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