A Peek At Our Week!

 I hope everyone had a great weekend! Please enjoy a quick update on the wonderful learning that took place in our classroom last week!

Announcements:

Star Student

This week we will celebrate our first Star Student in Room 202! If your child has not returned their Star Student poster to school, please have them do so as soon as possible so that they are able to share it with their class during their special week. Thank you!

Sight Word Practice

Thank you SO much for all of your support with the sight word practice logs that were sent home a few weeks ago! I continue to be impressed with how hard the children are working at home to practice and learn their sight/snap words! Please note that at this point, the students have only been introduced to the words up to "from" and "do". I certainly do not expect the children to be practicing every sight word flashcard each night, as the complete set of words does not need to be mastered until the end of the year. Starting this week I will include which sight words were introduced in class in the literacy portion of my blog post. Feel free to add in these new words to your sight word rotation for the following week. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or would like a complete list of the words that have been introduced in class thus far. :)

Curriculum Update:

Literacy

Last week in literacy the students were introduced to two new sight words: from, and do. In Fundations the children gained more practice with tapping out CVC words such as mud, hat, and pig. We also reviewed the letter formation for uppercase letters I-P. In Reader's Workshop we continued to practice our "pattern power" and were on the lookout for times when the author surprised us by changing the pattern in the books that we read. We learned that sometime you need to use two or three other reading superpowers to tackle a pattern break!

Another exciting part of our week was starting Literacy Centers! This new part of our morning routine gives the students the opportunity to work independently while practicing important skills and concepts that have been introduced in class. Last week's center activities included two sight word centers, Write the Room, and Listening Center (on our chrome books of course!).

Math

Last week in math we completed a short unit on graphing! Since graphing is something we practice each day during our calendar time, the children were already experts and we were able to jump right into some graphing fun! We reviewed that graphs are a kind of chart that can give us information. We also learned about different types of graphs such as bar graphs and pictographs!

After reading the story What Pet Would You Get? by Dr. Seuss, the class have a blast asking each other what type of pet THEY would get and creating a bar graph to show their results.

Writing

We continued to practice sequence, or "How To" writing last week. Since we are still at the beginning of the unit, we spent much of our time completing teacher led and shared writing experiences. In the upcoming week your child will begin to tackle "How To" writing more independently as they will pick their own topics to write and draw about!

A highlight of Writer's Workshop was getting to write our own "How To" for making slime! After carefully writing each step, we decided to follow our directions and make slime ourselves! It was definitely a fun way to end our week!

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that in new in Room 202! :)

A Peek At Our Week!

 I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful LONG weekend! Last week was a another busy one in our classroom! Please take a moment to enjoy a few of the highlights below!

Announcements:

Schedule Changes

Due to this week's Monday holiday, we will have no remote learning day this week. The students will attend all four days (Tuesday-Friday) in person.

Star Student Posters

Your child brought home a Star Student mini poster at the end of last week. This poster will be put on display when your child is the Student Student for the week in our classroom (starting soon!). A friendly reminder to have your student return their completed poster to school no later than Friday, January 22nd. Thank you!

Curriculum Update:

Math

Last week in math be began Topic 13 which focuses on sorting. We learned that objects can be sorted by various attributes including color, size, shape, and texture!

The class had a blast sorting their shoes by size, color, and type after reading the story Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes.

The students also enjoyed sorting other items such as pattern blocks and buttons!

Fundations

In Fundations we began Unit 2 which provides the students with exposure and practice to uppercase letters. The pace of this unit is MUCH faster than Unit 1 as the students practice writing two letters a day! Last week the letters A-H were reviewed. The children also continued to practice their "tapping" skills and we incorporated a fun new CVC spinner into our daily routine. To try the spinner click here!

"Write the Room" is a fun way to get the students up and moving! Last week each child selected a Fundations letter we had learned about to find in the classroom. 

Writer's Workshop

It was an exciting time in our classroom last week as we began a new unit in our Lucy Calkins program! The focus of this unit will be "How To" writing, and the children are already having a great time sharing things they know how to do! After many days of discussing, modeling, and practicing we wrote our first "How To" together on Friday. 

Before we were ready to write our own "How To" pieces, we first tried following some! This "How to Draw a Cat" directed drawing was a great way for us to practice following directions step by step.

Reader's Workshop

Fantastic reading continued in our classroom last week during Reader's Workshop! During our lessons we took a closer look at "pattern power" in the books that we read and how these patterns can help us when decoding text. We also started using reading mats to help us organize our books when reading independently!

The students above practice using their reading mats during independent "Read to Self" time. A pile of books is organized on the green dot side of the folder (typically from easiest to hardest). The children then read their way through the pile placing each finished book on the red dot side of the folder.

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!

A Peek At Our Week!

 It was wonderful to be back together again in Room 202 after the long winter break, and we wasted no time getting right back to work! Please enjoy the pictures from our week that have been shared below. 

Important Dates:

January 18th
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
No School

Curriculum Update:

Math

Last week in math we continued to practice our subtraction skills! We learned that you can show subtraction by crossing out items in a picture. We also practiced using manipulatives to help us subtract!

The students above practice their subtraction skills while using counters.

Fundations

Last week was an exciting time in Fundations as the students were introduced to the concept of "tapping"! This skill will help the children sound out unknown words they encounter in texts. In Kindergarten, our primary focus is to gain proficiency in tapping 3 letter CVC words such as cat, map, and pin. To view a demonstration of tapping click here!

Reader's Workshop

In Reader's Workshop we continue to practice bringing our stories to life by using expression in our voices! We also learned about a new super power: Book Talk Power! Book talks help us to get a reader excited about the stories we share with them by giving them a small "sneak peek" at the plot of the text. Books talk are also a great way for the students to demonstrate their comprehension skills of the stories they are reading.

In addition to practicing their book talk skills with a classmate, the students enjoyed telling some special furry friends about their stories as well!

Writer's Workshop

Last week in Writer's Workshop we completed Unit 2! In our final few lessons the children learned how to close their writing with a strong ending, and spent time adding finishing touches to their published piece. We enjoyed a wonderful celebration of our writing on Friday afternoon. Be sure to check Seesaw for a special picture of your child with their finished story!

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!