Thursday, October 22

We have been focusing a lot on beginning, middle, and end. These are not only positions that we cover in our math curriculum, but they are important terms in sequencing information as part of reading comprehension. After every story, we discuss the sequence of events in the story. This is also a component of summarizing and retelling - all ways to improve comprehension or understanding of the text. Another way we use these concepts is in phonics. We are using word building cards as part of our word work. These cards help us find and hear the beginning, middle, and end sounds in the words we work with. Our word building cards have 3 boxes in a row. We say and listen to words, and put one "chip" or marker in each box as we hear the sound. Example: the word c-a-n; we put one chip in for /c/, one chip in for /a/, and one chip in for /n/. Then we point to each chip as we say the word again. It's a way to help us hear each individual sound in the word. You'll notice that some of the worksheets coming home have word building boxes on them, and students are writing in the beginning letter or ending letter in the boxes. This is a great visual for learning.
Wednesday morning we had a GIANT morning meeting in the gym with all the students and teachers in our school. We had lots of fun greeting each other with a fun hand shake game and sang a big song together. Mrs. Olson led our meeting and she helped students share some of the good work going on in our school. Our AM Kindergarten class sat, listened, and participated very well! The afternoon group played a new game in the gym with Mrs. Karg - octupus tag. Students were really catching on to the tricks of the game towards the end. They were cautious not to get trapped in a sea full of octopus! These games help pump more oxygen to our brain and get us working together taking turns and following rules. Plus, they're fun!!!
The new table and meeting spots that we moved into last week are working out very well. I'm glad to hear good manners happening. Our friendships are growing stronger and everyone is happier at school when we talk and act kindly. Our new neighbors are getting along and helping each other. Awesome!

Tuesday, October 20

Curious George Kindergartners were very hard workers and good listeners today. For our first activity, we finished our leaf art activity from Monday. Monday, traced and cut out large leaf patterns. Then we painted the leaves with primary colors yellow and red. The yellow and red paint made the secondary color orange. Today, we used crayon to add more color to our leaves. We are experimenting with the color and textures we see in nature. We did lots of literacy work. We had Book Clubs with Mrs. Karg. Our books focused on repetitive text - sentences that followed a pattern - and the star words (sight words) "an" and "the". Some students were sounding out words from the /an/ family in their books as well. We read two wonderful stories - When Autumn Comes and Curious George Goes to the Fire Station. We did some shared reading about the sequences in stories. We used sets of three pictures to tell stories with a beginning, middle, and end. Students used this technique in their writing workshop. They used papers with a row of three squares to draw pictures, telling a story from beginning to end. One story written was about getting a new cup (first) that dropped (middle) and broke (end.) There were some stories about shopping for Halloween costumes, and seeing some scary masks and decorations. We discussed how writing about things that scare us can make us feel better. One student wrote about someone in their family who got sick and then died. Students' writing can help them express their feeling. Writing can give children a way to talk about things that are personal or important to them. It's amazing thing to be in our room when all the students are so actively engaged in what they are writing. There is student sharing time at the end of workshop each day; students are so eager to explain their work to the class. Right now, we are using writing workshop to learn story structure, use creativity, and generate ideas for writing. Soon, very soon, we'll start incorporating more of our letter and sound knowledge into our writing. (It's mostly pictures now.) We also had library with Mrs. George. Students brought home a printing paper today on which they wrote the words "an" and "Nan." You'll notice the stress on lower case letters. Students' letters are not usually placed correctly on the handwriting lines at this time, but that skill is being encouraged and praised. You'll see those letters fit inside those lines more accurately as the year goes on.

October 19, 2009

Yikes! It's been a long time since I updated our class happenings!! As of lately, we had a very short week last week and we were on the move. The morning class had a very educational visit from a Waverly Firefighter. The afternoon class walked to the fire station for the visit. We learned about the uniforms and tools that firefighters use. We also were able to explore the fire truck and see inside the compartments. Important fire safety skills we learned were to "Stop, Drop, and Roll" and to get out fast in a fire. The PM class practiced a fire drill at school this afternoon. We're learning more about fire safety this week.
Last Wednesday, we had a cold yet educational trip to the Carlson Orchard. We learned several things about apple trees are grown at the orchard. We saw how apples are washed, sorted, and bagged in the warehouse. We saw many foods made from apples and tasted apple cider. We were able to pick our own Honey Crisp, Honey Gold, or Cortland apple.
Today we tried more things with the /an/ word family. Not only are we recognizing the sound of /a/ and /n/ in the start, middle, and end of words, but we are combining them to hear and make words that rhyme with can. Hearing the /a/ in the middle of the word is a tricky step for some students. It was the last step after learning to hear the sound at the beginning and end of words. When I'm working with small groups, I'm noticing that many students are recognizing several more letters. Good work everyone! We also had book clubs today and students were reading sight words that they found!
We used the primary colors of red and yellow to make orange today. We traced, cut, and sponge painted beautiful fall leaf shapes today.

