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.

Week of October 25, 2010

The students worked hard all week, and they had a ton of fun on Friday! What a perfect way to end the week.

We learned the following:

• Math: We learned our "tricky teens," which are the numbers 10-19, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We played counting games to help reinforce our counting skills. We also learned about estimation. Lastly, we learned basic addition and subtraction skills by telling number stories. For example, an addition number story would be, "Lisa and Debbie have pink shirts on, and Sara does too. How many friends are wearing pink shirts?" An example of a subtraction number story would be, "I had three chocolate chip cookies at snack. I only ate one. How many cookies do I have left?"
• Writing: We started Writer's Workshop this week. To begin, each day we talked about a question. To answer the question, the students had to use a complete sentence. For example, one question was, "What do you like to do when you get home from school?" On Thursday, we practiced writing a sentence in response to one of the questions that was discussed. The students first drew a picture about their topic. Then, they had to decide upon the sentence they would write. Next, they had to determine the number of words in the sentence and draw one line for every word. The students then had to use their knowledge of letter sounds in an effort to write the words in the sentence. The students also had to use a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and a period at the end of the sentence.
• Reading: We also started Reader's Workshop this week. Our first mini-lesson addressed how to properly treat the books in our classroom library. In addition, it addressed how to put the books away using the categorizing system. We also learned that we can look for a familiar letter at the beginning of a word to help us figure a word out if we don't know it.
• Phonics and Word Study: We continued practicing writing sentences and looking at the different components of a sentence. We also learned that there are spaces between the words in sentences. To begin putting spaces between words, we will use two fingers. As the year progresses we will narrow that amount of space to one finger.
• Handwriting: We learned the following letters: H and K.
• Science: We finished our unit on the five senses. We continued to play games during our class meeting that require us to use one sense. We also read "Seven Blind Mice" by Ed Young. This story uses colors to describe each mouse.

Library Workstation

Writing Workstation - the students practiced writing sight words by tracing the sight words, then writing them on their own. Once they were done their worksheet, they practiced writing the words on a white board.

Handwriting Workstation - the students continue to practice their first name, last name, and phone number

Week of October 18, 2010

The students had another exciting week in Kindergarten! This is what we've learned:

• Math: The students learned about positional words (top, below, between, next to, around, over, and in front of, just to name a few) by completing an obstacle course in the classroom. They also found patterns in our classroom, such as the stripes on the American flag. We played oral counting games. For example, one game required that we all formed a circle on the carpet. A magic number was stated, and each person would say one number. The person that said the magic number had to sit down. This was repeated until one person remained standing. The students also played a coin matching game to help with coin recognition. Lastly, the students completed a number board, which allowed them to practice their counting skills while using one-to-one correspondence.
• Reading/Writing: We continue to practice our sight words. Also, we made a predictable chart about our favorite foods to further reinforce the skills that the students have been working on for the past several weeks. Next week we will start to implement those skills as the students will begin to do their own writing pieces.
• Handwriting: The students learned how to write M, H, and 4.

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• Phonics and Word Study: The students practiced their letter identification skills as we played games with the alphabet chart. For example, we sang the ABC song as I pointed to each letter. Also, we said the letters along with the pictures. It sounds like this, "a,a, apple, b, b, bear, etc."
• Science: we continue to learn about our five senses. We learned a song about the five senses that is sang to the tune of "Farmer in the Dell." We also played games that required the students to use only one sense, such as hearing or touch. One game is called, "Mystery Bag." I put one object in a bag, and the students had to feel the object to guess the item.

Writing workstation: the students are practicing some of their sight words

Handwriting workstation: the students are practicing their first name, last name, and phone numbers

Overhead workstation: the students had to find all of the L's in a fall poem, "Leaves are Falling Down"

Week of October 12, 2010

Despite only having a four day week, the students worked very hard to learn many new things.

Math: We compared our body heights to objects in the classroom to review the concept of taller and shorter. We also played a game, "Finger Count Fun" to practice counting using one-to-one correspondence. Lastly, we discussed the attributes of the following shapes: circle, square, rectangle, triangle by identifying the number of sides, the number of corners, and if the shape has straight or curvy lines.

(Body Height Comparisons)

Reading/Writing: We made a predictable chart about our favorite color apples. We continue to review the following concepts:

• one-to-one correspondence with one written word for every spoken word
• print directionality (top-to-bottom, left-to-right)
• sentence structure (capital letters start a sentence and punctuation)

Phonics/Word Study: This week's lesson focused on rhyming words. We learned the following song (to the tune of, "If You're Happy and You Know It")

Did you ever see a sheep in a jeep?

Did you ever see a sheep in a jeep?

No, I never, never, never

No, I never, never, never,

No, I never saw a sheep in a jeep.

This words sheep and jeep can be replaced with other rhyming words. For example, we used pig in a wig, bug in a rug, dog in a log, fox in a box, and mouse in a house. To reinforce the concept of rhyming we made a book. The skills learned while making the book also correspond to the skills learned in reading and writing. We also discussed that the picture should match the words on the page.

Handwriting: We learned a song to help us stretch the muscles in our fingers and hands before we start handwriting. We also learned how to write the number 3. We reviewed the letters that we have learned so far because we will be learning how to write a new group of letters next week.

Science: We started learning about the five senses. We are currently focusing on the sense of hearing. We played a game during our class meeting that required one student to listen to a group of three students say, "hello." The student had to correctly guess at least one student that said, "hello." We also completed an activity that required the students to listen to a clue about a noise heard in the kitchen. The students then had to correctly identify the source of the noise and complete a command such as color the object blue, circle the object with a red crayon, or color the object purple.

Math Workstation: "Roll, Count, Corral"

The students had to roll a die to determine how many cows they had to put in their corrals. The first person to corral all 15 of their cows wins.

Poetry Workstation: The students added a new poem to their poetry notebook, titled, "Pumpkin Patch." They also had to illustrate their page with an appropriate picture to match the poem.

Writing Workstation: The students illustrated a book that was titled, "Peek-a-boo Ghost."

Week of October 4, 2010

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend and the beautiful weather! This week the students focused on the following:

• Math: We experimented with volume by comparing the amount of waters two containers could hold (which had more or less). We also created patterns with sounds, motions, and colors. We sorted coins by their different attributes (color, size, heads/tails, smooth edges/bumpy edges. Lastly, we played, "Give the Next Number." To play this game, the students sit in a circle. As we whisper count from 1-10 or from 1-20, I point to each student. When I tap a student's head, he/she has to stand up, say the number, and clap

that many times.

Making patterns with instruments

Sorting coins using their attributes

• Reading/Writing: We made a predictable chart titled, "I like (favorite color)". We composed the chart together, then we touch read the sentences, and we built the sentences. This allows us to focus on the concepts of written print, the concepts of print in relation to reading, and sentence structure (letters make words, words make sentences; sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a period).
• Phonics/Word Study: We continued to learn about letters by using our names. The principles for the week include,

1. "Words have letters in them."
2. "Your name has letters in it."
3. "You can say the first letter of your name."

Using name puzzles to notice letter features

• Handwriting: We learned how to write the number 2 and the following letters: R and N.

Wet-Dry-Try for the letter R

Making Chameleons with Mrs. Hoxie and Mrs. Kamen during Speech/OT