Last week kindergarten was full of fun learning experiences!
In Reader’s Workshop, we learned that readers find sight words in the books they read. This was a big hit with the kindergartners. They are still searching for sight words all around the school. We also practiced finding our “Wow” pages in books. Wow pages are those parts of the book where the reader learned something new or interesting. Check out pictures of the kindergartners sharing their “Wow” pages with their reading buddies. Ask your child what were some of the “Wow” pages they tagged in their books.
Our shared reading book last week was, Mrs. Wishy Washy. We used this book to explore setting and characters voice. The students had a blast making their voices sound angry like Mrs. Wishy Washy when she found all those messy animals. Ask your kindergartner to do their best Mrs. Wishy Washy voice.We also used this book to explore words that rhyme and letter sounds. Please continue to help your child practice these skills at home.
We added two more words to our word wall last week. Our six words now include; the, I, to, a, is and my. Tomorrow your child will come home with the Red Words (first list) of our, “Rainbow Word Wall Words.” A great way to help your kindergartner recognize these words is to create a word wall at home. Please remember these are sight words not spelling words. This means students should be able to recognize and read these words when printed in text. At school, Students are encouraged to use the word wall to help them spell these words correctly but they will not be tested on the spelling of these words. Click here for some fun interactive activities you can use at home to help your child practice reading these words. For a complete list of all the rainbow words please click on the sight word link in the right column.
Word Walls at Home:
In handwriting we practiced holding our pencils correctly ("Thumb is always bent, pointer points to the tip!") and using good posture (by stomping our feet and reaching our arms up while sitting) in our "Pencil Pick-Ups" activity. We used our slates for the first time while learning how to form "Frog Jump" letters capital F, E, D, P and R. Ask your child to show you their proper pencil grip and to tell you all about how we Wet, Dry, Try write with our slates. Click here for more information on pencil grip.
In math we practiced writing numbers from 0-20 and counting to 100 by 1’s and 10’s. Ask you child to sing our counting by 10’s song to you. Also in math we have been practicing the essential kindergarten skill of learning to subitize. Subitizing is the ability to automatically recognize number patterns without counting. For example, when rolling a die, if you rolled a five, you wouldn't have to count out each dot if you had the ability to subitize. This skill will be needed as kindergartners begin to develop and build their math fluency skills.
We had two more friends celebrate a birthday over the last two weeks. We enjoyed having Joey’s mom and Bridget’s mom and dad visit us to share a special birthday story and cool birthday treats. Happy Birthday Joey and Bridget!