Kinder-Whale Tales Dear Kinder-Whale Families, I hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having, and I hope your weekend is off to a great start! It was so wonderful to see all of the bright smiles on our dear Kinder-Whales and to hear all of their sweet voices, as they shared about what they did over their one week break from school. Our first week back from break was filled with lots of excitement and curiosity as the students learned about two very important people in history: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Featured above in this week's news are two directed drawings that the students completed of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. When they were done with their drawings, they added on details/icons to help them remember what each president liked or did. Please check them out above! The Kinder-Whales have learned that they can draw anything by just using simple shapes and lines to create their pictures and they have all become confident in their artistic abilities! Also featured above is a video of the students performing the George Washington song (more information below). This week, we also began our diagnostic testing to measure student growth and progress towards meeting end of the year Kindergarten standards. Please read through the weekly news to see what we have been up to in Room 8! Presidents: Inquiry Chart As mentioned in a previous weekly news post, one of our new SEAL strategies was the implementation of an ongoing inquiry chart when we introduce a new unit or concept. The inquiry chart allows us to activate and share out prior knowledge as students shared what they know about presidents. Some of these things include: President Obama is our president. Presidents give speeches. Presidents live in the White House. Presidents help our country. The inquiry chart also allows us to ask questions under a section that says, What do we wonder? The students asked questions such as, Why do we have presidents? What do presidents do? and Who was our first president? The best part about the inquiry chart is that it allows us to revisit what we wrote, and edit it as we learn new information. For instance, one student shared that Presidents make rules. We later learned that these rules are called laws, so we revised our thinking and our sentence became: Presidents make laws. New information is added using a different color so that we can track our learning. Please see pictures below (right click and open in new tab) to read the information that the students came up with! We will continue to use our inquiry chart next week as we build on our knowledge of presidents! What Do Presidents Do? One of the students' questions is, what do presidents do? A president is the leader of our country and they live and work in the White House in Washington, D.C. People choose or elect the president to be our leader. They can serve for up to two terms (a term is four years long), but must be re-elected for the second term. A president has many responsibilities, such as making laws, signing or vetoing bills, and creating policies to make our country a better place. The president also enforces laws and makes sure that they are being followed. The president also figures out how to spend the country's money. He/she is in charge of the armed forces, such as the army, navy, marines, secret service, and the coastal guard. He/she also picks people to be on the Supreme Court, selects judges, and members of the cabinet who are in charge of different things, such as education or agriculture/farming. To run as a candidate for presidency, you must be at least 35 years old and born in the United States. The Kinder-Whales also learned that a duck can't be a president--we read aloud a cute book called, Duck for President by Doreen Cronin. Ask your child about what happened in this funny story! George Washington: The Father of Our Country This week we learned all about our first president: George Washington. Once the students found out that George Washington was our first president, we instantly revisited our inquiry chart and added that new knowledge. In learning about George Washington, we watched a video about him on BrainPop Jr. and we also watched a video on Scholastic called, "The Life of George Washington." We pulled from various sources of information to add onto his timeline below. George Washington Timeline: The Kinder-Whales learned that a timeline shows the important parts of a person's life from when they were born to the end of their life. To start things off, we talked about how George Washington was born more than 200 years ago in 1732. He grew up on a farm in Virginia and he loved riding horses. When he was younger, his older brothers and father taught him at home. Washington's favorite subject was math, and he used his math skills to learn how to draw maps. When he was 17 years old, he worked as a surveyor, or as someone who drew maps of the land. When Washington got older, he married a woman named Martha Custis is 1759. He was known for his honesty and for being a great leader. In 1775, the Revolutionary War began; back then, we had thirteen colonies that did not think it was fair for them to continue to pay taxes to Great Britain when they did not get a say in who they wanted to be their leader. We wanted independence from Great Britain, and the freedom to choose or elect our own leaders, and so began the Revolutionary War. Washington became an army general and led soldiers to win many battles. It helped that he was a surveyor and he could make maps to help the soldiers find their way. After we won the Revolutionary War, George Washington was elected to be our first president in 1789. He helped to make laws and he signed the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to make our country fair and free. He was president for two terms (eight years). When his terms were over, the people wanted him to be president again, but Washington said no because he wanted to give others a chance to be president. Washington died of illness in 1799. Because George Washington was our first president and because he set the foundation for our country, he is known as the Father of our Country. George Washington Song: A Summary of Events To help the Kinder-Whales remember all of the roles and responsibilities of George Washington, we learned a song that goes over what he did as a surveyor, a general, and a president. We also discussed how Washington is still remembered today, with his face on the quarter