Reading & Writing
This week we are beginning our last reading unit which is on Amazing Creatures. Our first week's focus is on insects. We read a story today about Beetles and the kiddos came up with some great questions based on things they were wondering about beetles. We talked about some features of non-fiction texts including real photos and the table of contents. We also discussed the vocabulary words insects (creatures with 6 legs and a body that has three parts: head, thorax, abdomen) and interesting (something that gets your attention).
Our letter of the week this week is Z and our word of the week is friend. Students will learn the /ie/ sound on Wednesday and will do a post-test on opinion writing on Thursday. The goal for opinion writing is to express an opinion and to back it up with two reasons why.
Math
This week in math we will focus on "Tiny Tumblers" which is a visual used for drawing the two numbers/groups that are being added together to create a sum. Students will also learn about recognizing tens and ones and will work on writing numbers to 30.
This week I will also be reviewing some concepts that I identified as needing some more practice when assessing students such as 3-D shapes (sphere, cylinder, and cube), counting backwards from 10, and identifying sight words.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
May 13th-17th
Reading and Writing
This week we will doing several different writing activities. We will finish our digital butterfly books, label the parts of a butterfly using the Skitch app, and write an opinion piece about whether or not we should release our butterflies. I hope you enjoyed the books we worked on for Mother's Day! On Thursday we will have DIBELS testing school wide to check in with how the kiddo's reading skills have advanced. If you are reading at home, keep it up! Reading with your child and having him or her read to you is so important!!
Students will also learn the /or/ sound this week as in corn. The letter of the week is Y and the word of the week is where. We are almost through the entire alphabet and only have one more letter after this week.
Math
We are continuing to use our pretend grocery store to practice story problems with addition and subtraction. The kiddos are really having fun pretending to shop and writing equations to match what classmates purchase.
Science
I arrived at school this morning to find that all five of our butterflies hatched over the weekend! The kids were very excited to photograph the butterflies with their iPads and to see what they look like. We watched a video about butterflies today so they could see some examples of other types of butterflies, learn about the butterfly body, and see how what it looks like when the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis because they didn't get to witness that with our own butterflies. Later this week, we will release the butterflies outside.
This week we will doing several different writing activities. We will finish our digital butterfly books, label the parts of a butterfly using the Skitch app, and write an opinion piece about whether or not we should release our butterflies. I hope you enjoyed the books we worked on for Mother's Day! On Thursday we will have DIBELS testing school wide to check in with how the kiddo's reading skills have advanced. If you are reading at home, keep it up! Reading with your child and having him or her read to you is so important!!
Students will also learn the /or/ sound this week as in corn. The letter of the week is Y and the word of the week is where. We are almost through the entire alphabet and only have one more letter after this week.
Math
We are continuing to use our pretend grocery store to practice story problems with addition and subtraction. The kiddos are really having fun pretending to shop and writing equations to match what classmates purchase.
Science
I arrived at school this morning to find that all five of our butterflies hatched over the weekend! The kids were very excited to photograph the butterflies with their iPads and to see what they look like. We watched a video about butterflies today so they could see some examples of other types of butterflies, learn about the butterfly body, and see how what it looks like when the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis because they didn't get to witness that with our own butterflies. Later this week, we will release the butterflies outside.
(Photo by Wondi)
The kiddos also have a few butterfly projects to do this week. Today, they colored butterflies to make them symmetrical on both sides and later in the week we will be making a butterfly out of a coffee filter.
We've learned a few songs about butterflies and one student asked for a copy of the words, so I thought I would post them here.
The Fuzzy Caterpillar
(Tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider)
The fuzzy caterpillar
curled up on a leaf,
spun her little chrysalis
and then fell fast asleep.
While she was sleeping
she dreamed that she could fly,
and later when she woke up
she was a butterfly!
I'll take a video of the class singing this song and another song and I'll post it.
Monday, May 6, 2013
May 6th-10th
Reading & Writing
Our letter of the week this week is Q and our word of the week is me. The students will be learning the /ea/ sound as in team on Tuesday. They will continue working on a secret writing project and will label the parts of the butterfly using a photograph on the Skitch app. Students are also continuing to make their own digital book using the app Book Creator to tell about how the caterpillars are changing into butterflies.
Math
We are starting a new math unit that utilizes a pretend grocery store to create story problems. I have a little grocery stand set up with fake fruits and vegetables that the kiddos will use as props to tell story problems about buying food. Today we had two helpers at a time acting as the cashier and the shopper. The shopper chose two types of food to buy and told the rest of the class how many of each he/she was getting. Then the cashier and the rest of the group had to write the addition sentence to go along with the shopper's purchase on their iPads and solve the equation. It is really temping for Kindergartners to use materials like this just to "play," but they did a really great job of following the directions and everyone was engaged in math!
Science
We now have four pupa encased in chrysalises hanging from the top of our cup and one chrysalis that became unattached that is on the bottom. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of butterflies, but that will probably not happen until next week. The kiddos are very excited to see the changes. It's cool to have creatures right in our classroom! Later this week, the kiddos will do an art project showing the life cycle of the butterfly and the different stages it goes through.
Our letter of the week this week is Q and our word of the week is me. The students will be learning the /ea/ sound as in team on Tuesday. They will continue working on a secret writing project and will label the parts of the butterfly using a photograph on the Skitch app. Students are also continuing to make their own digital book using the app Book Creator to tell about how the caterpillars are changing into butterflies.
Math
We are starting a new math unit that utilizes a pretend grocery store to create story problems. I have a little grocery stand set up with fake fruits and vegetables that the kiddos will use as props to tell story problems about buying food. Today we had two helpers at a time acting as the cashier and the shopper. The shopper chose two types of food to buy and told the rest of the class how many of each he/she was getting. Then the cashier and the rest of the group had to write the addition sentence to go along with the shopper's purchase on their iPads and solve the equation. It is really temping for Kindergartners to use materials like this just to "play," but they did a really great job of following the directions and everyone was engaged in math!
Science
We now have four pupa encased in chrysalises hanging from the top of our cup and one chrysalis that became unattached that is on the bottom. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of butterflies, but that will probably not happen until next week. The kiddos are very excited to see the changes. It's cool to have creatures right in our classroom! Later this week, the kiddos will do an art project showing the life cycle of the butterfly and the different stages it goes through.
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