It's been a crazy past 2 weeks! I am looking forward to a normal schedule next week. Here is what has been going on in Kindergarten...
We started off our week (10/4) with journaling, and a name sorting lessons with our reading teacher, Mrs. Jacobs. We sorted by the first letter of our names, and then by the last letter of names on a different day.
On Thursday (10/6) we did our I P N sort, to practice our newest letter sounds. Then, we talked about Environmental print, and how each student is already a reader! We took turns picking a label (thank you for sending those in!) and reading them.
For math, we talked about what shapes and which ones we already knew. The students then used pattern blocks to make something out of the shapes and then identify them.
We started off our week (10/4) with journaling, and a name sorting lessons with our reading teacher, Mrs. Jacobs. We sorted by the first letter of our names, and then by the last letter of names on a different day.
On Thursday (10/6) we did our I P N sort, to practice our newest letter sounds. Then, we talked about Environmental print, and how each student is already a reader! We took turns picking a label (thank you for sending those in!) and reading them.
For math, we talked about what shapes and which ones we already knew. The students then used pattern blocks to make something out of the shapes and then identify them.
On Thursday (10/13) we journaled about our extra long weekends. We talked about labeling our pictures, and I really encouraged all the students to write a sentence using any sounds/letters they knew.
We then started our fall exploration unit! A few weeks ago, we recorded what we wondered about fall. The students had a lot of questions about leaves, so we are going to focus on leaves next week. To start, we needed to build our background knowledge about the seasons and how they change. We identified all 4 seasons, and talked about what we might see in them. We then did a mini-lesson about our 5 senses. We put our sight and hearing senses to work on a nature walk, looking for signs of fall.
Lastly, we did a sound hunt around our classroom for words that start with i, p, and n. The students had to find it, and then record what they found. This was a great way to review our most recent Jolly Phonics sounds.
We then started our fall exploration unit! A few weeks ago, we recorded what we wondered about fall. The students had a lot of questions about leaves, so we are going to focus on leaves next week. To start, we needed to build our background knowledge about the seasons and how they change. We identified all 4 seasons, and talked about what we might see in them. We then did a mini-lesson about our 5 senses. We put our sight and hearing senses to work on a nature walk, looking for signs of fall.
Lastly, we did a sound hunt around our classroom for words that start with i, p, and n. The students had to find it, and then record what they found. This was a great way to review our most recent Jolly Phonics sounds.
Friday started with reading Little Tree by Loren Long, about a tree who is too afraid to let go of it's leaves at the end of the fall. He goes through many seasons without growing or letting go of his leaves, until he finally is brave enough to. He then grows and gets beautiful new leaves! It was a great visual for all 4 seasons, as well as conversation about being scared, but trying anyways. We then did centers, the main one being painting little trees to represent all 4 seasons. The other centers included sorting shapes and creepy crawlers in the sensory bin, making bracelets to work on patterning and counting, and building. We ended our day playing outside and with another fun read aloud. We read the third book in a series called We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen. In this book, the pictures tell a different story than the words. We learned how to "turn and talk" to a partner, and share our predictions and thoughts with them throughout the story. The students did great sharing and listening to their partner.
Next week we will learn 3 new sounds and letters, and dive into fall and leaves!