Guest Readers

Last week we had some guest readers visit our classroom.  Thank you to Aly's mom, Kris, for reading Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit! to our class.

We also enjoyed hearing 5th graders Deja and Megan read Diary of a Spider.  There was a lot to learn about spiders from that book! 

Parents and students from other classes are welcome to come read to our class anytime - just let me know!  We usually do our read aloud at 2:05 each day, while the students enjoy their snack.

Global Read Aloud - Book 4

We were able to make two very special connections last week with the book Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Eric Carle.

We listened to this book over Skype.  Our Skype connection was with Mack's mom, Christina.  It was so much fun sharing this interactive book with one of our parents from home!  Thank you Christina!

The kids were very curious to know whose parent would appear on the screen.  They listened intently and enjoyed making predictions before each turn of the page.

Mack stepped up to the camera to say goodbye!

Our second connection was a couple of days later.  We Skyped with Mrs. Modisette's Kindergarten class in Mont Belvieu, TX.  The students were surprised to see that some kids in Texas were wearing shorts!  They reported 80 degrees and sunny there.  Some of our students showed them our winter coats and hats, which we have been wearing outside.  The students in Texas were surprised as well.  Our eyes are being opened to the idea that the weather isn't the same everywhere on the map!

Our students shared ideas about how the mouse in Do You Want to Be My Friend? could play with some of the other animals in the book.  Mrs. Modisette's students shared which animal they would like to play with, and why.

Weeks 7 and 8

* Remember to send in your part of our Fall Party treat.  A list was sent home in your child's Wednesday Envelope with one circled item for you to contribute.

* Saturday, Oct 26th, is the 38th Annual Halloween Carnival in the  Maple Lake Elementary cafeteria/gym from 3-5 pm.  There is a costume contest for kids and adults.  There will be food for sale and fun games like Bingo.  Great prizes!

* Volunteers are needed for the upcoming week!  We plan to structure math working in small groups this week, and I need parents to help!  This is a great opportunity to interact with your child in the classroom.  

Details: 

Monday Oct. 28 

Wednesday Oct. 30 

Friday Nov. 1

For sure from 12:40 - 1:10 on these three days to work with a small group of students during math, and if you want to come earlier/stay longer, I have many other items we need help with.

Thursday Oct. 31 all afternoon 12:15 - 3:00 for our Fall Party.  We have two parent volunteers so far and could use more!

Please email, write a note in your child's Family Notebook, or use VolunteerSpot to sign up by clicking here: http://vols.pt/KY7BZB 

We continue to grow and build our Daily 5 stamina.  Students have mastered Read to Self and Work on Writing.  This week we started a third component called Word Work.  Students use Word Work time to build and explore letters and words.  Take a look at some ways we have done this:

Copying a word card by forming the word in play-doh

Forming capital and lowercase letters with play-doh

Letter magnet books - forming words

Building our friends' names with magnet letters

"Rainbow Writing" - copying a word card by making each letter a different color

This week we have been going beyond counting, to comparing.  We started with cubes and counted out ten.  We built a tower with the cubes, and used that tower to compare "ten" to other quantities, noting if another object or tower was "shorter" or "longer" than the tower of ten.  We also did an activity where students got in pairs, each grabbed a handful of blocks, and compared the "towers" made with their blocks to see which was longer.

We practiced measuring these lines together as a class.

Coloring towers to compare

Students have also been working with ten-frames, which look like this:

They start out empty, and can be filled with a number of dots up to ten.  These are a great way for students to start seeing how each number relates to the number ten.  (i.e. 5 fills half the space, 8 is only two less than 10)

In our math activity, students drew a number card and placed that number of shapes on the ten-frame.

We also did Inventory Bags.  Students worked in pairs, taking turns counting objects in a bag.  They drew pictures and used numbers to show how many objects were inside the bag.  They compared their answers to be sure they counted correctly.

Handwriting practice has been another way we have explored the letters.  We have made our way through the alphabet to the letter M so far.  

