Week of January 25, 2010

This week was an exciting week for the students and me as I returned from my maternity leave. We were all very happy to see one another. The children were expecting Baby Lilly to join me, but were surprised when I explained that she was at daycare. On this note, I have to say a quick thank you to Ms. Conley for stepping in to take care of things while I was gone. She did a great job!

This week we covered a lot of things. We worked on a variety of math topics and reading skills. For math, we learned a game called, "Get on the Train," which helps the students count to 20. To play the game, the students roll a cube that is numbered 1, 2, 3. For each turn the students take the number of cubes that is shown on the cube. The first student to get 20 cubes wins the game. The students and I also played a similar game called, "The Teen Frame." The students used a spinner to determine how many chips they could put on their game board. The student with the larger number of chips wins. With this game the students practiced comparing numbers between 10 and 20. We also used a jumbo number line to practice addition skills. The students would stand on a number, and I would ask them to take a certain number of steps. Before they could do this, the student had to predict where he/she would land. Also, I would ask them to start on a number and move to a certain number. In this instance, the student would have to predict how many steps he/she would have to take. The students had a great time walking on the jumbo number line. We also learned how to count by 10's and make a bar graph of our favorite colors.

In reading we focused on how learning our color words. This was a two part activity. First the students had to identify the word by using a colored card as a clue. This allows them to identify a word using a visual clue, which is an important reading strategy. When reading a text, the students can use the picture to help decode an unknown word. Second, the students had to check to make sure they selected the correct word. To do this, they check letter by letter. For example, if a child selected the word blue to match their initial selection of the word blue with a blue rectangle under the word, they would check letter by letter (b, b, l, l, u, u, e, e). If all of the letters match, then they know they've selected the correct match. If a letter does not match, then they know they have to choose another card. If a student is reading a text and comes to a word he/she doesn't know, he/she can use this strategy by saying, "does the first letter of the word I said match the first letter of the word on the page?" The students did a wonderful job with this! In addition to practicing these strategies, the students also reviewed the sight words that were sent home this week. The five words of the week are:

• a
• I
• to
• on
• it

For writing, the students received their very own journals. They have been doing a great job with their writing skills. I am pleased with the students' progress. They are also very proud of themselves.

Below, you will find pictures of our weekly workstations.

Beginning Sounds Bingo

Blocks and Legos

Filling in the missing blanks at the Overhead workstation