Miss Vickers' Kindergarten Class
Kindness Week
This week at IES is Kindness Week. Today, we talked about what kinds of things we can do and say that are kind. We read the book Chrysanthemum and talked about what types of things they did in the story that were unkind. Whenever something unkind happened, we wrinkled and smashed Chrysanthemum's heart. When the story was over, we each took turns writing a kind word or phrase on a band-aid and trying and straighten out the heart. In the end, we realized that even though we tried and tried all of the kind words could not make all the unkind words go away.
*Kindness Week updates
-IES is collecting coins for Kindness this week. The class with the most raised will get a visit from a Therapy dog.
-This week in class, I am giving out "I was caught being kind" necklaces to children who I see doing kind deeds. If your child comes home with one, they are allowed to wear it to school the rest of the week.
Susie helping fix Chrysanthemum's heart by putting on her kind-word band-aid.
Kennedy holding our completed heart.
Our In-School Field Trip
At Irmo, we are lucky enough to have such an AMAZING cafeteria staff that provides us with such yummy lunches every day. Mrs. Burton, our School Nutritional Specialist, invited us to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the cafeteria to learn more about how they make the food we eat. We learned how they clean all of the dishes, what it takes to feed an entire school, the difference between the cooler and the freezer, and all about how the food is delivered, stored, and prepared. We even got to try the slushies at the end! It was such a neat learning experience that the kids loved!
It was neat to see the lunch line from the other side!
We got to see the dishes go through the huge dishwasher and learn about conveyor belts!
We saw where they kept all of the food that they feed us everyday!
Math Updates
This week in math, we are finishing adding objects to get to 10. We have been practicing using unifix cubes, 2 color counters, and making our own manipulatives to add to 10. Later this week, we will start subtraction!
Writer's Workshop
Our Superhero Writers have been hard and work writing their true stories! We have been studying vowel sounds and making sure that every word has a vowel in them. We are spending lots of time making sure our writers are not trying to "remember" their stories, but making sure their words match the words that they write.
Instructional vs. Independent Reading level
On the report card that was sent home Friday, you may have noticed that the child's instructional reading level was listed. There was a sheet that went home explaining the difference between instructional and independent reading level, but it still may be confusing. I am teaching the child at their instructional level, or the level we want them to get to. Their independent level is one level below their instructional level and that is the level that they are reading fluently and comprehending on their own without guidance. If you still have questions about this, please do not hesitate to let me know, I am happy to explain it in further detail!
Penguin Study
Last week and continuing this week, we are studying penguins! We began by creating our Penguin Schema (everything we already know about Penguins). We made penguins, observed penguins in their natural habitat, read about penguins, and wrote about penguins. Ask your children what they have already learned about penguins, they should have a ton to tell you!