We had a great fall festival today. We started the day off in Mrs. Knutson's room watching a short movie. Then we went to the cafeteria and walked across the stage, showing off our costumes. After that we trick or treated at RAM next to the school. Then we split into 3 groups and rotated between the KG classrooms. The boys and girls got to frost cookies, play math and language arts games where they won many prizes (as I'm sure you saw in their bags that came home :) ). They also played bingo and estimated how many objects were in a jar. They had a blast! Or as one boy put it, "This is the best day of my life!!"
Be safe tonight and have fun. See you tomorrow!
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Today we did our calendar and math warm up, and then got started on Language Arts. We did a flash card review of all our sight words and the letter we have learned thus far. Then we sang the ABC song and the boys and girls came up to the smartboard to circle letter they knew. We worked on phonemic awareness and the students practiced a smartboard game where the two students came up and had to see who could read the word the fastest.
I introduced new stations today. The boys and girls worked through two of them. These included a review of sight words; a practice handwriting sheet of the letter A, a die game where students rolled the dice and had to practice writing the number that showed up, a read to the teacher station, and a challenge sheet where children were given a letter and had to sound out and write a word that started with that letter. They are doing great with independently working during stations.
Mrs. Mary read us a silly story called Parts about a boy who thinks he is falling apart. Then we started our math. We reviewed 5-groups. Then we talked about how in this unit we will be working with stories that involve math. I used plates and silverware to talk through problems and the children had to listen for the math and answer correctly (ex. "I set out a plate for my dinner last night. Then Ella and Carson came over. How many more plates did I need?). The boys and girls will work on creating their own mathematical problems.
As I prepare for the first report card, I will be pulling students aside to do some testing. We will work through letters they have learned, sight words, rhyming words, name writing, and phone numbers (we have not practiced phone numbers at school, so this area is to heavily looked at but it is on the report card so I have to test it anyway :) )
The kids and I are so excited for the fall festival party tomorrow! Wear your costumes and get ready for some fun carnival-like games!
Today the kids were motivated to work really hard because they know that on Wednesday we will be having a fall party. A note went home in their folders that explains the parade and carnival games that will be taking place.
We started with a review of letters and their sounds as well as our high frequency words. We also reviewed our robust vocabulary; appetite, aroma, surround, and tradition.
We worked really hard on some difficult math concepts. We have been talking about 5 groups lately. Today the boys and girls got to explore this using their math mats. They were to show a number using a 5 group and then show what plus what = that number. We will keep practicing this.
We did an activity where students had to count objects in a tens frame and cute and paste the number that showed that. This was a quick review and all the boys and girls did wonderful.
We did a mini lesson on germs and talked about ways to prevent germs from being and staying on our bodies. The boys and girls made a person and attached a poem about staying healthy.
The boys and girls worked so hard today that at the end of the day we had time to play a fun smartboard memory game. We did one about money and another about shapes. Tomorrow Principal Harker will be a guest in our room to observe the students and I.
We had a fun day today. We started off by doing calendar andour daily math warm-up. We reviewed 5-groups and practiced them on the smartboard (6=5+1….8=5+3). Mrs. Boese’s class did not join us today, as they were preparing for their circus performance. Because the boys and girls worked so hard this morning, we were able to go and watch! We had a blast seeing the lions, pretty girls, clowns, and gymnists perform and sing songs.
When we got back to the room we did some language arts. We learned the letter A. We talked about how you make an uppercase a by doing a slanted line down, back to the top. Slanted line down and cross at the middle. Then we learned the lower case a. We talked about how you do a circle to the left, then straight line down.The students learned that uppercase A’s have to hit their head on the ceiling(top line) and also keep their feet on the floor (bottom line). Lower case letters can’t cross the middle of the room/the electric fence (the dotted line) or they get zapped! However, they still need to keep their feet planted on the floor. This ‘story’ seemed to help them hit the correct lines as they were writing. J
After this the school counselor came in and read a book about feelings. Then we talked about how you can tell if someone is happy, sad, or scared. What faces do they make? I showed them what face I would make if I was happy/mad. Luckily they haven't seen that mad face much this year ;)
We had a quick snack and before we knew it we were headed home!
Looking forward to Fun Friday!!
We were very busy finishing up odds and ends today. Mrs. Boese's class joined us for a quick 30 minutes and we did more reviewing/enhancing. The boys and girls were given a photo card and had to decide what letter it started with. As a challenge, they also had to tell me the ending sound before they hung it under the correct category on the board. Wow are we smart!
Then we talked about math and 5-groups. We learned that numbers such as 6-10 have groups of 5 in them. The boys and girls came up to the smartboard and helped me group these numbers (ex. 6=5+1. 7=5+2). They showed me these equations using their hands. (We are working on 5 groups because it gives students a tremendous advantage as they move into addition and subtraction. They will eventually start using mental strategies to group and ungroup numbers, actually 'seeing' the 5 in their heads as they add and subtract numbers).
We did day 2 of the stations that were introduced yesterday, working on patterns, high frequency words, shapes/colors, and math matching.
Students 'writing the room.'
Then we made our own "I go" books. Students used highlighters to highlight all the go's in the book. Then they made their book 'come alive' by adding color. Next they found 3 friends to read to.
Reading "I go" book.
For fun we read two cute dinosaur books today, one read by Mrs. Mary during a break and one by me to end the day!
Today we started by doing our calendar, a warm up song (Freeze Dance), and then Mrs. Boese's class joined us again for 30min. Together we worked on reviewing the letter p, c, and n. We sorted picture cards by their beginning sounds. We also made sentences with the word go. Then Mrs. Boese's class left and the Rotary Club came in to interview the students about 3 important people in their lives. They are making a surprise book for the kids that they should receive around Thanksgiving time.
