Kindergarten Connection - September 20th

Kindergarten Connection ~ September 20th

We take care of our friends!

Literacy Highlights

The children are so excited about the opportunity to write and illustrate in Writer’s Workshop. 
The “big ideas” in Writer’s Workshop thus far are:

• Writers can use pictures, letters, and words to tell stories, share ideas, and to teach others
• Writers can reread and add to their work
• Writers can problem solve
• Writers can share their work
• Writers never waste precious writing time
  
  
  We are on our way to becoming letter/sound and “trick word” (sight words) experts in kindergarten! We can read the “trick words” I, a, go and to. The listed words are those I have formally introduced the children to. However, we also take notice of other “trick words” as we engage in shared reading and writing experiences. There are two important reasons why sight words are an essential component of good reading. First, many of these words do not sound like their spelling might suggest, so “sounding them out” would be unproductive. Also, good readers cannot afford the time to dwell on too many words, or he/she may lose the speed and fluency necessary for determining the author’s message. Therefore, good readers have a bank of words they can read automatically, and their energy is spent on applying learned reading strategies to decode and comprehend text.
  
  We started Work Board! This is the time of day when students work independently or in small groups on literacy, math, science and writing jobs. Soon I will hold small guided reading groups during this time. 

Math Highlights

We are busy counting collections, naming and ordering numbers, learning about different shape attributes, and extending patterns. We are using five and ten frames and our math hands to help us compose and decompose combinations. We are learning how to talk about our math work and thinking in service of learning different ways to solve similar problems. We work together to make each other smarter!

Science Highlights

Fall is almost here! We are noticing early signs of fall such as leaves changing, chilly morning air, darker evenings, and fewer birds flying around the playground. We read a book about the change of seasons and predicted what the trees might look like in a few weeks. 

We know reading begins with our names! We decorated our names with tiny stickers to help us notice the lines and curves that make up different letters. We are going to become letter experts in kindergarten!

Say Cheese!

We added our first two sight words (snap words) to the word wall!

We added our first snap word book to our green book baskets!

We are learning how to use a reading finger to track the words we read on each page.

We can quickly recognize how many dots we see on dice. 

We have a huge collection of ABC books in our classroom. 

On Mondays we pass a microphone around the morning circle to share our personal stories. Some days we have lots of news to report and others a slow news days. We are working on using complete sentences and a loud voice when talking to the group.

Tanya brought her therapy dog into the classroom for a quick hello. The dog was a big hit and put big smiles on all of the children's faces.

We started Work Board! The children rotate through different stations and have opportunities to work in small groups and independently. Soon I will begin working with children in small reading groups during this time. 

Lexia Station

ABC (Literacy) Station

Theme (Science) Station

123 (Math Station)

We always make time to create and play in kindergarten!