We continued to learn how Jesus blesses the children and how we are blessed to serve Jesus as we help one another. As we go to church or read God's Word, we are blessed. May God help us to not avoid these special ways that our Lord reaches out to bless us.
We continued learning about ways that readers can figure out new words that we encounter. Today we worked on learning to look for chunks in bigger words. We look through big words to find little parts that we already know. Many could figure out the word caterpillar as they saw the word cat inside it. They could figure out flamingo as they saw the words in and go inside of that new word. Help your child to use different strategies to decode bigger words. This week the students are learning about quilts as we focus on letter Qq and its sound. The kids are having fun using pattern blocks to design their own quilt blocks. Then they get to use special pattern block stamps as they print the pattern they designed. They are learning to fold tissue paper to make snowflakes. These beautifully cut designs will be pieced together to make a paper quilt. They are also imagining what they would do or where they would go if they were a snowflake. Another center helps the kids to practice the sight words "there" and "are" as they are making a special sight word book called "Patterns" In the afternoon the students began a jumping unit in PE class. They practiced getting the jump ropes over their heads and also practiced jumping and leaping over a pair of ropes. We are learning place value in kindergarten. The students modeled numbers in the teens using a ten frame. They had to verbalize how many sets of ten and how many extra ones the number I specified was. Learning that numbers in the teens are a set of ten and so many extra ones is a state standard in kindergarten. In Science today the students learned about motion and forces. It was interesting to note that a number of kids did not understand the difference between a push and a pull. Help your child to find different things in your house that you push or pull. Use those words with your child and check to see if your child is using them correctly. Today we learned how Jesus blessed the little children. He is never too busy for any age person. It is wonderful that God included this event for us in the Bible. We had fun acting out the events through a song and also had fun learning about it through some Bible videos.
We began some new literacy centers today. The mini lessons this week focus on different strategies that readers can use to figure out new words. Today we learned how a reader can stretch out a word into initial, medial, and final sounds. They had fun looking for matching pictures to words that they could sound out and then they placed the pictures in a little pretend bubble gum machine. At the writing center this week students are conducting surveys to see if their friends prefer candy or cards for Valentine's Day. Then they make a graph to record their results. At the alphabet table the students continue to match upper and lowercase letter puzzles. The phonemic awareness table gives the kids a game where they have to identify final sounds. At the word work center students are using spinners to make real and nonsense words by combining onsets and rimes. Finally at the reading table students are using another strategy to decode words. They are looking for chunks of words they know in bigger words. In Math the students are beginning a new unit on place value. They will be making sets of ten and counting extra ones. We also are beginning a special unit on money. Today I read a special book about the penny. We are making some coin manipulatives to help us with coin identification. We also watched and moved to a number of money videos. We have been working hard getting ready for the 100th day of school. Tomorrow is the day! We made hats, glasses, flags, books, etc. Do not forget to have your child wear his/her shirt with 100 things on it tomorrow. The day is going to be so much fun! Also, don't forget that breakfast will be served to the kids at school tomorrow.
We started a new set of literacy centers this week. The students are making a flip book to help them remember the steps for writing: think, plan, sketch, write. They are matching alphabet puzzles. At another table the students are playing a game as they practice counting syllables in words. The word work table helps the students to make a heart book with mixed up questions to sequence. Finally at the Reading table the students are putting words in order for a Valentine poem. Then they find the missing letters in words. In Math this week the students are focusing on number bonds and are learning to count on to find the missing part. This is a good strategy when they are given the total and only one part. Once they count the given part, they count on and draw until they get to the total. Then they count how many they needed to draw for the missing part. We made cards for shut-ins from our congregation today. Each of the students had fun making a special card to remind some members of our congregation that Jesus loves them and that we are praying for them. Many of the students were very good friends this afternoon as they helped some of the students that were sick catch up on some work that was missing. I am very proud of how many of them gave special time to be a good friend when they could have chosen to play with toys. |
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