Beginning of March ~ Kindergarten Connection

HAPPY MARCH! 

The new month came in like a lion and will leave like a lamb.

Welcome back!
The children reported that their vacations were packed with fun, family and friends. All of the children agreed that vacations are great, but being back in school learning and playing is great too. J 
March proves to be a magical time in kindergarten as the students’ academic and social skills really take off!
We can rotate independently through literacy and math groups! Ask your child to teach you all about the stations: Guided reading, word study, computer/iPad, ABC (phonics), FUNdations, Writer’s Workshop, number study, partner games, teacher games, Workplaces and math exploration.

Literacy Highlights
We are studying author/illustrator Mo Willems who is well known for his hilarious books Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Knuffle Bunny and a collection of Elephant and Piggy stories. We

noticed that Mo Willems uses a lot of speech bubbles in his work and we were inspired to use talking bubbles in our own writing.
We can read and write the listed high-frequency words quickly. Make a word wall in your home and encourage your child to practice reading and writing these words often. Hunt for high frequency words in books and magazines. Write a note/letter to someone special. Write a story about an important moment or event. Make time to read and write with your child everyday. J
I am a can the we see will he she it is
in no yes on have like look you are love me for my so go off big little here up and an if Mom Dad cat dog going
We are learning how to put two sounds together to read and write initial blends in words such as flap,

trip, brick, frog... We learned the –ake spelling pattern and discovered that –ake is in make, snake, cake, lake, rake, fake, bake and Jake. We noticed that the e at the end of these words is silent and helps the first vowel a make it’s long sound.

Math Highlights
Our focus this week was on creating, representing and solving addition and subtraction problems in multiple ways. Just for fun, play adding and subtracting games with your child using pennies and beans. Ask your child: How many different combinations to make 5 or 10? What happens to a group when you add or subtract 1? Encourage your child to justify his/her math reasoning with words, objects and equations.
Counting, counting and more counting! We are working hard at counting on from random numbers, counting backwards from 20 and skip counting to 20 by 2’s. We are also working on identifying before and after numbers. In addition, we are learning how to use graphs to collect and analyze date.

Science Highlights
We will begin a 5 senses unit next week. The children will learn about their 5 senses and how their senses help them learn about the world.

Making March Calendars

We practiced writing complete sentences by responding to the prompt, "What will you do today?"
The children are remembering to begin sentences with uppercase letters, space between words and end with punctuation marks. The kids feel so proud when they can read their own writing!

We read The Snowy Day and wrote about what we like to do  on snowy days. We are hopeful that this is the last time we write about our winter weather experiences. 

We love FUNdations!
We can tap, build and read words with magnetic tiles. We are focusing on listening closely for vowel sounds. We played a game called vowel switch-a-roo and changed words by only changing the vowel.

We can build, write and read CVC words.

We learned how to play a new addition game. This game supported our understanding of how to count on as a good addition strategy.

We can build and record addition sentences to 10!

Make 5 Game
This game encourages us to make different combinations for 5.

We are learning how to solve word problems.
We can use white boards to teach others about our math thinking.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DR. SEUSS!
Thank you for making books filled with rhyme, rhythm and fun! 

Writer's Workshop
Our writing sessions last more than a half hour a day!
The children love writing, sharing their writing and adding more to their work. There is no question that this group of kindergarten children view themselves as real authors and illustrators! 

We can include diagrams with labels in our writing. We studied a variety of  mentor texts to understand how/why authors and illustrators use diagrams and labels in their work.

Mrs. Nelson talked to us about what to do when we have strong feelings. She  taught us how to  report to an adult when we don't feel safe. We met Mrs. Nelson's feelings frogs and practiced expressing and naming strong feelings.

Mrs. Nelson's Feeling Frogs