That's what's up in kindergarten: really good stuff. I took some time to do a pretty thorough post this week with a surplus of info about what's new at school. Lots of hopefully valuable info here about what your amazing kinder is learning! We are gaining lots of momentum as we synthesize many skills we've worked on throughout the first half of the school year. Please feel free to email with any questions you may have. I'm so excited about all the awesome happenings on our team!
Is your kinder practicing passwords? - We continue to practice sight words during reading centers at school. When students can quickly recall sight words in an appropriate level text (for them), it frees up mental energy to work on sounding out other words they may not readily know. Memory games, sight word hunts, and password go fish are great ways to practice instead of flipping through the key ring every night.
Classroom Solids Hunt - Using clipboards and becoming shape detectives was a fun way to reinforce our knowledge of the names and attributes of shapes. (After all, clipboards make everything feel so much more official to a kinder.) It also reminded us of why our study of shapes is so important - shapes are all around us!
Calming Choices at Quiet Time - As the year has progressed, kinders have learned several strategies for helping their body and brain feel calm and "in the green zone." We decided to add a couple more choices during quiet time for those who don't want to sleep/rest but are still working on calming down and resting up for our busy afternoons. One new option is "belly breathing" with a beanie buddy that kinders can watch rise up and down on their belly with their breath. Another choice is using some of the yoga they have learned in the classroom or with Mrs. Ricciardi. These added options have been very useful for some mindful kinders!
Math Choice Days - Sometimes we split up into smaller groups for math to practice skills with games and meet with the teacher in a group size that allows for more individual attention. Here we are reviewing flat shape names with Groundhog Day Roll and Graph Shapes. While students played with a partner, other students practiced handwriting numbers with Miss Robinson. Then we switch centers so that everyone gets a chance to do each activity. We are building lots of independence with math centers choices.
Flexible Seating - Earlier in the year, we introduced several types of flexible seating at the rug to help our Team feel comfortable and focused on learning. We more recently have introduced several other flexible seating options for tables. Some tables still have regular chairs, but others have either: wobbly stools, bumpy saucer cushions for the floor, and bouncy ball crate seats. These seats offer the opportunity to move while seated in our own bubble space and also build core strength. Students rotate to a new table each week so that everyone gets to try all seating options. We hope to get to a point later in the year where each student is able to choose the type of seating that works best for their body and learning habits.
Have you heard about our pom pom jar? - I am not a huge fan of extrinsic motivation for positive choices, but this visual reminder of when our class is/is not following directions without reminders is really helping us to work as a team to build positive habits. Each time our team is collectively on task/following directions without teacher redirection, we earn a pom pom. So far, we have filled the jar once as a team and are working on planning a mini class celebration for our teamwork. I think we have some future events planners in our class!
Empathy and Including Others - We've started a new practice during morning meeting on Thursday's called "Think About it Thursday," which has allowed us to have open conversations about social emotional learning we are building upon in kindergarten. The past two weeks, we checked out a couple of Sesame Street videos (featured below) about the words include and empathy. We shared examples of what we thought this meant and continue to reflect on it when fitting. Our team also brainstormed things we might notice about someone who wants to be included: their head is down at recess, they are standing alone, they look sad or confused. We are learning to be noticers of emotions in others. Our study of the word empathy connected well with our learning from Mr. B last week about the "we brain vs. me brain." Our we brain helps us think about others but our me brain might have us focused on ourselves. I encourage you to continue these conversations with your kinder at home to help build these important social skills. :)
Making Text to Self Connections - This week we practiced text to self connections with Team 112 by reading the book Hibernation Station and making connections with the animals bedtime habits. We moved to different tables in the classroom based on our own bedtime routines: having a glass of water/snack, listening to music, reading a story, wearing special pajamas, or making a map of our route to bed. We will continue to build reading comprehension using the skill of making text to self connections in the weeks to come.
The 100th Day is Near! - Tomorrow (Monday) will be our 100th Day of School!! (Some students were somewhat disappointed when they realized the 100th day did not signify the end of the school year quite yet.) We did a little pre-100th day preparation by creating some future self portraits of what we think we will look like when we are 100 years old. This artwork will accompany our 100th day projects in the hallway on display before you get to admire it at home, but here is a sneak peek! :)
Ask your kinder:
- Make text to self connections while you read together at home.
- Which table seat do you like the most? Why?
- What are you working on to help your team ear pom poms?
- How do you include others at school? What does it look like/sound like when someone wants to be included?
- How is your me brain different from your we brain?
Reminders:
- Monday, February 12th - 100th Day of School
- Tuesday, February 13th - Invention Convention
- Wednesday, February 14th - Friendship Day
- February 19th - Teacher Workshop - Early Release
- February 26th - March 2nd - Winter Break
- March 29th - Kindergarten Show
- May 31 - No School - Kindergarten Screening
- June 1 - No School - Kindergarten Screening
