We had another busy week here in Kindergarten! We researched and read a lot about many different ocean animals. When we got to the horseshoe crab in our book one of the students noticed that we had one of these shells in our science area! I found one on the beach in North Carolina and shared it with the students at the beginning of the year. The students were very interested to watch videos of the horseshoe crab and see how it moves as well as how it came out of its shell to get a new one.
We also discussed what the different parts of the crab were.
The students have been incorporating what we have been learning about ocean animals into their writing. They use books that we have read to help give them ideas for topics to write about, enhance their illustrations, and remind them of facts that we have learned.
My mom came in on Tuesday to volunteer in our classroom and work with the students. They enjoyed working with her and she really enjoyed getting to know them and working with them as well.
Here are some of the students' samples from their ocean writing. Raegan on the left wrote, "I am looking." On the right, Layton wrote, "Ocean Animals."
Isaac wrote, "A shark is going to eat a fish."
On Wednesday, each student chose their best piece of writing from our ocean study to share with the class. The students all showed respect for each other and were good listeners while each child shared their work. They are working so hard on their ocean study and we can't wait to share it with you all!
We have also been working on a couple new workstations. The first one focuses on storytelling. The students take turns flipping over cards and telling a story involving those cards.
The next one is practicing writing numbers on our number scrolls. Brayden as well as a few other students have written to 100 so we taped another chart to allow those students to continue to write numbers in the 100's. The students are working on seeing how high they can write to!
The students have enjoyed painting in the art area as well.
The students have also enjoyed using the ipads to learn in many different ways. They have made different words, listened to, and read stories.
They also matched like pictures and learned about the ocean.
Students have also practiced shapes and letters.
The students have continued to enjoy working with Miss Dupont when she comes to our classroom!
As a class, we have been working on earning all of our 25 buckeyes (1 for each student) in order to earn our next reward. We voted for what we wanted our class reward to be after we earned our final buckeyes. The winning vote was for a "Jelly Bean Party". Hopefully we can earn our last 2 buckeyes this week so we can have our jelly beans the following week.
In literacy lab, we have continued to work on guided reading. The students who work with Mrs. Ball & Mrs. Arnold are continuing to work on improving their reading skills by pointing to the words, following along, and group reading together.
The groups of students who work with me switch off and on each day between working with me and working independently. This week we learned about 3 blends: th, ch. sh and read books to help us learn these sounds. Knowing these sounds will help the students when reading and in their writing as well. These students shared these books with the rest of the class and enjoyed reading them to their peers.
In order to help increase reading fluency, we practice reading stories many times before we send them home with the students. We do partner reading a lot in my groups. The students have to use active listening skills while their partner is reading and then take turns.
We also practiced reading the book independently to ourselves as well as reading it as a group.
We went through all of the books and highlighted each blend throughout the book.
We also practiced reading another book full of sight words called, "Foods I Like", We practiced reading this book as a class, independently, and with a partner.
On Friday, we got to work with our preschool reading buddies. The students shared their favorite piece of writing that they completed this week as well as one of the books we read this week.
Since we finished the Stuart Little book, we watched the movie. The second movie follows the book closer so, afterwards, we were able to discuss the similarities as well as the differences. This helps the students recall details from the story & movie and increase comprehension. They really enjoyed the movie!
On Friday, Dr. Clifford came to talk to the students about being a pirate.
He brought along some students from the leadership council to share their stories about what it means to them to be a pirate.
We got to sing the "We are the Pirates" song as well as the "Pirate Wiggalo". Ask your child to show you these songs!
Thanks for checking in. Stop by next week to see what we are up to!
Mrs. Brittany Garrabrant
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