Room #7 Kindergarteners are busy as always! Read on for some snippets of our week!
We have started our letter of the week work! Every week a new letter, named an Alphafriend, 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! The students loved singing his song and are on the look-out for “s” 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! Each week, the class will learn a new Alphafriend – check out the Alphafriend tab on this Website to learn more!
In addition, the students have worked hard at making our second class book! It is a BINGO type book that has everyone’s name spelled out with stamps, an activity completed in our Writing Center during Choice Time. Once everyone has finished, we will be able to read it together and sing the modified song! What fun!
The students of Room #7 have been concentrating on their All About Me books. They love writing and drawing about different aspects of their lives. Everyone is diligently thinking about his or her pictures and adding new details! The boys and girls are also remembering to use realistic colors and more than 5 colors! They are very excited to show their families all of their beautiful work.
On Friday, we read the story, How Full is Your Bucket? It is a wonderful narrative about a little boy named Felix. This charming book explains to children how being kind not only helps others but also helps themselves. As he goes about his day, Felix interacts with different people. Using the metaphor of a bucket and dipper, Felix’s grandfather explains why positive interactions with others make Felix feel good while negative dealings leave him feeling bad. The grandfather also shows Felix how he himself is affecting others, whether he means to or not. This beautifully illustrated story contains a powerful message: that the way we relate to others has a profound impact on every aspect of our lives. The students of Room #7 discussed this concept and thought of ideas on how to fill each other’s bucket. It was quite touching to hear all the ideas the students had to help one another be safe and happy. To bolster this discussion, we now have a class bucket. Throughout the year, as people fill each other’s bucket, we will add pompoms to it! We already have quite a few! Room #7 is full of Bucket Fillers!
On Thursday and Friday, the cherubs and I discovered that there are three different ways to read a book! We can read the words, read the pictures, and retell the story! All three ways are excellent choices when reading books both in and out of the classroom! As the weeks continue, everyone will practice these skills independently!
This week, Room #7 was lucky to obtain two class pets: Monarch caterpillars! The class has been reading several books regarding this beautiful insect and is anticipating what the butterflies will look like in two weeks! As a literacy connection, Room #7 finished yet another book on caterpillars! In the book, Eric Carle’s very hungry caterpillar visits Hastings and eats through all of Room #7’s food! All the students cut out a piece of food they like from a magazine, and then they noted what the caterpillar hungrily munched!
We are continuing to focus on our counting skills and one-to-one correspondence in Math. The boys and girls worked on the following stations this week:
· Cover the Dots - Given mats with different amounts of black dots on them, students practiced their 1:1 correspondence and counting skills by covering these dots with double-sided counters. This is a skill the Kindergartners will continue to hone for weeks to come!
· Brown Bear Roll and Count – Each Brown Bear animal was labeled with a number, a replication of one side of a die. When the cherubs rolled that number, a marker was placed on that specific animal. The students continued to roll the die until an animal “won”. This activity was a class favorite!
· Foam Ten Frames – Using our foam ten frames, the cherubs were able to manipulate the pegs to represent a given number. To begin, we chatted about how each ten frame has five spaces on the top and five spaces on the bottom, with a total of 10 spaces. The kiddos and I also discussed how you always start by filling up the top frame first and then move onto the bottom frame for higher numbers. Everyone loved manipulating the foam pegs to show the different numbers! This was definitely enjoyed by all!
· Creation Station - At this repeat station, cherubs concentrated on reproducing various items (table, dog, robot, giraffe) using Unifex cubes!
· Pattern Block Number Cards – While at this station, the students used pattern blocks to create numbers zero through twelve. Before building their number, they had to announce what it was!
· Counting Boards with Numerals - Using up to 10 counting bears and various storyboards (e.g., a picture of an ocean, a tree, a road, etc.), the students made up addition and subtraction stories. After they finished creating their story, each kiddo found the matching numeral card to show how many animals were on their board. Everyone was super focused on counting their animals and keeping track!
The class is doing an outstanding job with all of the Math stations. Moreover, we also talked about making sure to participate in new stations before returning to previous ones, and everybody is working on doing exactly what’s expected and following our important routines! Way to go Room #7!
This week, one of our teachers at Hastings, Mrs. Grubbs, came to Room #7 to talk about expected and unexpected behavior. She read the book, David Goes to School, and the boys and girls identified his behaviors as either expected or unexpected. The kiddos noticed that when, at the end of the book, David turned his behavior around, how happy and proud he was of himself. A great discussion ensued where the cherubs identified various other behaviors as expected or unexpected. Lastly, the students went back to their own seats and drew pictures of what they thought was expected and unexpected. Super and thoughtful work, Kindergartners!
Important Notes:
· School Picture Day: Wednesday, October 2nd.
Rain Date: Thursday, October 16th.
· P.E.: Please remember to send sneakers in with your child on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Have a fun-filled weekend!