A Busy Week!

  
What a busy week we had with the 100th day of school and Valentine's Day!  On Valentine's Day, the children repeatedly said, "This is the best day ever!".  It was so exciting to hear and watch their excitement!   I couldn't have made the day as enjoyable as it was without the help from all parents.  Thank you for the items you contributed to our special snack and for the Valentine cards your child brought in.

Last week in reading we continued reading, and learning about, nonfiction books.  The children learned that:

• When readers finish reading nonfiction, they tell the main idea and details they learned.  Readers can use the fingers on one hand to tell five facts they learned while reading.

• Readers might not have any prior knowledge about a topic.  Readers acknowledge this, then ask questions and tell what they hope to learn.
• Readers can mark new learning or interesting learning with a sticky note.  This new/interesting learning can then be shared with a buddy during buddy reading.

• Readers look closely at the visuals in a nonfiction book to help them think about what an unknown word might mean.
• Many nonfiction books have a glossary.  Readers can use this to help them understand the meaning of new vocabulary.
• There are 26 letters in the alphabet.  Five of those letters are always vowels, and sometimes y is a vowel, too.  The rest of the letters are consonants.  They learned that every word must contain a vowel.  Children played a game called "Follow the Path" to help them practice identifying consonants and vowels.

In addition to all the new learning, children have continued to practice using reading strategies when they come to a word they don't know.  These strategies include:

• Skippy-Frog
• Chunky Monkey
• Stretchy Snake 
• Eagle Eye
• Tryin' Lion and
• Lips the Fish

 Remind your child to use these strategies when he/she comes to an unknown word.

Last week in writing we continued writing how-to books.  The children learned to:

• Think of all the things they can teach others how to do and write those ideas on the covers of how-to books.
• Use a strong, clear voice when writing.
• Write sentences that tell other people how to do something instead of writing about ourselves.
• Zoom in on important parts of pictures to better help our readers understand what we are describing.

Last week in math we:

• Learned about exchanging.  We learned a new game, The Raft Game, which required children to make many exchanges.  The object of the game was to get a plastic bear across a river, but since the bear couldn't swim, the children had to build a raft.  Each raft was made out of five planks.  Each plank was made out of five beans.  The children rolled a die and collected that many beans.  When they had five beans, they exchanged them for a plank.  When they had five planks, they exchanged them for a raft.  Then their bear could make it across the river! 

• Continued counting by 5's and counting/writing tally marks.
• Learned that 10 groups of 10 equals 100.  We explored this on the 100th day of school.  During calendar time, we exchanged ten bundles of 10 straws for one bundle of 100 straws.  Children also made crowns containing ten strips of paper, with each strip of paper holding 10 stickers or drawings for a total of 100 stickers/drawings. 

100 Days of School!

Our favorite part of calendar that occurs every ten school days...The Bundle Dance!

I hope your child has been enjoying his/her February vacation.  I look forward to seeing all the children again in just a few days!
~Katie

100 Days!

Friday was supposed to be our 100th day of school.  Of course, that did not happen due to mother nature.  We will celebrate our 100th day of school tomorrow!  Isn't it hard to believe that your children have already been Kindergartners for 100 days?!?!

This past week we started new units in both reading and writing.  In Reading, the children are learning about, and reading, nonfiction books.  The children learned that:

• Nonfiction books tell real information.
• Readers make sure to thoroughly study the pictures in nonfiction books as they help us understand the text and might go beyond the text.
• Most nonfiction books have a Table of Contents.  
• Readers use the title and pictures to activate their prior knowledge about the topic.

In writing, the children are writing how-to books (ex. How-To Make Your Bed).  This past week in Writing the children:

• Learned that they are experts at doing many things, and through writing, they can teach others how to do these things.  
• Wrote a class how-to book about morning jobs.
• Chose a topic and then acted it out to a buddy.  This helped children recall all the steps involved in their topic.  After acting, the children went to their seats and began writing the steps.

• Worked on the illustrations for the small moments stories they are publishing. 

 

Last week in Math we:

• Practiced reading and entering numbers on a calculator.

•  Used a paper cutout of our feet to measure objects in the classroom.  We then discussed why children who measured the same object might have gotten a different measurement: because our feet are different sizes.

• Read How Big Is a Foot?, a book about a King who wanted a bed to be made for the Queen, but he used his feet to determine the dimensions.  The person who made the bed used his own feet (which were much smaller than the King's feet) to make the dimensions of the bed.  The bed was much too small for the Queen!  This book helped children understand why it is important for everyone to use the same size unit when measuring. 

We used a child's foot and my foot to create two "beds" based on the dimensions in How Big Is a Foot?.

This helped children understand why it is important to have a standard unit of measurement.

• Learned about the standard foot, and used a cutout of a standard foot to measure objects in the classroom.  Unlike when children measured objects with their own feet, this time children got the same measurement because they were using a standard foot.

We have a fun week ahead of us.  We celebrate the 100th day of school tomorrow and Valentine's Day on Thursday.  Fortunately, the weather forecast indicates we will be able to get outside for recess this week.  Back to the adventures of putting on snow pants and boots!

~ Katie