Ms. Concannon's Kindergarten: Hello November

A look at our learning...

Fundations: due to only being in school 3 days last week, we worked on the lowercase letters v and w this week as well. There will not be extra practice sheets in the Friday Folder this week since I sent them home last week.

Please use the following verbal prompts when forming these letters:

v: slant down, slant up

w: slant down, slant up, slant down, slant up

Shared Reading: this week our new spelling word was up. We read the books I pick up and Up and Down to help us practice this new word. We learned how to "buddy read" these books and other books in our book boxes this week. With a buddy we sit "elbow, elbow, knee to knee" (meaning we are sitting side by side) and one person is the reader and one is the listener. They are watching each other to make sure they are pointing to every word, quickly reading known words (spelling words) and encouraging each other to "sound out" unknown words and use the pictures for clues. Then they switch. The person who was the reader first is now the listener/teacher.

Beginning next week, we will learn 2 new spelling words a week rather than just one.

Writing Workshop: we just keep making gains during writing time. Now that they know almost all letters in the alphabet and corresponding sounds, it is time to really start focusing on sounding out words to help us convey a message. We have added a new step to our writing process: write words. We are working on writing a sentence to go with our picture and labels. At this point in the year, a sentence is a story. We switched to a new type of writing paper to help us with this. The top line is for their name and date they started the story. The box is for their detailed picture and at least 3 things labeled in the picture. The bottom line is for their story/sentence. Check out some of our writers this week!

I take gymnastics.

I am at the hospital.

I got a boo boo.

I am at my Christmas.

Math: this week we began learning how to write numbers with correct formation. We will learn how to correctly write the numbers 0-9. These numbers will enable us to be able to write any number. When we are finished they will bring home their number writing book for you to see. We also learned about positional words and representing numbers in multiple ways. Check your child's Friday Folder for ways to extend their learning at home.

Science: this trimester we have integrated a living and non-living science unit into our learning. We have learned that many living things need food, water, space, air and sometimes shelter. We love watching Mystery Science videos as well about a whole range of science topics. Ask your child what they know about living and non-living things.

Friday Craft: today we decorated our hallway bulletin board to prepare for Veteran's Day on November 11th and Heroes/Grandparent's Day on November 18th.

Hat Day: it was so fun to wear our hats today! Next month our "Fun Friday" will be on Friday, December 7th and it will be an "Ugly Sweater Day."

Daily 5: we learned a new Daily 5 workstation this week called Roll a sight word. At this center your child rolls a dice. Whatever number is rolled corresponds with a word wall word on their paper. They write the word that matches the number. This is just one of the many ways we practice our word wall words at school. Your child may have a copy of this paper in their Friday Folder if they visited that workstation this week.