4-Day Week!

Kindergarten Families,

Even though we were only in school for four days, we were still able to accomplish a lot! Below is a quick catch up of our week. 

Read Alouds

Fundations

-We continue to practice our letters and sounds for T, B, and F

-This week we introduced the letters-sounds for N & M

-We created a list of words beginning with the letter N and M

-We wrote sentences together about what we like or dislike. 

-In small groups we practiced our letter formation on the dry erase boards.

Envision

-During Math we discussed ordinal numbers. (First, Second, Third, etc.)

-We continue to compare groups of objects.

-Students put numbers 0-5 in order and learned of a growing pattern.

-Next week we will explore numbers 6 through 10.
-In computers we played a math game called Fuzz Buzz. The students sorted bugs and compared them. 

Centers

-The art center this week was to make a spider puppet we will use on Monday to perform one of Raffi's songs There's a Spider on the Floor. On Friday we created our own dot art pictures.

-We started to make and read our letter books. Ask your child to read their books to you when they bring them home.

-Poetry center this week was focused on Itsy Bitsy Spider. Reading our poetry journals have built confidence and fluency in our reading! Ask your child about some of their favorite poems thus far. 

-Next week we will introduce the listening center and personal narrative writing!

Additional Information

-This week's morning meeting greeting was the Spider Web Greeting. Students say good morning to one another while tossing a ball of yarn to create our own classroom spiderweb. 

-We went to the library on Tuesday and learned about the Book Fair.  Notices went home Wednesday. Our Book Fair Day will be Thursday during school.

-During snack we continue to practice socializing and asking each other questions to build connections and friendships with one another.

-Shake breaks, sing-a-longs, and choral readings are included throughout our day. We keep our bodies and minds moving! 

-During Free Choice time in the morning students can choose from different activities such as: Play-dough, coloring, fuse beads, reading, kitchen area, blocks, and much more!

-Thank you for helping your child with their extra practice sheets. I can tell a difference in the classroom when the students write their numbers and letters. We have started to keep a sticker/incentive chart in the back of the student's communication folders.  Please keep these charts in their folders. We will add a sticker for every practice packet that comes back to school.  After five stickers students can receive a prize.  Again, these sheets are completely OPTIONAL. 

Next Week

-We will finally talk about our plans for our Halloween Celebration!! Look out for notices to come home in student folders and posted on the blog.

-In Fundations we will learn the our first two vowel: I and U.

-Our regularly scheduled library time will be moved to Thursday for the book fair.

-We will finish syllables and move onto Onset and Rime activities to build prereading skills. 

-Next week's focus will be on pumpkins, including a pumpkin art center, pumpkin poems and songs, pumpkin read alouds, and even a Scholastic News featuring pumpkins.
-We'll introduce the listening center and learn how to use our i-pads!

Have a great weekend!!

Socializing, Singing, and Syllables!

To see more photos on the photos tab! 

We continue to strengthen our classroom community and friendships.  This week, we spent a lot of time on sharing and socializing with new friends! Every morning the students engage in morning meeting activities where they greet their classmates, share fun facts about themselves, read the morning message, and even play an activity! Students love when it is their day to be "First".  They are the line leader, the calendar helper, and first for any activities.  We alternate boy-girl through our class list and will continue the cycle once everyone has a turn.

Social Snacks!

One of the best times to talk with friends is during snack. Students worked on taking turns talking and listening.  We discussed our favorite foods, games, holidays, and much more! We are starting to make connections too! Ask your child to show you the hand signal to show you share a connection. 

FUNdations

Mama Echo shared with the class her story of how she finds dinner (a mouse)
She also helped us learn the letters and sounds for T, B, and F. 
Students practice the letters and sounds daily.

t-Top-/t/

b-bat-/b/

f-fun-/f/

We used the FUNdations writing grid and dry erase boards to practice writing our letters.  

**Look out for a practice packet being sent home Tuesday**

Students will have the week to practice forming their letters.  Directions are located under the home connection tab or on the last page of the packet. 

Thanks for your support at home!

  

Centers!

This week's centers focused on syllables, writing, poetry, phonics, and art!

Writing a response to the poem Autumn Fires

In Fundations we learned the letters T, F, and B. Here are some friends practicing the letter F.

Working on our guided writing activity. " I Can ________." 

Syllable sort! How many syllables are in your name?

Fewer, More, and Zero

Math this week was focused on comparing groups. Students could look at two groups of objects, compare them, and identify which one has more or fewer. We even extended our learning to tell how many more/fewer a group has. 

We also learned about the number zero, which is the same as none.  When we need to represent none, we use the number zero. 

Singing Songs!

Throughout the day we love to get our energy out through a shake break. We've incorporated music, singing, and actions into the mix, too! We learned Raffi's song, There's a spider on the floor.  Next week we will make a spider puppet to go along with the song! 
We love to act out  5 Little Pumpkins and we just learned the song Witches Brew.
We will practice these songs often for our Halloween parade on Friday, October 30th!
*More information about Halloween will be coming soon!* 


Syllables

All week we've focused our Phonemic Awareness towards Syllables and breaking words up into sounds. We are learning to clap the sounds with our hands OR put our hand underneath our chin and saying the word given.  Every time we clap or our chin's touch our hands we know that symbolizes 1 syllable.

