week to kick-off our unit on Forces and Motion.
Theme Time
This week we continued our work with Forces and Motion. The children have become very involved and excited about being scientists and experimenting with ways to move things as well as how different forces can make things move slowly or quickly.
Reader’s Workshop
This week we discussed the differences between letters and words. We also discussed how you can tell when an author writes a new word because they put spaces between their words. The children are pointing to words as they read and moving across the spaces to the next word. This can be a difficult skill for kindergartners and one we will continue to practice for many months.
We did not introduce any new letters this week but focused on correct letter formation of the letters that have been introduced so far this year. A complete list of letters introduced can be found on the Fundations page of this blog.
We did not introduce any new letters this week but focused on correct letter formation of the letters that have been introduced so far this year. A complete list of letters introduced can be found on the Fundations page of this blog.
Writer’s Workshop
The children are working on writing words on their own and really making progress. At this point of the year we are asking the children to try to get the beginning and ending sound of the word but many of them are even trying middle sounds!
This week we spent time reviewing muscle words (sight words). Please have your child work on muscle words (reading and writing them) at home. There is a complete list on the Writer's Workshop page of this blog.
This week we spent time reviewing muscle words (sight words). Please have your child work on muscle words (reading and writing them) at home. There is a complete list on the Writer's Workshop page of this blog.
Art Activity
As a special project last week we painted Monster pictures. Each of the children drew a monster face and then painted it. This art project will be in our classroom art gallery for the next few weeks.
Math Lessons
This week we talked more about shapes. We are also working on counting by 1’s to 100. Crossing the decades (ie saying 20, 30, 40…) is difficult for many of us. This is a skill all of the children could be working on at home. Our pattern making skills have really come along nicely also.
Reading Bags and Math Bags
Reading Bags and Math Bags will start coming home next week. Reading bags will come home every Monday and Wednesday. Math Boxes will come home every Tuesday and Thursday. Our hope is that you will be able to find some time to listen to your child read or play a math game with him/her at home. We understand that family lives are very busy but the children are really excited to show you all they have learned already. Please make sure that all of the books and all of the math supplies go back into their bags before putting them into backpacks to come back to school. Please make sure the reading bags and math bags come back to school the very next day. We use them a lot throughout the day. Thank you!
Morning Meeting
GREETING: Ball Toss
ACTIVITY: Sparkle (muscle word spelling game)
McGriff Reading Program
Earlier this year you received a newsletter about the McGriff Reading Program. Every Thursday morning 3 children from our classroom will get a chance to read to Maisy, Matti and/or Cheddar. Over the next few weeks everyone will have a turn and then we will start the list all over again.
Winter Clothing
Winter is coming whether we want it to or not. That means lots of zipping, buttoning and tying will be going on in kindergarten. Please help your child by having him/her practice zipping/buttoning their own jacket and tying their own shoes. This makes changing into and out of our snow clothes much less frustrating. If they start practicing now...they may have it under control by the time the snow flies. Thank you!
