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

This Week in Kindergarten…

POPCORN WORDS: big, with

READING: This week during reading, we learned how to check our reading! We learned to Check Our Reading…Look – does it look right? Listen – does it sound right? Check – does it make sense? We also learned that as books become harder, we need new kinds of picture power! We need to look at the whole picture to see what’s happening. We finished the week by learning that we need to use our SNAP word (popcorn word) power when books have less patterns and we need to read the words. 

WRITING: During our writing time this week, the kindergarteners took a big risk and wrote a how to paper on their own! We started by thinking of something they knew all about and could teach someone how to do. Then for each step they drew a picture, labeled the picture and wrote a sentence that matched the picture. I am proud of them for taking a risk and trying this all on their own! 

MATH: This week during math, we finished up unit 3 in our math books. The kinders were excited because they finished the last pages in the first math book! Soon we will begin the second math book. We practiced more teen numbers, showing the teen number with different items and writing an equation to match. We also practiced shapes and positional words…below, above, beside, etc. Next week we will be taking our unit 3 math test!

We had fun on Friday searching the room for decade numbers…we looked around the room, found the number and the word and wrote them down. It’s always fun to go on a hunt around the room!

LITERACY/PHONICS: During our literacy and phonics time this week, we learned about our last H Brother, the Ph brother – Phil. Phil is always talking on the phone. We studied some words that have ph in them and made a list of some words. The kinders did a good job sorting H Brother pictures and gluing them in the correct spot. We practiced segmenting words. We stretched out the sounds we heard in words and wrote down those sounds. We also played “I Spy” and spied words we know on the word wall in our classroom. 

REMINDERS…

  • Please remember to send in 2 healthy snacks for your child each day. 
  • Tuesday is our 100th day of kindergarten and is our 100’s day celebration! Please remember to have your child bring their 100’s day collections to school on Tuesday, February 2. It will be a fun day!
  • Remember to send in any donations for our 100’s day snack by Monday, February 1st.
  • Please remember to send your child with all of their snow gear each day. 

A message from our gym teachers…

Kids Heart Challenge information came home today and will begin on Feb. 1.  Please note that this program is for the American Heart Association and can only be done online.  For more information ask your child for the KHC envelope they got today and you can also go to the PE Blog

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, February 1: STEAM

Tuesday, February 2: Music; Return Take Home Book Bags and Library Books today; Today is our 100’s Day celebration!! We will be doing fun 100’s day activities today and throughout the week to celebrate!! 

Wednesday, February 3: Gym

Thursday, February 4: Art

Friday, February 5: Early Release Day – dismissal at 12:15; Special: Recess

Monday, February 8: Winter Break – no school today

This Week in Kindergarten…

Martin Luther King Jr. Day: On Monday, January 18 we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. We read about him and learned many things about him. It was fun to do activities all about him. We read a many books about him, read a Scholastic News about the differences in people, made headbands, necklaces and bracelets. We learned about how Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that inspired people. We also learned that his famous I Have a Dream speech inspired many people. 

POPCORN WORDS: he, she

READING: This week during reading, we learned about how to read words that are blends. We practiced reading books with blends in it and a poem called We Will Go. We used this poem to find SNAP words (words we know very quickly). We made sure to look at the sounds, use extra strong sound power and our picture power to figure out the words. 

We used this book to practice looking our sound power. We looked at the first sound, blended the sounds together and looked to the end of the word. We used our picture power too!

WRITING: During writing this week, we continued writing our How-To stories. We thought of an idea, told the steps in order, drew pictures and wrote words that matched the pictures. We continued to practice stretching out words, using finger spaces, using sentence stoppers and lowercase letters when writing. Some of the things we wrote about are…How to Get Dressed for Winter, How to Brush Your Teeth and How to Make a Bowl of Cereal. 

MATH: This week during math, we learned more about teen numbers. We wrote number sentences (equations) and then drew circles to show the number 10 and the extra ones. We made sure to draw a 5 group if we could. We learned more about partners of numbers. We also practiced writing our numbers 1-30. Keep up the good work Kinders!

LITERACY/PHONICS: During our literacy time this week, we learned about the H Brothers! The H Brothers story is about 5 brothers who all have an h as the second letter in their name. The H Brothers names are Charley, Shane, Whit, Phil and Theo. Each brother gives helpful hints as ways to remember what sound the start of their name makes. We sorted H brother words and asked – was the H brother sound at the beginning or the end of the word? We are going to keep learning about the H Brothers next week too! This week we also labeled things around our classroom with sticky notes. We are getting good at stretching out words and listening for all of the sounds we hear. It was fun to label our classroom!

REMINDERS…

  • Please remember to bring 2 snacks to school each day and a water bottle. 
  • Remember to return library books and take home books on Tuesdays.
  • Please bring all snow gear to school each day…we do go outside twice a day. 

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, January 25: Art

Tuesday, January 26: STEAM; Remember to return take home book bags and library books today!

Wednesday, January 27: Music

Thursday, January 28: Gym

Friday, January 29: Art

Tuesday, February 2: 100th Day of Kindergarten Celebration! 100’s day collections are due today!

