This week in math we added another entry into our math writing journal, all about the shape SQUARE!. We drew a square, talked about things that are squares, described squares and drew pictures and wrote words that we talked about. We will continue adding to our writing journal, but soon will transition to entering our math journal entries into various forms on our iPads!
We also began to discuss addition this week by looking and practicing the ways to make different numbers by using number stories for each number!
One of our iPad tasks during math this week was to scan a QR code with our iPads, listened the shape that was described, draw that shape and write the name of the shape in the last box on the page. So much fun! The QR code said things like "draw a shape with four equal sides" or "draw a shape with two long sides and two short sides" and so forth for each of our 2D shapes!
Reading:
Our CAFE focus strategy this week was "Compare and Contrast". We practiced this strategy several ways. We compared the two books There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat. We also compared cupcakes and donuts, two characters in a story (a teacher and a fire fighter from our community helper unit) and within the story Stellaluna, comparing how the characters and events were the same and different from the beginning of the book to the end.
During iPad choices this week, students practiced using the app PicCollage by taking a picture, adding stickers, background and labels to the pictures. The new skill this week was to use the tool airdrop on the iPads to send it to my iPad when they finished.
One of our morning work activities this week was practicing writing the beginning, middle and ending sounds we hear in words. The page had a picture of something, the student was to write the word that described the picture and scan the QR code to check to see if they were correct! After completing the assignment, students could color the page using crayons or taking a picture and coloring the picture on the iPad.
Writing:
We began learning how to write a narrative/true story this week in writing. Narrative writing is one of our three main writing topics in kindergarten. In addition to narrative writing, we will learn how to write an opinion and informational writing by the end of the year. To start this first unit, we practiced telling true stories to a partner by making sure we tell them the WHO, WHAT and WHERE of the story. We created a class story this week about Grandparent's Day. We went through each of the three pages of the book discussing how a true story is a told across several pages. We will continue next week working on a class book and then will transition into the students writing their own true stories. After we finished each page, we learned how to add our books into an app called Book Creator. We will complete a lot of books using this app this school year and this week we were learning how to use all of the tools and functions within the app.
Content:
We focused on several nocturnal animals this week! Our main focus was on bats, but we also talked about red foxes and raccoons. Next week will continue to learn about these night creatures and talk about owls plus many others!
Other:
A favorite quote of mine this week came from this student below, he says to me "Mrs. Brown!! Look I made a QR code!" I was impressed with his creativity and excited to see that the QR codes in our classroom are not only exciting to use but even fun to make out of math tools!
PRACTICE AT HOME:
When your child is telling you a story about ANYTHING, remind them to add in the WHO, WHERE and WHAT of the story. See if they can write the story down using at least three sentences to tell the entire story, or pieces of the story.
Next Week:
- In reading we will learn the CAFE strategy "Make a Mental Image".
- In writing we will continue learning how to write a narrative story.
- In math we will focus on number bonds!
- Our theme next week is all about Nocturnal Animals--owls!
Important Dates/Information:
- 11/11-Veteran's Day Program
- 11/19-Parent University
- 11/26-11/27 Thanksgiving break--NO SCHOOL
- 12/4--All School Behavior Incentive Field Trip--PMO Christmas Show
- 12/8-Barnes and Noble Night 5-7:30
- 12/18-End of 2nd Nine Weeks