October 6, 2009

What a bummer that we couldn't go to the orchard today. We will have lots more fun on a better weather day. We have been doing lots of fun things with apples the past few days. Soon we will be putting all of our apple projects together in a folder to take home before MEA break. Last week we made applesauce. Our room smelled so good! We all helped to cut the many different colors of apples. We boiled them in water and they all turned yellow. We added white sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and they all turned brown. This simmered for 30 minutes and then we had applesauce with our snack. This homemade version was much chunkier than the kind students can buy at the store. It was a good thing to try, but not everyone liked the taste. The smell was yummy! We have read Apple Picking Time and 10 Red Apples together. This week we are meeting in book clubs to read the book The Apple. It's a story about a very silly goat and the things he does with an apple. We also added a new book to our book bags. It's called "a present" and all of the pages show parts of a birthday present. Each page begins with the word "a" and many students are able to read this on their own. We have been exploring the sound of Nn and how we put our tongue behind our teeth to make the sound, which comes through our nose a bit. Students are matching lots of pictures that start with Nn. On Thursday and Friday we will match pictures and words that end with Nn. We have read two poems using the letter Nn - one is about Nicholas Ned and his Turnip Head) and the other about Nan Can. We read a fun book called Show and Tell. Our next sharing topic is primary colors; students can bring in sharing items that are red, yellow, or blue. Students enjoy sharing and the question/answer sessions. We're going to limit it to 3 students a day now, since our discussions are getting long!!
We made some beautiful paintings in school. First we did watercoloring painting over our names written in crayon. Our recent project was painting our hands with primary colors of tempera paint and filling in the background space with secondary tempera paint. The hands look like they are popping off the paper with the bright contrast.
Wednesday is Picture Day! Thursday we have a presentation about our fall fundraiser - the family reading program. Friday we will meet our 2nd grade reading buddies! I'm looking forward to visiting with all of you at our fall goal setting conferences this week and next!

Wednesday, Sept. 30

Today we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with the CLIMB Theater. The actors pretended to be two characters named Macaroni and Cheese. Cheese was trying out for the circus and the ringmaster Macaroni had him try to pass tests in order to join. Our class had to help him walk the tightrope, ( we supported him) and move a piece of cheese across the room (teamwork.) Then we learned how to stay strong, think for ourselves, and say "no" when someone wants us to do something that is wrong. Macaroni wanted Cheese to steal candy bars to be in the circus. We said "No!" The presentation was very funny with lots of physical humor. Ask your child how Cheese bent over backwards and about the magic spell that moved Macaroni and Cheese out of the room!!!
We have done more practice with matching lower and upper case letters. We have been counting words and putting the letters in alphabetical order. Today we practiced writing our friends' names, too. We continue to practice reading the work "the." Yesterday Mrs. George read us a book about Franklin when we were at the library. We also played blob tag in the gym with Mrs. Karg. These kids are fast; they really make me run!! Thursday we will go to the computer lab for the first time to read and play a gingerbread game!

Monday, September 28

Brrr! We had lots of discussion today about the changing seasons! Today focuses on colors and color words at our morning meeting. We graphed our favorite colors and compared the numbers. Blue was the most favorite in the AM and pink was the most favorite in the PM. We did a fun color song/game. We also did an art activity when we created petals for our class color flowers. Students glued many items onto a large flower petal. We will use our petals to reinforce our knowledge of primary and secondary colors. We worked on matching lower case/ upper case letters and reading the word "the". We had phy ed with Mr. Westling. You'll have to ask the kindergarteners what they did with the velcro flags. We read Max's ABC Day. The story protrayed Max's day from breakfast, through school, home for supper, and being tucked into bed. Each page depicted one scene from his day and focused on an alphabet letter and something in the picture that started with that letter. Students looked for lots of picture clues to tell the story (there wasn't text with the pictures.) Kindergarteners are building their confidence and enjoyment of reading through the use of picture clues to tell the story. In this way, they are able to "read" many books on their own. When we study our calendar each day, we count the days of school with tally marks. Today was the fifteenth day of school. This meant drawing a straight across (horizontal) line through our third tally. The students didn't need prompting this time. They already knew what to do to show that group of five. We started having table leaders today that are in charge of keeping their table clean throughout the day. They even wash up with sponges after snack. We had a new friend join our afternoon class. I was so proud of all my students. They welcomed our new friend and were very helpful and kind. I could tell that our new friend already felt comfortable playing and visiting with everyone. Thank you Kindergarteners!!!