Friday, February 5: Early Release Day

Monday, February 8: Winter Break

Tuesday, February 9: Valentine Cards are due

Friday, February 12: Valentine’s Party

This Week in Kindergarten…

POPCORN WORDS: make, said

READING: During reading this week, we learned about making sure that what we are reading makes sense. We practiced reading pages together and asking if it made sense when we were done. If it doesn’t, we shouldn’t move on! We studied more about patterns and how they help us to understand our books. We learned about how important it is to use our letter sound knowledge to read the words on a page. We practiced this skill when reading ABC books. We figured out unknown words in ABC books by looking at the alphabet letter the word started with.

We used the pattern and the ending to understand our books…

We used our sound power to help us read – we looked at the first letter in the word and the picture…

We did a lot of reading…

We read ABC books…

WRITING: This week during writing, we continued with our How-To writing. We focused on putting our pictures in order and then matching our words with our pictures. We also practiced using lowercase letters within the sentence and adding sentence stoppers. We wrote about: How To Go Shopping, How To Wrap a Gift, How To Make a PB & J and How to Make a Sundae. 

MATH: In math this week, we learned about groups of things that are equal or not equal. We practiced counting things, writing the number of objects and then using an equal or not equal sign. We worked hard on noticing five groups. We looked at numbers 1-10 and noticed if there was a group of 5 within that number. We found the 5 group and circled it as well as drew 5 groups. We practiced adding and subtracting numbers. We have been working hard on writing our numbers 1-30! Keep up the good work Kinders!

LITERACY/PHONICS: During our literacy/phonics time, we read a popcorn word book, highlighting the popcorn words we know! Wow…we know a lot of words! We listened for beginning and ending sounds we heard in words and colored them a certain color. We also got new pages in our learning binders! It was fun to practice the new pages! We read a story that focused on the word said – one of our popcorn words this week. We gave Mabel (our phonics stuffed elephant) encouragement to try and write words. We helped her by writing sentences and then showing her how to write some popcorn words!

FAST FRIDAY FUN: On Friday, we did fun snow themed activities! We did a snow math page, we wrote the room looking for snowy pictures and we read Snowman, Snowman What Do You See? 

REMINDERS…

  • Send 2 snacks each day to school with your child.
  • Please send in headphones for STEAM if you haven’t already.
  • Kinders need all of their snow gear each day, we do play outside twice a day.

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, January 18: Gym, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Tuesday, January 19: Art; Library; Remember to return Take Home Books and Library Books

Wednesday, January 20: STEAM; Homework is due

Thursday, January 21: Music

Friday, January 22: Gym; Report cards come home

Friday, February 5: Early Release Day

Monday, February 8: Winter Break

This Week in Kindergarten…

POPCORN WORDS: at, that, was

READING: This week during reading, we got an exciting tool to use when reading at school! It is called our reading mat. We used our reading mats to sort our books into a stack – from the easiest to the hardest books. Then we read them – starting on the green arrow (start) and putting them on the red arrow (finished) when done. Then we read them again – reading them back to the green arrow side. We also learned about looking for patterns in our books. We started by noticing the pattern in our cubes. We practiced reading pattern books, noticing the pattern as well as when the pattern changed. I am proud of how hard the Kinders are working during our reading time…they are learning a lot!

WRITING: During writing this week, we started learning about writing How-To stories. We started the week by talking about things we know how to do and things we are good at doing. Then we practiced writing how-to stories. We put pictures in order of what happened first, next, then and last. Then we wrote the words to match the pictures. We wrote about how to make a snowman, how to make cookies and how to get ready for school. It was a fun new type of writing! 

MATH: This week during math, we learned about shapes and how putting shapes together can make different shapes. We had fun using shapes and trying to make new ones! We also practiced our teen numbers. We learned about how there is a “hidden” 10 behind teen numbers. For example, in the number 14 – there is a 10 and 4 extra ones. We finished the week by learning about sorting pictures by shapes, colors, sizes and other fun ways. 

LITERACY: During our literacy time this week, we worked on our popcorn word books – looking for the words we know inside the books. Wow!! We know so many words now! We looked at the word at and then made other words from that word. We also worked in our learning binders and read a poem that focused on our word that

MATH GAMES: We had fun playing math games during our break times this week! We played counting games, color games and puzzles. It was fun!

  • THANK YOU so much for all of the graham crackers and Clorox wipes sent in! I really appreciate it! 
  • SNACKS: Please remember to continue to send your child with 2 snacks each day. We have a morning snack break and an afternoon snack break. 
  • SNOW GEAR: Please remember to send your child with a coat, snow pants, hat, gloves/mittens and boots each day to school. We play outside 2 times a day during the winter/snow season. You do not need to have your child wear the snow pants to school. We don’t go outside to play until lunch time. 
  • TAKE HOME BOOKS: On Tuesday, your Kinder will be bringing home a bag with 4 books in it. These books are for them to practice reading with you at home throughout the week. I would like for them to practice them all week and then return them the next Tuesday. I will give them 4 new books each week. There will be 2 books at your child’s independent reading level and 2 books at their instructional reading level (a level above their independent level). There will be instructions in the bag along with reading strategies to help you when reading with your child. Happy Reading! 

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, January 11: Gym

Tuesday, January 12: Art; Take Home Book come home for the first time (please return next Tuesday); Library – remember to bring books back

Wednesday, January 13: STEAM; Homework due

Thursday, January 14: Music

Friday, January 15: Gym; Early Release Day – dismissal at 12:15

Enjoy some cute pictures of the kids playing in the snow at recess! I couldn’t get to all of them to get pictures, but I did get a few! Have a wonderful weekend!