This Week in Kindergarten Dear Kinder-Whale Families, I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend so far! I was out for two days this week attending a valuable training workshop to launch off SEAL (Sobrato Early Academic Literacy). However, throughout the two days, I kept thinking about our dear Kinder-Whales and how they were doing, what they were up to, etc. Needless to say, I missed them greatly, and it was so wonderful to be back on Friday and to see all of their beautiful smiles and happy faces! Because I was out on Wednesday and Thursday, I wasn't able to take as many photos of the kids in action. I tried to make up for lost time on Friday! Hope you enjoy! Reading/Language Arts This week, we started our unit on APPLES! We learned another song about picking apples and making applesauce out of them. After learning the song for the first time, the Kinder-whales said they were ready for me to record a video of their beautiful singing voices, and that video is featured above in this week's news! Before reading about apples, we asked the students what they already know about apples. The students shared that apples can be different colors, including red, yellow, green, or a combination of the three. We also discussed how apples grow on trees, not from the ground. Students' responses were recorded on our bubble map, which we will be adding more to throughout our apples unit. We read one book about apples and the Kinder-whales learned the difference between fiction (book that tells an imaginative story and usually has drawings) vs. non-fiction (a book that is tells facts about real people and events). We have lots of fun activities planned as we continue to learn more about apples throughout the month of September. Please remember to bring your apples next week! The Kinder-whales reviewed their color words (red, yellow, green) and used their knowledge of letters and letter sounds to help them identify what color to use on each page. For instance, when they read the sentence, "Some apples are green", the students looked at the word green and saw that it begins with the letter g and it makes the /g/ sound. They then thought about which color has the /g/ sound at the beginning... GREEN! The students are getting better and better at figuring out words using the beginning sounds of letters. After reading their book to themselves, the Kinder-whales partnered up with someone and practiced reading the book together as well as taking turns to read each page--we are working on following along and pointing at each word while our friend is reading! Writing/Handwriting The Kinder-whales are continuing to work on their letter a day worksheets. This week, we practiced writing letters Oo, Pp, Qq, and Rr, and we also came up with words that have the corresponding beginning sounds. We are working on looking carefully at the solid line, dotted line, and solid line to help us correctly form our letters. Please help your child with this at home! Their coloring skills have greatly improved from the first day of school. These worksheets have also allowed students to review their colors and shapes, as they identify the shapes that they can use and draw to form pictures. For instance, the Kinder-whales can use triangles to draw ears, rectangles to draw legs, circles to draw animal bodies, etc. Math Last week, the Kinder-whales practiced working with numbers 1-5. They did a great job of writing the numbers by starting at the top. They also did a wonderful job of carefully counting a set of objects and writing the number of objects that they counted. This week, the Kinder-whales worked on correctly forming the number 6. We read a poem about six red engines puffing down the track, and puffing down and back. The students enjoyed acting out the poem and pretending to be each of the red engines. The teacher would show a number (1-6) on her fingers, and then students would have to raise their hand to identify the number. Then that student got to pretend to be the engine puffing down the track. We rotated and made sure everyone got a turn to be the engines. Then the students practiced counting objects in their math workbooks and writing the correct number next to it. They also practiced drawing a certain number of items when given the number. THINK-PAIR-SHARE! The Kinder-whales were introduced to the concept of Think-Pair-Share, where students first take some time to think about their response to a question, then they pair up with someone sitting near them, and then they share their thoughts and ideas. When the pair is done sharing, they make a shark fin and look at the teacher to let me know that they are ready to discuss and share out with the whole group. The students were able to share what their partner said, and they all did a fantastic job of answering the questions with their partner--I was amazed at how engaged they were and how well they were able to listen to each other. We will continue to use the Think-Pair-Share model when we discuss stories that we've read or when we answer essential questions about what we are learning (i.e. apples!). This will allow students to work together and to teach and learn from each other. | Reminders & Updates Next Week:
