PBL:

During PBL time this week, we finished up our butterfly study. Our main focus was the lifecycle of a butterfly (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, adult butterfly), and the butterfly anatomy (head, abdomen, thorax, wings, legs, and antennae).

In the photos below, you will see the kindergartners sketching a butterfly and drawing the lifecycle.

Literacy:

During literacy time we got through almost all of the alphabet letters, tried out some new learning tools and explored new games.

• Whole group: We practiced rhyming, blending, segmenting, and identifying beginning/ending sounds in words.

• Lexia: The kindergartners are working on levels that practice their current learning skills.

• Independent work: The students are finishing up their alphabet pages in their notebooks.

• Small groups: 

  • Group one: This week, we practiced connecting letters to their sounds in letter race game.

  • Group 2: This week we practiced blending CVC words in an apple basket game.

  • Group 3: We read some decodable CVC books and learned sight words, the and like.

During Number Corner, we have started new patterns for our calendar numbers. This month, the students are patterning red, green, yellow, and brown leaves. Each day the leaf changes its direction (up, to the right, down, to the left), also leaves are added to each card every day. It is A LOT to keep track of all those pattern variations, but they are loving it!

In our math workbooks, we counted totals 1-10 and organized them in to 10 frames.

You can work up to page 12 in your child's math workbook.

Important Reminders:

Hiking:

We went on our first kindergarten hike on Wednesday! The students got to explore the Pigeon River trails, marsh, and woodland areas. It was a beautiful morning!

PBL:

We did the final documentation of our butterflies in our scientific notebooks this week. The students drew an open wing sketch and closed wing sketch of the butterfly. They had to observe images of our painted lady butterflies and draw like scientist (we draw what we see).

Pictures from our butterfly release will be coming soon!

In Number Corner this week, we finished our shape exploration for the month of September, and have started a leaf pattern for October.

During Workplace time, we introduced two new games, Beat you to Five/Ten and Which Numeral Will Win. Both involve counting totals 1-10 and writing numerals 1-10.

Your child can work up to page 7 in your their Home Connection book.

Literacy:

Literacy time brought more letter/sound identification, sounding out/writing CVC words, rhyming pairs, and blending/segmenting the sounds in words. These kindergartners have been working very hard!

Make sure to try out some of the reading activities that were sent home in your child's take home folder and keep practicing these skills at home!

Important Reminders:

• Click HERE to see the lunch menus for the week.

• There is still time to sign up for the kindergarten Étude Girl Scout Troop. I have more information attached in the email. There is also financial assistance for anyone who wants to join!

• Étude Spirit week is coming up this month: October 28th-31st. Information was sent home in your child's take home folder. Also, you can see the attached flyer below for more details about our fun week.

• We are looking forward to our fall festivities this month! Click the link HERE if you would like to donate to our fall party snack. Please send items no later than October 29th. Thank you in advance for your help!

• NO SCHOOL: 

  • October 24: Fall Recess

  • October 27: Teacher Professional Day

• Click HERE to see our kindergarten wish list.

Weekly Specials:

• Monday: Gym and Rug Routines

• Tuesday: Movement and Library

• Wednesday: Music

• Thursday: Art, Gym, and Rug Routines

• Friday: Movement

Literacy:

We came back to school this week to find our caterpillars moved from their "j hang" position in to a chrysalis! The kindergartners were very excited. We documented this next stage in our scientific insect notebooks. Check out the video above to see one moving around.

Math:

Outdoor play has been a great time for fresh air and playing with new friends! Check out some of the kindergarten smiles above!

Important Reminders:

Our caterpillars have transitioned in to the "J hang" stage. The kindergartners have been so excited to watch them grow and change each day. On Friday, we documented a new stage by drawing what we observed. 

Hopefully next week we will start to see some of the caterpillars enter the chrysalis stage.

Literacy:

Math:

Project Based Learning (PBL):

Our essential question in this unit is "how do things change?" We plan to start the unit off by going on hikes, and documenting our observations of what we currently see in nature right now. We will also observe throughout the unit as the seasons change. 

The students have started their study of insects by drawing a picture of an insect and sharing what they already know about it. We also shared the things we would like to learn more of as we continue our study of insects.

This week, our PBL time brought investigation, observation, and documentation of a mystery package that was delivered to our class. The children did a thinking routine on what they see, think, and wonder about our little creatures. We started making observations throughout the week, by drawing the changes we saw each day and documented them in our insect notebooks. 

One of the favorite activities in math this week was exploring a 10 frame mat and using unifix cubes to count totals. We practiced this skill together, and then the students had some independent exploration time to get used to using this new tool.

Art:

During art class with Mrs. Held this week, the students used their fine motor skills and explored various art making tools. They cut with scissors, worked with glue, and explored a few drawing tools.

Hopes and Dreams:

Our finished hopes and dreams for the kindergarten year are proudly hanging in our classroom windows!

As a class, we talked about what some of our hopes and dreams could be, and I wrote them on their little rainbow raindrops. Some of my favorites were:

• I hope to make the world a better place.

• I want to make lots of new friends this year.

• I hope to learn how to read books.

Play times throughout our day continue to be a classroom favorite!

I have really enjoyed watching the students make friendships and start to show their silly imaginations as they play with one another.

Play time favorites so far:

• Block area

• Lego duplo table

• Play kits

Next week we ill introduce the quiet play activites in our reading corner, and also explore our new art making area!

Important Reminders:

It was a very exciting and successful first week of school! I have enjoyed getting to know your children and look forward to our many adventures together this school year.

For the first few days, we spent a lot of time getting acclimated to our classroom and routine. The children learned a lot about the spaces we use in our school, met many teachers, and made many new friends. During group time, we started discussing our classroom expectations, and the children thoughtfully came up with ideas to make our classroom feel safe and comfortable.

Some of the class favorites this week were, mindfulness exercises, choice time, literacy, outdoor play, and specials. The children went to art, music, gym, rug routines, and movement classes!

Hopes and Dreams:

Literacy:

During Literacy time this week, we learned how to sing the "Better Alphabet Song", which connects the letters and their sounds through a song. During group time we learned about the letter Aa. We identified the letter, connected it's sounds, and practiced tracing it in our workbooks. During Heggerty time, we listened for the beginning and ending sounds in words, and we blended and segmented compound words. Lastly, the students were able to test out our reading app on their ipads called Lexia. It was a busy reading time!

Math:

During math time, we focused on counting objects to 5, sorting and comparing groups of items, and patterning. During Number Corner, the children have been predicting the next shape on our calendar pattern and counting how many days we have been in school so far. 

Check out some pictures below of the students exploring math through our workplaces time.

Choice time was a big hit this week. We got to explore fun toys and manipulatives at our tables this week. The students had fun getting to know their classmates and have some great social time!

Important Reminders: