, learning about tally marks and ten frames and recording the weather. Small group workstations included "Listen and Count" count and object match activity, egg carton math, "Got It," "Spin a Number," using their number rhymes to write numbers 0-4 and basic shape recognition. Our Problem of the Day this week centered on positional words. Concepts above, below, next and under were included. Next week begins lessons in our new Eureka Math curriculum. A Parent Tip sheet is in your child's homework folder.
Social Studies/Emotional Growth: Our Second Step Lesson focused on how our Listening Rules help everyone learn. The puppet, Puppy, was super helpful!
Writing: The students are working on strengthening their hands and fingers by using clay. Kneading, squishing and rolling are great ways to get our fingers and hands moving. We continue to work on our tripod grasp when holding markers, crayons and pencils. Students are also using the giant tweezers (great tripod grasp tool) to "feed" the dog and to place colored beads into their matching cups. Next week we will spend some time trying some grasp strengthening activities from from a special finger training activity box. In Writer's Workshop this week, we continued our chat about writers writing what they know about. We discussed and recorded what writers can do, where writers can write and who in the class are writers? We also talked about what a sentence is--it is a group of words that NAMES and TELLS us about something or someone. Students added more details to existing writing pieces or began writing and drawing on a new topic of their choice. Some students have begun to use "inventive" or phonetic spelling. They are writing down what they hear. It may be the beginning sound or beginning and ending sound. It is what they are hearing that is important. Let them spell what they hear. During our writers conference time, students may read back to me what they wrote, ask me to help them write, show me their labeling of certain pictures or simply tell me about their drawing and I will record their responses.
Technology: We continue to work on foundational apps that are projected onto the screen for student interaction. We use the app Sound Sort focusing on beginning sounds. The app Fire Finger was used to set our numbers and uppercase letters on "fire." (recognition) Of course, Subitize Tree continues to aid in visual counting and finding number patterns. The app Weatherunderground, is used to familiarize students with current weather conditions in our area, temperature, precipitation and weather predictions.
Literature: "Chrysanthemum," "David Goes to School," "What Would the Fat Cat Sit On?" "If You Take a Mouse To School," "Mouse Loves School," "I Measure Myself," (poem) "The Mixed Up Alphabet."
Friday, September 2, 2016
UPDATES for 8/29-9/2 2016
**We are off to a great start! I am so glad all of you are part of our Irving School Family! I was so happy to meet all of you and your extended family and caregivers. We are going to have a great year.!
**We were a bit hot and sweaty at the beginning of the week. It was so enjoyable to see the humidity go down at the end of the week. Please continue to send a water bottle with your child.
**I will be giving the Kindergarten Readiness Test (KRT) to those students who did not take it during the summer per a directive from District 97. I will begin doing this next week. Any concerns about taking this test should be address in writing to Mr. Hodge. The test is about 20 minutes long.
**A HUGE SHOUT OUT to Ms. Flannery, Ms. Ahring, Ms. Raphael and Zoey's Grandma for helping us with lunch. Things are going well. The students are learning about the lunch routine and recycling milk cartons and paper trays. Please continue to reinforce--HOME LUNCH? SCHOOL LUNCH?--MILK?--WHAT KIND? Just to check with all grown ups---if you child is ordering MILK with a HOME LUNCH....please email me to confirm. Many students are asking for milk with their home lunches. I would like to get a accurate account so you are not charged in error.
**Your child's RED HOMEWORK FOLDER is in their backpack. It has homework and information items for parents to read. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SIGNED THE ACCEPTABLE TECHNOLOGY USAGE FORM. Our iPads are now in our building and I would like to begin iPad Bootcamp soon. Please check their RED HOMEWORK FOLDER EVERY FRIDAY. If there is an assignment that needs to be sent back, that will be due the following Thursday. Games and stories can remain home. Read the info under "click here for assignments" under my name and title for other learning suggestions.
**Please remember to wear or send gym shoes and socks every day. They are especially needed on gym days.
**Information on being an Irving Volunteer, PTO, Eagle Extra On Line Registration, Menu, New Parent Dinner, Peanut Allergy Letter, Back to School Party/Movie Night and Barrie Fest both at Barrie Park are in your child's red homework folder.
