Farewell, 2012!

We were very busy with holiday activities this week.  We spent a chunk of time preparing for our Gingerbread Baby play.  Didn't they do a great job with their performance?!  It took a great deal of team work to make this performance a success!

We wrapped up our reading and writing units on pattern books.  During Writing, the children worked to publish a book of their choice.

• On Monday, the children corrected any word wall words that were not spelled correctly.
• On Tuesday and Wednesday, the children read their book to an adult who typed it.
• The children will illustrate and share their stories when we get back from vacation.  Due to the many activities that were planned for the week, we did not have time to finish the books prior to vacation.

During Reading on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,  a lot of our time was devoted to rehearsing our play.  Research shows that repeated readings of a text improve a reader's fluency.  Every time the children practiced their lines, their fluency improved.

On Thursday, we continued reading workshop as normal.  I retaught the children that readers get their minds ready to read by looking at the pictures and talking about what they think the book will be about.

On Friday, we read with our first grade reading buddies!

In Math this past week the children:

• Learned about the "pattern block template."  Children created pattern block designs and then recorded their designs by using the template.

• Practiced solving addition number stories and learned about the addition symbol.

• Made measurement Christmas trees.  The children cut out five strips of paper of varying lengths and stacked them from longest to shortest to create a Christmas tree.

 

• Made patterned wrapping paper for parent Christmas gifts!

We have had a very busy, productive first half of Kindergarten.  The new year will bring more new learning.  I look forward to 2013 and watching your children grow even more as learners and people.

Have a joyous, restful holiday season with your family!

Fondly,
Miss Dutremble

The Last Two Weeks

The children had a great time building gingerbread houses!  Thank you for all the items you sent in to help make this activity possible.  And thank you to all the parents who were able to volunteer...I really appreciated all the extra sets of hands. 

 

In addition to making gingerbread houses, we have been busy reading several different versions of The Gingerbread Man.  By reading multiple versions we have been able to practice comparing and contrasting.

Social Studies

Our Social Studies focus for the month of December has been cultures and traditions.  Over the past two weeks the children learned about Hannukah, St. Lucia, and about the traditions and culture in Thailand! 

One of the Hanukkah books I read aloud

We were lucky to have Andre and his mom teach us about Thailand!

Our literacy focus for December has been on pattern books.  Since my last post, we have learned the following skills/strategies in Reading:

• When you figure out the pattern in a book, you can use the pattern to "sweep" you across the pages.
• Before a reader begins reading a book, he/she can do a picture walk with a focus on what changes: the object or what the object is doing.
• Readers think about what will happen next in their book and then continue reading to check their predictions.
• Authors often change the pattern on the last page.  Good readers use the pictures, title, and what they have read so far to help them figure out the "tricky page."
• Readers ask themselves three questions when they are trying to figure out a word: Does it look right?  Does it sound right?  Does it make sense?
• Readers use the words, pictures, and title to help them tell what the book is about.

In Writing we have learned:

• Pattern books communicate meaning just like other books.  All the pages should be about the same topic.
• Writers can use the words on the word wall to write pattern books quickly.
• The title of your book holds your book together.
• Writers can get ideas for a book by asking a friend what kinds of books they like to read.
• Writers can change the pattern on the last page.    

In Math we: 

• Learned how to use a pan balance.

9 plus 1 more equals ten

• Learned about groups of numbers that make ten.

•  Created a bar graph to show our favorite colors.  We then analyzed and discussed the data.

• Used a "teen frame" to build and compare teen numbers.

• Used a giant number line to learn about moving forward and back (or adding and subtracting) on a number line.
• Counted all the fingers in our class by 1s.  We then talked about how we could count fingers more efficiently, by 10s.  The children learned that skip-counting by 10s is more efficient than counting by 1s.
• Compared numbers by playing a card game, Top-It.

 








   

• Used a pattern block template to record designs we created with pattern blocks.     

This week we are busy getting ready for our play.  As a reminder, the children will perform Gingerbread Baby on Wednesday at 1:30.  Hope to see you then!
 
 

Happy December!

Where has the time gone?!?  It's hard to believe we've been in school for close to 60 days.  With December comes new units of study in reading and writing.  Both units involve a focus on pattern books.    We got a head start on these units last week.

In Reading last week we:

• learned that most of the books we are reading have a pattern that is followed on every page.
• learned that once we figure out the pattern on the first page, we can read the rest of the book!
• practiced taking picture walks through books to get our minds ready to read the words.  By looking at and talking about the pictures ahead of time, the children have an idea of what some of the words might say.
•  learned to use all our reading strategies to help us read books.  Children have a toolbox of strategies they can use such as looking at the pictures, getting their mouths ready by saying the first sound in a word, and rereading a sentence that we get stuck on.
• used sticky notes to mark new learning in a book that we can then share with our reading buddy.

 In Writing last week we:

• learned that we are authors just like the authors of the books in our classroom library.  The authors of the books in our library write pattern books, and we can too.
• wrote two class pattern big books: one with the pattern "We like to ______." and one with the pattern "We ________ at recess."  These books were added to our classroom library for children to read.
• brainstormed ideas for pattern book topics and discussed how we can look through the books in our library to come up with ideas for our books.
• wrote our own pattern books!
•  made a pattern book for a child who will be joining our class on Monday!  Each child made his/her own page for the book.

  In Math last week we:

• solved number stories.
• solved "pocket problems," which are pretty similar to number stories.  With "pocket problems" I put a certain amount of an object in a bag, such as 5 plastic bears.  I then add or take away a certain amount, and the children have to determine how many bears are in the bag.
• learned about probability terms certain, possible, likely, unlikely, and impossible.  The children had a lot of fun coming up with events that are impossible.  I really got a glimpse of those creative minds!
• practiced measuring objects using linking cubes.  After measuring objects, students compared their lengths and ordered them from shortest to longest. 

December book orders were sent home this past week.  They are due back on Friday, December 7 so you can receive the books before our holiday break.  As a reminder, you can order the books online.  You can access the website directly through this blog by clicking on the tab above.

Have a lovely week!
~Miss Dutremble