Kindergarten
April 15th
Reading
Icky is the Supernoodle, and as we know he loves to pretend he is on TV. He decided that it would be fun to have the Superkids put on a play or skit. The title of the play is The Glum Princess. We spent some time discussing what a play is and how to read a play. So far, we have only read Act 1, but we are looking forward to the rest of the play! When we finish reading the play as a class, we will each get a role in the play and possibly even perform it for our 6th Grade Buddies! In addition to learning about plays, we also learned some new spelling patterns. For example, we learned that the letter q is almost always followed by the letter u and if there is a /k/ sound in a word that follows a short vowel sound it will be spelled with 'ck' instead of a 'c' or a 'k' alone. Another focus we had this week was reading with voice and fluency. We discussed the difference between questions and telling sentences and how to know what type of punctuation to use at the end. I am looking forward to seeing the students act out the play at the end of next week!
Math
Our addition and subtraction skills are continuing to grow! We spent some time using resources to develop our fact fluency within 5 and 10. A bracelet with 10 beads (5 white and 5 red) was introduced to allow students to physically move the beads into two groups and quickly use their subitizing skills to find the two numbers that make 10. Then, we used the worksheet below to quickly find all the facts that equal 10. We practiced the same concept with the use of a ten frame as well. Students are gaining more and more confidence in their math skills due to their fluency. When answering the question of the day we always add the groups (these numbers are frequently two digit numbers). I have been so impressed by the number of students that find various ways to add the numbers. For example, this week we needed to add 13 + 4 + 3. A few students noticed very quickly that 4+3=7 and that 13+7 is really one group of 10 and 3+7 ones. They quickly added the ones and realized they now had two groups of ten which of course is 20. These are the types of number sense skills that are so difficult to achieve, but we are well on our way in kindergarten!
Writing
We have finally :) moved on from informational writing to opinion/persuasive writing. Our first task was to follow Lily's lead and create a make-believe planet. Then, we needed to create a 'travel guide' telling the reader about our planet and why they should want to come to visit it. The excitement and creativity was infectious! We had stories about Zig Zag Planet, Color Plant, Planet Treehouse, Art Planet, Minecraft Planet, Flowerland, FlyLand.... It was incredible. Our next projects will revolve around Earth Day and persuading other to help the Earth in various ways as well as telling the Glum Princess what pet she should pick and why. I have found we are a very convincing group of kindergarteners!
Standards Based Report Cards
Report Cards were sent home in the Friday Folder today! Each area on the report card states a skill/standard that the students are expected to achieve by the end of kindergarten. We give an indicator or grade that shows your child's current level of ability when progressing toward the standard. We do not expect students to receive MTG (meeting) until the end of kindergarten. If students demonstrate that they have met the standard prior to the end of the year they will begin working toward a higher level standard. (Sometimes a 1st grade standard.) In the third quarter, students will receive a variety of scores from BEG (beginning), DEV (developing), or MTG (meeting). If your child is meeting, we are working toward meeting the corresponding first grade standard. Please understand that in order to achieve a score of EXT (extending) I would expect the students to meet the first grade standard in its entirety.
Woodridge District 68 Mission Statement
In partnership with family and community, Woodridge School District 68 will provide a comprehensive educational foundation for all children in a safe, caring environment, preparing them to be productive, responsible, and successful members of society.