**All special area classes have begun. Friendship Club (character development) with Social Worker, Dr. Bell Bey and Thinking Skills with GTD, Mr. Packer will begin next week.
**As soon as I set up student passwords, students will begin working on Lexia Core 5 in our computer lab. This program is a great companion piece to our Language Arts and Literacy Program. Students are able to work on phonemic awareness, phonics and comprehension skills at their own pace. The skills begin at Kindergarten thru Grade 3.
**Our Room Parents for 2016-2017 are Michelle Ahring, Jessica Flannery, Sarah Pierson, Susan Raphael, Knikia Dantzler and Tahji Dixon. Thanks!
**OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT is Thursday, September 22nd from 6:30-8:00 pm. More information is forthcoming.
**In the future--if your child is traveling where they are staying overnight--let me know and I will send a "Travel Journal." We are going to be tracking places where we have been and sharing our travel stories. It can be grandma's house, another town, another state or country. Great geography!
**NO SCHOOL--Monday, September 5th in observance of Labor Day.
This week:
It was all about routines, expectations and meeting new friends and teachers. Yes.......I talked a lot! The students met with all of their special area teachers--Ms. Hiolski-Music, Senortia Zaragoza-Spanish, Ms. Noonan-Library, Mr. Hancock-PE, Ms. Tague-Art. The students are getting to know each other and are fostering new friendships. The students have learned how to earn EAGLE SLIPS as part of our school wide behavior program. Our Daily Mantra is--Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe Everywhere and Have Fun! Students are beginning to earn Eagle Slips. Each Friday, Mr. Hodge picks 10 winners to choose a little token. We had a winner picked from our room!! Congratulations to Jeanette!! What a great start.
Reading/Language Arts: In our first week of school, the students began a 3 week prep in our Treasures Reading series call Smart Start. Our Common Core Standards in Literacy are being taught thru selected texts. I will be speaking about this at Open House/Curriculum Night. The students are using their language skills to respond to a daily warm up question. We are working on raising our hands to volunteer information. Students worked on their listening comprehension skills and making predictions and connections by listening and responding to the Big Book Story, "Animals in the Park-ABC Book." The students also began work on recognizing rhyming sequences. Rhyming words have the same ending parts. Students began to generate words and rhyming patterns. They learned the rhyming chant--bat, cat, they end with at. Students are also working on upper and lowercase letter recognition. They learned how to play the "Hands Up, Hands Down." It is one of their homework assignments. Students also worked on "tracking" words in a sentence from left to right and counting how many words were in a given sentence. In our formative text, "Chrysanthemum," the students worked on finding the title (name), the front and back cover and the spine of the book.
We discussed what an author does and the job of an illustrator. The students worked on foundational skills using the Haggerty Blue Book. Whole group instruction centered around recognizing upper and lowercase letters, counting words in a sentence, isolating the beginning and ending sound of a word, examining what our mouth looks like and what other things happen (puffs of air, vibrations) when we make the sounds of consonants and vowels. Workstation (small group) activities centered around sequencing ABC's, finding a rhyme, writing our name, partner letter sound match and playing Hands Up, Hands Down.
Math: The students were introduced to our daily calendar activities. What is a ten frame? What is a rekenrek? The students began placing a black dot on the ten frame for each day that we are in school. When we get to 100----PARTY!!! The students graphed and counted how many girls and boys are in our class. They also created a "Who's name has the most letters?" graph. The students worked on number recognition and counting objects to 5 and 10. They worked with their towers of ten, choosing a number card and building their tower with that many cubes. Whole group instruction centered around number recognition and counting activities. Small group activities included "egg carton" math--placing the correct number of beans in each section, sorting by 2 attributes, recognizing simple plane shapes and pattern block shapes and writing numbers 0-5. The students also explored pattern blocks, geo boards, simple plane shapes, gears, waffle blocks and magnetiles.
Social Studies/Cross Curricular: Our theme is All About Me and My Family. The students drew self portraits and related a little fact about something we should know about them. They chatted about things that are important to them. The students discussed the importance of their families and drew a picture of their families. (so precious!!) We will begin our Second Step Emotional Health Curriculum next Tuesday.