We thought we were just counting . . .

We have been doing a lot of counting this year.  Nothing was out of the ordinary when students were asked to do another "Grab and Count".  The only difference was that, this time, I asked them to draw their objects and their number inside a circle, on a page that looked like this:

I did let them know that, when they were finished, we would use the iPads to make their math even more exciting.

This was the students' first experiment with Augmented Reality.  I have other exciting plans for using AR later in the year, and this was a fun first experience for them.  Watch their math take on three dimensions and hear their giggles of delight!

                   
                            ColAR App in Kindergarten Math from Patchwork Pals on Vimeo.

The app we used, ColAR Mix, is a free app for use with a mobile device such as an iPad.  A few coloring sheets are available for free (your child simply colors them, and then hovers the iPad over the paper and the magic happens).  There are more coloring sheets available for those who purchase the full version of the app.  

Global Read Aloud - Book 3

Take a look at this map - it shows all of the connections we have made so far during the Global Read Aloud!  From Texas to Kentucky, New Hampshire to right here in Minnesota, we are taking our learning around the world.

Last week, we read The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle.  This book is about a chameleon who wants to be just like other animals - to have their special talents and to look like them.  But by the end of the book, he realizes that he is special the way he is, and he likes to be himself.

After reading the book, we used technology to connect with Mrs. Tongen's Kindergarteners just down the hall!  We went online at the same time and used Padlet.com to share ideas about what makes each of us special.  Then, Mrs. Tongen's kids came down to visit our room so we could see them face to face.  It was a great way to remember that our digital friends are real people that we can see, talk to, and even hug!

Here is our Padlet - click below to view the actual Padlet website with all of our ideas.

To view the Padlet online, click here.

Sight Words

You student has many steps on his/her way to becoming a reader.  The basic building blocks are letters and letter sounds.  One great (and fun) way to practice these at home is to check out Alphabet books from the library, and read them together.  The key to this practice is including the letter sounds in your reading.  

This is what your reading might sound like! 

listen to ‘Reading with Letter Sounds’ on Audioboo

 This is a great way to help your child to hear those sounds and remember what each letter says.

After letters and sounds are well-known, the next step is sight words.  These are commonly used words that are not sounded out, they are memorized.  We have learned a few already, and students are spotting them everywhere!

As you read to your child each night, see if he/she can spot any of our "secret words" in the books you are reading!  Words we have learned include a, the, and, is, to, on & I.

Let's Connect Over Break!

Hey Kindergarten Patchwork Pals!  This post is for you!

I want to invite you, the Kindergarteners, to a new Padlet Wall I set up.  It's just like when we typed to the kids in Kentucky, and to the kids in Mrs. Tongen's class.  This time, we can use it to keep in touch when we miss each other over Fall Break.  

Please click here to come visit the wall and leave us a message!  Tell us what fun things you have been doing.  (Remember that everyone will be able to see what you type.  We can't wait!)

http://padlet.com/wall/fallbreak2013

Global Read Aloud - Book 2

* Book orders are due tomorrow, Tuesday, October 15th.  You can order by sending back the form from last week's Wednesday Envelope or by clicking our online book order button here on the blog.

Last week we read the book Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carle.  

We used Skype to connect with Mrs. Modisette's Kindergarten class in Mont Belvieu, Texas.  It was fun to introduce ourselves, talk about our favorite restaurants, and show them our art.  The students in our class created cat masks with the word "is" (one of our sight words) on it:

Each student got to go in front of the Skype camera and recite the repeating line from the book: "This is not my cat!"

We also connected with Mrs. Reverman's Kindergarten class in Kentucky.  Both classes were able to open a common webpage, called Padlet.  Each student contributed ideas, responding to a question about last week's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  On Padlet, we could see ideas that the other class typed in, and read what they had to say!  Take a look at our Padlet page!

Reward School

Maple Lake Elementary is proud to announce that we are a Reward School for the second year in a row!  We earned this by being ranked in the top performing 15% of Minnesota schools.  What an honor!