UPDATE: Student Numbers: If you haven't noticed already, each student has been assigned a number in our class, from #1-#22. Many of the students have already been doing a great job with this--please help your child to remember his/her number by having him/her write his/her name and then number. Example: Mrs. Lorenzana #0, Aashni #1, Anthony #2, etc. Starfish of the Week! Next week, we will also begin our Starfish of the Week program. This is an exciting time for our students as they get to share fun facts about themselves and their classmates get to know them better! Every student will get a chance to be the Starfish of the Week, which will continue throughout the school year until everyone has had a turn. Our first Starfish of the Week is Mia! She will bring in a decorated All About Me poster next week and we will have the wonderful opportunity to learn all about Mia! Throughout the week, Mia will be my special helper, and she will also bring in a few of her favorite things to share with the class. We will feature her in next week's news, so stay tuned! Brag Bags: Coming Soon! As a way to motivate students to learn and to master Kindergarten skills in Reading, Language Arts, Math, and Basic Skills (such as being able to tie their own shoes), we will be starting our Brag Bags soon! Every student has a "Brag Bag" in the classroom, where their work will be featured. Throughout the year, students will work on mastering skills such as being able to identify both the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet in under two minutes, being able to read a certain number of sight words, being able to count up to 100 by 2's, 5's, and 10's, etc. For each skill that they master, students will get a sticker on their Brag Bag. The goal is to earn all of their stickers by learning as much as possible! A letter with more information will be sent home soon. We will introduce it to the students to get them excited about their Brag Bags! I love when students are super proud of their work, and hopefully this will keep them motivated to learn throughout the school year! RECAP Red, White, and Blue Day! On Friday, 09/11/15, students were encouraged to wear Red, White, and Blue! They all looked adorable in their colors! I forgot to wear my colors this past Friday, but I will definitely remember to wear my Hawaiian attire next Friday! Mini-Me Dolls! Our wonderful instructional assistant, Ms. Nancy has been a tremendous help in our classroom! She will continue to work with the students one-on-one, or in a small group setting to make sure that all of our students' learning needs are met. Currently, she has been pulling students to work on their mini-me dolls. I am excited to see their adorable dolls once they are all finished! New Class Layout! Last weekend, I had some fun and spent some time moving furniture around in the classroom. I am so much happier with the new layout of our classroom, because it maximizes the space and allows all students to have a better view of the white board. It also gives the students with more room so that they are not squished back to back with another student when they are seated at their tables. Throughout the week, I may also make some seating changes. Elmer the Elephant! In addition to reading, language arts, and math, the students are also learning how to be a good friend and how to appreciate one another's uniqueness and differences. We read Elmer, the story of a colorful patchwork patterned elephant who makes all of the other elephants laugh with his sense of humor and jokes. Elmer is unhappy because he feels like the others are laughing at him... after all, who has ever had of a patchwork elephant? One morning while the other elephants are sleeping, Elmer decides to paint himself with some elephant colored berries. He sneaks back before all of the other elephants wake up, and he blends right in. No one knew his name; they just called him, "Elephant." After a long period of silence, Elmer can't take it anymore and he yells out, BOO! scaring all of the elephants and making them all laugh. They all wished that Elmer could've been there to join in on the fun. Then it started to rain and it washed off the berry juice that was covering Elmer. All of the elephants were so happy to see Elmer--they decided to make it a holiday, and on that day every year, Elmer would be normal elephant color while the other elephants decorated themselves in lots of colorful patterns. They reassured Elmer that they love him because of his differences. We all learned that it is OK to be different, and that if everyone were the same, the world would be a boring place. Let's keep things interesting and be ourselves (everyone else is taken)! Thank You! Thank you for another amazing week! The Kinder-whales are learning and growing so much! I feel so blessed and grateful to be their teacher. Thank you for trusting me with your children and for all of your support! I have enjoyed reading about your child's favorite things, and will do my best to incorporate their interests into our curriculum! For this week's news, please leave a comment with your child's favorite song (and artist if they have one)! Have a marvelous weekend! Best wishes, Mrs. Lorenzana |
10 Comments
Jeremy Coriell
9/12/2015 05:52:09 pm
Maya's favorite song is Happy by Pharrell Williams
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Monique Johnson
9/12/2015 06:04:23 pm
One of bruce's favorite songs is from Ray Charles- You are so beautiful to me
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Stephanie Guthrie
9/12/2015 06:52:20 pm
Marissa's favorite song is "Uptown Funky Wunk" (Uptown Funk) by Bruno Mars.
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Ira McGee
9/12/2015 07:01:32 pm
Brookie's favorite song is "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift.
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Juda Gafurova
9/12/2015 10:41:40 pm
One of Munisa's favorite song is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".
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Denise Diaz
9/13/2015 09:56:45 am
Denise's favorite song is Cheerleader by Omi
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Mohamud
9/13/2015 12:09:29 pm
Ahmed's favorite song is "uptown funk you up" by Bruno Mars
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Josh Wells
9/13/2015 08:37:15 pm
U'ilani loves all kinds of music. Lately she has a particular taste for country hits "Banjo" by Rascall Flats and "Kick the Dust Up" by Luke Bryan
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Sandra Urena
9/14/2015 11:02:42 am
Anthony's favorite songs are "See you again" and "Uptown Funk", he also loves to dance!
Reply
Jennifer Yeoh
9/14/2015 04:11:35 pm
Shannon likes all the songs from Mother Goose Club.
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Mrs. LorenzanaKindergarten Teacher at Spangler Elementary Archives
June 2016
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