Friday, September 25

please forgive my typos - I want to post everyday, but some days I'll be typing very fast!
Mrs. Hanson was the substitute teacher for the morning class and I missed seeing my students! She wrote a very positive summary of the morning. She left a surprise for them to receive when they come back to school on Monday morning! She's a very experienced teacher and I can tell she was at home in our room. Morning Kindergarteners enjoyed seeing the high schoolers at the Lakers Pepfest.
All Kindergarteners listened to the story Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Suess. Many students were able to predict some of the problems that were going to happen in the story. A lion, a dog, and a tiger were all showing off by piling apples on their heads and doing tricks. We did a lot of counting in this story and compared sets of apples. Some bears and birds made trouble, and pretty soon there were apples everywhere. We sang a silly song and put pictures of things on our head that start with 'c' and 'd'. We had some crazy things on our heads! We made pages for our own class book, Kindergarten Apples Up on Top. You'll have to see our silly story when you come for goal-setting conferences.
We also discussed many things that can be made from apples and looked at our Weekly Reader - lots of information about apples. Next week we'll start some cooking projects with the apples students' bring in to class.
Today was Fabulous Friday and we had chocolate milk for snack! Thank you for all the snack donations. Kindergarten mouths have been happy!
We did more object sorting; today we each had more complex collections to sort. Students brought home their workmats with drawings of how they sorted. We did the inside of the workmat together on Mrs. Karg's GIANT new math book. We practiced using our new wipe-off markers in my giant book. We all make mistakes in Kindergarten, and these markers help us erase our mistakes and try, try again.
Please remember to reinforce good hand washing at home and keep training our little ones to keep things (fingers, toys, even shoes!) out of their mouths to stay healthy. I'm washing our room everyday to help prevent the spread of germs. Also, remember to verbally say goodbye to Mrs. Karg if you pick up your child at the end of the day. We are all trying to stay together as a class as we make our way out of the school. Please don't take or wave your child out of line without telling me. Have a wonderful weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing my bright energetic learners on Monday!

Quotes of the week:
"Mrs. Karg, you shouldn't tell us how to do it. We should try it first and then show us how to fix it. " CK
"We're the doolest dids in the drool!" JV (playing with letter sound)
"I know which month is my birthday. It's the one when all my family comes to my house." TK

Thursday, September 24

Today we practiced skills for our daily five reading. First we practiced Listen to Reading. The goal is for students to do this skill independently on their own or in small group while paying attention to the story, using the equipment correctly, and reflecting on the story they heard. We practiced making a row of friends, operating the cd/tapeplayer, and turning the pages with signals. We practiced with two other versions of the Gingerbread Boy today. That fox was up to his old tricks again. The students did a great job! We have a HUGE library of recorded books, so they'll have many great choices in the future. So far we've read many fun versions of the Gingerbread Man. Ask about the Gingerbread Cowboy. Giddy-up, Giddy-up!
We went "shopping" for more books for our independent reading book bags. Students found lots of great books to keep in their bags. When reading time was done, I heard moans and groans! The hardest part of indepenent reading today was holding back from talking about our books with our neighbor (it's quiet reading time) and stopping our reading. Of course, lots of students are reading aloud to themselves as they "read their pictures" but that doesn't seem to distract our neighbors if we whisper. Everyone is pretty focused on their own books! We also took photographs of ourselves in our reading spots, so we can remember where to go to read by ourselves. Next week we'll start Read to Someone with our book buddies - we'll meet some new buddies from 2nd grade!
We worked in our math journals. First we solved the problem of the day, which was matching objects made of the same shape: Circle donut/circle quarter, rectangle calendar/rectangle crayon box, triangle instrumet/triangle flag... Then we journaled several objects from our lives that start with those same shapes. Some students drew rectangle aliens and giant square tvs! There were some delicious circle cookies and triangle pizzas, too. Students are so proud of their math journals and want to take them home, but we'll wait until they are full!
Afternoon Kindergarten was treated with a visit from Mrs. Olson.
The biggest laughs came today when we sang our hello and goodbye song with a new twist. We're practicing the sound of 'b', so we changed everyone's name to start with 'b' and sang it in a a song. We were the bunniest bounding bids in the bool!

Wednesday, September 23

Today our class read a story called the Quiet Place. This book tells the story of how one boy finds different quiet places where he can get away; these places are real but he uses his imagination to make them even more special. For examples, the quiet place under his backyard lilac bush could be like a cave where he's a pirate searching for treasure. The beauty of the book is in the peaceful imaginative illustrations and child friendly examples of ways/places to relax. We then discussed our own quiet place in our imaginations. Mrs. Karg has a special spot in our room for a quiet place - it's a chair with a frog pillow and something to keep our hands busy. We practiced taking a break in this chair when we need to get away to our quiet place. Mrs. Karg will tell students when their behavior needs to take a break and they can sit in the chair to find their quiet place and regroup.
The morning Kindergarten had a visit from our Principal, Mrs. Olson. She shared photos and stories from her life and read us a story about filling each other's invisible buckets with kindness. She even gave our class our own fancy bucket to use as a reminder to do good deeds.
The afternoon Kindergarten had a visit from Ms. Ready's Kindergarten class. We watched a short movie together about the gingerbread man. "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"
Boys and girls in school today practiced the sounds of short a and b, matched uppercase and lowercase letters, and sorted words starting with a and b.
It was hat day today! We sorted, graphed, counted, and compared our hats.
Look in those Wednesday folders for lots of special notes home!