Kinder-Whale Tales Dear Kinder-Whale Families, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you have all had a restful and enjoyable winter break! WELCOME BACK! It is so wonderful to have the students back in the classroom. They all came in, ready to learn! It was simply amazing! Featured above in this week's news are a few New Year's projects that we did this week. The students really enjoyed making 2016 hats and they wore them proudly all day! Our second new year project helped us to "Ring in the New Year!" with our New Year's Resolutions! Many of our dear Kinder-Whales said that by the end of their Kindergarten year, they want to become better readers, read more books, be able to add and subtract, be able to count up to 100+, be a better friend to others, and help their parents and families at home by doing chores. Our New Year's bells are proudly displayed in our classroom to remind us of our goals for the school year! SEAL: Scholar We are almost done with our first SEAL unit on community helpers! So far, we have learned about doctors, police officers, firefighters, librarians, cashiers, and mail carriers. Our last community helper that we learned about this week was a SCHOLAR. We had our first collaborative conversation of 2016 about what we think a scholar is. Our anchor sentence is: A scholar goes to school to learn new information. Together, we came up with: A scholar is a student or someone who learns. We discussed how when we say scholar, it sounds like school--a scholar is someone who goes to school! We started off the school year with a Draw and Label to front load the students with new information and to introduce them to new vocabulary words. The Kinder-Whales also did a wonderful job of identifying the tools that a scholar needs to do their job, including pencils, crayons, scissors, desks, glue, chromebooks, iPads, folder, etc. Next, we discussed a scholar's helpers, including teachers (Mrs. Lorenzana), principals (Ms. Waslif), instructional assistants (Ms. Nancy), and Ms. Malkos, our school's SEAL coach. Lastly, we discussed the roles and responsibilities (job) of a scholar, which includes to learn, to collaborate or work together, to communicate or listen and talk to one another, to keep our classroom clean, and to follow the rules while we are at school. Take a look at our Scholar Draw and Label below! You can also take a look at the lesson below--Thank you Ms. Malkos for recording the lesson! A scholar is perhaps the most important community helper, because they are our FUTURE community helpers of doctors, firefighters, police officers, artists, bakers, chefs, teachers, football players, dancers, dentists, construction workers, etc.--whatever their little hearts desire! Scholars have to work hard and learn as much as they can! One student even pointed out that without scholars, what would a teacher do? They said, What would Mrs. Lorenzana do without all of her scholars? :) I love all of the wonderful connections that they are making! We have really enjoyed this unit and will end it on a strong note! Center: Phonics: Letter of the Week: Ff Our letter of the week was Ff. In addition to completing activities where they differentiate between uppercase F and lowercase f as well as correctly forming the letters using their best handwriting, and coloring/reading their letter Ff booklet, our scholars came up with as many things as they could think of that begin with the letter Ff. Before winter break, we all worked together as a class to come up with as many things as we could think of that begin with our letter of the week. This time, the students were very excited to complete their own letter of the week circle map--they did a fantastic job! Center: Sight Words Throughout the week, we practiced reading the sight words that we have learned by reading them as I flashed them on the screen. In preparation for our spelling test, we did several review activities. Then on Friday, the students had their first spelling test on the sight words that we have learned so far, including: I, like, my, see, a, to, go, and, the. We will continue to have weekly spelling tests using sight words. From now on, students will be expected to correctly spell all of the sight words that we have learned in their writing. For the rest of their writing, they are strongly encouraged to use best guess spelling. I am so proud of how far all of our scholars have come and how much they have accomplished! Math: Chapter 5 The Kinder-Whales started and finished Chapter 5 in math, which was all about Size and Position. The students were asked to describe a picture of boxes of different colors and sizes. Then, they had to use math terms to describe the position of each box. For instance, the students practiced saying, the large orange box is behind the medium sized purple box. The small yellow box is in front of the red medium sized box. This week, we also looked at the size of objects to see what could fit inside of them. We read a fun snippet of a story called the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe. Then the students took a look at their own shoes and came up with things that are small enough to fit in their shoes as well as things that are too big to fit in their shoes. Students practiced speaking in complete sentences. For instance, students said, "A crayon can fit in my shoe because it is smaller" or "A chair cannot fit in my shoe because it is bigger". The Kinder-Whales had a lot of fun coming up with as many things as they could think of, and sharing those things with a partner during a collaborative conversation. We also looked at Mrs. Lorenzana's shoe compared to a student's shoe, and we also looked at Shannon's and Boa's shoes to see which shoe could hold more items and why (Shannon's shoe can hold more because it is bigger than Boa's shoe). Lesson 3 was based on the position of toys on a toy shelf. The students used the math terms above or on top of, under or below, beside or next to, behind, and in between to describe the location of the items on the toy shelf. We also took a look at where everyone was sitting on the rug, and we discussed who was sitting in front of, behind, and next to us, which provided the students with a more visual and personal connection to the math concept of position. The students also did an amazing job of following directions, listening carefully, and placing the items correctly based on my verbal instructions (Put the cup under the table). Please see pictures below! Math: Barrier Games Our Kinder-Whales have done a terrific job of counting up to large two digit numbers using a hundreds chart! This week, we introduced a new activity called Barrier Games. As I called out certain numbers, students colored them in using specific colors. At the end of the directions, if they colored the correct numbers using the right colors, then they should be able to see the mystery picture on the hundreds chart. Can you see what the mystery picture is in the photos below? We will continue to do barrier games throughout the remainder of the school year to provide students with extra practice with numbers up to 100 and to help students continue to develop their number sense. Our Kinder scholars really enjoyed doing this activity! Calendar Math We are continuing to build our number sense and math skills by completing our daily calendar. The students are able to show the number of the day using a variety of forms, including using tally marks, ten frames, dots on a