The kindergartners sure did love the fresh snow we got this week. Hopefully warmer temperatures are heading this way soon!

Literacy:

I am very impressed how well the students have been progressing through literacy. There has been so much growth so far this year and I can truly see how proud they are. 

In their take home folders this week, I made sure to send home a few more books than usual for your child to practice over the break. Keep up the family reading at home!

PBL:

Math:

We continued to explore coins this week throughout our math lessons. The students enjoyed two new Workplace games where they counted totals, exchanged 5 pennies, for 1 nickel, grouped coins, and added coins together.

During Number Corner, we continued to explore story problems, and adding more on for each day.

Important Reminders:

Blackout:

It has been a fun week playing blackout in gym! I was able to snap a few pictures of the course, and even got to play with the class as well!

Don't miss out on the fun, and make sure to join us for Family Blackout night on Tuesday 3/17.

Literacy:

PBL:

The kindergartners did a lot planning and preparing for engineering throughout the week. 

With their groups, they sketched the shelter they chose, and wrote out the maker supplies that they would like to use when they build. 

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we begun the engineering process. Thank you so much to our wonderful volunteers for all of your help this week!

This week we finished up our measuring lessons by creating a "measurement garden". The students colored pictures of different sized flowers. They then glued them down from tallest to shortest. We used a ruler to measure the length of each flower and then wrote down how many inches for each flower.

We started exploring different coins this week as well. So far, we learned about the penny and the nickle. The kindergartners practiced counting and adding the total number of coins through various activities throughout the week.

You may now work up to page 98 in your child's math home learning book.

Kindergarten Play Time:

Important Reminders:

Literacy:

The studenst are showing great growth in their independent learning notebooks. Each day, they gain a new skill, or continue to practice skills that they are close to mastering. 

Current skills being practiced in their books:

• Building CVC words (Consonant/Vowel/Consonant)

• Words that contain digraphs (sh, ch, th, ph, wh)

• Heart words (Sight words, that are words we have to memorize by heart)

Writing:

In their writing journals this week, the students had some time to use their creative writing skills. They illlustrated drawings and wrote 2-3 sentences to go along with their pictures. 

On Friday, we used the writing prompt, "I wish I could...." and the students had to come up with something they wish the could do, be, or see. It was fun to read what their answers were!

PBL:

Thinking Routine: I see, I think, I wonder.

• For this thinking routine, we observed many different types of shelters or homes and identified what we see, what we think, and what we wonder. 

• This helped the students prepare their thinking before they will be choosing a home or shelter with their groups to engineer.

Thinking Routine: Claim Support

• To prepare for this thinking routine, we observed a picture of a type of home. 

• Together we talked about how this shelter would be the best. (Claim)

• Then we described why we think this home would be the best. (Support)

  • "It is made out of strong wood, so it can't be blown down easily."

  • "It has a small chimney, so the wolf cannot go down it."

  • "It is located high in the mountians, so it is safe."

PBL:

The kindergartners completed their chair engineering projects this week! They were hard at work with their small groups, planning, making decisions together, and building their chairs with maker materials. Check out the pictures above with their final products. The pictures below show the building process.

We also started studying a new fairtale this week, The Three Little Pigs. The students worked in their PBL notebooks and identified the characters and setting of the story.

Throughout next few weeks we will continue to explore this fairytale and talk about the problems and soultions. The students will then move to the engineering component for this book, and learn about different types of shelters and homes.

One of the favorite activites in math this week was measuing. We used another new tool to measure items. The students went around the classroom and measured with popsicle sticks. They had to count the total number of popcicle sticks for each object that they measured.

The students are looking forward to exporing a new March calender during Number Corner next week.

Literacy:

We are looking forward to jumping in to new reading units as spring heads this way. Keep up the reading at home, it helps greatly with their progress here in school.

Movement:

The students have begun the process of coreographing their movement piece for the new semester. 

They have been doing a lot of partner work, and addressing our essential question: How do we work together to solve a problem?

PBL:

This week, we shifted to the engineering side of our unit and the students studied different types of chairs. 

