Kinder-Whale Tales Dear Kinder-Whale Families, I hope you have had a wonderful weekend! The Kinder-Whales had an extremely productive week! We only have a few more days left before the winter break, and we are trying to learn as much as we can and do as many activities as we can! Featured above in this week's news are the holiday lights with the students' names on them and elf projects that the students did with our fifth grade buddies. The students wrote about what they would do if they were an elf. Their projects are adorable! This past week, we learned about mail carriers as a part of our community helpers unit. The students learned a new song to learn about what mail carriers do. Check out the video below! Our new vocabulary word for the week was: DELIVER. We used the word deliver in a sentence: Mail carriers deliver letters and packages to your house every day. Next, we had several collaborative discussions to figure out the meaning of the word, using context clues from the sentence. The class collectively agreed on the following definition: Deliver means to bring or hand something over. Throughout the week, the students did a fantastic job of using the word deliver whenever they could. In addition to learning about all of the things that mail carriers do, including their roles and responsibilities, as well as their tools, we also discussed what happens after we drop off a letter or package in the mail. We watched a few videos to see how letters and packages get sorted, scanned, labeled, and delivered. Check out the videos below: The Kinder-Whales have made so much progress in the 81 days that we have been in school, especially in their knowledge of use of letters and letter sounds when writing. Thank you for everything that you are doing at home to support your child! One of our stations this week was to write a friendly letter. The students watched BrainPop Jr. and were introduced to the five parts of a friendly letter: Heading, Greeting, Body, Closing, and Signature. The Heading is the date, the Greeting starts with Dear and includes the name of the person you are writing your letter to, the Body is the main part of your message, the closing is how you end your letter, and the signature is your name. The Kinder-Whales did a wonderful job writing their own friendly letters! Centers: Community Helpers We reviewed all of the community helpers that we have learned so far, including doctors, firefighters, police officers, cashiers, librarians, and this week: Mail carriers. We also reviewed all of the tools that each community helper would need to do his/her job. This past week, our community helpers centers were based on the community helper of the week: Mail Carriers. At another center, the students also made a booklet about different vehicles that they might see in their neighborhood, including an ambulance, a school bus, a police car, a mail truck, a fire truck, an ice cream truck, etc. At a third center, the students decorated another page to include in our community helpers flip book. Check out their adorable mail carrier outfits below! Mail Carrier: Tools In order for mail carriers to do their job, there are some tools that they need, including a mail truck, mail crates, mail carrier bag (satchel), blue mail carrier uniform and hat, comfortable shoes, etc. To help us see what it is like to be in the shoes of a mail carrier, the students did the following crafts: Mail Truck: The students created their very own mail truck. On the back of their mail truck craft, the students included all of the tools that a mail carrier might need. They had a blast explaining to their friends what they might need to get out of their mail truck to help them do their job! Mail Carrier Bag/Satchel The Kinder-Whales were very excited to make their very own U.S. Mail Carrier bags! Inside their bag, they got to decorate their very own stamps, decorated their own postcards, and practiced making cards to deliver to their loved ones. Center: Letter of the Week Pp & Sight Word: And Our letter of the week was Pp. The students came up with many words that begin with the letter Pp. There wasn't enough room on our letter Pp circle graph to write down all of their letter Pp words (check out the picture below). Our sight word of the week was: And. In addition to learning how to spell our new sight word and using it in a sentence, the Kinder-Whales also reviewed our other sight words. When we get back from our winter break in January, we will have our first spelling test on all of the sight words that we have learned so far. Please help your child practice their sight words over the winter break! Holiday Centers: We are continuing to learn about different holidays and traditions celebrated all over the world. The students labeled the parts of an elf (bell, tunic, hat, ear, buckle) and labeled Santa (hat, beard, suit, buckle, boots). Math: More vs. Fewer: This week, the students compared different amounts of objects to see which items had more and which items had fewer. Then the students completed some math talks, where they looked at a picture and compared how many more vs. fewer. For instance, in the picture below, there are five dolls at a picnic. The students counted how many of each item there were (apples, cupcakes, utensils), and then identified how many more they would need for every doll to have one of each item. For instance, in the picture below, there are 4 