Additional News:

- NO SCHOOL Monday- Christopher Columbus 

       -We watched a short video about Columbus on brainpopjr.com and colored a book.
      -We remember Columbus on Monday for finding a way from the "Old World" to the "New World"

-School pictures were taken on Friday. Everyone looked SO nice for picture day! 

-We painted Fall trees and sent home our apple trees.

-Friday we started our Narrative Writing Unit. Each student was paired up with a "Thinking Partner" to share their ideas and wrote a sentence to go along with a picture in a wordless book. I will read the book with the class to share their writing.

-In Computers, we worked on a counting activity.  The website ABCYA.com is a great resource for Math and ELA games. 

Upcoming:

-Next week we will move onto N and M for Fundations.

-We will finish up Fewer, More, and equal next week. 

-Scholastic Book Club Orders are due soon. If you haven't already submitted your order please do so. I will be completing the order in the next couple of days. 

-Thank you to those who have already pitched in their money for our class's Raffle Basket.  A special thanks to Jessica Pupa for organizing!

Happy Fall!

Fall is officially among us! 

This week's focus: Rhyme and Repetition.

Below read alouds, such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, are predictable texts which helps students retell stories.

Read Alouds: 

   

 

Fundations:(Phonics) 

On Wednesday, we began our phonics program to help learn letters and sounds. The students met "Mama Echo" and "Baby Echo", Fundations' owl mascots. We learn about the Sky line, Plane line, Grass line, and worm line on our writing grids. The students explored white boards and dry erase markers. We even practiced how to sit correctly in a chair for writing and how to hold a pencil.  The pencil grip is very important! The students know to pinch the pencil or marker between their thumb and pointer finger and rest the pencil on the other three fingers, like a table.  

Next week we will talk about the letters T, B, and F. You should receive more information as we progress through the program. 

 

ELA: 

After Fundations, students work on various literacy based centers. These centers are comprised of poetry, phonemic awareness, phonics, writing, and even art! In the beginning of the year, students were assigned a table and rotated as a whole class to each center.  However, this week the students learned how to move from center to center on their own based on their "work board" assignments.  

Our Work Board displays 4 students groups with 4 students in each group.  Each group follows a predetermined center path. For example the "red group" follows the path Poetry, Art, writing, and Phonics. While the "Blue group" follows the path: Writing, Phonics, Art, and Poetry.  This helps students move from table to table without over crowding one center. I will try to post a picture of our work board for you to have a visual.

Our centers this week included:

Brown Bear Dot Glue

Rhyming Worksheets

Name Writing Practice

Guided Writing Journal-I am special because and I am ___ Years old.

Poetry: Colors Poem, Responding to a poem activity

Rainbow Name Writing, Hidden Name Writing

Rhyme 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Retelling Puppets
Tissue Paper Fall Leaves

Math: 

Your child is learning to compare numbers from 0 to 5. During this unit, he/she will learn to compare sets of objects to identify if one group has more, fewer, or the same amount as the other group. We will also explore how to order numbers from 0 through 5.

This week we compared groups by matching each object from one group with an object from a second group, then deciding which group has more, fewer, or if the groups have the same number. 

Thanks for all of your support with the number formation homework. The assignment has helped with students'  number writing and will help support them in their future math assignments.

Additional News:

-We Practiced our Fire Drill and learned about Fire Safety

-Our library day was rescheduled for Thursday this week, Mr. Murphy was out on Monday. We will continue our regularly scheduled Library day next week. 

-Our Class Book 16 Apples up on Top is being sent home to one child a night. Please keep an eye out for this book in your child's backpack. We ask that you read the book with your child and then return the book the following day to be shared with another student/family! It may take a while for us to get through everyone so we appreciate your patience. 

-We visited the computer lab on Friday! The students met Mr. Donoff, the computer teacher and learned about the parts of a computer.

-We continue to follow classroom rules and routines to earn prizes. Soon we will incorporate a classroom goal to earn a whole class reward.

-October Scholastic Book Orders were sent home. Please consider purchasing books for your child. Your purchases help earn free books for our classroom! Orders can be done online and are due on October 23rd.

-During our morning "Free choice" activities, students are working on fine motor activities, coloring, math skills, and unfinished work. 

-This week students sat with a "Snack Buddy" during snack.  They are working on their speaking and listening skills (asking questions, looking at the person when they are talking, taking turns,etc.).

-Rain=Indoor Recess. Although being inside all day is not ideal...Room 5 has a block and kitchen area for dramatic play. Students even made fuse beads, puzzles, and other fun games. 

-We used Glow Sticks to practice "sky writing"! The kids loved turning off the lights and becoming Sky Writers (Superheroes who write their letters) to practice writing the Letter T.

-On Thursday, Mrs. Johnson came to our pod to read us a story and talk about being a community. 

Shake Breaks!!

Next Week:

-School Pictures are scheduled for Friday, October 9th. Picture Forms went home Monday in folders. Please let us know if you did not get a form. 

-Fun Fall activities, including Halloween, will be our theme for October.

-Our next Phonemic Awareness skill will focus on Syllables.

-Library will be on Monday and Computers on Friday afternoon.

-In math, we will continue to compare groups of objects and talk about order of numbers. 

Have a Great Weekend!