We talked about what materials chairs can be made out of, how are they stable or hold weight, and how are chairs constructed.

The students worked together in small groups throughout the week. They had to study and select a chair. Then, they explored different maker materials to use for their chair and write down the materials they were interested in using during the building process.

It was awesome to watch them communicate and listen to each others ideas as they worked collaboratively together. 

Whole Group:

The kindergarteners continued to focus on their phonemic awareness and identify initial/medial/final sounds in words, blend/segment words, and substitute beginning sounds in words. Their favorite whole group activity is to build words on our blending board and identify words using the new phonics rules we have been learning.

Small group:

We did a lot of comprehension of text this week in our small group lessons. The students made predictions before reading the text, shared their thoughts and asked questions during our reading, and then recalled information as well as made connetions to the text after we read. These are strong reading skills that they have been developing.

Independent Work:

The kinders enjoy completing pages in their work books and showing their knowledge. I am proud of how independent they have grown with their literacy skills!

Math:

We have continued to practice addition and subtraction within 10, but took a little detour and added some measuring skills this week.

We measured various objects by measuring with unifex cubes. They had to count the total number of cubes each object was. We also practice measuring in steps, by walking two different lengths in the classroom and identifying which path was the shortest. We will conitnue our study of measurement this next week!

Kahoot:

The whole school Kahoot game in the gym this week was so much fun! It is so wonderful watching our little Étude community work and bond so well together.

PBL:

We wrapped up our Goldilocks and the Three Bears story mapping by completing the Thinking Routine - Think, Feel, Care. This helped us map out our thoughts on the emotions and feelings of the characters, by putting ourselves in their shoes and how they felt throughout the story.

Think: What does the character do in this story? How do you know?

• The students thought of all the problems or key moments from the text.

Feel: If you were this character, how would you feel? Why would you feel that way?

• The students listed all the emotions the characters might be feeling throughout the story.

Care: If you were this character what would you care about? What would be important to you?

• The students discussed what would be important for the characters to do as a solution.

Then, we moved to the engineering side of our project based learning and started to explore different types of chairs. 

We did another Thinking Routine - I see, I think, I wonder. This helped us share our thinking as we observed images of chairs. We talked about what materials they may be made out of, what makes a chair stable, what shapes and sized they could be...ect.

In the pictures above, you will see the students observing the image of the chair below and working through this thinking routine chart.

Math:

During our Workplace games this week, the students were practicing a variety of skills. They completed activities where they had to double numbers, add numerals together, and correct the mixed up numbers on the number lines.

You may work up to page 82 in your child's home learning book.

100th Day & Valentines Celebration:

We had a wonderful time celebrating our 100th day of school! The students made crowns, drew 100 shapes, and completed a writing activity with the question, "If I had $100, I would buy..."

We also had a very loving day as we celebrated Valentines with our kindergarten family! 

The students passed out their valentines to their friends, we made crowns, did some heart math coloring, created a "what we love" book, and did a little valentine reading!

Important Reminders:

PBL:

This week, we continued to focus on the Fairy Tale: Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Throughout the week the students illlustrated the characters of the story, the setting, and the main problems of the story. We then came up with different types of solutions for the story and the students illustrated their ideas.

On Wednesday, we had a special guest, Mr. Hamm come to read to us. He read a new version of the story called, Goatilocks and the Three Bears. This silly version had Goatilocks eating everything in the bears house!

Next week, we plan to start the engineering process of this unit and we will start making our plans for building different types of chairs.

Reading:

During reading this week, we added some comprehension components to our learning. The students read a text passage and then answered some questions about what they just read. We will slowly begin to work these new skills in to our daily rotations.

The kindergartners have continued to practice their reading fluency through decodable text. They have also continued to show strong skills through our Heggerty lessons with their phonemic awareness

Creative writing has been a delight! I have really enjoyed watching the students fine-motor skills develop as they illustrate detailed pictures. 

We have continued to work towards writing 1-2 sentences using proper spacing and punctuation. Please continue to help your child practice writing at home using their small, tall, and fall letters within the line. We are working really hard at only writing lower case letters in the middle of words. I have attached a helpful chart that we use at school to help guide them.

