November 5th-8th

Thank you for all the hard work you put into the Turkey Family Projects. They look great decorating our bulletin board in the hallway. 

Reminders: There is no school tomorrow, Friday November 9th because it is a teacher workday. We are preparing the progress reports that will go home next week. 

There is no school Monday November 12th because it is Veteran's Day. 

I am still collecting hair conditioner for the hygiene drive

Reading and Writing:

This week we worked on the sounds /b/ and /f/. I introduced a new activity in our letter lessons called "quick erase" in which I write a word on the board and then change one sound a time. For example I might start with sun and say what happens when the /s/ becomes a /b/. Then the kids say bun! Then I'd say okay what happens if the /u/ becomes an /i/ and the kids say bin! It's meant to be a quick practice in sound manipulation and focusing more on listening to the word and what sound will change than actually sounding the words out. I also introduced a new app called I Speak Word Wizard on which we practiced quick erase together. This app has all the letters displayed like a keyboard and we practiced spelling the words and then changing one sound at a time. 

In writing this week we continued working on the narrative stories about the pumpkin patch and when the kiddos finished they did a new story about something they did over the weekend. When writing or dictating I am looking for kids to produce the following:

1. The topic-what they did/where they went

2. Two details about the topic-what happened, who was there etc.

3. A feeling-how they felt about what they did (and more than just "it was fun" which can be a very popular Kindergarten way to end a story)

We have been using StoryKit to practice including these important parts of a narrative and today the kiddos were asked to do the same exercise only this time trying to actually write it out on paper. We started with just writing the topic because at this point it is still hard work for Kinders to sound out all the words and get the topic written down. We are not at the point yet, where they can easily write out their entire story which is why we use StoryKit and dictation as well. This allows me to determine if they know what elements to include in the story and if they can do so in an order that makes sense even though they're not ready to write all of that. As they continue to practice writing they will be able to write more in their stories. 

Math:

This week we finished up our first math unit with a graph predicting who would win the presidential election. We talked about who the main candidates were (names only) and the kiddos drew a picture of who they thought would win. I created a graph Monday after school and on Tuesday we looked at the graph to compare how many votes each candidate got. I gave the first assessment yesterday and overall the results were really good. The only thing that I want to review is shapes as there is still some confusion between triangle, square, and rectangle. Next week we'll do some activities to promote shape recognition. 

Enjoy the long weekend! 

October 29th-November 2nd

Wow! I can't believe it's November already. I realized in posting this that I missed a few weeks of posting, so I apologize and I will fill you in on what we've been up to in the classroom. We had a fun week with our field trip to Baggenstos and our Halloween celebration. I managed to get pictures in the rain at the pumpkin patch which I emailed out, but didn't get any during the business of our Halloween activities. 

Here are a few of Halloween at the Toppel house :)

Reading & Writing
In the past two weeks we have covered the letter/sounds /c/, /k/, /ck/, /u/, and /r/. The kiddos are making great progress in remembering their sounds and many students are already able or starting to be able to sound out words. We have also been practicing the sight words "a," "my," and "see." I've started to do some simple writing activities in class once a week where we being by writing a sentence starter together such as "I like my ..."  or "I am a..." (on Halloween). When I model writing I am showing the class where the letters go on the lines and how we use a "finger space"in between words when we write them. I remind them of the sight word songs we have learned because I expect the children to spell sight words correctly in their writing. I also remind them that a sentence starts with an uppercase letter and ends with a period. Then we write the sight words together (I on my paper and them on their paper). After that, they choose how they want to complete the sentence and try sounding out the word(s) they want to write. This is where the children are using the "break it down" skill to hear the different sounds in the word in order to write down the corresponding letters.

Today we did a pre-writing activity where students were asked to draw a picture of one part of our field trip to the pumpkin patch on Sketchio and then record where we went, two details about what we did there, and then a feeling about the field trip. That activity was done so students could practice retelling a personal narrative which is one of our writing standards. As they become more competent in writing, they will also write words to go along with their dictation. Some students did not finish yet, but if your child finished I forwarded you the email with their story.

Math
We have been continuing to focus on numbers 1-10. In class, do several finger games to show different numbers and we've been using our number cards to practice line em up. We do this in two ways. First, I give out one number card each to a group of students and ask them to line themselves up so their number cards are in order from one to ten. We do this a few times with different groups to practice putting the numbers in order but also to practice teamwork. Then students get their own set of number cards from 1-10 and have to put the numbers in order. Once the cards are in order we do a series of activities to help the children practice identifying, counting out, and arranging tiles to show a specific number as well as comparing different numbers. The extensive focus on numbers 1-10 is to build automatic recognition not only of the numbers themselves but of quantities of those numbers and different amounts that make those numbers when put together.

Science
Before visiting the Pumpkin Patch we read a book called From Seed to Pumpkin to learn about how pumpkins grow and what they look like as they are growing. We are continuing to practice making observations of what we see in the world around us.

Social Studies
We talked a little bit yesterday about the upcoming presidential election and the two main candidates. I read a book called Grace for president which talked a lot about what presidential candidates do, but in the context of a little girl running for class president.