and the one dollar bill. There are also many places named after him, including schools, buildings, streets, cities and states. We are still learning the words to this song, but the students have made great progress! Ask them to sing it for you :). Featured above in this week's news is also a video of the students singing this song after learning it for two days! Abraham Lincoln: Honest Abe The Kinder-Whales were also excited to learn all about Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president. In fact, a few of them came in the day after learning about George Washington and said, "Did you know that Abraham Lincoln is the 16th president? Not the second president!" I love all of the connections that they are making and I love their curiosity to find out more when they go home! Just as we did when learning about George Washington, we also pulled from different sources to learn about Abraham Lincoln, including the BrainPop Jr. video and the Scholastic Video titled, "The Life of Abraham Lincoln." Abraham Lincoln Timeline To start off, we talked about how George Washington and Abraham Lincoln never met each other because Lincoln was born in 1809, ten years after Washington died. Lincoln was born on February 12th, 1809 in Nolin Creek, Kentucky. He grew up with his brothers and sisters in a one-room log cabin that only had one window (Side note: We talked about how I played with Lincoln logs when I was little, but the students had no clue what I was talking about--it made me feel so old!). In 1830, Lincoln moved to Illinois with his family. When he was young, he loved to read, and rather than going to school, he spent most of his time working on the farm. Lincoln's cabin did not have electricity, so Lincoln would read books by candlelight. The students got a kick out of learning that one of Lincoln's favorite books was a biography of George Washington. Lincoln was known for being honest and always telling the truth. Lincoln was also a great speaker--many people came just to listen to him speak. As he got older, he studied the law to become a lawyer. Then, in 1842, he married a woman named Mary Todd (the students loved saying, "Lincoln married Mary Todd."), and he had four sons, but one son died at a young age. In 1860, Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of the United States. About a year after that in 1861, the Civil War began. The Southern states wanted to separate and become their own country because they wanted to keep slavery, while the Northern states wanted to abolish, or get rid of, slavery. Abraham Lincoln worked hard to keep our country together, and in 1863, he also abolished slavery and signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all of the slaves. Lincoln stood for what was right. In 1865, while Lincoln was enjoying a show at the theater, a man named John Wilkes Booth, who did not like that Lincoln freed the slaves, snuck into the theater and shot Abraham Lincoln, making Lincoln the first president to be assassinated. We still celebrate Lincoln today and we remember him by having his face on the penny and the five dollar bill. There is also a statue named after him in Washington, D.C. called the Lincoln Memorial. The students loved hearing about how Lincoln was 6 foot 4 inches, as tall as some NBA players today! What made Lincoln even taller was the stovepipe hat that he wore. Lincoln would keep important papers and documents in his hat. We had a fun conversation about what we would keep if we had a hat like Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln Song: A Summary of Events To help the students remember all of the things that Abraham Lincoln did and accomplished in his life time, we learned the following song. We learned about how Lincoln was brave, smart, honest, fair, and how he is remembered today. Since the students are still learning this song and coming up with the hand movements, a video of the students singing this song will be uploaded next week! Washington vs. Lincoln After front loading the students with information about both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, we had a discussion about the similarities and differences between the two great presidents. We looked at the things that each president liked to do when they were young and before they became president. We looked at the different jobs that they had, and then we looked at what they accomplished when they were president. Thank you Maya and Kevin for bringing in real money for us to look at the presidents' faces up close! Pictured below are the students looking at pictures of each president and determining which president it was, based on what they saw in the picture. For instance, there is a picture of someone riding on a horse. The students explained which president it was and why with a partner at their table. We also looked at what each president wore. We will work on comparing and contrasting both presidents IN DEPTH next week! We will also deepen our understanding of the two presidents and their roles and responsibilities through review, oral discussion, and writing. | Reminders & Updates Next Week:
IMPORTANT Reminders:
RECAP New Seats: Hooray! The Kinder-Whales got new seats this week and are sitting at new tables with different students. This is to provide students with the opportunity to interact with everyone in the class, and to give them a different perspective of the classroom. We will have 2-3 more seat changes in the remainder of the school year. New Conversation Strategy! In addition to talking about how we are feeling at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day, we learned a new strategy this week, called Step Up to Talking. At the end of the day, the students practice getting in front of their peers to teach the class something new: This can be something that they know a lot about or something that we learned in class during the day/week. The students practice projecting their voice so that everyone can hear them, and they follow the sentence frames below, to give their speech sequence with an introduction, a beginning, middle, ending, and closing remarks. I encourage you to try this out with your child at home! You can practice this in the car ride home or while waiting in line or at an office, etc. An example of this is as follows:
New Toys at Recess! In addition to the bikes, hula hoops, wagons, and of course the playground, the Kindergarteners learned about how to use and share some new toys! These new toys include skip its, jump rope, bean bag toss, ring toss, and a basketball hoop. Happy Birthday, Namit! On Wednesday, February 24th, we celebrated Namit's 6th birthday. The students sang happy birthday to him, and each student created a page for Namit's birthday book. Thank you to Namit and family for the healthy birthday snack! We hope you had a lovely birthday celebration! Sports Day! On Friday, our Kinder-Whales came in their sports attire! They represented teams such as the 49ers, Raiders, Giants, Warriors, soccer teams, and some even came wearing personalized jerseys! Spangler Student Store The Kinder-Whales always look forward to going to the Spangler Student Store to buy school supplies among other cool trinkets. Thank you so much to the amazing parent volunteers who came to support and help out at the Spangler store. It was a pleasant surprise to see Mrs. Rebecca and Mrs. Stephanie! Some parents even commented on how well behaved our class is--way to go! I am so proud of them for being such wonderful role models for others, even if they are just Kindergarteners! :) Diagnostic Testing! The Kinder-Whales have done a fantastic job with their diagnostic test on reading. Next week, they will take their diagnostic test on math. Additionally, we will be assessing the students in all subject areas, and will update you with the progress that they have made towards meeting Kindergarten standards and learning goals! Kinder-Whale Tales cont. (no room on the left side): Letter of the Week: Xx Our letter of the week was the letter Xx. The students learned how to correctly form the uppercase X and lowercase x, using straight lines. The Kinder-Whales also did a wonderful job of coming up with words that begin or end with the letter Xx, including x-ray, xylophone, box, fox, ax, trix, six, mix, Max, etc. and then they drew pictures of each thing to help them remember the X words. My Healthy Teeth Sight Word Review: My The Kinder-Whales had a mini-lesson on the importance of taking care of our teeth by brushing them at least twice a day, flossing our teeth, and visiting the dentist twice a year. We also discussed how we should avoid eating/drinking sugary foods and only have them in moderation, so that we keep our teeth healthy and strong. The Kinder-Whales reviewed the sight word my and wrote the word in our Healthy Teeth book. Please scroll down to see a video of one of our Kinder-Whales reading the book aloud! Math Review: This week, we reviewed our 3-D shapes. We also reviewed our math vocabulary words:
Next Week's Starfish: Namit! Thank You! As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read through the weekly news (as well as the mid-week reminders). We have been in school for 119 days, which means we only have 61 days of school left! What a bittersweet thought! I have truly enjoyed getting to know and work with each and every one of them, and I will miss them so much. Even though they will be just down the hall, it won't be the same as getting to see them first thing in the morning and having them in my own classroom. I am so proud of each and every one of our students. They have come such a long way since August, and things are starting to click for them. Thank you for all of your ongoing support, hard work, and for everything that you have been doing at home to prepare our dear Kinder-Whales for first grade and beyond. Please remember to leave a quick comment on this week's news to indicate that you have received the updates and reminders. Thank you again! Have a marvelous weekend! Best wishes, Mrs. Lorenzana |
13 Comments
Sonali
2/27/2016 10:39:51 pm
Thankyou for the weekly news & updates.
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Mrs. Lorenzana
2/27/2016 11:02:34 pm
Thank you SO MUCH for your consistency in commenting on the weekly news! I really appreciate it!!!
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jayne
2/27/2016 10:59:58 pm
Brody told us the many facts he learned about the presidents, history lessons, currency, and the new toys at recess. He seemed extremely interested in the topic of history.
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Mrs. Lorenzana
2/27/2016 11:05:19 pm
This just made my night!!! Thank you so much for sharing. I am so proud of him! He kept raising his hand while we were discussing the presidents and he was so eager to share his thoughts and ideas. I am so happy to hear that he is sharing what he learned at school with his family!
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Monique Johnson
2/27/2016 11:02:38 pm
Thank you for sharing!
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Stephanie
2/28/2016 09:08:42 am
Thanks for sharing! It's always fun to read and connect class activities to what she talks about at home. One day she came home commenting about "faces" on different objects, and whether something was a sphere, cylinder, etc.. You do a really great job in getting and keeping them excited about learning.
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Mrs. Lorenzana
2/28/2016 04:54:47 pm
YAY! Thank you for your kind words. I'm so happy to hear that she has been making those connections! She really does take everything that we learn to heart, and I am so proud of her!
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Josh Wells
2/28/2016 11:43:04 am
Enjoyed sitting around the dinner table and hearing all about what U'ilani learned about the presidents
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Jeongmin
2/28/2016 08:44:12 pm
Thank you so much for the lovely news.
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Mohamud
2/29/2016 09:33:09 am
Thanks Vanessa
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Elodie Coriell
2/29/2016 11:25:40 am
Thank you Mrs. Lorenzana for the detailed newsletter, video and pictures. It is amazing how much the kinder-whales are learning while having a lot of fun!
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Sandra
2/29/2016 03:08:41 pm
Thank you for the weekly news, Mrs. Lorenzana! It's always fun to read through the news and look at all the pictures of the class doing fun activities!
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Jennifer
3/3/2016 05:17:03 pm
Thank you for your weekly updates. It's great to know what they've been learning from school & I love how Shannon shared her knowledge with me everytime she learned something new.
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Mrs. LorenzanaKindergarten Teacher at Spangler Elementary Archives
June 2016
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