Applefest

We had a great time at Applesfest.  We learned a lot about apples and how the settlers used them.  We learned how they use to make apple cider, applesause, and more.

Here are some great photos from today.

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed

It's Johnny Appleseed's birthday today.   We read an autobiography and then pretended to be him.  It's always fun to pretend to be someone famous.  We also thought it was funny to wear a pot on our heads.  We  will get to meet him and learn more about him on Friday at Applefest

What's Happening this week?

This week will be very busy! On Thursday we will go to our first grade level mass.  It is Thursday morning starting at 8:15.  If you would like to join us, you are more than welcome.  On Friday we are going to Applesfest.  We are leaving promptly at 8:15 and will return by 12:15.  The students are to be in uniform, but please make sure they are dressed for the weather and have gym shoes on.  We are eating at school that day, so if your child buys they may still do so.  This is also the last week for  the magazine sale!

In Language Arts, we are working on naming words and comprehension skills.  We will learn how to correctly form letter Tt.  In Writer's Workshop we will be discussing that letters make words and words make sentences, leaving spaces between words and writing left to right, top to bottom.  In Math, we are focusing on numbers 6, 7 and 8.  We also started our Apple Unit today.  In Science, we are differentiating between living and non-living things and learning what living things need.  

Read to Someone

As always there is lots of learning going on in kindergarten!We have now started implementing Read to Someone in our classroom!  When we read to someone, we are practicing our reading, fluency and word skills,  just like in Read to Self, but now we can read quietly to our partners.  We do this because it is fun and makes us better readers.  When we do Read to Someone we sit EEKK.  Here is our poem we say before we begin to read.   

Here are a few photos of some partnerships.  I love how they are sitting EEKK (elbow to elbow, Knee to Knee)!

What's Happening This Week?

This week in Language Arts we will be discussing action words, non-fiction books and ways to be a good listener.  We will also be learning how to correctly form the letter Rr and how to make the sound correctly.  The /r/ sound can be very challenging for kindergartners, but needs to reinforced!  We will also learn the "popcorn" word my.  In Math, we are discussing more than, less than and equal sets to 5.  We will finish our  "I can be me" books that we started last week.  In Read to Self, we are continuing to build stamina. 

In Religion we will be discussing ways to show love to God.  We are also going to be spending a lot of time everyday discussing  what it means to be respectful and show kindness to everyone.  Even 5 and 6 year olds need to be shown what respect looks like.  The best way to accomplish this at home is to model how to be respectful.  I have shown them this video several times already and will continue to do so.   You can show it to them at home as well.

Exercise (Brain Breaks)

When we are in kindergarten we need to move around and exercise a lot!  We need lots of brain breaks so our brains can work a little better.  We exercise each morning to get stronger and smarter!  We know that when we exercise we are getting oxygen to our brains and that helps us think.  Here were are exercising.  We are doing the 7 Days of Bootcamp.

What's Happening This Week?

The annual magazine sale begins this week on Wednesday.  It is a huge fundraiser for the school.  Look for the packet of information to come home on Wednesday! 

In Language Arts we will start with letters Mm and Ss this week and learn the "popcorn" or high frequency word a. We will continue to progress with Writer's Workshop as well.   We will begin our All About Me thematic cross curricular unit focusing on Social Studies concepts of identifying our phone numbers and birthdays.  We will also begin a fun book titled I can be Me!  In Math, we will learn about the number 0 and go more indepth with numbers 0-5.  In Religion, we will discover God's world with our five senses. 

I am sure that many of your kindergarteners are very tired when they get home-they may even be crabby!  Please don't worry, this is perfectly normal. Even I get tired!!!!  As they become more acclimated to being here all day it will get better.  We work and play very hard.  If you can try to get them to bed by 8:00.  They need plenty of rest!!! 

Color Words

We finished learning the color words!  We have learned red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, pink, white, gray, brown and black.  We made great books which I will keep here at school for a while for the students to read.   Here is a fun song we sign to help us learn to spell and read the words:

Just as a reminder, if you did not sign up for you Edline account please do so.  All emails are sent through Edline.  If you need your account number please contact the office.  It should be in your packet of information.  THANKS! 

What's happening this week?

This week is another filled week of work and play.  We are getting down our procedures and routines. 
In Literacy, we are continuing to learn the procedures for Writer's Workshop and how to write.  We are also learning how to retell a story with a beginning, middle and end.  We will continue to build reading stamina and start literacy stations. In math, we will continue with numbers 0-5.  In Religion we will discuss that God created the world and how to take care of it.  In Social Studies, we will finish our School Life unit.  We will finish our color words this week, too! 

Read to Self

One of the things we started this week in kindergarten  was Read to Self and we learned 3 ways to read a book: 
1. Read the pictures.
2. Read the words.
3. Retell the story.

We also learned why we do Read to Self:
1. It helps us to become better readers.
2. It is fun!

So even if your kindergarteners doesn't know any words or some words, they can all read a book.  It is so important to immerse children in literature.  The more they are exposed the better readers they will become.  (Practice, practice, practice) This will also allow time to work with groups and individual students as we become more independent!

We are up to about 4 minutes now, but will continue to build our stamina,  eventually trying to get to 10-15 minutes. 

Here they are in action: