The Wheels On The Bus....

 

We listened to a book today called, Pete the Cat-The Wheels on the Bus. The class LOVED hearing this story and doing the motions that went along with each page as it was read out loud to them! When we were done hearing the story, we talked about how the book was different from the song "The Wheels On The Bus" that we all know from pre-school. They did a great job pointing out the differences along with some things that were the same too. Next we made a bus project to go along with it that was a "listen-and-do" activity. It is a project where I give them cut out pieces of construction paper and they listen to my step-by-step directions on how to put it together. I LOVE doing these projects with my kinders because it's fun to see how they all turn out with given the same directions. It is also fun to ask them questions as we make it to see their thought process. They all did AMAZING! They couldn't wait to bring them home today to show you. Here are some pictures of my kinder friends making their school buses today:

In math today, we have been learning how to make number pairs up to 10. Such as: 2 and 8 make 10, 6 and 4 make 10, 9 and 1 make 10, etc. We talked about how there are many different ways we can make up a total number with adding two smaller numbers together. They LOVED learning this math and picked it up quickly! It was definitely a good challenge for all of them and at the end of the lesson, I heard a few friends say, " Mrs. Naughten that was fun!" So cute!

In literacy we have been learning many different concepts that "good readers" do and have had a lot of really good discussions about the read alouds that I have read to them. We have also been working hard on handwriting where we are learning the correct motion in writing upper and lowercase letters of specific letters. My kinders love the part of the lesson where we get to practice writing the newly learned letter on whiteboard with our "new" dry erase markers that have erasers attached at the end. I am so impressed with how well they are learning to write both types of the letters on the lines. Way to go, K-1! 

We have also learned the stories that go along with our adorable Alphfriends where we learn the letter's motion and sound too. They are doing a great job learning the sounds and beginning to apply them when reading words on their own. With each lesson, we work on blending the letters we have learned so far in reading words that contain those sounds. They are beginning to read and write on their own and it's so EXCITING! 

We have been busy owls in K-1 and I am having so much fun learning about my kinder friends each and every day! I am so proud of the growth they are all making and the bond we all have with one another! I have a great class of kiddos who are so kind, helpful and come to school each day to do their very best! Way to go, K-1! Have a wonderful weekend!

Fun in Kindergarten

We have been having so much fun in kindergarten and learning oodles and OODLES!!! WOW! I am very impressed with how well my friends have learned the routine, the amount they have grown with doing things independently and how much they have learned just in 19 days of school. Here are some things we have been doing this week:

In literacy, we have learned the letters and sounds for a few more letters. We learned the HMH motion/sound and how to write the letter the proper way for the letters M, N, and D. We have learned how to write the uppercase letter and the lowercase letter for each one. They have done a fantastic job learning all about the letters and sounds and have begun blending them together to read. It's so fun when we are blending and they read the word out loud realizing they have read it on their own. It so exciting! With each new learned letter sound, they are able to read more and more words! So far we have learned the letters/sounds and how to properly write the letters on the lines for the letters S, A, T, I, M, N, and D. Thank you for all you are doing at home to practice the newly learned sound in their phonics sound book along with reviewing the letters with your child! We are also learning about how illustrations match pictures when we read and how when we come to a word we don't know, we can use picture clues to help us read them. We practiced these skills with a read aloud and a few activities in our literacy workbooks. They have done a great job learning these concepts and I have been impressed when they have the opportunity to show me what they learned!

In math, we finished learning all about the numbers 0-10. They know how to write them correctly from top to bottom, understand the quantity, can show me what each one looks like on a ten frame and they can correctly show me that amount if I ask them to show me with cubes, counters, etc. Today we learned about order numbers to 10. It's where you can start counting from 3 and keep counting up to 10 or I can have the numbers 1-5 written down with one missing and they can tell me the number that is missing from the order. I was impressed with how well they did with the lesson and how well they did writing in the missing numbers in their math workbooks. They LOVE math and it's fun to see how much they are learning in such a short time!

In the afternoon, we have had social studies where we have talked about "How to make friends." We have had a lot of great discussions on this topic and we have done a few interactive lessons so that they have gotten to understand the concept and practice what we learned. We have talked about when making friends they need to:

- introduce themselves in a polite, kind way

-ask friends to play in a kind way

-share with friends and what that means

-and how to be kind!

With these social studies lessons, it's been fun to see my kinders taking what they learned and implementing it all throughout the school day! We have such a great group of kiddos in this class and they ALL enjoy playing with everyone! They interact with everyone throughout the day and they do with such kindness, respect, and a caring manner! 

Other than all this fabulous learning, we have also had so much fun with our "purposeful play" in the afternoon. This week, there was a lot of building with various toys and lot of kiddos playing "school." I have many kiddos who like to be the teacher and hey, I may be loosing my job soon! They are quite good at being teachers and I have been asked to be their student during our playtime. It has been so much fun! It' so cute to see them mimicking me in their play. It's been such a fun week!

Already Friday-----Wow! Time flies when you are having fun in kindergarten!

 Wow! How is it Friday already! This week flew by! It was a fun week and I am amazed with how much my kinder friends are learning! Today we got to celebrate Kyle's 6th birthday with him and it was so much fun! This week we had three friends who had a birthday. So fun!

In literacy and phonics, we learned another few sounds and have added them to our letter name/sound library. With each new sound, they are beginning to blend them together to read more and more words. It is so much fun to see! We have also been reading a few stories where we have been making the connection letters make up words and words make up sentences. Words have meaning! We have also talked about how when we read stories, we can connect them with our own lives. It was fun reading a story with the class the other day about school and how they were connecting what the kids were doing at their school that was like their experience at Olive or not like it. We also have dove a little into opinion writing as well where we are just drawing pictures right now to express their ideas.

In math, we have continued learning about the numbers through 10 focusing on 7,8,9, and 10 this week. We learned how to form the numbers correctly from top to bottom and we also talked about the quantity of both. We practiced showing those specified amounts on a ten frame. They are doing great understanding these numbers and how to write them the right way! 

We also started social studies this week where the focus of the lessons was on how to get along with others. We talked about what it should look like when someone is talking and how to be a "good listener." We also discussed what our body should look like when we are really listening to someone that is talking. We also discussed the importance on not shouting out and raising our hand when we want to share so we don't interrupt someone that is talking. We want to be sure we are giving the speaker our full attention so we hear all they have to say in it's entirety. We also discussed turn taking too and the importance of that sill in our interactions with other people. To practice these skills we learned, we played a game of "telephone" as a class. We sat in a circle on the edge of the rug and we had one person start off by saying something in someone's ear and it got passed around the circle in each other's ears until we got to the last person. When we got to the end, did the message get passed correctly where each person heard what the first person had said or did the telephone message get broken as we went around the circle? They did great playing this FUN game and we played a few rounds because they loved every second of the game. They are really good listeners!!! When we finished, we did an activity where I asked them to draw a picture of themselves and a friend and what it would look like if they were being a good listener. It was so much fun discussing these important skills in social studies this week! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!