Week of September 25th

Reading

This week we have been learning all about apples.  We wrote an interactive writing chart about which kind of apples we like and got creative when we made an apple boy or girl.  We got 2 more little readers to add to our book bins.  We practiced reading the books and pointing to each word as we read it.  We also highlighted color words to help remember.  

On Friday, after everyone got a chance to write on our chart about what kind of apples they liked the best, we made a class book.  We illustrated a picture showing which kind of apple we liked the best.  Then we got our sentence, I like color apples.  We talked about word boundaries and cut our sentence into individual words, then glued them onto our paper.  

Next week we will be making applesauce, if you can please send in an apple or 2 by Friday.  Thank you!!

Writing

This week in writing we have continued to talk about what writers do: think of a topic, picture it, sketch it, and label it.  The kids are doing a great job labeling themselves in their stories and working hard to hear and identify the first sound in words they are using to label.  

Math

In math this week we finished our shape unit.  We know that for a 3D shape to stack and slide it needs a flat side (cube, cylinder, cone) and for a shape to roll it needs to be round (sphere, cylinder, cone).  After we finished our shape unit we started a new unit on numbers 1-5.  Check out these fun songs about numbers.  Count to 10 and Chicken Count  We played Chicka Chicka Boom Boom roll and cover to 6 as a whole group.  During this time the kids rolled a dice to see what number to cover up- counted the dots then used a number line to figure out the numeral.  We had a lot of fun playing and thought it was super funny when we couldn't roll a 3 and that was the last number we needed to cover!!

We are working on being proactive in our classroom.  We are learning and practicing sharing, using kind words and tone of voice, using our words to solve our problem not our hands.  Here are a couple of pictures of kiddos playing at social centers practicing these important skills.  

Week of September 18th

I apologize for not sending this out sooner.  As many of you probably already know I had a death in my family and was out of town on Thursday and Friday last week.  I did not have access to the internet where I was staying so I was not able to post my update last week.  I came back today (Monday) and realized that my sub did not send home Friday Folders so I am sending those today as well! Make sure to check out the picture order forms for school pictures on Thursday!

Help Needed!!

Our room is in need of a room parent volunteer to help in the workroom by running copies, making classroom materials, working on Friday Folders, etc.  If you are interested please email me with the day of the week you would be able to help out in the workroom regularly on.  Thank you!!

Reading

We have been working hard this week on our names.  We are practicing identifying our name, writing our name the school way, and counting the letters in our name.  A lot of the activities we are doing are also practicing fine motor skills that will help the kiddos develop good handwriting.  

We read a book, A my name is... Where each page had a different letter, character who started with that letter who told what they sold and where they lived. A my name is Alex. I live in Alabama and I sell alligators.  We thought it would be fun to make our own version of the book.  We drew pictures of ourselves and used resources in the room to find something that begins with our letter to sell. We also wrote __ my name is ___. Filling in the beginning letter of our name and our name.  

We used play dough and wiki sticks to form the letters of our name.  We made a chart about how long our names are.  We used magnetic letters and sorted if the letters we picked up were in our name or not in our name.  We also played with name puzzles and rainbow wrote our name using different color crayons to trace our name the school way. 

Word work

This week we continued to work on the letters b and f.  We practiced forming the letters on the grid lines.  We got out the foundations magnetic tile boards and matched the letters we have learned about so far, t, b, f.  We also played a guessing game where I gave the kiddos the letter or sound the word I am thinking of begins with and some clues.  They took turns guessing the answer.  

Writing

We continued to write personal narratives this week. We have talked a lot about writing things that are true not made up. We have brainstormed writing ideas and talked about labeling our stories.  We put the word me on our word wall so that we can label ourselves.  We have practiced together figuring out the first letter to label each part in our story.  We continued to practice writing routines like getting our writing folders and cleaning up when we are done.  

Math

In math this week we started to learn about 3D shapes, or solid figures.  We learned about a cube, cylinder, cone, and sphere. We used foam shapes to slide shapes-we noticed that all of the shapes that slide have flat surfaces.  We rolled shapes- we noticed that all of the shapes that roll have round sides.  We also stacked shapes and noticed that to stack shapes we needed flat surfaces-we couldn't stack anything on the point of the cone or on a sphere.  

Week of September 11th

We are working on building independence and encouraging students to be in charge of themselves.  We are asking parents to please have students walk into school and into breakfast on their own, so that they start their day by being independent! Thank you for your support in this!!

Reading

This week in reading we read different versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  We colored a big bear and filled in the blank "A bear is __." with descriptive words.  

We also retold the story using pictures and a storyboard.  

We have been working on writing our names the school way and used the first letter of our name in an art project and wrote __ is for __ ( P is for Pam) underneath it.

Writing

We started writers workshop this week!  We have learned that writers think about what they want to write about before starting to write (think of a topic) and draw a picture to tell their story.  We have talked a lot about getting ideas from things that happen in real life and read books about real things to help think of ideas.  We are working on being independent during writing time by thinking of our own story, thinking about what we need to draw to tell our story and adding details to our story to make it even better!  

Math

We have continued to learn about shapes this week. We learned a couple of new shapes, rhombus, trapezoid, and hexagon.  We used pattern blocks to make pattern block puzzles.  

We also played Fill the Hexagon with pattern blocks.  We found out that hexagons could be filled with lots of different shapes.

Word Work

This week we learned about the letters B and F.  We practiced the sounds each letter makes and how to form each letter.  We also played a game where the kiddos guessed words that I was thinking of  that began with the letters b and f.  

Week of September 4th

Just a reminder that there will be no school on Monday, September 7th.  Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Reading

We have read The Three Little Pigs each day.  We painted a pig and practiced using scissors to cut the pig out.  Then we filled in the blank to describe a pig.  We also talked about how the illustration needs to match the words.


We retold the story using pictures we colored and cut out.  We glued the pictures  in order on  a storyboard.  We also practiced cutting and gluing skills again by making a pig puppet.

Word Work

This week we started Fundations, a literacy program where the kids learn about letters and the sounds they make.  We learned about the letter T this week, what sound it makes, how to form the letter, and even practiced writing it on our grid lines.  

Math

We started learning about shapes this week! We learned about a circle, rectangle, triangle, and square.  We found examples of each shape in our classroom.  We practiced drawing each shape and even turned our shape into something new.  Click the link to listen to the song we have been singing about the shapes we know here.