What a week in K-1!

We have had a fantastic week in K-1! In math, we have been learning how to compose and decompose numbers within 10. We have learned that different combinations that make up a certain number such as 8 can be made of: 1 and 7, 2 and 6, 3 and 5, 4 and 4, 8 and 0. They are doing great learning this new math concept and showing me what they learned in their math workbooks!

In structured literacy, we have been learning more letters and sounds and have begun blending them together to read new words. I LOVE hearing them read words all on their own and seeing the pride in their faces as they realized they are readers now! It is so exciting! I am thrilled with the progress they are making learning their "new" heart words too. We practice them daily here at school and I love hearing them read with confidence as I flip through all the words. Please continue practicing the heart words and letter names/sounds with your child each day! It helps to build automaticity which in turn helps them becoming strong, fluent readers. During this part of our day too we have been working on rhyming, syllables, and writing too. They are learning how to write the uppercase and lowercase letters on the lines the correct way from top to bottom. They are doing a wonderful job!

In our literacy block in the afternoon we have been learning a lot in HMH about nouns, verbs, adjectives. We did a little noun/verb sort this week and I was so impressed with how well they did sorting them in the right column. They definitely know what a noun and a verb is! Great job, K-1! We have also been reading some informational text books and talking about what features those specific books have. They love reading them! They like seeing all the real pictures and learning about things in the world! I LOVE the connections my kindergarten friends are making with the things we are reading in class! We have also continued to learn about the features of a book and what a good reader does while reading a book. They have been learning so much in our reading block in the afternoon and I am so proud of them!

Today is Johnny Appleseeds birthday so I took some time to teach my kindergarten friends about Johnny Appleseed and we did a little project to go with it. They made themselves as Johnny Appleseed and they got to choose what color apple they wanted to put on their project. To make the apple, they put glue on the image and they tore the color construction paper that matched that apple. They added the paper until the image was filled in. It was great for building on their fine motor skills. Next they made the face on top and got to pick hair that was the same color as their hair. I asked them to cut the hair a specific way following my step by step directions. The boys had one strip and the girls had 3 to make long hair if they wanted to. They turned out so cute! They are drying over the weekend but I will send them home with your child on Monday.

Middle of the week fun

We’ve been making wonderful progress in our kindergarten curriculum, and one of the most exciting milestones has been learning three letters and their sounds through our HMH program. Even more exciting—we’ve started blending those sounds together to read words in different combinations! The kids are doing a fabulous job, and they were so proud of themselves today when I told them I couldn’t stop smiling because they were all reading! Their faces lit up with the biggest smiles as they realized—they're readers now. It was absolutely adorable. In addition to learning how to read words, we’ve also been exploring the parts of a book. We’ve talked about what we see on the front cover and back cover, and how to hold and read a book the correct way. The class has been so engaged during these lessons and is really starting to understand how books work. We’re also continuing to reinforce what we’ve learned about nouns and adjectives, helping to build a strong foundation in language. It’s been such a joy watching their confidence grow each day!

In our HMH structured literacy book, we’ve been reinforcing those letters and sounds with a variety of fun activities. My favorite was an activity where the students rolled a die and read a word from the column matching the number they rolled. After reading the word, they colored in that space on their work mat. I had so much fun walking around the classroom, listening to them sound out words and read them independently—it was amazing!

In math, we’ve been working on putting numbers in order up to 10 and also practicing counting backwards. Counting backwards is a bit tricky for them, but with continued practice, they’re getting better and better at it. I’ve also started introducing different ways to make each number from 1 to 10 using various combinations. They’ve really enjoyed the challenge of this concept! It’s so rewarding to see how well they’ve grasped these math concepts when they complete the independent pages in their math workbooks—I’m so proud of their progress!

This week, I began using Amira, an AI reading assistant that’s part of our literacy program. Amira is available to students on their iPads, and when they open the app, they connect with her using headphones and the iPad’s microphone. The program listens to students as they read aloud and then provides personalized reading instruction based on their fluency and skills. We only spend about 15 minutes with Amira at a time, but even in that short session, she offers valuable, individualized reading support that helps students grow as readers. The students LOVE their time with Amira and really enjoy the personalized coaching they receive! We'll continue using this app a few times a week in short sessions to support and encourage their reading development.

In Social Studies, we are continuing with our Civics unit, but today we focused on the question, "How Do I Make Friends?" During the lesson, we explored various scenarios that the characters in the story faced, and we discussed different ways they could problem-solve and build friendships. The students came up with so many wonderful ideas! This class is incredibly caring, kind, and very in tune with their feelings. We've had many meaningful discussions through our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons and Social Studies. They are excellent at identifying ways to turn negative emotions into positive ones, as well as figuring out how to support others who may be experiencing difficult emotions. It's been a great week and I am so proud of everything my kindergarten friends are learning!

Monday Fun!

In HMH reading, we have been learning all about adjectives. We learned that authors use adjectives in their writing to help readers create a detailed picture in their mind while reading. They have gotten a lot of practice identifying adjectives in sentences and have a good understanding that the adjectives describe and provide more information about the noun. I am amazed with my kindergarten friends' ability to identify the noun and the adjective in a given sentence. Today we also learned about article adjectives which are a specific type of adjective (a, an or the) that come before a noun to indicate if the noun is general or specific. After the lesson today, we did some work in our HMH workbooks to show me what they learned. My little owl are like sponges soaking in each and every thing I am teaching. So fun to watch them all growing as learners each and every day!

