Hello everyone!
It was a busy and fun week in kindergarten!
Literacy:
This week we learned the “Floss” rule more in-depth, having just touched on it briefly in the past…. The “Floss” rule says that any single-syllable word, ending in f/l/s/z, has that final consonant doubled. This is more of a spelling rule than a reading rule, since it doesn’t effect the decoding of the words, so the students took turns spelling out words that follow it on the Promethean board. Then, we played a game in half groups to further reinforce the skill.
We started using the game Jenga to practice sight words, and boy oh boy was that popular! The game is played just as it usually is, except that there is a sight word on each block, and the child reads it (and practices it if needed) after removing it from the tower. Fun times! We only introduced one new sight word this week, to try to give the kids who needed it time to catch up on the old ones… our words now include: And, The, Of, Are, A, They, You, Come, See, Go, Says, Said, What, All, Who, For, Was, Is, Has, To, Have, Where, My, Any, One, Two, Three, Four.
All of the students have been working SO hard on their reading, and we are just blown away by their progress! We have been emphasizing fluency, reading with expression, and comprehension with all of the students, and will continue to grow these skills through the end of the year. Some of the students who were in need of an extra challenge began reading Owl at Home this week, and are using a corresponding Reader’s Notebook to practice comprehension and written response to reading. Fun!
Science:
This week we created and labeled colorful planets to accompany the adorable astronauts on our bulletin board… be sure to stop by and check it out!
A highlight from this week was watching the astronauts on the ISS (International Space Station) make peanut butter sandwiches, wash their hair, and clean up spills…. All mundane tasks made fascinating by lack of gravity! We went back to our original “Know and Wonder” chart about space to check and see what questions we had yet to answer, and realized that the students had been wondering what astronauts do with trash in space. A little research informed us that they actually load it up into the unmanned cargo ships that bring them supplies, and then “throw” the capsules (using the arm of the space station) back towards earth, where they burn up in the atmosphere. The students found this method of trash disposal fascinating!
We also learned various facts about the planet Venus, including that it is QUITE hot (in the range of 800 degrees!!). It is actually hotter than Mercury despite the fact that Mercury is closer to the sun, because Mercury has a very thin atmosphere and Venus has a very thick cloudy one, which holds the heat of the sun trapped (think, open oven vs closed oven). We also learned that there are lightening storms on Venus, and that acid rain comes pouring down! There are also many volcanoes. Not exactly a future vacation spot!
We still have a few more of the students’ questions to answer, as well as facts to learn about the other planets, before we wrap up our study of the solar system next week.
Math:
In Other News:
A flyer came home yesterday discussing the Big Gift to the Earth, which will be our class service project this year. It is DOUBLY perfect for our class, because not only does it honor Earth Day next week, but the money raised will go towards buying and conserving land in the rainforest, a topic near and dear to our students’ hearts! That flyer is just a “head’s up” at this point – we will launch that project with the students next week. But hey, feel free to go ahead and start stashing spare change just the same, in advance… ;P
Big thanks to Max’s mom Sheri for being our Mystery Reader this week! Huge thanks as well to Danielle’s mom Cami for volunteering as Academic Helper, and assisting us in preparing and playing our new Jenga sight word game!
Have a great weekend!
(Below, pictures of the kids working on their planets for our bulletin board. Be sure to come by and check it out if you haven't already!!)
It was a busy and fun week in kindergarten!
Literacy:
This week we learned the “Floss” rule more in-depth, having just touched on it briefly in the past…. The “Floss” rule says that any single-syllable word, ending in f/l/s/z, has that final consonant doubled. This is more of a spelling rule than a reading rule, since it doesn’t effect the decoding of the words, so the students took turns spelling out words that follow it on the Promethean board. Then, we played a game in half groups to further reinforce the skill.
We started using the game Jenga to practice sight words, and boy oh boy was that popular! The game is played just as it usually is, except that there is a sight word on each block, and the child reads it (and practices it if needed) after removing it from the tower. Fun times! We only introduced one new sight word this week, to try to give the kids who needed it time to catch up on the old ones… our words now include: And, The, Of, Are, A, They, You, Come, See, Go, Says, Said, What, All, Who, For, Was, Is, Has, To, Have, Where, My, Any, One, Two, Three, Four.
All of the students have been working SO hard on their reading, and we are just blown away by their progress! We have been emphasizing fluency, reading with expression, and comprehension with all of the students, and will continue to grow these skills through the end of the year. Some of the students who were in need of an extra challenge began reading Owl at Home this week, and are using a corresponding Reader’s Notebook to practice comprehension and written response to reading. Fun!
Science:
This week we created and labeled colorful planets to accompany the adorable astronauts on our bulletin board… be sure to stop by and check it out!
A highlight from this week was watching the astronauts on the ISS (International Space Station) make peanut butter sandwiches, wash their hair, and clean up spills…. All mundane tasks made fascinating by lack of gravity! We went back to our original “Know and Wonder” chart about space to check and see what questions we had yet to answer, and realized that the students had been wondering what astronauts do with trash in space. A little research informed us that they actually load it up into the unmanned cargo ships that bring them supplies, and then “throw” the capsules (using the arm of the space station) back towards earth, where they burn up in the atmosphere. The students found this method of trash disposal fascinating!
We also learned various facts about the planet Venus, including that it is QUITE hot (in the range of 800 degrees!!). It is actually hotter than Mercury despite the fact that Mercury is closer to the sun, because Mercury has a very thin atmosphere and Venus has a very thick cloudy one, which holds the heat of the sun trapped (think, open oven vs closed oven). We also learned that there are lightening storms on Venus, and that acid rain comes pouring down! There are also many volcanoes. Not exactly a future vacation spot!
We still have a few more of the students’ questions to answer, as well as facts to learn about the other planets, before we wrap up our study of the solar system next week.
Math:
In Other News:
A flyer came home yesterday discussing the Big Gift to the Earth, which will be our class service project this year. It is DOUBLY perfect for our class, because not only does it honor Earth Day next week, but the money raised will go towards buying and conserving land in the rainforest, a topic near and dear to our students’ hearts! That flyer is just a “head’s up” at this point – we will launch that project with the students next week. But hey, feel free to go ahead and start stashing spare change just the same, in advance… ;P
Big thanks to Max’s mom Sheri for being our Mystery Reader this week! Huge thanks as well to Danielle’s mom Cami for volunteering as Academic Helper, and assisting us in preparing and playing our new Jenga sight word game!
Have a great weekend!
(Below, pictures of the kids working on their planets for our bulletin board. Be sure to come by and check it out if you haven't already!!)