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