cupcakes. The students discussed with a partner and figured out that they would need 1 more cupcake for all 5 dolls to each have a cupcake. We continued discussing the various objects, including balloons, cups, and chairs, as the students practiced making numbers up to 5 (0+5, 1+4, 2+3, 3+2, 4+1, 5+0). Later in the week, the students practiced making numbers up to 10. Students were shown a number of connecting cubes, and then had to figure out how many more cubes they would need to make 10. For instance, in the picture below, students were shown 6 yellow cubes. With a partner, they figured out that they would need 4 more cubes to make 10, which means 6+4=10. The students completed a few pages in their math workbook, where they had to figure out how many more to complete each set in the pictures shown below. Skip Counting! The students have been doing a wonderful job of skip counting by 10's up to 100. We have been using our hundreds chart to write down the number of days that we have been in school--we have been in school for 81 days! To go along with the holidays, the students did a math activity using lights on a Christmas tree. The students each chose ten colors of lights and glued them onto the tree. Then they wrote down a number pattern. Some students did 1-10, others did 10, 20, 30, etc. up to 100, and a good number of students did skip counting by 10's, starting from a random number. For instance, some students wrote 7, 17, 27, 37, 47, 57, 67, 77, 87, 97. They are making so much progress in being able to count by 10's up to 100. The Kinder-Whales enjoyed sharing their skip counting number pattern with the rest of the class. Calendar Math: The Kinder-Whales are continuing to learn new math skills and concepts during our daily calendar routine. Specifically, students are working on place value, writing the digital date, learning how to count by 10's using ten frames, learning how to graph using tally marks and bar graphs, and learning how to add using dominoes, number bonds, counting, and skip counting. Calendar Songs: As a part of our calendar routine, the students learn a new month song every month. Check out our new December song this month: Every day, the calendar captain leads the class in singing a song to help us remember the month, day, and year. Please see video below of our calendar captain, Munisa, leading the class in our Today Is song! | Reminders & Updates Next Week: Holiday
RECAP: Rainy Day Recess: A few weeks ago, Brody and his family generously donated two rugs for our class to use during the rainy weather. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO BRODY & THE NGUYEN FAMILY for making sure that our students are able to wipe their feet during rainy days, and preventing anyone from slipping/falling in the classroom! During rainy day recess, the students have to stay inside the classroom, but our Kinder-Whales don't mind at all! In fact, they love rainy day recess because they get to do GoNoodle exercises! Check out the video below of one of the videos that they were able to do! Other videos include stretching, dancing, exercising, singing, etc. -- activities to keep students' minds and bodies active and engaged! Learning Targets! Coming in January, the students will be introduced to our Learning Targets to help us stay focused and set goals towards meeting Kindergarten Common Core standards so that we are well prepared for first grade and beyond! Here is a sneak peek of the learning target area in our classroom. Happy Hanukkah! This week, the students learned about Hanukkah, another holiday that some people celebrate at this time of year. This year, the first night of Hanukkah was last weekend on December 6th. Hanukkah is celebrated for eight nights, which means the last night of Hanukkah is this upcoming Monday, December 14th. On each night, candles are lit on the menorah. Children receive small gifts each night and a large gift on the last night. Some things that people do to celebrate Hanukkah include playing a game that uses a dreidel. To play the game, a dreidel is spun, and participants can win gelt, money or chocolate coins. Other things that people do include cleaning their homes in preparation for Hanukkah and telling stories about how the Maccabees took back their freedom. Some traditional foods that they eat during Hanukkah include latkes (potato cakes with applesauce) and jelly donuts. They also tell stories about goblins. One of the stories that we read this week was Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. The students really enjoyed listening to the story and looking at the pictures of the goblins. Starfish of the Week: Kevin! Kevin did a fantastic job as our Starfish of the Week. He was especially helpful in helping to keep the class focused by saying our attention word: Waterfall. On Tuesday, we read aloud Kevin's favorite book, Marley, Not a Peep, by John Grogan. In the story, the class hatched eggs and one student was allowed to take the chicks home for the weekend. The student had a playdate, so she left her dog, Marley, in charge of the chicks. However, they didn't realize that the latch to the bird cage was broken, so one by one, all of the chicks escaped from their cage. Marley had so much fun playing with the chicks. By the time the student and her mom got home, the chicks had made a huge mess, but they were able to clean it all up. The Kinder-Whales really enjoyed reading the silly