Dear Families,
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend Curriculum Night on Thursday! It was so wonderful to see you all and be able to discuss more fully your children’s days. Thank you.
We have started our letter of the week work! Every week 2 new letters, named Alphafriends, is introduced. Each letter has a song, and the students are able to sing it every day and complete some phonemic awareness activities that accompany the specific letter. This week, the boys and girls of Room #7 met Sammy Seal and Mimi Mouse! The students loved singing their songs and are on the look-out for “s” and “m” words around the room, in books we read, and in our work. They are thrilled to recognize the letter and are so proud of themselves! Check out the Alphafriend tab on our Website to learn more!
Well, parents, this week Room #7 accomplished their very first day of Read to Self! As a class, we made a list of everything readers should do during this time. Kiddos had a lot of great ideas: stay in one spot and read the whole time, read quietly, take care of the books, and focus! I introduced a new word that helps encapsulate the cherubs’ work in this area – STAMINA! We discussed how over time, they will build up their stamina in reading to themselves! Everyone did a great job reading their books in the three different ways – read the words, read the pictures, and retell the story. We started with 2 minutes and they are all excited to go for even longer!
Last week, Room #7 had its very first Writing lesson! The class and I discussed how writing begins with pictures! After reading a wonderful book, Ralph Tells a Story, by Abby Hanlon, we chatted about how stories are everywhere! With the help of his classmates, Ralph realizes that a great story can be about something very little . . . and that maybe he really does have some stories to tell. We started brainstorming all the different stories the kiddos can tell; the only caveat is that they are true and must have happened to them. Soon after, they got to work! Wow! I was impressed with the variety of stories and the determination the writers in our room exhibited. I am excited to read more!
As a Kindergartener, it is important to learn how to problem solve across many areas, including writing! In Room #7, the Kindergarten writers are learning that when writers have problems and don’t know what to do, they say, “I can solve this myself.” Then, writers come up with solutions to those problems and carry on, writing, writing, writing! That way, the writers don’t waste their precious time! Ask your child if he/she is the boss of his/her own writing!
Additionally, the cherubs have also been looking at the specific shapes of the letters of the alphabet and connecting a name and sound to each. Together, we’ve been exploring the letters in each child’s name, noting how the letters are always in the same order for that name. Observing the alphabet charts and manipulating letters in each other’s names are helping to cement this concept!
Math:
- Play Dough Ten Frames – We work a lot with 10 frames in Kindergarten! They are an excellent way for the students to gain number sense as they continually practice identifying what a 5, 7, 9 looks like on a 10 frame. At this center, students used Play Dough balls to represent the number on each ten frame. Superb fine motor practice, too!
- Grow and Shrink– In a small group, a teacher asked the students to show a certain number on a work board. Next, the teacher told the students to either add (grow) or subtract (shrink) to a new number. The students then discussed how many they had to add or take away to obtain that number, and they pointed out the different configurations that made the same number.
- Roll a Tower – At this independent station, a cherub rolled a die, built a tower with enough cubes to match the number rolled, and then placed the tower on the game board in the corresponding column. The child kept rolling the die and building towers until an entire column was filled and a number had “won”! The boys and girls got so excited to see which number ended up winning!
- Great Dice Race – This independent activity required students to roll dice and trace the number their dice had landed on. The students continued rolling and tracing until a particular number won!
- 1-10 Number Puzzles – The kiddos concentrated on putting together a variety of puzzles. On the bottom of each puzzle were the numbers 1-10. This station had the students working both to recognize those numerals and put them in consecutive order! The pictures also helped them to check their sequencing!
- Creation Station - At this oldie but goodie, cherubs concentrated on reproducing various items (table, dog, robot, giraffe) using Unifex cubes! This week, they counted how many cubes in each and asked themselves: which has less? More? How many?
Have a fabulous fall weekend!