dice, dots on a domino, and number bonds. Our daily calendar routines are really preparing students to add as we are building the foundation to make numbers and write simple math number sentences. In a few of the pictures below, the students have shown different ways to make (or add up to) the number of the day. First, the students draw 8 dots in two squares. Then the students count how many dots they drew in the first square (let's say 3) + how many dots they drew in the second square (let's say 5). Then they put it together to make the following number sentence: 3+5=8. Students come up to show the class their way of making the number 8, and we were able to come up with 1+7=8, 7+1=8, 2+6=8, 6+2=8, 4+4=8, 5+3=8, 3+5=8. We are also working with bar graphs to measure the birthdays we have had so far, as well as to track weather patterns. Our weather forecaster of the week, Austin, looked at the sky and felt the air to predict our weather. Then we graphed the weather patterns on our weather bar graph. So far, we have had one sunny day, three rainy days, and one cloudy day in January! | Reminders & Updates Next Week:
Upcoming January Events:
Announcements:
RECAP: January Calendar The Kinder-Whales learned about perseverance while making their snowman for the January calendar. Their art work was created entirely by ripping and tearing paper into shapes to form the snowman, which proved to be a difficult task for many students. The students kept wanting to tear the paper by bringing their hands apart to the left and right as opposed to moving one hand in front of the other. This is one skill that I would like to strongly encourage all family members to practice with their child: Ripping and tearing paper to form circles, squares, or even just in a straight line. A letter was sent home with the January calendar along with ideas for daily math practice. The January calendar should be hung up at home so that you can easily access it and practice the daily calendar routines. Ask your child to sing the months of the year song and the days of the week song, as well as our new January song (shown in a video below). Social Skills: How Full is Your Bucket? Be a Bucket Filler! This week, we read a book called How Full is Your Bucket? (For Kids) by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. Each of us has an invisible bucket. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it is empty, we feel awful. Yet most children (and many adults) don’t realize the importance of having a full bucket throughout the day. In How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids, Felix begins to see how every interaction in a day either fills or empties his bucket. Felix then realizes that everything he says or does to other people fills or empties their buckets as well. Felix learns how easy it is to fill the buckets of his classmates, teachers, and family members. Before the day is over, Felix learns to be a great bucket filler and discovers that filling someone else's bucket also fills his own. The Kinder-Whales created and decorated their own buckets, which are now in their cubbies. The buckets will remain in their cubbies for the remainder of the school year. All students are encouraged to fill each others' buckets with kind notes, drawings, pictures, etc. to create a happy classroom with happy scholars! We are also working on keeping our eyes and ears open, so that we can be active bucket fillers. If we notice that someone is sad or lonely, we can fill their bucket by leaving a kind note in their cubby bucket, or by going up to them and inviting them to play with them, filling their invisible bucket. The students have done an amazing job of filling one another's buckets and lifting each other up--it is such a wonderful way to begin the new year 2016 in Room 8! My hope is also that the students will continue to fill the buckets of loved ones and family members while they are at home, too! If you would like to read (or reread) the book, there is a link to a video reading of the book below. Starfish of the Week: We did not have a Starfish of the Week this past week, due to the winter break. Norah was our Starfish before our winter break, so she randomly chose a number out of a basket to determine next week's starfish. Next Week's Starfish of the Week: Aashni! Thank You! Thank you for taking the time to read through the mid-week reminders as well as the weekly news, and thank you for your ongoing and endless support! When the students came back from winter break, I have noticed that for many of them, all of the things that we have been learning are really clicking for the students! They are quicker to catch on, and their writing skills have tremendously improved! Additionally, the students know their letters, letter sounds, and are able to count up to 100. Our goal is for all students to be able to identify their letters and letter sounds, including their long vowel sounds, by the end of this month! We will be practicing a lot in the classroom, and practice at home is also strongly encouraged! I hope you know how much I appreciate all that you do at home to help support your child's learning! It has been such a pleasure being your child's teacher, and working with each and every one of you to help make sure your child is getting what they need to prepare for first grade! For this week's news, please leave a quick comment with a SMART goal (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based) that you have for your child to accomplish by the end of the Kindergarten year! For instance, One goal might be for your child to be able to learn all of their Kindergarten sight words. Another goal might be for your child to be able to count forwards and backwards up to 100, etc. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a magnificent weekend! Warm wishes, Mrs. Lorenzana |
7 Comments
Jeongmin Jeon
1/10/2016 07:42:56 am
Thank you for the wonderful website and pictures. Boa likes your class very much.
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Sonali Acharya
1/10/2016 10:39:39 am
Our goal for Aashni before she finish kindergarten is to learn all the sight words and count the numbers in 5's and 10's and also count backwards..
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Stephanie G
1/10/2016 10:45:07 am
Is SMART Goal for Marissa is to be able to write 3-4 sentences about something she's read/heard about-- or her own thoughts in a journal, in a reasonable amount of time, by the end of the school year.
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Stephanie G
1/10/2016 10:46:17 am
Also, the brown bags I brought were for Aashni and Shannon also. I just handed them all in :)
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Mrs. Lorenzana
1/10/2016 08:59:45 pm
Thank you for letting me know!!!
Monique Johnson
1/10/2016 01:24:11 pm
My hopes before the end of kindergarten is for Bruce to be ready and know what he needs to know To start 1st grade. So far he's learning so much and I'm super proud of him and Mrs. Lorenzana for teaching him all that he has learned from school.
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Jennifer
1/13/2016 12:17:12 am
Shannon's goal by the end of Kindergarten is to able to read longer words, make sentences with her own spelling and a better handwriting.
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Mrs. LorenzanaKindergarten Teacher at Spangler Elementary Archives
June 2016
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