A look at our learning...
Fundations: you guessed it, we worked on tapping out 3 letter words this week! This will be a continuous focus throughout the end of the year. It is important that students use their letter sound knowledge to sound out words when reading and writing. Your child's writing should be getting easier and easier for you to read. Can't read what they wrote? This is a sign you need to take a little extra time tapping out words at home to help reinforce their learning at school! If they know their letter sounds, which they do, that should show up in their daily work.
Shared Reading: we read the Big Books We make cookies and What has these feet? We enjoyed making connections to the first book about baking at home and our favorite kind of cookies. Making connections to what we read is an important kindergarten skill. When reading books at home I encourage you to ask the following question when you finish the book, " what did this story make you think of" or "what connections did you make when reading this story?" Talking about books shows comprehension.
Next week's spelling words:
said
am
Writing: we spent time responding to various prompts and writing our opinion about those prompts: favorite food and why, favorite season and why and if they could visit any place where would it be and why. We are working on telling at least 3 reasons why to support their opinion.
Math: we have begun unit 6 in math. Please check your child's Friday Folder for what we will learn in the upcoming unit and how you can support their learning at home.
While we worked on a variety math topics this week, we really focused on 2D and 3D shapes. At parent teacher conferences I shared with you what 2D shapes your child has mastered. Please practice the ones they did not know to ensure mastery by the end of this final trimester of Kindergarten! We also want mastery of 2D shapes, since we are adding in 3D shapes this trimester. By the end of Kindergarten, students should also know the following 3D shapes: cube, cone, sphere, cylinder, pyramid. We are singing this song every day at math to help us learn 3D shapes as well.
Makerspace: on Monday, Mrs. Fitch from the Media Center visited our classroom to teach us about coding using Ozobots. The students created a code (pattern) and the Ozobots were able to do different tricks based on the code they created with their markers (fast, slow, tornado, zig-zag, etc.) Ask your child to tell you more!
Here are a few photos, but I will post more photos and videos to our class Facebook page this weekend.
Guest Reader: Alex's grandma, or Grrr as he lovingly refers to her, visited our class on Friday. This is her second visit and she plans to come and read to the class once a month. Each time, she has brought us a yummy treat of chocolate chip cookies....baking is a favorite activity for her and Alex. She read the book The Big Cheese. We love her visits!
Reading Week: we had fun celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday and Reading Week this week! Here are a few pictures from all the reading activities this week! Even more on the class Facebook page.
A great way to celebrate at home? Participate in this month's sneaky reading challenge: read at bedtime. This is something you should already be doing, just snap a picture and post to our class Facebook page! I can't wait to see you encouraging reading at home!
Friday craft: we made these cute leprechaun hats to decorate our room for St. Patrick's day. I notice that several students still struggle with independently opening glue sticks. I encourage you to work on this skill at home and do not do it for your child. Building up their fine motor skills is so important.
