KINDERGARTEN HAPPENINGS
Oh the Growth We Have Made!
ELA (English Language Arts)
In reading, Students sorted books into two categories: fiction (literary text) and informational text (non-fiction). We discovered literary text (fiction) is not real and informational text has real information and facts. Students are digging deeper into learning about the elements of fiction text. We began by connecting the elements to their personal narratives in their writing journals to the elements of a fiction story. The who would be the characters, the where is the setting (where the characters are) and the what are the events. Students worked with partners reading the pictures of many fiction stories discussing the characters, settings and events of the story. When reading, students continue to get their eagle eyes ready (look at the picture) and fish lips (make the beginning sound of the word) to help figure out unknown words. We are also using the "chunky monkey" strategy. This is when students find smaller chunks in words to decode a word. We have been practicing this strategy by finding snap words (i.e. it, at, on, in) in words as well as -ing. Any time we are using any of these strategies we should be thinking WHAT WOULD MAKE SENSE? Students continue to increase their sight word (a.k.a. snap word) vocabulary through activities like Roll, Read and Write, Snap Tap and Snap Word Graphing. You can support your child by reading to him or her. Ask your child if the book is fiction or informational text. If it is fiction discuss the characters, setting and events. If it is informational text discuss the main topic and details about the main topic. If your child is reading a book to you, encourage your child to look at the picture and get his/her mouth ready and think WHAT WOULD MAKE SENSE?
During Writers' Workshop, students have made an incredible amount of growth. We have moved from sharing our topics by telling where they were, who they were with and one event that happened and then illustrating and labeling/writing about their stories in their journals to filling out a planner with "quick draws". They do quick draws of the who, where, THREE events and an ending and then writing a sentence for each to complete a full story. When students are working on the writing portion of their stories there are many things to focus on. Many students first build their sentence with cubes (one cube for one word). Then they work on hearing multiple sounds in each word and remembering to space between words. At the end of each sentence, he/she must decide what kind of punctuation to use. It may seem easy to us but a lot of work and energy goes into each and every word!
We are currently learning about short and long vowel sounds and how to "tap out" the individuals sounds we HEAR in words to help us read and spell. For example, fin= f-i-n, stop= s-t-o-p. When spelling we write the sounds we HEAR- i.e. gems= j-e-m-s, laugh= l-a-f.
Math
Room 23 is full of true MATHEMATICIANS!!!
In math we worked on teen numbers. Not only numeral recognition but what a teen number is when it is decomposed (i.e. 18=10 plus 8 extra ones). Be sure to ask your child the catchy tune about numbers in the teens…. The artist is Harry Kindergarten and the song is called Numbers in the Teens Start with a One. You can find it on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W5aYi3lkho
Our little mathematicians' vocabularies continue to expand. We are currently exploring the world of measurement. Mathematicians are learning about tools we use to measure (tape measure, rulers, yard sticks, scales, thermometers...), measurable attributes (height, length, weight...), and comparison words (taller than, shorter than, heavier than...). You can encourage your child to measure all sorts of things around the house!!! We are expanding with words like sorting, number, numeral, digit, greater than/more than, less than/fewer than, equal to, and the list goes on.
We recently celebrated the 100th day of kindergarten!!!! We celebrated by making necklaces with 100 beads, making a snack with 100 pieces of food, putting 100 hearts in order and making a building structure with 100 blocks.
Now that I have become comfortable with my new surface tablet I have finally uploaded pictures of the Cranberry Bog field trip, the Harvest celebration, evergreens and the 100th day! Please go to our site and check them out! http://johnlymankindergarten.weebly.com/
Kerry Chernovetz
John Lyman School
Email: kchernovetz@rsd13.org
Website: johnlymankindergarten.weebly.com
Location: 106 Way Road, Middlefield, CT, United States
Phone: 860-349-7240