Check out the Parent Volunteer tab on this Website to see some quick tips I added when volunteering in Room #7!
Day 100 is almost here! If we do not have any snow days, Wednesday, February 4th, is Hastings’ 100th day of school! The cherubs are beside themselves with excitement and anticipation! The next day, the 5th, will be our 100th Day Parade during All School Meeting! All three Kindergarten classes will march down the halls of Hastings wearing their vests they made at home as well as their 100 Noodle Necklaces and Crowns that we made at school. Around 9:00 we will all congregate in the gym to sing a song! Mark your calendars now and join us if you are able!
Math Stations this week:
· Comparing Numbers 1 – Last week, as a whole group, the class began comparing numbers and determining which was greater, less than, or equal to. We noticed that the greater than and less than signs look like alligators! Those alligators like to eat only the greater numbers. Using these words, instead of bigger or smaller, is very important at this age. In this manner, it helps to alleviate any literal confusion relating to each number’s size.
At this station, students practiced using the signs to compare various numbers. They whizzed through it!
· Up and Down the Ladder – At this small group game, the cherubs took turns rolling a pair of dice. The roll on each die determined the number of Room #7 kids to put on the bunk bed. For example, if a 5 and a 2 were rolled, the players took the pictures of seven kiddos and placed five of them on the top bunk and two of them on the bottom bunk. Next, Player Two picked an Up and Down the Ladder game card and everyone rearranged the seven children’s pictures on the bunk bed according to the card’s instructions. For example, if the card said “1 Up the Ladder,” the kids moved one kid picture from the bottom and placed it on the top. Using dry erase boards, each player recorded the corresponding number sentences! The kids really enjoyed rearranging their pictures on the bunk beds to play the game!
· Bump – A fan favorite! Working with a friend, each student took 10 cubes of the same color (e.g.: Player 1 = green, Player 2 = blue). Next, Player 1 rolled the two dice and added them together. That player then put a cube on the circle with the matching sum. The game continued in this manner; however, if someone achieved a sum that was already marked, that player could “bump” the cube off the game board. Players could also “freeze” a number by rolling the same sum twice. Once a cherub used all ten cubes, the game was over! So much fun!
· Stamp by 10 to 100! - In preparation for the 100th Day, students are counting by tens constantly! At this center, they used various stamps to stamp to 100 in groups of ten! For an extra challenge, they used tally marks to represent each group as well!
· Domino Addition – At this center, the boys and girls picked various dominos. They then recorded what their domino looked like and transferred those dots into a number sentence. This was great subitizing, counting on, and addition practice!
· iPads – addition – For this game, the students practiced their addition skills by adding two groups of ducks together!
· T- Shirt Game - This partner activity required students to put either six or eight buttons on the t-shirt. Next, the first partner closed his/her eyes, while the other student took away a certain number of buttons. Then, the first partner opened his/her eyes and had to determine how many buttons were in his/her partner’s hand! Students used a variety of methods to arrive at the correct answer! The students took turns closing their eyes and recording the answers. They had a great time with this activity and are eager to play again!
I am happy to announce that the kiddos in Room #7 are Mo Willems fanatics and experts. Everyone eagerly awaits a new book for me to read. Every day, they observe new aspects that this fantastic author includes in his books. From noticing the relationship between facial expressions and feelings, discovering the difference between speech and thought bubbles, spotting circle words, and of course, finding where Mo Willems “hides” loveable characters throughout his books (e.g. Pigeon!!), the children are spellbound and engaged.
We finished up our 3-page stories this week! The kiddos wrote one final story on Wednesday and integrated all the skills they have learned since the very beginning of the year:
· Telling a story across 3 pages – making sure to include a beginning, a middle, and an end
· Circle words
· Stretching out unknown words
· Spaces
· Punctuation
· Pictures that match their words
· Labels and “fancy” labels
· Uppercase letter at the beginning of the sentence
· Touch and read back their work
· Writing a complete thought
And the list goes on! It is quite incredible to see how much progress our Kindergartners have made in the past 5 months – it is something to be celebrated! Up next: opinion and persuasive writing!
As the cherubs become more aware of the sounds in words, they learn to separate and identify the last sound they hear. This ability is the foundation for connecting sounds and letters beyond the first letter, knowledge that will help the children begin to solve words and also monitor and keep track of their reading as they read a whole story. They’re learning that:
• You can hear the last sound in a word.
• You can say a word to hear the last sound.
The children are also recognizing words that rhyme (have ending parts that are alike), which is helping them make connections between words that have the same ending sounds. This enables them to understand sound/letter relationships and break words apart to solve them. As they develop sensitivity to the sounds of oral language, they are learning to connect sounds to letter patterns. To further this skill, Room #7 has been reading lots of rhyming stories where the cherubs identify the rhyming words. They love this game!
Here’s a fun game that will assist you in helping your child recognize rhyming words.
• Encourage your child to cut out magazine pictures that represent rhyming pairs of words – house and mouse, pan and man – and glue them on a sheet.
• Together, play “Let’s Go Shopping” using magazine and newspaper pictures of food and other objects. Take the cut-out pictures and spread them on the table face down. Your kiddo turns over a picture and says its name and thinks of a rhyming word to match it – meat and feet or fish and dish, for example. Your child can then ask you to say a rhyming word for each. Have a ton of fun!!!
During Superflex this week, the boys and girls used their Rock Brain/Superflex puppets to determine if the character in a scenario was invaded by this pesky Unthinkable OR if he/she was being Superflex! The cherubs enjoyed using their puppets to show their thoughts. When there was a disagreement, rich conversations ensued to figure out the correct response!
Enjoy your weekend!