This Week in Kindergarten…

POPCORN WORDS: and, get

READING: This week during reading, we learned about having Reading Playdates. We learned that Avid Readers have reading playdates to make them better readers. With our reading partners we practiced having reading playdates. This is what we played:

  • played games – search our books for popcorn words to see how many we could find
  • played school – pretended to be the teacher using our books
  • played pretend – acted out our books while reading with our partners

WRITING: During writing this week, we finished up learning about writing opinion papers. The kindergarteners practiced stating their opinion on a given topic and then gave 2 reasons to support their opinion. We ended the week with our first On Demand writing (a writing assessment that the kinders did all by themselves). These are the things we wrote about this week:

  • What is your favorite pet?
  • What is your favorite snack?
  • What do you like to eat for breakfast?
  • What do you like about Georgetown?
  • What is your favorite restaurant?

MATH: This week during math, we practiced finding partners of 10 using break apart sticks. Then we wrote equations to match the partners. We also learned about 3D shapes. We talked about the difference between 2D and 3D shapes and then sorted shape pictures. We also practiced math mountains – “mountains” that have the total on the top and the partners “rolling down the mountain”. We looked for groups of things that were GREATER and groups of things that were LESS. We also practiced our number writing.

LITERACY/PHONICS: During our literacy time this week, we practiced words families. We talked about how word families are words that rhyme and we came up with some words. We sorted short e and short u words. We listened to the word, decided which vowel sound we heard in the word and then wrote the word. We will continue to practice listening for the vowel sounds we hear in words. We practiced our popcorns words and words in the “in” word family.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH LEARNING: This week in Kindergarten, we learned about George Washington Carver. We learned that he was a scientist, and invented many things using peanuts. He believed in determination! Thank you George Washington Carver for your curiosity! We made a jar of peanut butter to remind us of George Washington Carver. 

KINDNESS SUPER STARS…These are our Super Stars from the week spreading some kindness to others!

We finished the week by making kindness bracelets for our 5th grade buddies! We made them each a bracelet along with a note. We are kind Kinders!

REMINDERS…

  • Send 2 snacks each day to school
  • Wear your winter gear – the playground is messy
  • Return take home book bags and library books on Tuesday
  • Dress “Seuss-ish” on Tuesday to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday
  • March is Reading Month Friday dress-up day: wear a cowboy hat, handkerchief or bandana

 

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, March 1: Gym

Tuesday, March 2: Art; Library; Return take home book bags and library books; Dress “Seuss-ish” to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday!

Wednesday, March 3: STEAM

Thursday, March 4: Music

Friday, March 5: Art; Early Release Day-dismissed at 12:15; March is Reading Month: Wear a cowboy hat, handkerchief or bandana

This Week in Kindergarten…

POPCORN WORDS: bad, had, map

READING: This week during reading we learned about noticing and identifying more precise character feelings. When the character was happy, we tried to think of a word that would describe happy in more detail – like excited or thrilled. When the character was mad, we tried to think of a word that would describe mad in more detail – like angry or frustrated. We also learned about having reading goals – something that we are each going to work on during reading time. We looked at the Super Reader powers and decided which of the goals we are already doing all the time and colored them green. We colored the goals yellow that we need to work on. The goals will help us to focus on something that we want to get better at and keep working hard on it during reading time. 

WRITING: During writing this week, we learned more about opinion writing. The Kinders practiced giving their opinion on the topic we were writing about, choosing between the choices given. They wrote an opening sentence, then had to come up with two reasons to support their opinion. They finished their opinion papers by writing a closing sentence. Some of the topics the Kinders gave their opinion on this week were:

  • How do you like your ice cream – in a cone or in a bowl?
  • What is your favorite holiday?
  • What is your favorite special at school?

MATH: This week during math, we practiced adding “food” from the “grocery store”. We used some of our play food and added different food items together. Then we pretended we ate some of the food and practiced subtraction. We also continued practicing teen numbers. We wrote the equation and then showed the group of ten and extra ones. We ended the week by counting, matching and comparing groups of objects. 

LITERACY/PHONICS: This week during our literacy time, we learned about word families. Word families are words that have the same ending. We practiced writing word families in our journals. For example, for the word family at we wrote – hat, cat, rat, sat, etc. We used fun paper plates and clips to make word families. 

BLACK HISTORY MONTH LEARNING: This week in kindergarten we learned about Ruby Bridges. Ruby Bridges showed us how to be brave when she helped make it possible for all kids to go to school together. 

PRESIDENT’S DAY: On Monday, February 15, we learned about and celebrated President’s Day! We focused on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We read books about them, colored a book about them, read a Scholastic News about Abraham Lincoln and made a flip craft – George Washington on one side and Abraham Lincoln on the other side. It was a fun day! 

KINDNESS BINGO: This week in Kindergarten we began our new SUPER STAR activity. We are doing a Kindness Bingo activity. Each super star will choose an act of kindness to do, draw a picture of it and share it with our class each day. It has been fun to see all of the kind things the Kinders are doing for others!

STAR REWARD DAY…STUFFED ANIMAL DAY! We had fun teaching and snuggling our stuffed animals on Thursday!

On Friday, we got a new play center in our classroom to play in during play time. It is a Veterinary Center. The first table group got to play in there today and had so much fun! The rest of the table groups will get a chance to play in it next week. Here are a few cute pictures for you to enjoy from the Vet Center…

REMINDERS:

  • Send 2 snacks each day
  • Bring warm Winter gear for recess – snow pants, boots, mittens/gloves, hat, coat
  • Homework is due on Wednesday
  • Return Take Home Book bags and Library books on Tuesday

UPCOMING DATES:

Monday, February 22: Music

Tuesday, February 23: Gym; Return Take Home Book Bags and Library books today!

