Weekday Round-Up

Where has January went? Is it just me or did it seem to fly right by? I can’t believe we will be getting geared up for Valentine’s Day themed activities this week!

Last week the kiddies were really interested in letter and sight word practice, so we focused lots on this. 

We also made self portraits. It was neat to compare them to September drawings. We will do another one in June. I am keeping them for their scrapbook. 

Our numeracy focus was still tally marks. We also linked our snow inquiry to math and made snowflakes out of pattern block shapes. All snowflake creations had six sides but all were different... just like real snowflakes! We are also beginning to work with bigger numbers. We all are able to recognize and make numbers to 10. We are now working lots with 10-20. 

We had some milder days which was amazing for outdoor learning and play. 

I look forward to the week ahead! A reminder that Friday is a PA day. 

Our letter focus this week is Oo. 

Weekday Round-up

This week was busy! 

Lots of team work took place while exploring new games, puzzles and centres that I brought into the classroom! 

Students are really learning how to collaborate effectively by sharing, taking turns and playing fair.

Our math focus this week was on tally marks. Tallies are groups of five. They help us count quicker. A fun way to practice tallies at home is to roll dice, say the number you see and then show the number in tally marks!

We continued with lots of writing this week. Journal writing, documenting our learning about snow and writing sentences using word wall words are just some of the things that we did. Year two students have been reading one on one with me and practicing sight words through fun games. Year ones continue to practice letters and sounds and matching upper to lower case letters.

Our letter this week is Gg.

Word Wall Words

I am posting the words that are in on our word wall so far (based on the PAT letters we’ve done). These are high frequency / sight words. Year two kiddies would especially benefit from regular practice of these. 

Printing them on flash cards, writing them on post it notes and posting them around the house for your child to find, writing them down with fun pens and markers, playing matching type games etc. are all fun ways to practice these words!

I can’t stress enough to keep things fun! Right now it’s all about motivation to learn. Let’s keep their love for learning going strong :)

She

So

Sit

Sat

Some

A

At

Am

And

All

As

About

The 

That

They

To

This

There 

Them

Then

It

Is

In 

I

If

Part

No

Not

Now

Can 

Could 

Come

Called

Each

Had

Her

His

He

Have

How

Run

May

My

Me

Made

More

Make

Many

Do

Did

Day

Weekday Round Up

We had a productive first week back! 

Early in the week we enjoyed lots of outdoor play! While outdoors students are putting their gross motor skills to work by running, jumping, lifting and more. They are problem solving and collaborating with others as they build snow structures. 

We talk math and literacy authentically while outside too. Our newest inquiry on snow has started as a result of all our outdoor play! 

Here is a nice short article about supporting outdoor learning in kindergarten! 

http://en.beststart.org/sites/en.beststart.org/files/u4/B2_Intro_to_Outdoor_Play_and_Learning.pdf

Indoor learning consisted of journaling about our favourite gifts as well as what we did over the Christmas break. We began some new winter themed centres and played some math games on the iPad.

We have begun learning some new math concepts. A big focus has been on comparing numbers and quantities using words like more, less and the same. We have been introduced to tally marks and how they help us count more efficiently. 

We created snowmen using our names to help us with this learning. 

Finally, we have focused lots on the question words “who, what, where, when, why and how” to help us create our inquiry questions about snow. Inquiry investigations will be a big focus for the remainder of the year. 

The letter this week is Dd. Please remember to send your child to school with their PAT item. They look forward to sharing and benefit greatly from this experience.

I am going to send a list of sight words that we have been working on in a separate post this weekend. My year two kiddies would especially benefit from regular practice of them.

Year one students should regularly practice the letters and sounds we have done so far. Matching capitals and lowercase is a great activity too. Remember..keep it fun! 

Stay warm everyone and enjoy the weekend! 

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year! 

We had a wonderful (yet busy) first day back! 

We started off by sharing our Christmas break highlights. During activity time some kiddies journaled about their favourite gift. Others played number bingo, playdough, roll a snowman (math and following directions game), building blocks and LEGO. It was an active room!

Later in the morning we talked about The Epiphany. This is the day (January 6) that the three wise men arrived to baby Jesus with the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. I read from the Children’s Bible. I was amazed by how engaged the students were and interested in this story. We followed up in the afternoon with some meditation colouring of a picture of baby Jesus and the wise men.

Our afternoon also consisted of snowy outdoor play! The kids had so much fun. I’m so glad that temperatures are being kinder to us!

It was an awesome first day! I look forward to all the fun and learning ahead in 2018!