Other Stuff
Thank you to the parents who were able to come with us to the Pumpkin Patch. It's always great to have parents with us and it was great to talk with so many of you last week during conferences.

Our Hygiene drive is starting up. Our class item is hair conditioner, so please contribute some if you can.

Have a great weekend!

October 8th-12th

Reading & Writing
This week we finished up our first section of phonics and then reviewed our first ten letter/sound combinations. Yesterday and today I spent some time assessing the class one child at time so I can determine which letters need a bit more practice before we move on. Today the students did a whole group writing assessment during which I said a sound and they needed to write the letter that corresponds with the sound I said. I just went through and scored those assessments and I was really impressed with the letter formation that I saw. I can tell that practice with the Letter School app has contributed to neat writing!

Our letter of the week was "S" and our sight word was "like." Our country this week was Switzerland and the kiddos learned how to say hello, goodbye, and thank you in German which is one of the languages spoken there.

During small groups this week I introduced a game called the Alphabet Mystery Box. The kiddos had to read into the mystery box and pull out one of the objects. Then they had to identify the initial sound and the letter the item starts with. We had a lot of fun with it!

Math
This week we worked a bit on graphing and comparing numbers. First I introduced what a vertical graph looks with two bars and talked about how we can look at the graph and determine which side shows more and which side shows less. Then I asked the kiddos to create their own graph by asking 7 classmates whether they are five years old or six years old. They had to color a square on their graph for each response and then determine which answer had more responses and which answer had fewer responses. They enjoyed interacting with one another and "interviewing" each other. Today we talked about the words "same" and "different" and the kiddos drew pictures of two things that were the same and two things that were different to demonstrate their understanding of the words.

Coming Up
Monday is the first day of Extended Day Kindergarten. If your child will be participating, a new bus schedule was sent home in his/her Friday folder today.

Next week we will start Science! We don't do Science as often as we do Reading, Writing, and Math, but it's a lot of fun when we do! Our first objective in science is for the kiddos to understand what "science" is and to understand how they can observe the world using their senses. On Thursday, they will make observations about pumpkins and use StoryKit to photograph a real pumpkin and record their observations.

Reminders
Don't forget to save your empty pop cans and water bottles for the Drive By Can Drive.

Please sign and return the permission slip for our field trip to the Pumpkin Patch on October 30th.

Have a great weekend! 

Choice Time

I just wanted to share a few pictures from Choice Time today. It's always a great day when everyone has earned their choice time and gets to enjoy a fun activity of their own choosing.

building with magnets

exploring magnets (attraction and repelling)

initial letter sound recognition game

listening station

counting cakes

coloring

Each week I set out different activities that give the kiddos a variety of options that typically include educational games to practice literacy and math skills, science exploration trays, books on CD with headphones, blocks or magnets for building, markers and paper for coloring. 

Coming Up:

Next week our letter of the week is S and our word of the week is like. We will complete our first series of sound lessons with the letter o on Monday and then I will review our first 10 sounds [m, a, s, d, t, n, p, o, g] and assess the kiddos one on one. In Math we will begin learning about graphing so that we can compare numbers and determine which is bigger/more and which is smaller/less next week and we will also talk about the math words same and different. Additionally, the children will begin to practice number writing, which will be reinforced with Letter School on the iPad because that offers number practice as well as letter practice.

Our Star and Co-Star of the week are Mackenzie and Jena! 

The homework that went home today includes two sheets of math homework. Each sheet is double sided. Please help your child do a little bit of the homework each night instead of attempting it all at once. 

Helpful hint for math homework==> You will often see one side of sheet has an empty box without any directions. The directions are actually on the bottom of the previous page....look carefully! 

Have a great weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather! 

Can Drive

Durham's Drive-By Can Drive will be Wednesday October 24th. Please start collecting your empty pop cans and water bottles because the grade that collects the most cans wins a popcorn party! Wouldn't that be FUN!

Cans will be collected in the parking lot on October 24th at the following times:

before school

after school

5:45-6:15 pm

Please do not send cans/bottles to school prior to that date as I do no have any room in the classroom to store them. 

The money raised by collecting cans will help the Caring Closet buy new shoes and other items for families who need them.

Let's go Kindergarten! Collect those cans and bottles!!

In other news, the Literacy Bags are all ready to go for Friday! I bought some new games and activities and refreshed all the bags so they are new and improved for the kiddos this year. If you have not signed up and would like to--you still can! I have 23 bags which is an entire class set, so everyone is encouraged to participate provided you promised to take super good care of all the books, activities, and materials so everyone can enjoy complete bags with all the materials intact. 

October 1st-5th

 My family and I were off to a wedding in California right after school on Friday and we were away all weekend, so I am catching up from last week and giving a sneak peek into what we'll be doing this week.

