Week 4

* Send in baby pictures and scrapbook pages!

* You received a Trash to Cash bag a couple of weeks ago, to collect Box Tops and other items for our school.  These are due October 1st.  Send them in anytime!  There will also be a few other collection dates throughout the year.

* I am looking for a volunteer or two to come in any day - except Wednesday - next week (Sept 30 - Oct 4) and help our class with a reading project on the iPad.  You would work one-on-one with a student doing some echo reading and recording it with an app called ShowMe.  I will train you in using the app.  Please email, call, write a note, or click on the VolunteerSpot button here on the blog if you are interested in this special opportunity!

Spirit Week

Monday- Pajama Day

Same pajamas!

 Wednesday - College Logo/Jersey Day and 

Wellness Wednesday

 Friday - Irish Spirit Day

Reading

We continued to practice Read to Self.  Our stamina increased A LOT this week, and we got to have another dance party when we reached our goal of 5 minutes.  In fact, we exceeded that goal by quite a bit - eventually reading quietly as a class for a full 9 minutes.  Wow!

Our Stamina Graph

Our reading series has three-week-long units.  On every third week, we do a Reader's Theater - meaning the students get to read out loud and "act" out the book together.

We read With My Family many times this week.  Ask your child about getting colored marker on his/her hand, and what it meant!  This picture collage might help your child remember:

We had the privilege of a sibling (and friend) coming in to read to us this week.  Thanks 5th graders!

We have also been working on reading by searching for letters and words in our Welcome Message.  Here we searched for "a's" and found 8 of them.

Math

Counting and sorting continue to be the skills we are focusing on.  We often use centers to practice math, and students repeat some of the same centers from day to day.  Their math skills increase as they practice.  Some new centers introduced this week:

iPads!!!!  We are using an app called Splash Math Kindergarten.  Each student has his/her own account (identified by first name only, and tied to my teacher account).  This app was created using the Common Core Math Standards and teaches/tests the very same concepts as our math curriculum.  It also emails me about each student's progress!  Click here to learn more about this app.

 Attribute Block Sort.  We practiced together on the Smart Board first.  Students sorted the blocks by color, shape, and thickness.

It's been a great week!

School Shoes

Our class recently read this delightful book, Pete the Cat Rocking in my School Shoes by Eric Litwin.  Pete has some fears about school, but he learns that Goodness No - he doesn't need to worry!

Click here to enjoy the video with your child:

Rocking in my School Shoes

Technology Class

Going to the Computer Lab to see Miss Casebolt is one of THE MOST anxiously awaited parts of our Kindergarten week.  The students love it.

Last week we got to use the computers for the first time. We watched a video about how to be safe on the internet.  We also practiced using the left button of the mouse for clicking, double clicking, and clicking-and-dragging.  The students used a program called Smart Notebook.

We go to Technology Class every Friday.

* Irish Spirit Day is tomorrow - wear green and black!

* Please remember to send a baby picture (age 0-1) to school as soon as possible.  We would like to start creating our class book.  

*Please send your child's scrapbook page to school if you haven't already.  We need just a few more to make the book complete.

Library

Last week we checked out our first library books!

Kindergarten students are allowed to check out one book per week.  Your child may keep the book from Thursday (our library check-out day) to Wednesday of the following week.  Please be sure to send the book back by Wednesday so your child will be allowed to check out a book on Thursday.

* Tomorrow is College Logo/Jersey Day

* Remember to return library books tomorrow if you haven't already!

Bus Safety

Many of our students ride the bus every day (and all students eventually will for field trips), so our study of Bus Safety was important.

We watched a Bus Safety video and discussed things like:

* Staying a safe distance away from the bus

* Not going into the "Danger Zone" even to pick up important things

* Keeping hands and head inside the bus

*Staying seated

*Emergency Procedures

We saw a delightful puppet show.  View a video clip here:

Bus Safety Clip from Patchwork Pals on Vimeo.

You probably saw this fun Bus Safety coloring book come home with your child.  Use it to review what we learned!

Week 3

It's hard to believe three weeks have passed already in our Kindergarten year!  The students are really settling in and beginning to get into a routine.  Our typical daily schedule looks like this:

Welcome Meeting

After finishing Welcome Work at the tables, we meet together at the large rug.  The students help me read the Welcome Message.  We use this time to closely examine a written text - this message - and notice things such as words, sentences, and punctuation.

Math

We have been focusing on counting.  This is fun and easy to practice with your child at home.  Counting to 20 is a good goal to begin with, and counting to 100 (by ones, twos, fives, and tens) is a goal to work toward as the year continues.

Our "counting box" has a different number of blocks in it each day.

The students take other items and make a set with the same number as our counting box.

They also practice this concept at an independent learning station where they count the blocks in a "counting box", then make a set of buttons with the same number.

Another way to practice counting is with number cubes.  Students roll the number cube and color the section of the paper that matches.  This is a fun and independent station during math.

Sorting objects is a Kindergarten math skill and helps students to practice noticing details, similarities, and differences.  This station is for sorting buttons.

Reading

Students continued to practice Read to Self.  Our longest stamina this week was 3 minutes.  This was our very first stamina goal, and we were thrilled to achieve it!  To celebrate, we had a dance party with this song (click here to listen):

Hamster Dance

 Our Read to Self Stamina Graph

Self Directed Learning

Do we still play?  Yes.  Yes, definitely.  Imagination and exploration are such an important part of your child's learning.  We make sure to take time for play near the end of our days.  

* Next week is Spirit Week.  

Monday - Pajama Day

Wednesday - College Logo/Jersey Day

(this is also "Wellness Wednesday" when we wear workout clothes to school . . . wear workout pants and a jersey!!)

Friday - Irish Spirit Day (wear green and black)

* Volunteers are needed for all upcoming Wednesdays.  Please click on the link here on the blog to sign up!