Pumpkin Rotations

The kids had a FANTASTIC time during Pumpkin Rotations at math.

I took some photos of the kids measuring the circumference of their pumpkin.

Story Sequencing

This week we are talking about sequencing a story. I read the book There Was an Old Lady WHo Swallowed a Bat and then had my class break up into groups to retell a part of the story. They made one illustration together and then presented it to the class.

I was impressed because it was a lot of firsts. First group assignment, first time with a cooperative drawing, and their first time presenting to the class. I am so proud! They did a fantastic job. It is a little difficult to hear some of them, but they did great! :)

  

  

 

Comparing Stories

We are learning to compare stories with the help of a Venn Diagram. I chose two books about bats. One was Fiction and the other was Non-Fiction. The kids really enjoyed learning about bats and how to use a Venn Diagram.

We compared the books There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! and Bats. Here is the Venn Diagram that we made that shows the different items we learned from each book and also the information that the two books had in common.

Afterwards, I asked the kids to come up and sign their name under the book that they liked the most and we created ANOTHER Venn Diagram.

Sight Words

We are reading more and more sight words each week. This week I introduced "was" and "she". The kids are doing a great job learning new words to help them read. Please help your child work on reading these words and look for them in books. I've noticed that the kids also are hearing me say the words when I talk. So much learning is happening in Kindergarten!!!!

 

First Quarter Sight Words

• I
• a
• am
• be
• see
• the
• and
• it
• at
• me
• to
• you

Second Quarter Sight Words (we've learned thus far)

• an
• in
• go
• can
• was
• she

McClown Town

On Tuesday we had the McClown Town Firefighters come present to the Kindergarten-3rd Grade students about Fire Safety. The kids had a GREAT time at the assembly. Here are just a few quick pictures that I took.

 

Here are a few important topics they covered:

Talk with your child about dialing 9-1-1 in an emergency

make a plan for a meeting place if there is a fire

wear bike helmets for safety.

Racing Bears Game

For math, I taught the class a new game called Racing Bears. Each child had 2 bears, a game board, and a die. The object of the game is to roll a number and move their bear the corresponding number up their game board. The class loved this game. I will be adding it to their math station next week for more practice.

Here is a clip of students explaining the game as they play.

 

Number Line

Today my students were introduced to a number line. They worked with partners to draw a number (1-10) and "build" the number with unifix cubes on the number line. They would check each other's work and if correct, they could color in a rectangle on the ten-frame scoreboard.

 

The kids worked well together and did a great job building numbers.

 

 

 

Below two students explain the game.

SMARTY PANTS

We have our first set of students who are "SMARTY PANTS"! Hip, hip, Hooray! This group of students know all 26 UPPERCASE letter names. They each got to sign the Smarty Pants in addition to receiving some Smarties. So proud of these Kindergarten kids!

 

 

Don't worry, there will be time to sign the Smarty Pants again. I will be assessing students who know the 26 lowercase letter names, the 39 Spalding Spelling Sounds, 1st Quarter Sight Words, Numbers 0-20, Counting to 100, and more.

 

I know we are going to have a bunch of Smarty Pants in our class!

 

To practice at home:

Spalding Spelling Sounds Video: http://mrslydon.wikispaces.com/Spalding+Sounds

Uppercase & Lowercase Letters: https://teacher.portal.mckinneyisd.net/114296_/Pages/Default.aspx

           (View my Teacher Website and click on the Sight Word Lists under "Homework Library")

 

Pajama Day

Pajama day was a HUGE success! The class was so excited to see each other in their pj's.

CrAzY Hair Day

A fun picture form CrAzY hair day!!! Looking forward to Pajama day tomorrow!

Mrs. Champion & Mrs. Bayley in their cool wigs! :)

Silly Sock Day

This week our school is participation in Red Ribbon Week. Each day we are dressing up as we commit to saying "NO to Drugs". We have Silly Sock Day and the kids had a blast. It was a bit challenging to remember being on a Monday so only a few kids wear silly socks.

I'm looking forward to seeing the CrAzY hair on Wednesday!!!

Math Stations

Each day during math the class has an opportunity to participate in math stations after they complete their seat work. While they are working at stations, I pull small groups of kids to practice the information that was taught, reteach information kids are struggling with, or give more challenging work to those students who have mastered that concepts being taught.

 

I was able to walk around the room and take a few pictures of the kids in between math groups.

 

Table 1 was drawing a card with a number on it, then they are drawing a picture that represents that number. They were making the numeral and picture EQUAL to each other.

Table 3 was using a game on the iPad to practice recognizing numbers and the quantity they represent.

Table 4 students were using the Smart Board to play a game. They were using the ten-frame and finding out how many circles there were or how many squares were empty.

Table 5 was rolling a dice, adding the number of dots, and covering up the numerals that represent that quantity.

Table 2 was practicing writing math sentences. We introduced + (plus), - (minus), and = (equal) this week.

What is a Rekenrek???

This week we are using a rekenrek to help us count. Watch the videos below to see the class build numbers.

There are 10 beads on the top row and 10 on the bottom row. Before building a number, all of the beads are located on the left side of their paper. When they are asked to build a number, they slide beads to the right side of their rekenrek.

To build the number 8, there are several different ways to represent it. (O+8, 8+0, 1+7, 7+1, 2+6, 6+2, 3+5, 5+3, and 4+4). The students can use their rekenrek to manipulate the beads to show a number. They had a lot of fun working with a partner and independently.

I took some video of the class building numbers using the rekenreks.

Christopher Columbus Hats

We are learning about Christopher Columbus this week. We've watched a few movies about him and we are making hats to share our information. The kids will be bringing these hats home with them on Friday.

Some things you can ask your child are:
1. Who discovered the New World? Christopher Columbus
2. What are the names of the 3 ships Christopher Columbus used to sail? The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria
3. Did people think his idea to sail West was a good idea? No

Here are some pictures of the kids after they drew Columbus and his three ships.

Brain Break

Every now and then the kids can earn a little Brain Break and participate in a fun video. We did a great job at the Library today and received many compliments so we had a chance to dance. One of the students picked Kung Fu Fighting. I took a quick video…aren't they cute!?!?!

 

Community Helpers Unit

We spent two weeks learning and discussing Community Helpers. We were lucky to have several Community Helpers come visit our school. The kids had a great time getting to see their tools and hear about their jobs. Thank You to all Community Helpers out there!

Some local Fire Fighters came and we were able to look at their ambulance and go inside the First Engine.

 We also had a Veterinarian come dicuss how vets help animals. The kids really liked seeing the x-rays.

A nurse came to school and practiced using some of her tools on student and teacher volunteers.

Five Senses

We spent the week discussing our Five Senses. Each day we focused on a different sense and completed a small Science experiment. The class favorite was the Taste Test experiment.

 

Each child had a small amount of salt and sugar in each hand.  Before tasting we had made predictions about what was in their hands. Many kids guessed it was either salt or sugar.

 

We ruled out four senses that could tell us what each item was. Our nose could not smell the difference. Our ears could not hear what the food item was. Our hands could not touch and feel a difference between the salt and the sugar. And our eyes could not visually see a difference since the salt and sugar look similar in size, shape, and color.

 

The only sense left was to TASTE it. It was a lot of fun to watch their facial reactions.