As we are at the end of the first trimester of kindergarten, I just wanted to share how proud I am of each and every student! I am so amazed with the growth I have seen these past few months, and I am even more excited to see what is to come throughout the next trimester!
I look forward to meeting with each of you during our conferences to celebrate your child's success! Please remember that our conferences will be in the conference room, not our classroom.
Please read on to see what we have been up to in the classroom!
Reading Workshop
We are currently learning about fiction books during our reading workshop unit. After listening to the book, Could Be Worse, the students were able to sort the characters, setting, events, and objects into the categories of realistic or fantasy.
We then read the book, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, by James Marshall. The students loved this funny version of the story. I was so impressed with their retelling skills as they were able to identify the characters and setting of the story. With some help, they did a nice job of being able to describe the important events in the story as well!
A favorite part of our reading workshop time is the independent reading time! Students love shopping in the classroom library for books to fill their individual book bins. I am so proud of their increasing stamina when reading and they are continuing to remember the three different ways to read a book.
Writing Workshop
The kindergarteners are doing such a great job with their Jolly Phonics sounds. Thank you for all your support at home with their notebooks! As we have now introduced and practiced the majority of our sounds, the students are working hard to apply those sounds in their writing. Each time during writing workshop, the students think of an idea, draw a picture of that idea, label the important parts of the picture, and then try to write a sentence. During this time, students are encouraged to stretch out their words by saying them slowly to hear the beginning, middle, and ending sounds so they can write the sounds that they hear. I am excited to share some writing samples with you during our conference!
Math
We have been working hard on Chapter 3 in our math program. This chapter gave students an introduction to measurement and focused on ordering objects by size, length, and weight. It was so exciting to hear the students begin to use our math vocabulary when explaining their reasoning. We learned and explored the following words: bigger, smaller, taller, shorter, heavier, and lighter, while also reviewing the words same and different.
The students loved using a variety of math manipulatives to demonstrate their understanding of these words!
Centers
Center time continues to be a class favorite! Our most recent rotation of centers allowed students to listen to The Runaway Pumpkin on the computer, build towers to match the numbers on a number line, use Legos to make the letters of the alphabet, use dice to "Roll a Sight Word", and use unifix cubes to match the pattern shown on a card.
Veterans Day
We were so lucky to be able to honor local veterans last Friday! From a special breakfast to an amazing assembly with videos, poems, and songs, we hope these veterans know how thankful we are for their service!
Art Appreciation
We are so thankful for Mrs. Pellum who generously volunteers her time to come in once a month to share art with us! The students love the discussions about the art pieces, but especially enjoy the fun and engaging art projects they get to create!
All About Me Bags
We love learning about our classmates each Monday morning! The sounds of "ME TOO!" as a student shares shows how many similarities the students have with one another!
Recently, we learned that Dasha has a favorite stuffed animal, loves to make art projects, and has a special necklace!
We learned that Nikola likes to make art projects, enjoys building with Legos, and his favorite animals are snakes and crocodiles.
We learned that Steven loves his family and his teddy bear, loves building with Legos, and likes playing with cars.
Halloween
Just in case you missed seeing some of the Halloween pictures on Twitter (@mrsheathercoyle), here is a short slideshow with a few of the highlights of that fun day! A very special thank you to all of our parent volunteers that day: Mrs. Sluder, Mrs. Brancato, Mrs. Kubow, Mrs. Manglaris, Mr. Pellum, and Mrs. Stuckey.
