KINDERGARTEN CONNECTION ~ OCTOBER 5TH

KINDERGARTEN CONNECTION

October 5th

Drawing by Ava

SCROLL DOWN FOR DOZENS OF GREAT PHOTOS WITH CAPTIONS EXPLAINING MORE ABOUT OUR WORK AND PLAY IN KINDERGARTEN

Literacy Highlights

We are learning strategies good readers use.  We know that good readers sometimes use their pointer finger to track words (match) as they read print from left to right.  Good readers look at the pictures.  Good readers get their lips ready and look closely at the beginning letter/sound of new words.  Good readers stretch words out and they put sounds together.  Good readers look for chunks or parts of words they know to read tricky words.  Good readers read punctuation and pay attention to bold print.  In addition, good readers ask, “Does it look right?”  “Does it sound right?”  Does it make sense?”  

We can read and write the sight-words:  I, am, go, to, see, we, will and to.  Encourage your children to practice writing these words in shaving cream on a cookie sheet and in their everyday writing experiences.    

We are busy authors and illustrators in kindergarten!  We are using mentor texts to teach us how informational texts are organized as we work to write and illustrate our own teaching books.  Ask your children to share their writing topics with you and to explain their plans for adding more details/information to their books.  Encourage your children to write at home.  Kindergarten children love to create lists, write letters, label items, write words, practice forming letters, etc.  

Math Highlights

We are working hard at counting, comparing and ordering numbers.  Specifically, we are focusing on mastering numbers 1-10 and beginning to work on teen numbers 11-19.  We will spend a lot of time working to understand that numbers 11-19 are made up of a group of ten and some more (additional ones).  We are using tens frames, counting mats, and linking cubes to help us compose and decompose teen numbers.  For example, we are learning to represent 13 by filling a ten frame with 10 pennies and then placing three more pennies on a second ten frame.  This representation helps the children understand that the numeral 1 in 13 stands for one group of 10, and the numeral 3 in 13 stands for 3 more than 10 (10+3=13).  Ask your children to show you how to organize a collection of beans or pretzels into groups of ten and more.  

Science Highlights

Ask your children to explain the life cycle of an apple to you.  If you have an apple at home, ask your children to identify the skin, flesh, pulp and seeds.

Family Project Idea

Make green Oobleck! This NON-EDIBLE recipe is named after the strange material that falls from the sky in Dr. Seuss' book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. It's a fun recipe to be used as a science experiment of sorts with young children.  Is it a solid?  Is it a liquid?  It's a liquid until pressure is applied. Squeeze it hard and it feels like you are holding a rock!  Release your hand gently and the material will flow around your fingers like water!  Have fun using different utensils to play - see what form it takes while using different cups, spoons, bowls, etc. 

Oobleck Ingredients:  Cornstarch and water 

Directions:  Mix 1 part water with 1.5 to 2 parts cornstarch. You may wish to start with one cup of water and one and a half cups of cornstarch, then work in more cornstarch if you want a more 'solid' oobleck. It will take about 3 minutes of mixing to get the perfect consistency oobleck.  Mix in a few drops of food coloring if you want colored oobleck. 

We always start our morning with a meeting. During this meeting, we greet each other, share news, go over the day's schedule, read/write a message, sing and dance and set goals for the day. 

We use a microphone to encourage us to use big voices and clear sentences when sharing news.  

Word Woman (a.k.a Mrs. Cota) visits our classroom through out the week to teach us how to read and write trick words (high frequency words). Word Woman works hard to make learning fun and engaging for all learners.

So far we know how to read the trick words I, am, to, go, we, will, see, yes,  and boo. 

We love words! We know that learning how to read and write trick words quickly  will help us become skilled and confident readers.

Sometimes we celebrate words by decorating them.

We can match ten frame cards with numerals. We are learning how to recognize quantities quickly .

We are learning how to form numerals the kindergarten way! Ask your children to teach you the rhymes we use to form numerals correctly.

This friend is showing us how the Super Star might sit to encourage others to be whole body listeners.  As you can tell -- this is a very serious job :)

We are learning how to use our reading finger to help us match words to text.

This is an example of an activity that might happen during Ease-In Time. The children are working together to create posters. 

Quiet Time Activity

The Charlotte Fire Department visited to teacher us about  fire safety.

Ms. Bennett tried on fire gear. She said it was very heavy.

We learned how to stop, drop and roll.

Pretending to be fire fighters 

We started Workboard this week! Ask your children to teach you how this board works and tell you what the MUST DO jobs are at the stations. The station jobs change from week to week.

Puzzle Station

123 Station

Writing Station

ABC Station

Theme/Science Station

ABC Station

123 Station 

123 Station

123 Station

Writing Station 

Happy October! We made October calendars. Please remember to use this calendar to keep track of the days, practice counting, and record plans and special days.

NEW Math Workplaces

Beat You To Five
We can make 5 in different ways.

Pattern Strips
We can read, extend and record AB, ABB, ABC, and AABBC patterns.

Which Numeral Will Win?
We can read and write numerals. We can compare groups to tell which has the most and least.

The children love to play with pattern blocks. Look at this growing pattern!

We built telling sentences out of the words I and am. We learned that sentences begin on the left, have spaces between words, and end with punctuation marks.

We can match numerals 1-20 with groups of objects.

Word Puzzles

We are learning how to form lowercase letters the kindergarten way. Ask your children to teach you the different line names had how to form letters l,t,h,b,f,m,n,i,u.

We made apples out of right triangles. The apples will decorate to kindergarten hallway.

One of our classmates read a book to us! 

Fall Leaf Rubbings

A big THANK YOU to Mani's family for making us orange play-dough!