Math:

Number Corner: We started a new calendar pattern for the month. The students will be practicing to count by 5's as each day, and we will be grouping red and blue dots together. We will also focus on addition by using our groups of 5 dots, and adding how many more.

Math lessons: We did a lot of work with number lines with week within 10. The students counted forward and backward, we unscrambled mixed up numbers, as well as finding the missing numbers on a number line. What a mental workout!

• Valentines: You do not need to send a valentine's box or bag because we made some bags at school. If your child brings valentines, please just fill out the "From: (insert name)" part and not the "To" for each card. When you send your child's valentines, put them in a ziplock or grocery bag labeled with your child's name. We have 20 students in our class this year. 

• Yearbooks are now available to order! Order by March 10th for the best price and to purchase upgrades. After March 10th, prices will increase and no upgrades will be allowed. Yearbooks will not be for sale at the school - all purchases need to go through Harman Studios. 

  • To order: Harmann.com/ordering 

  • School Code: ETUDEYB

• Our art teacher, Beth Held, is in need of cardboard boxes. She is looking for cereal boxes, or any large thin cardboard, as well as corrugated boxes. Please send them in with your child if you are able to help out!

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

• Click HERE to see our kindergarten wish list.

Important Dates:

• February 16: NO SCHOOL - Professional Development Day

• March 2: NO SCHOOL - Teacher Records Day

• March 3: NOON RELEASE - Presentations of Learning

• March 4: NO SCHOOL - Presentations of Learning

• March 20-30: NO SCHOOL - Spring Recess

Weekly Specials:

• Monday: Art, Gym, and Rug Routines

• Tuesday: Movement and Library

• Wednesday: Music

• Thursday: Gym and Rug Routines

• Friday: Movement

Music:

In Music class this week, Mrs. Barrett had the students clap out the sounds in various words. She then had them draw the same amount of music notes for each sound. This is a similar activity we do during literacy, but with a fun little musical twist!

Reading:

During literacy time, we added some new skills to the mix! 

We have begun to talk about consonant digraphs, such as sh, ch, and th. The students have been identifying these letters that make a combined sound together in words like, wish, bath, or chip. During Heggerty lessons we have been listening for digraphs in words, in small groups we have been reading words that contain digraphs, and in their independent notebooks, they have been writing words that contain digraphs. Busy, busy!

The kindergartners have continued to enjoy creative illustrating and writing times. I love reading they stories and sentences they come up with! The learning goal is to write 1-2 sentences to go along with their illustrations. Keep practice writing at home!

PBL:

Important Reminders:

Literacy:

We had very strong literacy learning this week!

During whole group lessons: We did a lot word building by blending and segmenting sounds in words. We also identified the initial, medial, and final sounds. Have your student show you our roller coaster hand movement to find the middle sound in a simple CVC word.

During small group lessons: Students have continued to work in decodable text, focusing on their reading fluency, and story identification skills. Keep practicing those books at home!

During writing time: The kindergarteners have enjoyed working in their creative writing journals. They have been creating detailed illustrations and coming up with 1-2 sentences to go along with their drawings.

For math lessons this week, we have continued to explore simple addition and subtraction equations. The students have been using ten frames to help identify how many more or how many less that they need to solve the problem. We also have been writing out simple equations based on the information we read from a story problem.

You can now work up to page 66 in your child's Math Home Connections workbook.

Choice Time:

Important Reminders:

It was a busy week getting settled back in to the classroom after a nice long break! The kindergarten crew was very happy to all be back together and back to routine.

PBL:

The Kindergarteners were hard at work planning for our upcoming Exhibition of Learning this Wednesday.

We spent the week practicing and rehearsing our Clumsy Click Beetle play, movement piece, and our music components. They are very excited to share their learning with you.

Literacy:

Math:

We have a new Number Corner for January. This month, each day we are following a button pattern. Every day the colors change making new totals, or new buttons are added. It was fun watching the students make predictions and share their observations to solve the totals.

During our math lessons, we have started to explore writing simple addition and subtraction equations within 10. We used 10 frames and unifix cubes to help guide us, as well as our fingers to help show the two different numbers being added or subtracted on each hand.