story! On Thursday, Kevin brought in a few of his favorite/special Transformer toys, including Optimus Prime and Bulkhead. The students all watched and were in awe as Kevin quickly transformed each figurine into a truck. His parents wrote a lovely letter filled with memories of Kevin to share with the class. They shared memories of trips that they have taken to the beach and of when they have gone swimming. Their favorite memories are the every day moments that they share with Kevin, including when Kevin tells them about his day, or shares all of the things that he has learned in school with his parents and his brothers and sisters. They especially love all of the times that Kevin shows his love for his family, in the form of words or in a card/drawing that he makes for them. His parents also shared that even though at times Kevin can be naughty, just like other kids, overall he is a wonderful son. On Friday, Kevin had his Starfish Talk Show where he presented his All About Me poster. Kevin shared that someday, he would like to be a police officer. He loves to go swimming and his favorite things were his toys--which we got to see on Thursday. Kevin loves going to the beach with his family, and he shared that he would like to visit Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk because there are fun rides and the beach is close by. Kevin also introduced us to his family, including his mom, dad, grandpa, and his three sisters. He was very proud to share that he is the only boy in his family. The Kinder-Whales enjoyed learning all about Kevin this week. Excellent job, Kevin!!! Next Week's Starfish: Norah! The Adventures of Sparkle, Room 8's Elf on the Shelf! Our elf, Sparkle, has been having a lot of fun exploring our classroom! At the start of the week, we found Sparkle in one of the stockings that was hung up in our classroom. The very next day, we found Sparkle sitting and hanging out in our hundreds chart that we use for daily calendar. That same day, after lunch, one of the blue straws was moved into Sparkle's hands--we think that Sparkle was listening in when a few of the boys in our class were talking about lightsabers and Star Wars ;). On another day, we found Sparkle hiding out in our classroom kitchen with a banana that's as big as he is! It took us a while to find him, but once we did, the students greeted him warmly and told them about their day. It was a rainy day that day, so the students enjoyed making him cards, little books, and a blanket to keep Sparkle warm. The next day, we found Sparkle in a tissue box, along with the book, pillow, and blankets that the students had made for him! Sparkle looked like he was getting ready for bed! I wonder where we'll find him next during our last week before Sparkle flies back to the North Pole?! Thank You! Thank you for your patience and understanding about the delay in posting the weekly news. It takes a while to get all of the pictures transferred and uploaded--thank you so much for your patience! Thank you also for everything that you have been doing to support your child at home! I am extremely grateful to be your child's teacher! They are such a special group of kids and I have enjoyed every second in the classroom with them! Next week, we have many other fun projects planned for our dear Kinder-Whales. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have an amazing week ahead! For this week's news, please leave a quick comment with your child's favorite saying or quote from a movie, cartoon, TV show, or book! Examples: "You're killin' me, Smalls!" from the Sandlot "I am your father!" from Star Wars Warm wishes, Mrs. Lorenzana |
These Kinder-Whales light up my life with their sweet smiles and precious hugs!
8 Comments
Juda
12/13/2015 08:39:56 pm
"Let it grow,let it grow" from the Lorax.
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Monique Johnson
12/13/2015 08:45:58 pm
Bruce's favorite quote lately has been "Whoa, that snail is fast!" from- Turbo
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Stephanie Guthrie
12/13/2015 08:54:19 pm
There is probably a better answer, but lately Marissa has been really into The Power Rangers. She goes around "hi-ya-ing" everything. All.the.time. So, "hi-ya!"
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Mavjuda
12/13/2015 10:28:07 pm
Munisa's favorite quote is "Let it grow,let it grow" from the Lorax.
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Mohamud
12/14/2015 08:33:49 pm
Ahmed's favorite quote from the The Lion Guard tv show is "different different you say"
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Russell
12/15/2015 10:21:03 pm
Norah loves to quote and recite lines from Disney Princess movies, but her favorite quote right now Stephanie from Full House. When someone is not being nice she loves to say, "How Rude!!!" with a nice facial expression to go with it. She loves to remind us that that line is from Full House.
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Rebecca Brackett
12/16/2015 10:53:14 pm
Mia and her brothers LOVE saying "What are those!" any chance they get.
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Jennifer Yeoh
12/17/2015 09:37:59 pm
Shannon's favorite saying of all time is "Are you serious?! "
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Mrs. LorenzanaKindergarten Teacher at Spangler Elementary Archives
June 2016
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