Here is what we have been up to this week in Room 124...
First of all, we have a change in our morning routine. To motivate students to unpack more efficiently and independently as well as incorporate more play and exploration into our day, we have started doing "morning tubs". When the students come into the classroom, soon as they unpack they can start playing with the toys, materials, or manipulatives in their table tub that day. At 8:58, the buzzer goes off and the students have 2 minutes to clean up completely and meet on the rug to start calendar. So, the faster they unpack, the longer they get to play! The students have done SO well will this change in our morning and the new expectations! I have already seen such a difference in their sense of responsibility to complete their job of unpacking and then cleaning up. It has also been a great way to continue practicing our social and emotional skills such as collaborating with peers and sharing. It's also a fun way to ease into our day!
First of all, we have a change in our morning routine. To motivate students to unpack more efficiently and independently as well as incorporate more play and exploration into our day, we have started doing "morning tubs". When the students come into the classroom, soon as they unpack they can start playing with the toys, materials, or manipulatives in their table tub that day. At 8:58, the buzzer goes off and the students have 2 minutes to clean up completely and meet on the rug to start calendar. So, the faster they unpack, the longer they get to play! The students have done SO well will this change in our morning and the new expectations! I have already seen such a difference in their sense of responsibility to complete their job of unpacking and then cleaning up. It has also been a great way to continue practicing our social and emotional skills such as collaborating with peers and sharing. It's also a fun way to ease into our day!
In literacy we reviewed and assessed /v/, /z/, /ng/, /oo/ in Jolly Phonics, and learned /y/ and /x/. We continued with our same centers as last week. The students are getting really good at stamina and independence (working the whole time at their center and being able to problem solve on their own). We will be doing a lot more centers in the next few weeks as well. In literacy this week we also read Aliens Love Underpants, another favorite. We practiced making connections to the book and also retelling a story. We identified the characters and setting, as well as the beginning, middle, and end of the story. We talked about how this is called a "5 finger retell". After retelling the story, we did a sight word hunt around the room, looking for aliens wearing underpants with our words on it :) We practiced reading and writing these sight words.
In math this week we practiced basic addition with a "roll and color" activity with 2 dice. We did a math task exploring 15 and 16. We talked about many different ways to represent and make 15, how to change 15 into 16, and the easiest way to make and represent both numbers. These lessons are building on each other. We have done numbers 11-16, and will do this all the way through 19 so that students gain a deeper understanding of how these teen numbers are composed. This will make future math concepts like addition and subtraction make more sense!
Additionally, in Second Step this week we learned and discussed the difference between doing something on accident or on purpose. We practiced using specific language to let someone know what happened was an accident.
We also had a discussion this week reviewing what it means to be safe, respectful, and responsible at school. We talked about how coming up next year, the students are going to be first graders and they are going to be role models for the new kindergartners, and they will have to show them these behaviors at school. Please ask your child how they can demonstrate safe, respectful, and responsible behaviors at school and in our classroom.
Last but not least, we made it outside Friday to enjoy the amazing weather! I was going to take pictures, but the students were so excited to run around and play I couldn't get any :) We also saw the 2nd grade music concert which was very fun!
Have a great weekend.
We also had a discussion this week reviewing what it means to be safe, respectful, and responsible at school. We talked about how coming up next year, the students are going to be first graders and they are going to be role models for the new kindergartners, and they will have to show them these behaviors at school. Please ask your child how they can demonstrate safe, respectful, and responsible behaviors at school and in our classroom.
Last but not least, we made it outside Friday to enjoy the amazing weather! I was going to take pictures, but the students were so excited to run around and play I couldn't get any :) We also saw the 2nd grade music concert which was very fun!
Have a great weekend.