Reading & Writing
Last week we did the letter sounds for /d/, /t/, and /i/. Now that the kiddos know a good number of sounds, we are beginning to practice sounding out words. Our phonics program introduces one letter at a time for students who are just learning sounds, yet it moves quickly so that children who already know their sounds are still engaged. It offers a lot of opportunities for review for kiddos who need to see and hear the sounds/letter multiple times before they "stick." Review often entails games, coming up with ideas, and sharing/talking with a partner, so there are many skills being practiced besides just the letter sounds. I want the children to be communicating as much as possible and using the words/sounds/letters we learn in context. In an effort to have as many kids engaged as possible, I am trying to move away from having just one child answer or demonstrate in exchange for activities where all kids respond and all kids are asked to share with their partners while I rotate and listen. This week we will cover /n/, /p/, and /o/. After 10 lessons, I will stop and assess students to see if we need to go back and practice any particular sounds before we move on to the next set of 10 lessons.

 We are also continuing to use our iPads to assist with our letter writing practice. I introduced an app called Letter School and it was a huge hit. Letter School is an app for practicing letter and number formation that corrects for letters that are not written properly. The students have learned that we always start our letters from the top so Letter School helps to ensure that is being done. Letter School requires the use of individual headphones, so we started using those last week and the kiddos have been doing a fantastic job using them, taking care of them, and recognizing when it's a time to take them off and listen to directions.

Math
In math the children have been practicing putting their number parade in order and counting out and/or drawing sets of different numbers. We have been creating "scenes" with the Sketchio app that model different numbers which will be made into a book using the app StoryKit. StoryKit is the app I demonstrated at Back to School Night which allows the kiddos to import their pictures from their photo album, record their voice to describe their photo/scene, and then eventually write the words to go along with what they say about their photo/scene. Initially, our math lessons have a slower pace and emphasize follow the directions and using the materials/manipulatives according to the directions. We do a lot of practice with number 1-10 to develop number sense and a deeper understanding of the numbers and their "number partners" which is a precursor to addition. It may seem like it's repetitive, yet our math program emphasizes depth over breadth. "Math Talk" is a huge part of our math curriculum because being able to explain math concept and mathematical thinking is both important and challenging!

Apps We're Using
Sketchio
StoryKit
Line Em Up
Letter School

Other Stuff
We have started our Star of the Week rotation and the kids are getting the hang of listening when a peer is sharing and are beginning to ask questions. Working on recognizing the different between asking a question and telling something about their own life is definitely something that we will talk about and think about when we have our Star of the Week presentations.

Our school Can Drive is beginning. I don't have the exact info with collection dates in front of me, but start saving your empty pop cans and water bottles. The class to collect the most wins a popcorn party! I will post more specific details another day.

September 17th-21st

A big thank you to all the of the parents who came to Durham for the Jog-a-thon today! The kiddos had a great time and were definitely tired out when we were done! It's wonderful to have so many families involved in special activities like that. 

Reading and Writing

We  started our Fast Track Phonics Program this week and covered the the sounds /m/ and /a/ and  /s/. Starting next week, we will also have a letter of the week that we will focus on, but our phonics program introduces several sounds each week so that the children can learn the sounds and letters at a faster pace. The phonics program incorporates some video elements which both classes loved. Our letter of the week activities will review the letters that we have already done in Fast Track Phonics and will involve other skills and projects.

Each sound card has a picture that incorporates the formation of the letter. There is an "animated alphabet" video clip where we see that picture in action. This is meant to help the children connect the image on the cards (which are posted in the classroom) and the sound that the letter makes. So far this week we have done the /m/ card for which we say The man marches on mountains and the /a/ card for which we say Alphie asks for apples.

Alphie the Alligator is a puppet that is used with the program and the kids learned some "games" that we play with Alphie to help them become readers. We Say It Fast (Alphie uses his special Alphie Talk to say each individual sound in a word and the children say the word fast) and we also Break It Down (I say a word and the children say each sound in the word). Both of these skills are very important for reading and spelling/writing. Another aspect of the Fast Track Phonics (FTP) program is learning how to write the letters. Some students are tracing letters and others are writing them independently. As I monitor progress, I am looking at how each child is holding his/her pencil, whether or not the can write their name, and how much support they need to write letters.

I introduced a new app called "Letter School" this morning that was a HUGE hit. The kiddos did not get a chance to do it themselves because we were busy with the jog-a-thon, but they will get a chance to try it out next week. The app helps children practice letter and number writing with cues for where to start and how to correctly form the letter.

ELD Time:
Some children receive ELD instruction for 30 minutes outside the classroom each day. Children who participate in this are children who speak a language besides English at home. During this time, children who do not participate stay in the classroom and we will do a rotation of activities throughout the week. Our activity rotation will be...

Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday: Small group work rotation including iPad time, math tile games, and literacy activities. 

Thursday: sound sort which involves identifying which pictures show words that begin with each sound, sorting the pictures, then gluing them on a large sheet. 

Friday: chapter book read aloud (Our first book is called The Magician's Boy by Susan Cooper)

Activities/Special Events:

This Thursday every child at Durham took the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) reading assessment. This is a screening measure to help the Kindergarten teachers and our Literacy Specialist know which students may need additional support in reading. Students in Kindergarten did Letter Naming Fluency and Initial Sound Fluency portions of this assessment. They also did a short math exercise as well. These assessments give us information that helps us know where kiddos are in their skills so that we can plan instruction accordingly.

Next Thursday is Picture Day!