Writing: The students began Writer's Workshop. They worked off the idea that we are all writers. The students chatted about what writing is and I showed them examples of books and what the writers wrote in them. Writing is putting your ideas on paper with words and pictures. You can write what you know about, or dream about. We can begin with a drawing. The students talked with their partner about what they could write or teach them about. We had lots of great ideas---family, animals, pets, the ocean, going to school. The students also worked on how they hold a pencil or marker---using their tripod grip. Some students shared their drawing and writing with classmates. During my writing conference time, individual students were able to tell me about their drawing and I recorded what they told me. Some students labels certain parts with beginning letters. Some tried their hand at writing some words. It was very exciting!
Technology: We have been working together on a few foundational skills apps that have been projected onto the screen for student interaction. The app Number Rack uses the rekenrek beads and we played a how many game. The app Subitize Tree focused on the idea of visual counting and looking at number patterns. The app Animal Math worked on counting quantities, sequencing numbers, what number comes before or after, which number is greater. I try to find apps that are free or low cost.
Literature: "Kindergarten Rocks," "Red," "What does It Mean To Be Kind?" "Kindergarten is Cool," "When Dinosaurs Go To School," "Kindergarten Rules," "Hands are Not For Hitting," "It's All About You--Writing your own Journal," "Freight Train," "Chrysanthemum."
**We were a bit hot and sweaty at the beginning of the week. It was so enjoyable to see the humidity go down at the end of the week. Please continue to send a water bottle with your child.
**I will be giving the Kindergarten Readiness Test (KRT) to those students who did not take it during the summer per a directive from District 97. I will begin doing this next week. Any concerns about taking this test should be address in writing to Mr. Hodge. The test is about 20 minutes long.
**A HUGE SHOUT OUT to Ms. Flannery, Ms. Ahring, Ms. Raphael and Zoey's Grandma for helping us with lunch. Things are going well. The students are learning about the lunch routine and recycling milk cartons and paper trays. Please continue to reinforce--HOME LUNCH? SCHOOL LUNCH?--MILK?--WHAT KIND? Just to check with all grown ups---if you child is ordering MILK with a HOME LUNCH....please email me to confirm. Many students are asking for milk with their home lunches. I would like to get a accurate account so you are not charged in error.
**Your child's RED HOMEWORK FOLDER is in their backpack. It has homework and information items for parents to read. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SIGNED THE ACCEPTABLE TECHNOLOGY USAGE FORM. Our iPads are now in our building and I would like to begin iPad Bootcamp soon. Please check their RED HOMEWORK FOLDER EVERY FRIDAY. If there is an assignment that needs to be sent back, that will be due the following Thursday. Games and stories can remain home. Read the info under "click here for assignments" under my name and title for other learning suggestions.
**Please remember to wear or send gym shoes and socks every day. They are especially needed on gym days.
**Information on being an Irving Volunteer, PTO, Eagle Extra On Line Registration, Menu, New Parent Dinner, Peanut Allergy Letter, Back to School Party/Movie Night and Barrie Fest both at Barrie Park are in your child's red homework folder.
**All special area classes have begun. Friendship Club (character development) with Social Worker, Dr. Bell Bey and Thinking Skills with GTD, Mr. Packer will begin next week.
**As soon as I set up student passwords, students will begin working on Lexia Core 5 in our computer lab. This program is a great companion piece to our Language Arts and Literacy Program. Students are able to work on phonemic awareness, phonics and comprehension skills at their own pace. The skills begin at Kindergarten thru Grade 3.
**Our Room Parents for 2016-2017 are Michelle Ahring, Jessica Flannery, Sarah Pierson, Susan Raphael, Knikia Dantzler and Tahji Dixon. Thanks!
**OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT is Thursday, September 22nd from 6:30-8:00 pm. More information is forthcoming.
**In the future--if your child is traveling where they are staying overnight--let me know and I will send a "Travel Journal." We are going to be tracking places where we have been and sharing our travel stories. It can be grandma's house, another town, another state or country. Great geography!
