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!