In math, we learned all about the number 10 today learning how to write it the correct way and understanding the quantity as well. My kindergarten friends are learning that when they are counting they have to be careful so they don't miss one when counting. I have taught them to cross out things when counting to ensure they have counted all the objects correctly one by one. I told them that math his tricky because if they make one little mistake when doing the math problem, it can throw the whole answer off. They just have to be careful when working with numbers. They all did such a great job learning about 10 today!

In structured literacy, we reviewed the two letters and sounds we learned last week which are the letters "Mm" and "Tt." We did a few pages in our structured literacy workbook to check for understanding and provide a little more practice solidifying these sounds. In HMH, we are learning the letters/sounds slowly to ensure they are learned, practiced and solidified. They did great showing me what they learned about these two letter sounds! Yay, K-1!

In social studies, we began our Civics unit titled "How I get along with others?" To help us understand this concept, we helped guide two monsters in the lesson through various senerios identifying who should be doing the talking and who should be doing the listening. After identifying that, I asked them to tell me why they thought that. They did a great job with the lesson today. This lesson helps my friends learn the following: 1. Understand what it means to get along, 2. Identify helpful, courteous, fair, compassionate, and responsible behaviors. 3. Identify reasons for rules at home and at school. Tomorrow we will be continuing to learn more about this concept. Have a great night, everyone!

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 we are learning all about the numbers 8 and 9 understanding the quantity and how to show it on a ten frame. We are also learning the correct number formation on how to write the number from top to bottom. They are doing an excellent job in math and love showing me what they are learning where we get to the independent pratice time in our math workbooks.

In literacy, we have continuing to practice identifying nouns and proper nouns. We are also practicing identifying if those nouns are singular or plural. Yesterday, I introduced what an adjective is and we practiced identifying adjectives in sentences I provided the class. Then I took it a step further with giving them a sentence and they had to fill in an adjective that would make sense. They had so much fun learning about adjectives and I am amazed what they have learned! Way to go, K-1! It's been a busy week in K-1 and with each passing day, I am learning more and more about each kindergarten friend in my class! I LOVE seeing the excitement in their faces throughout our school days together and all the growth they are making already! It's so exciting! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Kindergarten Rock Stars!

Wow! What a week we have had in K-1 already and it's only been the first two days. We had reading MAP testing on Monday and math MAP testing on Tuesday. I am blown away with how wonderful they all did! They did such a great job navigating on the Ipad with my step-by-step directions to get to the testing site and did so well plugging in the testing codes to get to both tests! It was a "tricky" process for new kindergarteners to do and wow, they did great! I was SO PROUD of them!

In math, we are learning all about numbers 6-10. We are learning the value of each number by showing it with our fingers, showing it on a ten-frame, and by counting objects one-to-one to find it. They are also learning how to form the numbers correctly from top to bottom the right way. In preschool, my friends learned to write them from bottom up so I am working to change this habit. They are doing a great job learning how to write their numbers the right way and learning about these important numbers!

In HMH foundational lessons, we are learning how to write uppercase letters on the lines ensuring we are writing them from top to bottom. I am so proud of how well my kindergarten friends are using the lines the correct way and writing their letters slowly to make sure they write them correctly! YAY, K-1!

In HMH reading, we are continuing to learn about nouns and have taken it a step further to learn about proper nouns. They have learned the meaning of what a noun is, both singular and plural nouns and now proper nouns. They are doing a great job identifying these types of nouns in sentences I give them and also in telling me if they are singular or plural nouns. Wow, K-1! So impressive! While reading the stories this week that go with our program, we have also talked about how to hold a book the correct way and how to read a book properly. They laughed at me when I was being silly and tried to read a book upside down. They caught it right away and laughed. They were quick to point out to me that I was holding the book wrong and wouldn't be able to read the words that way. Next, we read the story and we talked about different types of punctuation, how many words were in sentences and how many letters were in specified words throughout the book. They did such a great job in each lesson and I am so proud of how much they are growing as readers! In grammar and vocabulary, we are continuing to work with words and learn the meanings of some "tricky" words! I am amazed with how many friends know the meanings of some of these tough words already! My kindergarten friends are learning so much and I am so proud of them! We have built a little family in my classroom where they are genuinely care about one another and just enjoy each minute with eachother! I am one lucky teacher! Have a great night, everyone!

We are Hungry for Learning!

In class today, I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. As I read the story, my kinder friends did a great job chiming in on the repetitive parts of the story and helping to tell me what day of the week came next. They LOVED hearing the story and participating as I read it out loud to them! To go along with the cute story, we made a caterpillar project. The caterpillar that I asked them to make had a read head like the hungry caterpillar in the story but I told them they could use any two colors to create the body as long as it was glued together in an AB pattern. They chose the two colors they wanted and took three of each one to create the body of their caterpillar. To create the caterpillar, they had to turn each square of construction paper into a circle. I showed them when they want to turn a square into a circle, they just need to cut a little piece off the four corners and round each one out. Then they will have a circle. To finish their caterpillars, I showed them how to follow my step-by-step directions by making a face and adding antennaes and legs to it too. It was fun seeing what two colors they all picked and walking around the classroom to see all the hard work they were putting in to create their caterpillars! I was so impressed with how wonderful they all did on this activity! Especially how well they followed my step-by-step directions! I hung them in the hall for all of Olive to admire!