Friday, November 1, 2013

Our Week in Review...Goodbye October--Hello November!

Math:

-This week we practiced sorting objects by shape. We placed several shapes on the board (all the same color) and sorted them by each of the shapes we have learned—rectangle, square, circle, triangle and hexagon.

-We also continued practicing counting to 50 with several videos, songs, patterns and movement!







Reading:

-We started TWO sight words this week-- “come, me”.
-The CAFÉ strategy we worked on this week was the strategy “Blend Letter Sounds”.
Beginning readers often learn their sounds in isolation. The leap from knowing letter sounds to reading words can sometimes be daunting. Taking the isolated sounds and blending them together can be a first step to becoming a reader for most children.
How can you help your child with this strategy at home?
 1. As you are blending letters together, have your child listen to words they already know that the word they are blending sounds like.
 2. Have your child say each letter sound in the word (using the Zoo Phonics motions if needed) and then blend the letters together fast and move your arms in a circular motion while you blend them together.
3. Have your child imagine holding a rubber band (or actually hold a rubber band if you have one) and have them stretch the rubber band out while saying each sound. When the rubber band goes back together, have your child say the word quickly back together.



-We read the story Spookley the Square Pumpkin. Watch the video below with your child and discuss the main character, Spookley just like we did in class!








Writing:

-We finished our first unit of study in our writing curriculum and started our second unit! At the beginning and end of each unit the class is given a pre and post-test. We then gather as a kindergarten teaching team and score these writings using a common writing rubric. The goal is to see the students improve by several points throughout the unit from the pre-test to the post-test.

-We also completed a Halloween writing about our favorite part of Halloween! Some of the favorite parts were the candy, dressing up in costumes, carving jack-o-lanterns and of course the candy again and again and again J.

Other:

Goodbye October…Hello November! We had a wonderful short 4 day week learning about pumpkins, labeling the parts of a pumpkin, painting pumpkins, carving and discussing the inside of a pumpkin and reading lots and lots of books about Halloween!

Ripping paper to make our own pumpkins of differents shapes, sizes and colors!


Painting pumpkins!


 Painting pumpkins!

Carving our class pumpkin!



Exploring the outside AND inside of our pumpkin and writing words to describe it!

Exploring the inside of our pumpkin with a partner!















Poem of the Week--I Am Me!



YouTube Video


YouTube Video