KINDERGARTEN CONNECTION ~ FEBRUARY 16th

KINDERGARTEN CONNECTION ~ FEBRUARY 16th

Please scroll/read all the way to the bottom of this post to see LOTS of wonderful photos of your children at work and play in kindergarten. I chose not to caption the photos this time around because I want to encourage you and your children to read/view the post together and talk about what's happening in the different photos. I'm guessing that they'll have lots to say about the Four Winds photos and 100th Day of School photos. There are surprise photos of your children blowing you kisses in the middle of the post. Enjoy!

Math Highlights

We are big thinking mathematicians in kindergarten! Our focus this week was on using ten frames and dot cards to develop our subitizing skills, the ability to “instantly see how many”. This skill plays a fundamental role in the development of students’ understanding of number. We also worked on modeling simple joining (addition) and separating (subtraction) situations with objects. 

We are working on...

-Counting on and backwards from a given number

-Reading, building and writing number sentences (equations)

-Solving and creating addition and subtraction story problems

Counting by two’s and doubles facts

-Creating and extending patterns

-Naming and exchanging coins (pennies and nickels)

-Analyzing graphs

-Comparing sets of numbers (more, less, equal)

-Representing teen numbers as a group of ten and some more

-Talking about math and justifying our math reasoning 

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 are working on...

-Reading books at our instructional level in small groups

-Writing stories with a beginning, middle and end

-Writing complete sentences using adjectives

-Reading for information and pleasure

-Building reading stamina

-Read and writing high frequency words quickly

-Listening closely and speaking clearly

-Writing our first and last names

-Building word families (cvc words)

-Playing phonemic awareness games