Week of November 22, 2010

I want to wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

This week the students learned:

• Math: We played number games on Monday to practice sequencing numbers, one-to-one correspondence, and number identification (for the tricky teens, which are 10-20). On Wednesday we learned about probability by reading "Wacky Wednesday" by Dr. Seuss. We reviewed several pictures in the story to determine if the events were likely to happen, possible, or impossible.


• Reader's Workshop: We learned how to sequence a story, which helps with learning to summarize the important events. To practice this skill, we read "Rosie's Walk" by Pat Hutchins. The students then put pictures from the story in order and numbered them.


• Writer's Workshop: We are beginning to learn about journaling. We practiced by writing about the things we do during the school day in a whole group setting. With a little more practice the students will soon get their own journals to write in.


• Handwriting: We learned how to write 6 and continued to practice V.


• Phonics/Word Study: We practiced writing the initial and final sounds for pictures (bat, dog, cat, car, and bug, just to name a few). The principles of the lesson are:

1. "You can say a word slowly to hear the sounds."
2. "You can hear the sounds at the beginning, middle, or end of the word."
3. "You can write the letters for the sounds you can hear."

Handwriting Workstation - the students practiced H, R, and 4

Writing Workstation - the students had to build Thanksgiving words with magnetic letters

Art Creation Workstation - the students practiced their lacing skills by lacing a turkey

ABC/Word Study Workstation - the students had to find the capital letter and lowercase letter pairs that matched

Week of November 15, 2010

Despite having a long weekend, the students came back to school this week ready to learn. Boy, did we learn a lot!

• Math: We played the Monster Squeeze Game. This game allowed the students to focus on the concepts of bigger than and smaller than. The students also learned how to measure objects with a nonstandard unit. We used linking cubes to measure a variety of items, which included a glue stick, a marker, a pencil, and a mini-pencil sharpener. Lastly, the students practiced their addition skills. To do this, I placed a small number of bear counters on the carpet. We counted the bears aloud, then I placed the bears in a box. Then I said, "How many bears do I have if I add _____ bears?" The students determined the number, and a student counted the bears to confirm the answer.
• Phonics and Word Study: We learned how to listen to the initial sound in a word to determine the letter. We also learned that you can sort words by listening to the initial sound. We sorted pictures into two columns, words that started with m (by focusing on the sound) and words that did not start with the letter m.
• Reader's Workshop: We learned about the setting of a story. To practice this skill we read, "A Clean House for Mole and Mouse." We also learned that every fiction story has a problem and a solution. To practice this skill we read, "The Little Red Hen."
• Writer's Workshop: We started stretching the sounds in words, so we can hear the initial sounds and final sounds. We practiced this on Tuesday by drawing pictures of our favorite Thanksgiving foods. We labeled the pictures. On Thursday the students wrote about a topic of their choice and labeled their pictures.
• Handwriting: We continued to practice the letter U. We also learned the letter V.

• Social Studies: The students learned about police officers through a nonfiction story that described the tools a police officer uses (radio, hand cuffs, a police dog), how a police officer helps (directing traffic, ticketing people that speed, etc.), and who a police officer helps. We also acted a finger poem out.

Poetry workstation - the students had to illustrate the finger play, "The Five Little Squirrels"

Handwriting workstation - the students had to trace their first name, last name, and their phone numbers

ABC/Word Study workstation - the students had to label Thanksgiving foods with the correct label

Math workstation - the students played math games on www.educationcity.com

Games and Puzzles workstation - the students had to match pictures that rhyme

Week of November 8, 2010

I really enjoyed speaking with all of the parents at Parent-Teacher conferences. I hope the students are enjoying their long weekend.

Despite have a short school week, we still learned several new things. We learned the following:

• Math: On Monday, the students learned how to use a pan balance. We compared different amounts of teddy bear counters and counting chips to determine the items that weighed more and less. The students also had an opportunity to use the ban balance at math workstation. On Wednesday, we played Domino Concentration. This game allows the students to practice counting with one-to-one correspondence. Additionally, this game allows students to learn that numbers can be represented many ways. For example, there are two dominoes that represent the number 3. One domino has three dots on one half and the other half is blank. Another domino to represent the number 3 has one dot on one half and two dots on the other half.
• Phonics/Word Study: We learned that words have syllables and you can count how many syllables it has. We sorted pictures on a pocket chart by clapping the syllables in the words. We sorted words with one, two, and three syllable words. We also counted the syllables in our names.
• Reader's Workshop: We learned that good readers notice the spaces between words. We read, "Humpty Dumpty." We counted the number of spaces in this nursery rhyme.
• Writer's Workshop: We continue to draw pictures based on a given topic, and we are labeling the items in the picture. When we label the pictures we focus on hearing initial and final sounds in the word. Our topic to write about this week was things that make us happy.
• Handwriting: We learned how to write the letter U and the number 5.
• Social Studies: We read a story about Thanksgiving and talked about the things we are thankful for. We also drew a picture of something we are thankful for and glued it to the belly of our adorable turkeys that we made.

Overhead workstation - the students had to complete an activity that required them to fill-in missing numbers in a number sequence. Once they finished this task, they can build with pattern blocks on the overhead.

Pocket Chart workstation - the students had to sort pictures using the initial sound of the word

ABC/Word Study workstation - the students had to sort pictures using initial sounds in the words.

Writing workstation - the students had to color the pages of a book about the fall.

Week of November 1, 2010

The students had another busy week learning many new things. We learned:

• Math: We learned about symmetry by using things in nature (leaf, acorn, butterfly, frog). We categorized a variety of objects by determining if the object had symmetry or did not have symmetry. We also practiced making patterns by creating pattern necklaces with beads. Lastly, we practiced our graphing skills by playing, "Roll and Record." Each student rolled a die, counted the dots, and then we colored in a square on our graph. After each student had a turn, we discussed the following: the number that was rolled the most, the number that was rolled the least, and any numbers that were rolled the same number of times.

• Reader's Workshop: We learned about different types of characters in stories (people and animals). We read, "Feathers for Lunch" as we practiced identifying characters in stories. We also learned that good readers notice rhyming words. We read, "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" and identified the rhyming words in the nursery rhyme.
• Writer's Workshop: We continue to practice writing sentences that relate to a picture. We also learned this week that you can just label a picture. For example, some students drew pictures of their pets. They wrote each pet's name under their pictures.
• Phonics/Word Study: We practiced matching rhyming words by sorting pictures on a pocket chart.
• Handwriting: We learned how to write K and L.
• Social Studies: We started our unit of study on Community Members. The first community member we are learning about is a fire fighter. We read, "Fire Fighters" by Dee Ready and completed a picture sort of safe and unsafe things for children to touch.

Handwriting workstation: the students formed capital letters by rolling big lines, little lines, big curves, and little curves made of playdough

Overhead Workstation: the students had to find the numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 in a number search. Once they were finished this, the students can make images with pattern blocks.

Poetry Workstation: the students had to illustrate a song about pumpkins.