Today I introduced a new way of doing stations. The students were placed in groups of 4, and they were given 10 minutes at each station. The stations included a math 1-10 matching pumpkin activity, pattern book making, shape/color book making, a high frequency word drawing game, and a write the room activity. I was very impressed with how well this went! Not only did the students do a good job staying on task, but it helped the students to not rush through the activity to get to the next thing since they couldn't rotate until I said. This way of doing stations will allow me to pull small groups aside for instruction.
We read the book I Go to a partner sitting elbow elbow knee knee. Now that we are learning more and more high frequency words (the, a, I, go, etc), I am able to see who is just guessing at the words and who is trying to read and sound out the word. Something to continue practicing at both home and school :) To help review these sight words even more, every morning the students have a 'password,' they must say before they enter the room. These words are the password for each day.
We had a quick snack and read the book "Diary of a Spider." Then it was time to go!
Happy Monday! Today we started doing reading interventions in the kindergarten grade levels. While some students went to Mrs. Boese's class to work in a small group with her, the rest of Mrs. Boese's class came to my classroom. The students were excited to make new friends during this 30 minute intervention time. In my classroom our large group worked on reviewing reading and math skills. All the boys and girls did a great job particpating and following the rules in such a large group. In reading we started with a poem about grandparents. Then we worked on rhyming words. To review the letters we have learned thus far, the students got out their whiteboards. I said a word and they wrote either the beginning letter they heard or the ending letter they heard. As a challenge, the students had the option of trying to write the whole word. We talked about sentences, how words are divided by spaces and that periods come at the end of them. Then we wrote our own sentence about something our family does together ("My family goes camping," "My family plays together"). The students were to stretch out the words the best they could, listening for all the letter they heard. In math we talked about maps. The students did an activity where they were given a map and had to listen to directions and draw how to get from one place to another. After that we had just enough time to have a quick snack and story. Reminder: Friday is picture re-take day.
Homework: You might be seeing some blue/white math homework sheets coming home. The purpose of these is so that kids are exposed to the material once more during the day, helping really embed that knowledge into them. If your child has the chance to do these during the week, I would love for you to send them back to me so I can see who has been working on them :) If you forget/have a busy week, no big deal it won't be held against your child either. Also, thank you for the egg cartons! We have enough now to do a craft with them hopefully sometime this week!
The boys and girls love listening to Mary read stories!
In class today we did a review of the letter C and the word go. Students made up sentences following the outline "A ____can go." They brainstormed things that go, such as cars, trucks, boats, etc. They wrote a sentence to go along with a picture. Then we made books about a circus. These were a bit wordy from what we were used to. The focus was filling in the blank on each page of how many items there were. With help, they were able to read the book to a few friends.
In math we took our self portraits and made a graph. We talked about how graphs give us information. I had the students try to use the words "fewer" and "less" in a sentence that asked a question (ex: Which group had fewer?). We will revisit this later :)
Our class graph using self portraits
We briefly practiced making our own graphs. The students choose two colors and had to walk around asking friends which color they liked better. They were to graph the results. It was good for a first rough draft.
We got to have a little "Fun Friday" today since it was the last day of our school week. If the boys and girls were done with all their unfinished work, they had the choice of playing with legos, making things out of scrap paper, or coloring fall pictures.
Have a wonderful long weekend!
Today we warmed up by doing a few dance songs. The kids new favorite is Animal Action, where they act like animals. It made me smile today when all the boys joined hands and all the girls joined hands (on their own!) and danced together. What a great classroom family we have :)
We started with math today and after our warm up, we talked about partners. A partner is two numbers that add up and go into the number (ex. partners of 5 would be 3 and 2, or 4 and 1). They did a good job with this. This concept will be revisited throughout the year, but also in their next few years of school as well. We talked about self portraits, and the students drew one in order to prepare for us to make a graph with them tomorrow. It was fun getting to see how they view themselves :) I will save these for their portfolios.
While students worked on math activities, I pulled small groups aside to do a Unit 1 math test. This test was much better for us then our benchmark tests, as these were all things we've been learning. Everyone did a fabulous job.
In language arts we reviewed the letter C and the sound it makes. We also talked about rhyming words and the students helped me brainstorm words that rhyme. We read a poem together on the smartboard and circled letters and sight words in it that we have learned.
We have been learning some pretty big robust vocabulary words. This week we learned savor, appetite, feast, and urgency. I told the kids if I heard them use a robust word, I would give them a glitter ball-one a day per word. I realized I needed to add 'in the right context' when in math everyone tried to use the word feast. :) I appreciate their eagerness to experiment with these new words. :) :)
After we did language and math, we had a little bit of time for art. We made 'friendly fall ghosts.'
I also must say how considerate my class is; I have had a big frog in my throat all week and they have been so quite in order for me to not have to talk very loud. I feel really lucky to have such nice boys and girls :)
I'm excited for the kids to see their craft projects hanging up all over the ceiling tomorrow!
Today in language arts we learned the letter C. We brainstormed words that start with C, then did an activity working on forming C's and drawing a picture of something that starts with C to go with it. We talked about how with every letter, you need to make it starting at the top and going to the bottom. While students worked I pulled boys and girls aside to read to me a book that emphasized our new sight word go.
We started working on some grandparents day projects. Mrs. Mary helped the students paint their hands and put their hand print on a poem for grandparents. We also made pictures for our grandma's and grandpa's. The students brainstormed descriptive words; I love you, caring, nice, rockstar--they came up with them ;)
We finally had time to do a T craft, so we made turtles. The students had two choices. They had a blast working on these.
At the end of the day we sampled the pumpkin seeds we collected!
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