Posted by jstutz1 | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on April 28, 2019
4/22 – 4/26
We have an amazing group of Kinders in our classroom! The Kinders helped add to our bulletin board outside of our classroom by telling how they would be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud. They had amazing responses: help them clean up, smile at someone, make them a card, help them tie their shoes, give a hug and so many adorable ways they would help someone feel better. We are continuing to remember to be bucket fillers to each other every day! We have done such a GREAT job of superstar behavior that the class has earned their superstars to win a special day!! We will be having Beach Day on Monday, April 29. The Kinders are welcome to come in Beach themed attire, sunglasses and a beach towel. NO BATHING SUITS PLEASE! We will be going outside for recess, so be sure to layer up on our Beach day with your attire.
Popcorn Words: some, come.
Math: This week we started our study of Unit 5: Consolidations and Concepts. The Kinders will review their Math skills and build on their addition and subtraction skills to solve story problems in this unit. We started the unit this week by making our own “Teen Scene” pictures. The Kinders picked a teen number to draw. We loved viewing our gallery of Teen Scene drawings in our classroom. We off to a great start with Unit 5. Working hard on story problems, drawing pictures to match and noticing patterns in number sentences.
Writing: This week we wrapped up our All About Goats informational writing. The Kindergartners worked hard on putting the information they gathered into their book. Showing me everything they learned in this unit. The kinders brought home all of their other All About books this week to enjoy at home. The “on-demand” All About Goats book will be coming home as soon as I grade it. This grade will be part of their final report card at the end of the school year. We also, started a new unit of writing this week, How-to writing. The Kinders learned that How-to writing is done to teach others about how to do something. We started this unit by making a list of things we thought we could teach someone how to do. There were a lot of great ideas that the kinders had: how to play soccer, how to play baseball, how to do a cartwheel, how to add, how to read, etc. We completed our first How-to writing this week, How-To Marble Paint. The Kinders did a great job remembering the steps from Monday of what they did to make their Earth Day Marble Art piece.
Readers Workshop: This week we continued to build our reading stamina. We also practiced being avid poetry readers. The Kindergartners are so aware of the differences and similarities in books now, it has been so fun to see them want to show me and each other what they find. Pointing out a table of contents in books, an index, glossaries, and so much more in Non-fiction books. The kinders have also enjoyed diving into fiction books that they enjoy. Gathering books that have the same characters and talking about what happened to the character in these different books.
Maps: We continued to work on our Maps information this week. The Kinders learned about the location of the state of Michigan, Lansing our state capital, what city they live in and their street name and number. They are enjoying this idea of maps and have had fun getting some exposure to this concept.
Earth Day plus Living and Non-Living: We are also exploring things that are living and non-living. This week during our Earth Day exploring outside we took notice of things that were living and non-living. Our Kindergartners used all of their senses during our Earth Day cleaning of around the school. Noticing the different sounds they hear and the things they see. They noticed things that make sounds that are living (birds) and non-living (cars). Also, smelling things that were living, like a dandelion. The Kindergartners did a GREAT job with our Earth Day walk. They helped clean our playground and then also got to see where our schools BIG trash dumpster is and our Paper Gator. They LOVED putting our paper that we recycle in our classroom in the big Paper Gator. We LOVE our Earth!!
Rocks: The amazing collection of rocks that the Kinders brought in were FABULOUS!! So many cool collections with so many different kinds of rocks! Thank you for helping your Kinder with this fun collection. Also, for the special rocks that were sent in for us to see. The collections came home the same day. However, we will continue to explore rocks over the next week. This week we talked about our favorite rocks in our collections. The Kinders LOVED exploring with their rocks! They got to weigh their rocks on a scale, drop it in water to see if it floated or sank and see if it changed colors. They also got to measure their rocks to see how many unifix cubes it was. We started to talk about the sedimentary rocks this week as well. The Kinders learned that a sedimentary rock is made up of different sediments, weathering, and pressure. They LOVED making their own sedimentary rocks! They made one with 3 different sediments (jelly bean, starburst, and m & m). The kinders combined these sediments to make a rock and then enjoyed eating it. They also got to use many sediments of playdough to create their own sedimentary rock made out of playdough. These rocks were sent home in a baggy on Friday. They LOVED these hands-on learning with rocks this week!!
Field Trip: Our field trip to Hemlock Crossing Nature Center is all set for Tuesday, May 7. We will be leaving Georgetown by 9:30 a.m., The Kinders will get to explore Hemlock Crossing for about an hour and a half. Then we will be going to Hager Park for our picnic lunch and some play time. We will arrive at Hager Park by 12:00 noon. All chaperones have been contacted. All are welcome to join us for our picnic lunch and play time at Hager Park. Each Kinder will need to bring a home lunch and a drink on our field trip day. If we get rain on our field trip day we will still go to Hemlock Crossing. However, we will NOT go to Hager Park if we have rain. Please plan to dress your kinder according to weather on our field trip day. I can’t wait! I know the Kinders will LOVE this field trip day!! Reminder notes with details will be coming home prior to our field trip date.
Mystery Reader:
- Avery was soooo excited to see her Dad walk in as our Mystery Reader this week! Mr. Pierce read us the very funny story, Goodnight Already! by Jory John. The Kinders LOVED Mr. Pierce’s funny voices and the hilarious tale of Bear and Duck. Thank you for visiting with us Mr. Pierce!
Art Show: I hope you were able to see some of the amazing art that was at the Art Show this week. I was able to stop by briefly to see some of the artists and their work. There are some very talented artists in our district and classroom!
Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, April 29…MUSIC, LIBRARY, *Bring Library Book, BEACH DAY!!
- Tuesday, April 30…GYM, *Bring Take Home Books.
- Wednesday, May 1…ART
- Thursday, May 2…STEAM, *Bring Take Home Books.
- Friday, May 3…MUSIC
- Tuesday, May 7…Field Trip to Hemlock Crossing Nature Center.
