Week of October 24

This week in...

Reading:

• Story retelling is an important skill to improve reading comprehension.  I hope you enjoyed listening to your children retell Big Pumpkin!
• Made a book called called Bippity Boppity Bindergarten, A Bat Flew Over Kindergarten!
• Looking closely at pictures in books
• Pictures gives us clues 
• How to read with a partner
• We met our first grade reading buddies

 Writing:

• looking closely at objects and labeling
• leaves, butterflies, toy animals, our shoes
• continued to work on tapping out and stretching words out like bubblegum
• got a writing buddy!

Math:

• Roll a web
• Sorting
• Introduction to attribute blocks
• Lots of counting games
• Tricky teens
• Math centers
• Monster Squeeze
• Ask your children to teach you how to play monster squeeze.  It's a great game for developing a mental number line.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Other:

• We hosted the October Community Meeting and sang Fly, Fly, Witchy
• Orr butterflies hatched and we released them into the wild!

Halloween Candy Fun!!!

• Don't forget to estimate, count, and then sort your Halloween candy!!!!
• Put a bunch of Halloween candy in ABC order
• Read the Wrappers or make an ABC book with wrappers
• Sort your Halloween candy 2 different ways 

Reminders:

• We do not dress up for Halloween 
• Conferences are next Wednesday and Thursday
• Please send in or email me a baby picture if you haven't already
• We could use some plastic spoons

WE HAD OUR FIRST LOST TOOTH OF THE YEAR!

Week of October 24

This week in...

Reading:

• Story retelling is an important skill to improve reading comprehension.  I hope you enjoyed listening to your children retell Big Pumpkin!
• Made a book called called Bippity Boppity Bindergarten, A Bat Flew Over Kindergarten!
• Looking closely at pictures in books
• Pictures gives us clues 
• How to read with a partner
• We met our first grade reading buddies

 Writing:

• looked closely and labeling
• leaves, butterflies, toy animals, our shoes
• continued to work on tapping out and stretching words like bubblegum

Math:

• Roll a web
• Sorting
• Introduction to attribute blocks
• Lots of counting games
• Tricky teens
• Math centers
• Monster Squeeze
• Ask your children to teach you how to play monster squeeze.  It's a great game for developing a mental number line.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Other:

• We hosted the October Community Meeting and sang Fly, Fly, Witchy
• Orr butterflies hatched and we released them into the wild!

Halloween Candy Fun!!!

• Don't forget to estimate, count, and then sort your Halloween candy!!!!
• Put a bunch of Halloween candy in ABC order
• Read the Wrappers or make an ABC book with wrappers
• Sort your Halloween candy 2 different ways 

Reminders:

• We do not dress up for Halloween 
• Conferences are next Wednesday and Thursday
• Please send in or email me a baby picture if you haven't already
• We could use some plastic spoons

WE HAD OUR FIRST LOST TOOTH OF THE YEAR!

Week of September 26

This week in

Reading we...

• Continued to read pictures and retell stories
• Got our reading partner and our reading spot
• Learned that reader's touch each page, think and tell 
• Got our Letter Linking Charts
• Practiced singing the ABC while pointing to the right letter...tricky through L, M, N, O, P.  Many children think this is 1 letter!
  

Writing we...

• Sorted F and T
• Started Handwriting Without Tears...Letter F is a frog jump letter!
• Shared writing--thank you letter to Summer's Grandparents

Math we...

• Played dot card memory
• Played dot card top it
• Explored geoboards and pentominoes
• Played Race to the Apple tree
  
  

Practice at home...

• Spell words instead of saying them.  For example, Go tell D-A-D goodnight/Turn the lights o-n/o-f-f
• I L-O-V-E you/ I said N-O
• Read to your children everyday.  Talk about the book. 
• Label the house or a person with post-its
• Count! Go slowly through the tricky teens...13, 14, 15 super tricky!

Misc...
We got caterpillars today!
Please send in a baby picture!
I you would like to contribute something from my wish list I have updated what I need on my blog
Thank you!

Kindergarten Funny:
After a student used the wrong bathroom at recess...
"Well, I'm still new here, you know?"

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 19

This week in...

Reading:
Started reader's workshop
Discussed how books are like friends.  Treat them kindly and spend lots of time with them!
There are 3 ways to read a book

Writing:
Friends, Friends 123
Who has an E in their name
B and R sort

Math:

• Described shapes and played "Which shape did I take?"
• Played a symmetry game 
• Played "under the rug"--a game in which you have 5 objects on top of a "rug" (you can use anything).   Player 1 hides some of the objects under the "rug".  Player 2 figures out how many objects are under the rug by looking at how many are left on top.  Great game to play at a restaurant.  I use sugar packets and call it "Under the Napkin!"  Increase the number as they gain understanding.

Other:
Painted pumpkins thanks to Summer's Grammy and Grampy!
We had out first guidance lesson
Here's a song we learned...

What to do at home:
Play under the rug

I forgot to tell you last night that the packets we used to hand out at Open House are now online.  To find them go to the Rowe School Website
Click on Teacher Pages
Click on Parent Inofrmation

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 12

This week in:

Reading and Writing...
Made a Kindergarten, Kindergarten Who Do You See? class book...coming home soon!
Learned how to draw people with Mat Man
Illustrated the birthday song and put it in our new Poetry Folders
Made a book about how many letters were in our names

We have read and discussed many books focusing on themes such as  building community, acceptance and tolerance, following rules, and kindergarten.  Some of the titles include...

• Ish
• The Girl Who Never Makes Mistakes
• My Friend Isabelle
• I'm Here
• Press Here
• Stick and Stone
• Friends
• My Mouth is a Volcano
• My Name is Elizabeth

Math...
Counted objects with the tag and drag strategy
Played a "Quick Looks" dot card game
Made a birthday graph
Introduced calendar time
Went on a number hunt
Practiced writing numbers 0-5
Made a chart displaying how many letters are in our names

Kindergarten Funny...
I call the time after lunch when we rest and relax "Brain Vacation"
Student coming in after recess says, "Are we going to do brain surgery now?" LOL

What to do at home...

We have spent a lot of time talking about and practicing rules and routines at school.  Talk to your child about some of the rules at school and some of the rules at home.  How are they the same/different?

Dates...
Open House is September 22 at 6:00.  Remember to bring in your family poster project!

A MESSAGE AND A STORY FOR MY NEW KINDERGARTENERS!