These kindergartners are getting bigger by the minute! They are acting more and more like first-graders....well except for the tattling! We sent handwriting homework home today ....should be crumpled up in the bottom of that back pack somewhere! And we even did a SPELLING TEST today just for assessment purposes to use for oral language development. I went to a wonderful class on Saturday to learn about the "Words Their Way" curriculum. It was great! The spelling research reveals five main points:
- Our brains are pattern seekers
- Most students use systematic spelling strategies that we can highlight and teach.
- There are a number of strategies that good spellers unconsciously use (alphabet/letter-sound correspondence, within-word patterns and word meaning).
- Learning is enhanced when students demonstrate an understanding of how something works rather than reciting facts.
- Spelling is a developmental process like learning to Read and Write!
I will continue the class tomorrow....first and second grades are using this program already!
A quick peek at these wonderful, ever-energetic, kindergartners.....gotta love them!
A funny start to the week....I had your children sitting in a horse shoe shape while they shared their weekend with each other. Uh-huh, that lasted only a few minutes because all they wanted to do was make each other giggle!
We worked on whale books, painted with salt, wrote what we are famous for as writers, illustrated our dictated stories, read "Swimmy", "Whale" and "Can You Hear the Sea?", painted with sponges, wrote in our journals, glued eyes on our Rainbow Fish,read, built, colored, stapled and listened to our teacher ....all-and-all another glorious day with these AMAZING kindergartners!!!!!!!
This morning was fun! We rotated between four stations - we love doing that! One of the stations was making rainbow fish with tissue paper and liquid starch - which by the way is a bit hard to find these days! We took turns "writing the room", filling out a comprehension worksheet about the book we read "The Rainbow Fish", and our other station is a secret! A lovely day indeed! I will be at the Ordway Carnival this afternoon running the "Cake Walk" room.....come on down and win a cake!!!!!
R & R in the Secret Laboratory....cute, huh?!?!?!
The day just FLEW by....
we worked on our stories, our barn books, writing our names using an uppercase letter to start with and lowercase for the rest (NO cApiTaL letters mixed in!), read wonderful books "Tough Chicks" and "Guji Guji" and "10 Things I Can Do To Help My World", worked on our calendar markers, and painted our ocean background mural (and a bit of the floor and rug also...).
Yaaay......a beautiful, sunny day!!! It was non-stop action in here - lots of reading and writing. We liked "Funny Farm" and "Story County Here We Come!". We had a Superflex lesson with Ms. Bautista, our occupational therapist. We are learning to be better friends. This time of the year is a little rough for our kindergartners - they act more like brothers and sisters than friends! We are REALLY working on it - these earnest kindergartners get to put a bubble on the board for every good deed done....
We ended the day with our Reading Buddies, some extra recess in the sun, and PE!!!!
I sent home Scholastic Book Orders. You can order online. If you haven't done this before you will have type in an activation code which is H9MPX.
We worked hard on our stories today. We started with a Story Map, writing some quick notes about our characters, settings, problem and solution. Then it was time to dictate the story to Ms. Jowise or Ms. Keller. We will continue tomorrow!
It is getting closer and closer to the end of the year.....don't want to even contemplate it! We have some special events coming up....please save the dates!
- ARTIST AND AUTHOR NIGHT Tuesday, May 31st 7 - 8
This is our big event!!! Come and spend some time touring the room to view your child's art and writing. Songs will be sung, poems will be recited and refreshments will be served. Bring the whole family!
- MR. ADAIR'S BIRTHDAY Friday, June 3rd
We will celebrate with treats and a student-made gift! - BLAKELY PICNIC Friday, June 3rd 5:30 - 7:30
Bring your picnic dinner and sit on the lawn with your Blakely family. Mr. Rothbaum will sing for us and there will be ice-cream sandwiches! - FAYE BAINBRIDGE FIELD TRIP Monday, June 13th 9 - 12
Our year-end picnic happens this day. Kindergartners will bring a sack lunch, we'll play on the playground, the beach and the logs, fly a kite and do a beach craft. Parents (no siblings, sorry!) are welcome to come!
- OUTDOOR SNACK DAY Friday, June 10
Send an extra-special snack with your child. We will trade snacks and listen to some great stories under a tree!- TIE DYE DAY Tuesday, June 14th 8 - 11
We will be tie dying t-shirts with our Reading Buddies. You will need to send a NEW, white, washed t-shirt with your kindergartner. The dyes I use are BEAUTIFUL and very permanent. Send your darlings in old pants that day in case they kneel in the dye! I would love to have some volunteers to help with the mayhem!!!
We are taking turns doing R & R in the secret laboratory...
how cool is that?!?!!!
A happy crowd entered Room 2 this morning! They did their morning job, got lots of visiting in, and came down to the rug for some stories and some core-strengthening!!! Stronger cores help them sit up on the rug for longer periods of time...works for me not to have them lying all over the place when I am reading stories and we are actively participating in what I call "Kindergarten Learning Time"!!!
We loved the books this morning "Three Hens and a Peacock" and "Too Busy Marco". It's very wonderful to be able to see the reactions on their faces when they get the humorous twists in the stories I read. Very cute! We are working on our own stories!
The kindergartners had a chance to play in the Secret Laboratory finally - it was on display in the foyer after we finished it on Friday!
Discussed and read a long list of high-frequency words.....a whole lot of reading is going on around here!
Birthday cupcakes, free-choice and all of our recesses outside today....couldn't ask for more (well, except for maybe a little more sunshine so clothing stays dry when your little darling is zipping down the slide)!
