Life in Kindergarten

Monday, September 18, 2017

We are off to a great start! Your children have been very busy making new friends, learning rules and routines, and exploring our classroom and school. While this does not cover everything (the list would go on and on!), here is a snapshot of what we've been up to:

We started our Reading Workshop routine. Every day, Reading Workshop begins with a mini-lesson, then the children have time to read-to-self. Soon, buddy reading will become a regular part of Reading Workshop, too. Last week, I taught the children that even when they don't know how to read words, they can still read a book by telling the story through the pictures. They can also retell a story they have heard before. The children had many opportunities to practice these two types of reading. I was impressed with how engaged the children were with their reading!

We also started our Writing Workshop routine. Writing Workshop follows a similar format to Reading Workshop in that it begins with a mini-lesson, then students have time to write independently. Many days, we end Writing Workshop with a share. Last week, I taught the children that they can write a story through pictures. I also taught them how to stretch out a word and write a letter for the sounds they hear.

During Math we:

learned about length and practiced comparing the lengths of different strips of paper.
explored pattern blocks.
learned about tagging-and-dragging as a strategy for counting how many objects are in a group.
learned about subitizing (being able to tell how many are in a small group without counting...think of how you know exactly how many dots are on each side of dice.).
learned that numbers are all around us. We went on a number hunt through our school to see how many numbers we could find. The children loved this activity!

We spent a lot of time enjoying the playground with our new friends. We also started Free Exploration in the classroom, a time when the children get to choose what they would like to do (sandbox, puzzles, legos, coloring, foam blocks, etc.).