Bears in a Cave

We had a little bit of math fun in kindergarten on Wednesday.  Our math curriculum asks us to create number combinations with
the
same
old
number
tiles
over
and
over.

Well, we decided to have a little fun with our number combinations of 6.  We played Bears in a Cave with Teddy Grahams and paper cups bear caves.

The kids were SO engaged in creating their number combinations!  It probably helped that they were allowed to eat their math manipulatives when they were finished with math.

Loving Some Valentine Fun

The kids were SO excited on Valentine's Day.  Honestly, I've never seen a class as excited.  Their enthusiasm was absolutely fabulous!  We started out with Conversation Heart math.



There was graphing.

We did some estimating, counting, and sorting.

There was a bit of writing as well.

The day ended with cookie decorating, cupcakes, and passing out Valentine cards.  

For the record, they were allowed to eat 5 conversation hearts, and they had to choose between eating a cookie or a cupcake.  They got to take the other things home, but I didn't want to send them home on a sugar high.  I have your backs, parents.

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

100th Day of School

We're 100 days smarter in kindergarten!  Take a look at a few of the fun projects Mrs. Harrison did with the class on Friday.

 

 

We made the 100 day crowns.

We wrote and drew about the best thing we did in the first 100 days of school.

We made an art picture using 1 and 2 0’s!

We made an art project of us at 100 years old. (I loved the way these turned out!)

We made a 100's day snack mix.

 

It's hard to believe we are on the downhill slope in kindergarten!

A Few Centers

Just about every day, in full day kindergarten, we have time for developmental centers.  There is so much to value in free play.  Kids have the chance to be creative, interact with their peers, solve problems, and learn which activities they truly enjoy.

I snapped this photo the other day, of one small portion of the classroom, during center time.  It shows a wide variety of activities going on.
 (Sorry if the photo looks blurry.  I pixilated out the kids' faces.)

Just in this one photo you can see a few boys engaged in dramatic play in our home center/fruit market, two kids painting at the easel, two kids playing reading games on the computer, and two kids exploring the light table.  Learning in kindergarten comes in so many forms.  During this 20 minute block, kids learn so many different skills!

Sometimes, it's all about Playful Learning!

Sight Words and Writing Homework

Recently, we sent home two sets of sight word cards with each child.  These cards are for you to keep at home.  This is the list of 42 words that we expect our kindergarten students to know at the end of the year.


At my house, when the kids were in kindergarten and first grade, we would use these cards to play Memory.  Remember that game when you were little?  I would encourage you to start with a smaller number of cards.  Having 84 word cards on the floor in front of you seems quite overwhelming.  I would suggest choosing 10 words, to start, and finding their matches.  That way you only have 20 total cards staring at you. (By the way, I have found that my memory must be declining as I get older.  My kids would always beat me, even when I was truly trying.)

Another thing you may want to do, is use these cards as flash cards.  You can keep one set at home and one set in the car.  I found that this ended whining in the car.  As soon as my kids started to whine about being bored, I said, "Hey, let's practice those sight words!"  Voila!  No more whining!

One last tip for practicing sight words.
 (and I LOVE this idea)
Write all of the words on your child's pillow case, with a permanent marker.  (Buy a cheap pillow case first!)  Then, every night at bedtime, ask your child to pick a handful of words to read.  It's quick and easy, and you'll also have a visual reminder to practice the sight words every single night!  My kids loved this!

By the way, the green folders that were sent home are yours to keep.  We thought they would be a good place for you to keep your child's work.  The name cards are for practicing first and last name with proper letter formation.  The sight word practice sheets are something we are going to use in the classroom, but I accidentally copied a whole bunch.  Rather than recycle them, I thought you might want to have your child practice the words at home.  No need to return these two items.

Also, if the writing homework is too much, please feel free to modify!  You are your child's first and best teacher!  You know how much is too much for them.  Kindergarten homework should not be torture!  Have them do what they can and then set a new goal for the following week.  We will only have this writing homework for a few weeks.  That being said, I would certainly encourage writing at home even when the homework ends!  Kids love to write cards, books, notes to friends, and even grocery lists.

Happy reading and writing!

Kindergarten Writing in January

We're just wrapping up the first semester, in the Edmonds School District.  Report cards will be coming home at the end of the week and parents are anxious to see if their kids are meeting grade level expectations.  What are kids expected to do by this time of the year?

Here is a writing sample that shows what most kindergartners are able to do right now. 

This student identified a topic she wanted to write about.  She drew a picture and was able to write a sentence to match.  Her words contained the beginning sounds.  She is starting to be able to spell some of our sight words.  I notice that she's beginning to use lowercase letters in her writing and she's even using spaces in between her words. 

Just so you know, we don't use writing prompts very often on kindergarten.  We structure our writing time in a Writer's Workshop model.  About once a month I ask kids to write from a prompt.  It's a great tool to see their growth and share with other teachers at our grade level.  

Writing homework will begin coming home in the next few weeks. (We'll be doing writing instead of math homework for a few weeks.)  I hope you'll keep these expectations in mind as your child writes at home.

By the way, by the end of the year your child should be able to:

*write multiple sentences on a single topic

*work on piece of writing over multiple days

*use beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words

*use many sight words in writing

*use consistent spaces between words

*use mostly lowercase letters

Happy writing!

"Read to Self" in Kindergarten

Reader's Workshop looks different during every single month of kindergarten.  Kids grow and change so quickly at this age!  Kids who did not know their letters and sounds in September, can read independently now.  So, what are we reading?  What does Reader's Workshop look like in Kindergarten?

We do a modified version of Daily 5.  In kindergarten we do Daily 3.  We read to self, listen to reading, and work with words.  We don't have the chance to do all three, every single day, but we do the best we can. 

This month, in our "read to self" work, we have added book shopping to our Reader's Workshop.  Instead of reading books from the book tubs the teacher put on the table, kids are selecting their own books.  Most of our kids are reading Level A or B books on their own now.  So, when we select books I ask that kids choose 3 books from the A and B tubs.  These are books the kids will be able to read with little or no support.  Here, you can see my little friend is pointing to the words as she reads the story out loud.

We want to be sure kids are reading for pleasure as well as practice.  At the beginning of the year, we talked about the 3 ways we read books.  We can read the words, read the pictures, or retell a familiar story from memory.  Obviously, in the picture below, this little friend won't be able to read Ariel's adventures on her own. (Maybe you know a few kindergartners who can, but I don't have any in my class this year!)  Kids are asked to choose 2 books from our classroom library to add to their book bags.  They may not be able to actually read these books, but they love telling the stories. 

At the end of book shopping day, each child will have a bag filled with 5 books, 3 of them are easy readers, and 2 of the books are their own choice.... something they are interested in, but that they may not necessarily be able to read on their own.  I think book shopping day is their favorite day of the week!

Happy reading!