Dance-A-Thon was a huge success! Friday was such a fun day with our kindergarten students wearing our HAPPY shirts we made in class. Students danced in PE and after school at the after party! Thank you all for donating to OB.
This week in our social skills lessons we talked more about different emotions we can all feel. We talked about how people can have different emotions about the same thing. I listed scenarios and students had to show how they would feel, and we could see that some of us had different feelings for each scenario.
At our class meeting on Friday, we complimented each other and brought up any class issues and talked about how we can fix them. One common problem students said is that we all need to work on keeping our hands to ourselves and using our words when we feel frustrated. We also talked about the power of ignoring someone who is not doing the right thing and letting the teacher handle the situation.
In reading this week, we continued to learn about our super reading powers. Here is our chart below. We learned about using our letter sound power, partner power, reread power, sight word power and persistence power (not giving up.) I modeled reading books and practicing using super powers. When one power isn't working for you, you try another. I cover up either the words or the pictures on kindergarten appropriate texts and the students have to figure out the missing word using their powers.
It is great fun learning to read! After our mini-lessons, students read independently and with their reading partner to practice these skills within books that are on their appropriate level.
In phonics, we studied our new alphabet charts. I showed students pictures and they had to circle the beginning sound of the word on their chart. Students refer to these charts during writing time as well to help them stretch out words.
This week we also practiced writing sentences with our sight words we have learned on our whiteboards. Students are spelling phonetically by what they hear. As they are exposed to more words and spelling patterns, they will learn the correct way to spell words.
During our short break between recess and specials, we come in and do a review of our sight words of the week by reading a short poem/passage, then practice writing a sentence with them on the board and go through flash cards on the board of all the words we have learned so far. For interactive writing, students take turns coming to write each word as seen below.
In math this week, we talked about ordering things by sizes and height. We practiced ordering ourselves by height in different groups. We reviewed vocabulary such as: big, medium, small, tiny, tall, short.
In science, we continued being scientist by practicing using tools that scientist use. Students rotated through centers to practice using various tools.
We also read a book about a boy who collected rocks and sorted them in various ways. As a class we sorted a collection of rocks in various ways and talked about different characteristics of rocks.
By color
By size and by shiny/dull
We also walked through the scientific method to design an experiment around the questions, "Do rocks float or sink?"
Each group received a cup of water and a rock. Students each made their hypothesis and then we conducted our experiment. We learned in the end that rocks sink and float! One group received a pumice rock that floated. Students concluded that most rocks sink, but some can float.
In writing this week, we started our Show and Tell unit. Students are writing about things from home they would want to show and tell with their students. They are supposed to describe what it looks like and what they do with it at home. I model under the document camera my own stories then they go back to their seats and try writing on their own for anywhere from 10-20 minutes.
This week we also met with our OB Families! Your child is matched up with an OB teacher and other students in the school that meet throughout the year and do a fun activity together. This is a way for your child to build a relationship with another teacher in the building as well as meet kids they feel comfortable with that are in older grade levels. We stay in the same families K-4th grade. We played a game similar to Hedbanz where we had to give clues and the person wearing the character and they had to guess who it was. We also designed puzzle pieces that represent us and put them all together as one family to symbolize we are all different but thats what makes us a special family. We ended with all taking family selfies! Ask your child about their family time.
Important Reminders:
- Please make sure your child is not bringing Pokeman cards to school in his or her backpack. They are to stay at home :)
- Walk in the Park is this Wednesday at 9:30am during PE. Meet us at Stacy Park if you want to join in the fun!
- When we were making our t-shirts this week, I noticed many families did not send in three white t-shirts for their child. Please send in a pack of three white t-shirts if you did not already. It did not come in the box of pre-ordered materials.
- All parents coming in the building at ANY TIME now, must check in at the front office through the front doors. Even if you are planning on walking your child to the classroom in the morning now you must check in.
- With cooler weather being here, please send your child with a jacket or sweatshirt. Also, if you have not sent in a change in clothes please do so. Your child can keep it in his or her backpack or shelf.
- FRIDAY IS EARLY RELEASE DAY at 1:15. If your child is going home differently than normal, please let me know this week.
Enjoy this beautiful FALL weekend!
- Caroline McGee
