Kindergarten Connection ~ November 20th

Kindergarten Connection ~ November 20th
Happy Thanksgiving! I am incredibly thankful to be your children's teacher.  It is a privilege to teach and learn with your kind, curious and hardworking sons and daughters.

Ask your child to share the song 5 Fat Turkeys are We with you.

Ask your child to share our Thanksgiving Dinner Ran Away song.

We are thankful we can read and write words! 

Wow! Look how much food the CCS community collected for the Charlotte Food Shelf!

Literacy Highlights
The children are actively reinforcing new skills and concepts through motor-memory methods and kinesthetic procedures.  Motion chanting, skywriting, tracing, tapping and finger-blending solidify learning within the brain.  We can name all 26 letters of the alphabet and match them with their corresponding sounds. Ask your child to chant the letters/sounds for you. Remind your child to show you the motions that go with each letter/sound.

Letter Name–Keyword–Letter Sound

Aa-apple-/a/ 
Bb-bat-/bat/ 
Cc-cat-/c/ 
Dd-dog-/d/ 
Ee-Ed-/e/ 
Ff-fun-/f/ 
Gg-game-/g/
Hh-hat-/h/ 
Ii-itch-/i/ 
Jj-jug-/j/ 
Kk-kite-/k/
 Ll-lamp-/l/ 
Mm-man-/m/

Nn-nut-/n/
 Oo-octopus-/o/
 Pp-pan-/p/ 
Qu-queen-/qu/
Rr-rat-/r/ 
Ss-snake-/s/ 
Tt-top-/t/ 
Uu-up-/u/ 
Vv-van-/v/ 
Ww-wind-/w/
 Xx-fox-/x/ 
Yy-yellow-/y/ 
Zz-zebra-/z/

Writer's Workshop

We are writing up a storm in kindergarten! We are studying various authors and illustrators work to learn how writers create engaging and informative books. This week we learned the power of word choice, full illustrations and diagramming. Encourage your child to write a book at home. Maybe you and your child can co-author a book. Happy writing!

Math Highlights
We are becoming teen number experts in kindergarten! We can represent teen numbers as a group of ten and some more with ten frames, tally sticks, scattered objects and our math hands. We are learning how to represent the part-part-whole relationship of addition with objects and written equations. The children are working hard at justifying their math thinking as they work with partners and share in front of the class. We continue to practice naming numerals, ordering numerals, and counting forwards and backwards. 

Science

We are leaning about the seasons and how animals prepare for the winter. We will begin a full weather unit in December.

Play Dough Recipe

Here's an easy recipe if you are looking for something fun to do with your child over the vacation.

Cooked Play Dough Recipe 1 cup flour
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tarter
food coloring
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat.
Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball. Knead until smooth.
Store in covered container.

Before and After Numbers

Forming Lowercase Letters The Kindergarten Way

Look! We made bobble-head turkeys to illustrate this month's poem.

We can say words write the first letter of words using lowercase letters.

We made perseverance capes to illustrate our stick with it and I can do it attitudes.

Mr. Bianci taught us how to use the Story Kit app on iPads. We created pages to document our favorite classroom books. We learned how to take pictures, add text, and voice overs. 

We had Explore Together Time with our friends in Ms. Rowntree's class.

Four Winds
We learned all about birds in winter. We learned that some birds know how to survive cold climates and other birds migrate to warmer climates.

We are reading and loving it!

We are working on responding to questions in writing. We continue to work hard at stretching words out, writing high frequency words and spacing between words. 

We feel so proud when others can read our writing!

New Math Workplaces

Which Bug Will Win?
This game teaches us how to count on, add and compare quantities.

Number Racks
The number rack is a tool that helps us build representations of our mathematical understanding.  

Which Numeral Will Win?

We can say words s-l-o-w-l-y to help us write. We call this stretching or sounding words out.

We can read and write color words.

We used the Smart Board to practice forming sliding letters.

Reading Strategy Cards

The fifth graders came to our classroom to share their turkey stories with us.