I wasn't sure how the class would be transitioning from the long winter break back to our school routine. I was prepared to give behavior reminders, maybe see a few breakdowns or tears, and show lots of modeling of our school expectations (how to be safe, respectful, and responsible). However, Monday rolled around and every and every child was so well-behaved and happy to be back. They remembered our daily routines, procedures, and personal responsibilities. They were all star students! I was amazed. I told them that they were like FIRST GRADERS (they all gasped when I said this) because of how well they were showing our school expectations. And it wasn't just a one day occurrence...their stellar behavior continued ALL WEEK LONG! I have to say kudos to them for being such hard workers in everything they do. They may be little, but they are mighty and capable of so much. They continue to amaze me each and every day.
Outdoor Learning
Last week in science, we learned about animals. We're reading a nonfiction book that highlights animal similarities and differences, animal parts, their needs, shelter, and babies. Then I had students brainstorm a list of animals that we can see in the winter. I got adventurous and told them to bundle up so we could head outside and see if we could find any animals and/or their tracks. We had a lot of success finding different kinds of tracks--some looked like dog, deer, and mice tracks. We will have to do some further exploration and see if we can make some matches. As far as seeing any live animals, there were some birds flying above the trees. And we happened to smell a skunk near by!
After walking in the woods for a half hour, it was so nice outside (not a breeze was felt) and I didn't want to go inside just yet. So I decided, heck! Why not let the kids make snowmen out by the baseball field. This was more FUN that I could've ever imagined. I am not kidding you--each and everyone of them was playing in the snow and engaged in building their snowmen. Many of the kindergartners worked in pairs or small groups while a few worked independently. There were a couple kids that were discouraged at first because they didn't know how to get their snowball going and wanted to give up, so some students stepped in and offered to show them how to roll it and make it bigger. We have built such an encouraging and supportive classroom since September, and this snowman-filled afternoon made us that much closer and stronger as a class. I am FLOORED and so proud to be the teacher of these students.
Math
We are learning about making partners of a number.This is where we take a number and show it using manipulatives (such as using little cubes), then take a break-apart stick (Popsicle stick) and put it somewhere in between the objects. For example, partners of 5 would be: 1 + 4, 2 + 3, 3 + 2, 4 + 1, 5 + 0, and 0 + 5. Have the students use the break-apart stick and move it in different spots helps them see that no matter where the break-apart stick is, it doesn't change the sum of the number. It also shows them that there are many combinations to make a number.
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| Partners of 10...there were a LOT of ways to get to 10! |
Writing
Students wrote in their ABC notebooks about what they did over holiday break. At this point in the school year, many of them are confident in being able to sound out words on their own and writing sight words correctly so I am starting to emphasize more on using correct punctuation (using periods at the end of sentences) and putting finger spaces in between words (to avoid their sentence looking like a blob of letters). As you'll see below, students' writing entries are unique and different from others.
My expectations for them as writers include the following:
- being able to generate ideas independently
- writing those ideas down on paper
- sounding out major sounds in words (any beginning, middle, and end sounds)
- drawing a related picture(s) to go along with their sentence
- being able to read and share their writing with others
- writing from left to write, top to bottom
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| It took 2 days to get to Canada. I had so much fun in Canada. |
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| Here we are sharing our writing to each other. |
Reading Stations
As I wrote on Schoology earlier last week, I have changed the way I do reading stations. The skills will always remain the same--(1) listening and responding to stories, (2) word sorts, (3) word work (making words), (4) writing, and (5) popcorn words. However the tasks in each tub will vary and change depending on how the students respond to them. Also, they are more open-ended where students can self-direct their learning and choose how they want to apply their skills within the tub. They can challenge themselves, no matter what academic level they are at. Another new feature of our new reading stations is that students are never fully finished with the task. I want them to focus on the quality of their work and how they are using their reading and writing skills, rather than racing to get a worksheet done and doing a poor job. I believe the process of learning is important and with different times in our learning, there will be an end result, but reading stations will not be one of those times. Take a look at a few of our current stations.
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| Writing station: Writing student names |
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| Word work: writing words (CVC and CCVC) |
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| Popcorn words station: Reading, building, and writing sight words |
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