Wednesday, February 24: Art; Homework due today!

Thursday, February 25: STEAM

Friday, February 26: Music

This Week in Kindergarten…

POPCORN WORDS: not, who

READING: This week during reading, we learned about being avid readers! We learned that an avid reader – reads a lot, finds places everywhere to read, keeps a stack of book nearby, can’t stop reading and really pays attention to the book. Not avid readers are disinterested. The Kinders sorted pictures to decide if it showed an avid reader or not an avid reader. They also learned that avid readers try to feel what the characters are feeling.  How are character feeling? Are the characters happy, sad, excited, scared? We finished the week searching for character feelings within books and marking them with a sticky note.  

WRITING: During writing this week, we continued learning more about opinion writing. The Kinders practiced giving their opinion on the topic we were writing about, choosing between two choices. They wrote an opening sentence, then had to come up with two reasons to support their opinion. They finished their opinion papers by writing a closing sentence. I am so proud of hard they are working on opinion writing!

MATH: This week during math, we began unit 4 in our new math books. We started by looking for groups of items 1-10 in a grocery store picture. We practiced finding partners of 10 by looking at ladybugs that were sleeping and awake. We learned you can write a teen number equation two different ways but they mean the same thing.  One way is to write the partners first and then the total (10+5=15) or write the total first and then the partners (15=10+5).  

BLACK HISTORY MONTH LEARNING: This week in kindergarten we learned about Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson.

We learned that Rosa Parks showed courage when she refused to give up her seat on a bus. Thanks to her bravery, anyone can sit where they choose on a bus. 

We learned that Jackie Robinson showed determination when he never gave up and became the first black man to play in the major league. Thanks to him, anyone is welcome to play baseball.

VALENTINE’S DAY PARTY FUN…On Friday we had a fun-filled day celebrating Valentine’s Day! We had so much fun…

  • Making Valentine “kites”
  • Searching for Valentine pictures in an I Spy game
  • Looked at all of our Valentine cards
  • Played Valentine Bingo
  • Read a story called The Day it Rained Hearts and retold the story
  • Graphed candy hearts (and ate a couple of them) 
  • Made Valentine people
  • Got some goodies – the kind you eat and the kind you use to dress-up

REMINDERS…

  • Please remember to send your child with 2 snacks each day. 
  • Remember to send your child with winter gear to school. They don’t have to wear their snow pants to school, but please send them.
  • Every Tuesday remember to bring back Take Home Book Bags and Library books! 

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, February 15: STEAM

Tuesday, February 16: Music; Return Take Home Book Bags and Library books today!

Wednesday, February 17: Gym

Thursday, February 18: Art

Friday, February 19: STEAM

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Valentine’s Day!

This Week in Kindergarten…

POPCORN WORDS: how, now

READING: This week during reading, we learned about looking at words that wear “disguises”. We practiced reading a story with words that ended with: s, ed, ing, es. We learned that we know the root word, but sometimes they have a “disguise” that is the word ending. We also practiced predicting what’s going to happen next in a story. We read some stories and predicted what we thought would happen next. We finished the week by retelling the book after reading it. I’m so proud of how hard the Kinders are working during reading time! 

WRITING: During writing this week, we started learning about opinion writing. We learned the difference between facts and opinions. We read things about Winter and decided if they were a fact or an opinion. We finished the week by writing an opinion paper about the zoo and the playground. On the zoo paper, we chose which animal we would want to bring home from the zoo and give a reason why we chose that animal. On the playground paper, we chose what we like to play on better – the swings or the slide – and then gave our reason why we like that toy better. We will keep working on our opinion writing! Look for the papers coming home!

MATH: This week during math, we had fun making a book called Ten Little Groundhogs. It was a subtraction book using groundhogs. On each page, we subtracted one more. We also reviewed for our math test and took our unit 3 math test! 

THE 100TH DAY OF KINDERGARTEN…On Tuesday, we celebrated the 100th day of kindergarten! Wow! I can’t believe 100 days have gone by already! We had a fun-filled day! Enjoy the cute pictures from our fun day! These are some of the things we did…

  • Illustrated a book called I Wish I Had 100…
  • Made a 100’s day brighter headband
  • Did a color by number 100’s day picture
  • Shared our 100’s day collections by doing a gallery walk around the room
  • Wrote our names as many times as possible in 100 seconds
  • Flipped a penny 100 times
  • Got our 100 days smarter glow sticks
  • Made a gum ball machine with 100 (ish) gum balls inside
  • Ate 100 snacks! 

GROUNDHOG’S DAY…On Tuesday, we learned about Groundhog’s Day. We read a book about Phil the groundhog and learned about Groundhog’s Day. Then we voted if we thought Phil would see his shadow or not. We graphed our answers to see the results. Then we watched a YouTube clip of Phil the groundhog coming out of his burrow and watched to see if he saw his shadow or not. We found out…6 more weeks of Winter! We had a lot of fun making a Groundhog’s Day craft! 

REMINDERS…

  • Please remember to send your child with their snow gear each day.
  • Remember to send 2 snacks for your child each day.
  • On Tuesday, remember to send back library books and take home book bags. 

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, February 8: No school – Winter Break

Tuesday, February 9: STEAM; Return take home book bags and library books

Wednesday, February 10: Music

Thursday, February 11: Gym

Friday, February 12: Art; Valentine’s Day party!

Stay warm and stay safe this weekend! Enjoy your Winter break days and this extra snow day!      ~Mrs. Baker