Lots of Learning

A look at our learning this week...

Fundations: thank you so much for helping your child with the a and g handwriting worksheet last weekend, it made a HUGE difference and they are writing those letters with ease now!  This week we learned even trickier letters, s and d, but they did great with them!

Verbal prompts to use at home:

s-"over, around, curve" OR "make a little c and curve back around to the grass line"

d-"over, around, up, down" OR "c turns into a d"

Kids often have a difficult time with lowercase b and d.  We stress the importance of b being a "sky line letter" and going DOWN first.  Lowercase d is a "plane line letter" and goes OVER first.  

Shared Reading: to help us learn our new word wall word am we read the Big Book We Are. It's a cute book about things a bunny likes to do alone and things he likes to do with his friends.  The children also got their own copy of the book to add to their book box.  This book had the word am on most pages.  They are "buddy reading" the book in the pictures below.  Notice how they are pointing to the words when they read!  What great readers!

Spelling test: the kids were so excited to take their first spelling test today!  They felt like such big kids!  Check their folder to see how they did! I'm very proud of all of them!  Don't forget to check their "take home folder" every Monday for the new word(s) of the week.  

Daily 5 & Guided Reading Groups: we are slowly starting guided reading groups during our Daily 5 rotations.  

What is guided reading you may ask? 

"Guided reading is a instructional approach that involves a teacher working with a small group of readers. During the lesson, the teacher provides a text that students can read with support, coaching the learners as they use problem-solving strategies to read the text. The ultimate goal is independent reading."

Once they are successful at reading the book they receive during their group they are able to keep the book in their book box to read daily at "Read to Self' time for extra practice.  Eventually they will bring these books home to read to you as well, but it will be a bit before we do that.  

While I am reading with a group of students, the rest of the class is working with a partner at their Daily 5 workstation.  

Math: this week we learned about circles, practiced counting backwards while playing a fun game called "Count and Sit", did some counting and number work using 5 Frames and 10 Frames and solved simple math problems up to 5.   

Writing Workshop: we learned a new step in the writing process this week, Step 4-Writing words.  We also moved from using plain white paper to special lined writing paper.  We are learning to tell our stories with written words now!  Please keep in mind that a "story" in Kindergarten isn't pages and pages, but rather more a sentence, at least at this point in time.  Check out a couple of our friends work from this week!

Science: we have been learning about seasons and weather.  We have added a new routine during calendar time to check the weather and temperature for the day.  We have learned about thermometers.  Today we went on a Fall Scavenger Hunt.  We found several cool things!  They are bringing their paper home today and you can continue looking around your neighborhood as a fun family activity!

We have several fun things planned for next week:

*National Fire Prevention Week: a fire truck and a Kindergarten parent who is a firefighter will be visiting Kindergarten on Monday morning. On Tuesday, grades K-2 will see a Fire Prevention Skit presented by TRYPS.

*Be Positive Week: K-5 will be learning about the first of our five school character traits we work to instill in all children: Be Positive.  We will talk about and learn what this means and what this looks like all week long.  On Friday, we will celebrate with a Bright Colors/Neon Day.  When you are positive you shine a bright light out into the world, so what a wonderful way to celebrate!

*Kindergarten Field Trip: we are so excited for our field trip to Peach Tree Farms Pumpkin Patch and Cosmo Park on Thursday!  We ask that your child wears a BEU shirt (if they have one), tennis shoes (no open toed shoes) and shorts/pants depending on the weather.  Please watch the weather forecast closely and send a jacket if needed.  All lunches need to be put in a large ziplock bag, with your child's name on the bag.  If their drink doesn't fit in the bag, please make sure their name is on their drink as well.  Please make sure everything you send is disposable.  If you chose for your child to have a school sack lunch, we will take care of that at school on Thursday morning.  If you are a parent who RSVP'd to attend the field trip I will send more information home for you in your child's folder on Wednesday.  Looking forward to it!