CAFE Mini-Lessons

We took two stories we read during our Dental Health week and compared/contrasted them. We found there were several things the same, as well as several things that were different!

Tooth Trouble:

-Wilbur went to the dentist to fix his tooth.

-The setting was outside in the snow.

-Wilbur's teeth were called tusks.

-A tusk broke.

-Wilbur felt better.

-He didn't want to go to the dentist.

Hippo's Tooth Surprise:

-The animals didn't know hippo's tooth hurt.

-They rolled him down the hill.

-When he was bouncing down the hill, his tooth came out!

-The setting was in a jungle.

-Hippo got a headache.

-There wasn't a dentist in the story.

Both:

-They had tooth problems.

-Animals were the characters.
-Animals talked, so they were fiction books.

During an Accuracy mini-lesson, we brainstormed a list of words in each of the three word families we were going to study that week. We studied words in the -it, -ip and -et word families. I was beyond impressed with how many words the class came up with on our first day with these families!

In reviewing a previously taught Comprehension strategy called "Beginning, Middle and End of a Story", we first read a book called Olive, My Love. After reading the story, we filled in the boxes on the board labeled "B" for beginning, "M" for middle and "E" for end. We found three ideas to be true for each section and in filling the different boxes out, we realized not only were we practicing this strategy, but retelling a familiar story and including key details!

Abraham Lincoln Log Cabins

We learned about our presidents past and present this week. One of the past presidents we learned about was Abraham Lincoln. We learned a lot of interesting facts about him. We learned that he grew up in a log cabin, loved to read books, wore a top hat, freed the slaves and his face is on the penny! On Friday, we created our very own pretzel log cabins in honor of President Abraham Lincoln.

The Elephant

This week we worked on our voice when reading our poem. We discussed the different words in the poem that were important and would need to be emphasized by the reader, so the listener knows they are important. Below are the words to the poem with the important words we decided to emphasize when reading.

The elephant goes like this, like that.

He's terribly big,

And he's terribly fat.

He has no fingers,

He has no toes,

But godness gracious,

What a nose!



ABC's of Ag Day at MHS!

This morning, we went over to McCutcheon High School for a field trip. We went to see farm animals. Some of the animals we saw were puppies, horses, llamas, rabbits, sheep, a pig, a donkey, a cow, a turkey and baby chicks. Not only did we get to see farm animals but we also made a craft barn with stickers and we took corn and tomato seeds and planted them in our own flower pots of dirt. Before we left we ate cookies and drank milk! It was really fun!

This blog entry was written by Mrs. Brown's kindergarten class.

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Shared Writing

A few weeks ago we talked about ways to write a story. We used the words first, next, then, now and finally to put a story together telling the reader how to build a snowman. We created the story together as one example of how a writer writes.



Another way we talked about how a writer writes is by making a list. A writer does not always have to compose complete sentences to get his/her idea across. We decided to look around our room for objects that resemble a shape we have learned about in math. We labeled our list into four categories, circles/spheres, squares/cubes, rectangles and triangles/cones. The class walked about the room searching for things that reminded them of one of these shapes. Upon their return, we put the items in an organized list on our chart.

Writing Journals

We have been filling up many, many pages in our individual writing journals this year. We took time one morning last week to go back and look through all of our writings since the beginning of the year. We spread throughout the room and found a piece where we thought we did our absolute best writing and illustration. Each student took turns and sat in the author’s chair and shared the piece of writing. Things we were looking for was capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, meatball spaces in between words, sight words and words we did not know spelled correctly and/or stretched out to hear the sounds, writing on the lines and punctuation at the end.

Valentine's Day Fun!

 

Our Valentine's fun started off with a writing project where we finished the sentence "Something I will love forever is....." After discussing what it was we would love forever, the class wrote the end of the sentence on the paper and shared what they wrote. We finished the activity by gluing our sentence onto a bear and heart we cut out. Too cute!

Next, we took out the Valentine's we brought for our friends and began to deliver them to each mail bag. This was one of the class's favorite parts of the day. They enjoyed being the "mailmen" for the day!



























To finish the day we took plain sugar cookies and decorated them with icing, sprinkles and M&M's! This activity was a close second as their favorite Valentine activity.


























 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! 

Please Bee Mine

Last week during our whole group writing instruction time we completed a letter to our school about Valentine's Day. Below is the letter we wrote as a class, as well as adorable bumble bees we made during craft time on Friday afternoon!

 

"February 9, 2012

Dear Mayflower,

We love you! Will you be my valentine?

Love,

Mrs. Brown's Class"

CAFE Review--Beginning, Middle & End of a Story

Today we reviewed a previously taught comprehension strategy called "Beginning, Middle and End of a Story". We discussed what the strategy meant before reading the story. I drew three boxes on the board and gave the class a purpose when listening to the story. They were to listen for what happens in each part of the story so we could fill in the boxes after reading. We read the story Olive My Love and afterward discussed what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story. They did a GREAT job with this!

 



The Muffin Man

Dental Health Week

This week we studied all about ways to keep our teeth healthy and clean. February is National Children's Dental Health Month. We read several books and on Friday we completed a page where we each drew items that we learned keep our teeth healthy and clean. We also watched a fun video/song about brushing our teeth.

Work on Writing

During Work on Writing, the students usually have the option for a free write in their journals. This week, I placed a new option for them to choose from. Every month I put up a new monthly words poster in our word work/writing area. Students can take a paper from the folder below the poster and use one of the words in a sentence. After writing the sentence, they draw a picture! When the rotation is over they show me their writing and if they are finished they can take it home that day. If they are not finished, they simply put the paper in their book box to return and finish the next time they choose Work on Writing.

Daily 5 Math!

Below are two new items in our Daily 5 math choices for Number Work and Math with Someone. The first few pictures are of two students who are using a number line to help solve addition problems. They also write the addition problem as they are solving. The last picture is of two students who first took a bag of shapes and sorted them according to same size and then created a picture to draw using the shapes. Both new items have been major hits during our math time this week!

What's Shakin' in Room 26??

Today we had our first Earthquake drill. We watched a few video clips of other students practicing this drill before we practiced. The three main words we are to remember when practicing for an earthquake are drop, cover and hold on. The class did an excellent job during our school wide earthquake drill on Tuesday!

Math with Someone

A new activity at our Math with Someone choice involves students taking turns rolling two dice. One dice as the regular dots on each of the sides, the other dice as either a 1 or a 0. They are to add the two numbers together and put a chip in the spot on the graph of their correct answer. The goal is to try and read the top of the graph for one or more of the numbers!