We also have begun working on story problems, adding and subtracting different characters or elements from the story.

Important Reminders:

We had a festive week in the kindergarten classroom. The students enjoyed playing in the snow at recess times, we listened to cozy music during work times, we did a few crafts, and we had a great celebration day on Friday!

PBL:

The kindergarten crew enjoyed some new Workplace games this week. They identified numerals, practiced counting and writing numbers 1-10, made bar graphs, and explored geometric shapes.

We read a story called Butterfly Countdown which helped the studnets practice subtraction. On each page, a butterfly would wander off and we had to identify how many were left.

You may now work up to page 62 in your home learning books.

Literacy:

The kindergarteners keep adding new skills to their learning and I am seeing growth every week! I hope you can find some time to read together over the winter break!

Important Reminders:

PBL:

This past week, the students completed their final scientific insect sketches. Once they finished their sketch and it looked as they wanted it to, they then painted their insect with water colors. They worked very hard and did careful work.

One of the students favorite math lessons this week was learning how to skip count by 2s 

To teach this, we talked about bicycles and how a bike has two wheels. We then pretended that we all rode a bike to school and counted how many students we have in our class to find our total number of bikes. Once we found our bike total, we worked on counting how many total wheels that we had.

They were able to draw and design their own bicycles and we paired them up. We then matched the numbers with the pairs of bicycles and learned how to count by 2's!

You can work up to page 57 in your math home learning book.

During movement class this week, Mrs. Shimennetto's first grade class came to watch a rehearsal of our movement piece. They gave the kindergartners warm and cool feedback. It was fun to watch the collaboration from the two classes.

Important Reminders:

PBL:

Our Project Based Learning lessons and activities kept us busy all week. 

The students began the process of creating their finial scientific insect. Throughout the week, they completed three sketches using the feedback given to them from me, their peers, and Mrs. Pasche's 2/3 students. They used the statements "I like" and "I wonder" as they observed the drawings. Each sketch they completed gained more details as they went back and corrected or edited parts of their drawing.

It was a wonderful experience to see them work so hard and listen to ideas from others.

We also got a little creative and the students made an artistic insect using maker materials. They are proudly displayed outside of our classroom.

During our literacy block the students have continued to gain some strong reading skills. We practice blending/segmenting sounds in words, rhyming, and listening for beginning/middle/ending sounds in words every day during whole group lessons. 

During small group time the students have been working on sounding out and writing CVC words and reading decodable text. We add new phonics skills to the mix each day. the latest favorite is letters "ey" and "ay". They are cool dude letters and when they hang out next to each other in a word they say "ayyyyyy".

We have been using a writing notebook to help us build CVC words by writing them properly on the line, and then adding them in to a simple sentence. This week we added a new creative writing journal to our lessons. The students illustrate a picture and then write 1-2 sentences on their own to go along with their illustrations. It has been fun to see their creative thinking.

Math:

During Number Corner this week, we explored a new calendar for the month of December. This month we will be using position words such as, inside, outside, behind, in front of, to the left, to the right, above and below. Each day, there is a picture of a bear with a green box and he is positioned in various places.

During Math lessons this week we played number bingo and the students had to decided what the numeral was, based on the information given with pictures of dots, tally's, and ten frames. We also reviewed some geometric shapes and practiced building with them on pattern block puzzles.

Gym:

Important Reminders:

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

• If you are interested in ordering one of our kindergarten insect books here is the PayPal link. If you order by today, we will include it in our first batch of orders that will hopefully get here by the EOL in January! There will also be extra books that can be purchased later in the year. 

• Click HERE to see our kindergarten wish list.

Important Dates:

• December 22-January 2: NO SCHOOL Winter Break begins

• January 5: School back in Session

• January 14: Kindergarten Exhibition of Learning 8:30-9:30

• January 19: NO SCHOOL Professional Development Day

Weekly Specials:

• Monday: Gym and Rug Routines

• Tuesday: Movement and Library

• Wednesday: Music

• Thursday: Art, Gym, and Rug Routines

• Friday: Movement