A look at our learning...
Reading logs: September reading logs are due! In Seesaw I posted an "activity" and this is where you can share your child's reading log. Just take a picture and send it to me within that activity. Please send me the reading log, even if your child didn't meet the reading goal.
Attached to this email is October's reading log. During the months of October-March we will participate in the Pizza Hut Book It Reading Program. The form is simpler to fill out and every child that meets the BEU reading goal of reading/being read to at least 4 times a week for 15 minutes at a time, will earn a free pizza certificate at the end of the month. Those will come from me. I tried to add the October reading log as a Seesaw activity so you could just color the days in on there, but the form was difficult to read so you will need to print it out instead. Sorry! If we are able to return to Hybrid I will be able to print them for you, but for now you will have to do this on your own.
Fundations: we have learned the name, sound and correct letter formation for the lowercase t, b and f. Please see the attachments I sent with the Friday email for ways to extend this learning at home.
Please use the following verbal prompts when helping your child form their letters. It is super important that we are all using the same language to help them learn the correct formation.
t: down, across (t is a skyline letter)
b: down, trace back up, around (b is a skyline letter)
f: over, down, across (f is a skyline letter)
Benchmark reading: we continue to work on the following:
1) What it means/looks like/sounds like to be a strong listener
2) How to respond to text/books that are read aloud to us
Good readers and strong listeners are able to answer questions about the books they read/listen to. Click the photo below for questions to ask your child when reading with them at home. Starting these conversations now will help them be more successful later in the year when they begin reading on their own. Talking about books is so important.
A few books we read this week: Wimberley Worried, The Pigeon HAS To Go To School, Llama Llama Misses Mama. Check out our craft/directed drawing that went with the Pigeon book!
Benchmark Writing: so far this year we have mostly been responding to books we read and sharing our thoughts in our writing journal. Most children have done this via pictures and voice recordings and that's totally fine for now! Beginning next week we will learn what a sentence is, how to write a simple sentence and sight words. We will continue to draw pictures and color, very important steps when writing in elementary school, but words are going to be modeled and encouraged moving forward.
Math: Mrs. Fitch visited on Thursday to teach us about ST Math. ST Math is a "PreK-8 visual instructional program that leverages the brains innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems." ST math is mastery based, which means students must pass each level with a score of 100% (all puzzles correctly solved) before the next level in a sequence becomes available to them. This means it is self paced and, due to this, it is extremely important that adults, siblings, friends etc are not helping them solve the problems and get the answer. If they are being helped, they will move up levels when they truly aren't ready and eventually become frustrated.
Please see the document attached to todays email. These are questions that you can ask your child when they are having difficulty, without giving them the answer.
If we were in seat for school, the children would have regular math lessons 4 days a week and ST math one day a week. Since we are virtual, ST Math will have to be done on your child's own time. It is recommend that Kindergarten students work on ST Math for 40-45 minutes per week (or more).
There are many times during their week that they can do ST Math:
*daily choice time 1:25-3:00
*Wednesday afternoons after specials
*Zoom breaks
*Evenings at home
You can do it in one setting or break it up across the day or week.
I am able to log in and see their progress and what they are having difficulty with. I will log in at least once a week to see if children are meeting their 40-45 minute per week ST Math minutes, how they are advancing, what they need support with, etc.
How to access ST Math on their iPad:
1) Go to the Class Link app
2) Click on ST Math (the JiJi penguin icon)
3) Click the icon that has the arrow pointing up
4) Choose "open in safari"
5) Touch the map to begin
When finished, it is EXTREMELY important that they save their work by clicking the back arrow on their screen. They will have to click it multiple times. When they see JiJi the Penguin waving goodbye, that means their work is saved. If they do not do this step, all work that day will be lost.
Technology tips and tricks: this week we have had a few kiddos almost lose charge on their iPads before our school day was over.
Here are a few tips to prevent this:
1) Charge their iPad every night while sleeping
2) Send the charger with them if they go to a daycare, pod, etc.
3) Teach your child how to close their apps and do this regularly (breaks, lunch and end of each day would be good times.) Click here if you don't know how to do this.
Science: we learned more about living and non-living things. We learned that living things need food, water, air and a place to live/sleep.
Every Wednesday I will share "Mystery Science" activities on our class Facebook page. I have posted one the last two weeks. Check them out with your child if you haven't already. They are quick (5 minutes or less) but super fun and informative. Kiddos love when we do them in class during normal school years. I will also post them here this week in case you missed them.
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