Saturday, January 27, 2018

Woahhhh, we're halfway there!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist a Bon Jovi throwback in reference to where we are at this point in the school year.  Did you know that this past Friday marks the halfway point, the 90th day of school!?  We may or may not be livin' on a prayer as well.  Kidding.  (Mostly.) 😁😁  But really, these kids of yours are doing absolutely outstanding things!  We are becoming more independent readers, writers, mathematicians, scientists, and citizens of Team 111.  Everyday is filled with many moments where Mrs. McGregor and I look at each other and say, "Wow, would you just look how far we've come."  Again, I thank you families for entrusting us with this journey of kindergarten.  Of course, it comes with hurdles and bumps here and there, but the payoff is so remarkable.  I hope you're seeing as much growth at home as we see here each day.  💚


Narrative Growth - We continue to work on narratives and make sure they have 5 star words and illustrations.  (In case you missed that post, read about it here.)  We added the last 2 stars to 5 star words: use ending punctuation and KEEP TRYING!  Our team decided it might be helpful to use our 5 finger retelling tools from reader's workshop to help us make sure our narratives had all the important parts of a story:  WHO are the characters, WHERE does the story take place, what happened FIRST, THEN, and LAST.  Our narrative writing will be coming to a close in the next couple of weeks.  




Spinner the Spider - Our next area of study during reader's workshop has been working on text to self connections to help with our comprehension of a story.  Kinders met Spinner the Spider, a reading helper who reminds us to make connections to a text!  Mrs. Young helped us learn this new skill.







Becoming Shape Experts - You should hear the math vocabulary Team 111 kinders are using to describe the attributes of shapes!  So many students are using terms such as:
  • vertex/vertices - a point on a shape
  • face - the flat side of a solid shape
  • edge - where two faces meet
  • equal sides
  • curves
Below are a series of photos from recent math explorations.  
  • First, students played a mystery bag shape game where one student felt a shape in a mystery bag, described its attributes, another student guessed the shape, and then we all made it with playdough.
  • The second activity is called the Barrier Game.  One student hides behind the barrier with a shape mat while others have the same shape mat and a variety of shapes.  The student behind the barrier calls out directions include positional words (above, below, beside, top, bottom, etc.) of where to place each shape.  At the end, the barrier is removed to see if others followed along correctly.  This was a great review of flat shapes: circle, square, triangle, hexagon, rectangle.
  • Last, students did a shape experiment with solids to see which solids could roll, slide, or stack.  We recorded our information on recording sheets and shared data with the group!  
































Ask your kinder - 
  • What are some of your narratives about in writers workshop?  What are some new things you could write about?
  • Who is Spinner the Spider?  What does she help with?  What is a text to self connection?
  • What are some attributes of: spheres, cones, cylinders, and cubes?
  • Which solids could roll, slide, or stack?
Reminders - 

  • Solids for our collection - Please send in recycled/clean solids for our collection at school. Examples include paper towel rolls, tissue boxes, yogurt containers, etc. We are looking for things we can build with for a special project we will do in a couple of weeks!
  • February 1st - 100th Day Projects Due
  • February 8th - Invention Convention
  • February 8th - 100th Day of School!
  • February 9th - Report cards going home
  • February 14th - Friendship Day!
  • February 16th - PTO Father Daughter Dance
  • February 19th - Teacher Workshop - Early Release
  • February 26th - March 2nd - Winter Break
  • March 13th - No School - Teacher Workshops
  • March 28th - Family Math/Literacy Event - BES Cafeteria
  • March 29th - Senior Citizen Luncheon for Bow Residents
  • March 29th - Kindergarten Concert - BHS
  • May 31 - No School - Kindergarten Screening
  • June 1 - No School - Kindergarten Screening




Wednesday, January 17, 2018

All "Wintry Mixed" Up!

Consistency is the name of the game these days with all the snow days, holidays off, and still adjusting to our normal routines after the holiday break last month.  So far, we have had one full week back at school, but even that was a little wacky as I was out one of those days.  And here we are again with a snow day . . . That being said, we are making the most of the time we DO have at school, and what that means is that our days have been pretty packed.  Unfortunately, I have less pictures to post this time around, but I'd love to fill you in on what kinders have been learning!

Reading - Our Team finished being introduced to all letters and letter sounds, but we continue to review them and learn new passwords each week.  Kinders also have been introduced to the strategy of tapping CVC words to read and write them.  Here's what we are starting to learn about this concept:

  • CVC words are words that have a consonant-vowel-consonant spelling (ex: rug, lip, cap, net, dog)
  • when you tap a word, you tap each sound from beginning to end
  • we tap words on our fingers starting with the pointer finger and moving toward the pinky for each sound
  • after tapping sounds, we blend them together (ex: r-u-g, rrrruuuuugggg, rug) to say the word
  • we can tap words we read, or words we want to write
Writing - We solidified our recent learning about drawing 5 star illustrations and are working to keep that in mind as we move onto writing 5 star words/sentences.  

5 star illustrations have:
  • who is in the narrative
  • where the narrative takes place
  • what happened in the narrative
  • details added to the picture
  • careful coloring
5 star words/sentences have:
  • uppercase/lowercase letters where we need them
  • stretched or tapped out words/sounds
  • finger spaces between words
We have yet to add the last two criteria for 5 star words.  More to come!

Math - Pictures for this update! Kinders are learning lots about solid shapes.  We will continue to review flat shapes (circle, triangle, rectangle, square, hexagon need to be mastered) as we move forward in learning about the attributes of solid shapes.  We learned that the biggest difference between flat and solid shapes is that solids stick up when we put them on a table but flat shapes do not!  The solids kinders are learning about are: sphere, cylinder, cube, and cone.  














Yoga and Mindfulness - You may have heard your kinder use the word "mindful" at home, at least that is my hope!  We have been using the word mindful to describe things to be aware of and keep in mind as we learn at school.  Being mindful of our bodies in space and relation to others has been an important focus.  We have been using "body scans" to think about and relax each part of our body as we get ready to do a whole group activity, enter the classroom, etc.  Body scans from head to toe have been a great way for us to get our body and brain ready for learning.  Here are a few pictures of some brave kinder yogis in warrior 2 pose and also testing out their balance in warrior 3 pose.  Brief yoga breaks help us refocus, be calm, and keep us in the green zone.  



Ask your kinder - 
  • Choose a CVC word and ask them to tap it out.
  • What are some of the things you need to do to have 5 star writing?
  • Name the flat shapes you know.
  • Name the solid shapes you know.
  • Find solid shapes in your home.
  • What do you need to be mindful of when playing in the snow?
Reminders - 

  • January 25th - Ignite the Night - Build a City for 2050
  • February 8th - Invention Convention
  • February 9th - Report cards going home
  • February 19th - Teacher Workshop - Early Release
  • February 26th - March 2nd - Winter Break
  • May 31 - No School - Kindergarten Screening
  • June 1 - No School - Kindergarten Screening