**NO SCHOOL--Monday, September 5th in observance of Labor Day.
This week:
It was all about routines, expectations and meeting new friends and teachers. Yes.......I talked a lot! The students met with all of their special area teachers--Ms. Hiolski-Music, Senortia Zaragoza-Spanish, Ms. Noonan-Library, Mr. Hancock-PE, Ms. Tague-Art. The students are getting to know each other and are fostering new friendships. The students have learned how to earn EAGLE SLIPS as part of our school wide behavior program. Our Daily Mantra is--Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe Everywhere and Have Fun! Students are beginning to earn Eagle Slips. Each Friday, Mr. Hodge picks 10 winners to choose a little token. We had a winner picked from our room!! Congratulations to Jeanette!! What a great start.
Reading/Language Arts: In our first week of school, the students began a 3 week prep in our Treasures Reading series call Smart Start. Our Common Core Standards in Literacy are being taught thru selected texts. I will be speaking about this at Open House/Curriculum Night. The students are using their language skills to respond to a daily warm up question. We are working on raising our hands to volunteer information. Students worked on their listening comprehension skills and making predictions and connections by listening and responding to the Big Book Story, "Animals in the Park-ABC Book." The students also began work on recognizing rhyming sequences. Rhyming words have the same ending parts. Students began to generate words and rhyming patterns. They learned the rhyming chant--bat, cat, they end with at. Students are also working on upper and lowercase letter recognition. They learned how to play the "Hands Up, Hands Down." It is one of their homework assignments. Students also worked on "tracking" words in a sentence from left to right and counting how many words were in a given sentence. In our formative text, "Chrysanthemum," the students worked on finding the title (name), the front and back cover and the spine of the book.
We discussed what an author does and the job of an illustrator. The students worked on foundational skills using the Haggerty Blue Book. Whole group instruction centered around recognizing upper and lowercase letters, counting words in a sentence, isolating the beginning and ending sound of a word, examining what our mouth looks like and what other things happen (puffs of air, vibrations) when we make the sounds of consonants and vowels. Workstation (small group) activities centered around sequencing ABC's, finding a rhyme, writing our name, partner letter sound match and playing Hands Up, Hands Down.
Math: The students were introduced to our daily calendar activities. What is a ten frame? What is a rekenrek? The students began placing a black dot on the ten frame for each day that we are in school. When we get to 100----PARTY!!! The students graphed and counted how many girls and boys are in our class. They also created a "Who's name has the most letters?" graph. The students worked on number recognition and counting objects to 5 and 10. They worked with their towers of ten, choosing a number card and building their tower with that many cubes. Whole group instruction centered around number recognition and counting activities. Small group activities included "egg carton" math--placing the correct number of beans in each section, sorting by 2 attributes, recognizing simple plane shapes and pattern block shapes and writing numbers 0-5. The students also explored pattern blocks, geo boards, simple plane shapes, gears, waffle blocks and magnetiles.
Social Studies/Cross Curricular: Our theme is All About Me and My Family. The students drew self portraits and related a little fact about something we should know about them. They chatted about things that are important to them. The students discussed the importance of their families and drew a picture of their families. (so precious!!) We will begin our Second Step Emotional Health Curriculum next Tuesday.
Writing: The students began Writer's Workshop. They worked off the idea that we are all writers. The students chatted about what writing is and I showed them examples of books and what the writers wrote in them. Writing is putting your ideas on paper with words and pictures. You can write what you know about, or dream about. We can begin with a drawing. The students talked with their partner about what they could write or teach them about. We had lots of great ideas---family, animals, pets, the ocean, going to school. The students also worked on how they hold a pencil or marker---using their tripod grip. Some students shared their drawing and writing with classmates. During my writing conference time, individual students were able to tell me about their drawing and I recorded what they told me. Some students labels certain parts with beginning letters. Some tried their hand at writing some words. It was very exciting!
Technology: We have been working together on a few foundational skills apps that have been projected onto the screen for student interaction. The app Number Rack uses the rekenrek beads and we played a how many game. The app Subitize Tree focused on the idea of visual counting and looking at number patterns. The app Animal Math worked on counting quantities, sequencing numbers, what number comes before or after, which number is greater. I try to find apps that are free or low cost.
Literature: "Kindergarten Rocks," "Red," "What does It Mean To Be Kind?" "Kindergarten is Cool," "When Dinosaurs Go To School," "Kindergarten Rules," "Hands are Not For Hitting," "It's All About You--Writing your own Journal," "Freight Train," "Chrysanthemum."
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