Telling and Writing StoriesWe have been sharing stories about us since the start of school. Each day we have a chance to share a quick piece of news during our Headline News Circle. We share things like, "I had soccer practice last night and we got rained on." or "I went to the park with my friend and we pushed each other on the swings." We have learned a lot about each other through this routine at the start of our day. During Writing Workshop time we are also sharing stories about ourselves. We have been turning the stories we have been telling out loud into books. It is so important at this age for children to be telling and hearing stories told aloud. At home it would be helpful for your child to be hearing you tell stories and having them tell you a story. For example, if you went to the pumpkin patch to get a pumpkin you and child could retell the story together. You could prompt them by going back and thinking what happened first, then next and so on. This will support them here at school as we tell and write stories from their lives. Word Wall and Reading NotebookThis year we will be using a white binder that we will fill with poems and easy to read short books. These white binders that we call our "Reading Notebooks" will be used regularly and added to throughout the year. We will use them during reading time at the beginning of our day and during reading workshop. We have already added a few favorite poems and songs like "Zero the Hero", "Big Black Buy," and "To the Bus." These songs, poems and stories will also helps us think about and look at the high frequency words we will learn to read and write through kindergarten. Along with our "Reading Notebooks" that help us think about high frequency words we will also be using a word wall in our room that we can go to and pull words off to help us when we are writing. We will refer to these words as "popcorn words" or words we need to know in a "snap"because these are words we just need to know. We can't try to stretch them out, we just need to know them quickly and right away. We will work on these words and add to our word wall through the whole year. Racing BearsThis week we learned a new game called "Racing bears." This a game that can be played by ourselves or with a partner. There are four bears at the bottom of the game board that have to move ten spots to capture a button at the top of the game board. This game helps us to think about subitizing the dots on a dice, counting spot to move the bear closer to capturing the button, and also how a whole number can be split into parts. For example, if I rolled a 6 and I only need to move two spots to capture a button, then I will have to move another bear four more spots to complete my turn.
Living vs. Non-LivingOver the last week we have spent time reading, discussing, and wondering about what things in our world are living vs. non-living. We realized that there are five questions we can ask ourselves to help us identify what makes something living. "Does it move all by itself?, Does it breathe?, Does it need food and water to survive?, Does it reproduce? Does it grow and change?" Through answering these questions we began to realize what things in our world are actually living. We also realized that there are some things, like seeds, in our world that have the potential to be living, but are not always alive. The Zoo Came to Visit GREGlacier Ridge raised over $3,000.00 through the Tiger Trot for tiger conservation. The Columbus Zoo wanted to thank us by bringing some animals for us to learn about. Thank you for your support! Visit to the Glacier Ridge Metro ParkWe had a wonderful visit to Glacier Ridge Metro Park. Miss Chrissy helped us learn about the gifts of trees and how seeds travel from place to place. We also spent time observing many different nuts, seeds and berries that mice, deer, birds, bears and squirrels eat. Park Ranger Neil and Ms. Sarah took us on a nature walk on the red oak trail and we discovered so many neat things! We found an old hornets nest, buck antlers, snake skin, spiders, old tree stomps, mushrooms, leaves and nuts! It was fun observing the forest in the fall!
Comparing Our NamesThe students enjoyed looking closely at each others names this week. We built name sticks, using snap cubes, to show the length of our name. We compared our name to our friends' names and recorded our findings on a paper. We shared what we learned about our name as it compared to others' name. We figured out who had the least amount of letters in their name in the class and who had the most.
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Tiger TrotOur annual Tiger Trot was HOT! After reading and writing about tigers and talking about what ways we, as kindergarteners, can help the tigers, we enjoyed "trotting" to the Glacier Ridge Metro Park to help raise awareness! The students had fun walking with the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, as well as indulging in a nice cold popsicle when they got back to school! YUM! Bears in the CaveAs we continue to grow our number sense, specifically with the number 5, we played a game called "bears in the cave" this week. The students played with a partner. They were given 5 bears with which they would hide some in the cave, or leave some out of the cave. One student would hide the bears, while the other person would use their number sense of 5 to figure out how many bears were still in the cave. Our goal is to be able to quickly determine how many bears are missing. We love this game! Have you played at home yet? Tiger Math ProblemWe solved a tricky problem about tigers this week during math! The students were given the following problem: There are 5 tigers at the zoo. They can be inside a cage or out in an open space. Show all the ways the tigers could be in the cage and open space. For example, 3 tigers could be in the cage, while 2 tigers could be out in the open space. The students had to persevere as they worked to find as many ways as possible for the tigers to be in their habitat. Our earlier work investigating 5 was helpful as we worked to solve this complex problem. This type of problem allows the students to be creative with their thinking! Our Mentor Authors: Eric Carle and Mercer MayerWe are kindergarten writers and we have stories to tell! During Writing Workshop, we love to hear stories and so far this year we have heard quite a few of them. Two authors that we have taken a closer look at are Eric Carle and Mercer Mayer. As well looked closely at Eric Carle's books, we noticed that he uses a lot of color in his drawings. We also noticed that, at times, he zooms-in to the most important part of what he wants to show. We are trying to do these things in our own writing. Mercer Mayer's wordless books about a boy and his frog are wonderful! It is so fun to tell the story as we look at his drawings. The expressions on the character's faces are what we noticed about Mercer Mayer's work! On your next stop to the public library, check out some of his wordless books. They are so much fun to read! We will be trying to give our characters expressive faces just like our mentor, Mercer Mayer. Comparing Lengths/Measuring
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AuthorWe are thrilled to be in Kindergarten working, playing and learning alongside your child. Check the blog to see what we have been up to in Kindergarten! Archives
December 2016
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