Week 7

Every third week in kindergarten we have a review week with our language arts. We review all letters and sight words. I also send home an at-home workbook for you child to review concepts and stories taught. This week, we reviewed the letters Mm and Aa. We sorted words by initial, medial and final sound for both of these letters.

The students got a lot of practice in their literacy centers to review our sight words: I, can, we, am and the.  They also are practicing their handwriting and writing their first and last name.

This past unit in language arts was about family. We talked about how families change. In the story, Peter's Chair, Peter had to cope with having a new sister in his family. 

Retelling is an important part of reading comprehension. We worked on that skill with Rooster Goes to Tio's Wedding.

We read a couple of great books to help with our writing. One reminds us to tell stories that are close to our heart. 

The other reminds us to keep trying if something is hard. We will get better if we try.

In math this week, we finished up learning about shapes. The rhombus, formerly known as the diamond, was one that we learned.

We worked on the number 1 and the number 2 and practiced our handwriting for these numbers. Mrs. Langham has been busy assessing our math skills and counting abilities for parent conferences, so we got to go to math work stations a lot this week.

We finished up our physical properties of matter this week by discussing texture, natural/man-made, and sink/float. Here we are feeling different textures and describing them.

We also got to explore natural and man-made items.

We read some books about sinking and floating.

Predictions were made and we tested clay to see if it would sink or float. We recorded our findings.

We learned about Christopher Columbus and his importance in discovering America.

We decided to try to shape our clay into boats like Columbus to see if it would float. Some of us had success. We put plastic counting bears in our boats until it would sink, just like in a story that we read.

We briefly were introduced the states of matter and will delve further into them next week.

We watched a video about eating healthy and we sorted foods that were good for us.

In Health, we also learned about the important parts of our body.

We read some books about fire safety and we also watched a video.

After that, we did a shared writing activity about what we learned.

Our new blocks are a big hit during center time too.

Library days are on Wednesday. Mrs. Pustka is now allowing each child to check out 2 books every week. Please help to make sure their library books are in their backpacks Wednesday morning so that they can check out new books. If your child finishes before Wednesday, I have a crate in my classroom where they can be returned so they don't have to carry them in their backpack until Wednesday. 

In the computer lab, we learned how to go to Tumblebooks. We listened to stories being read to us and we will be using this program on the classroom computers too. 

I look forward to seeing everyone at parent conferences on Monday. Please remember to be on time and keep conferences to 15 minutes. 

Scholastic book orders are due on Tuesday. You may order online or send in the orders to me.

Please bring assorted apples next week for our apple unit. Thank you and have a great weekend!