What is happening in K-1?

In social studies, we have been learning all about all the federal and goverment holidays we celebrate during the year. We learned the meaning of each holiday and what month it is celebrated in. At the end of our unit, we made holiday sashes with all the badges that represented the holidays we have learned about. They LOVED making the sashes!

Today we wrote our first journal entry in writing. We have been learning all about what good writers do in our reading lessons and today they got to be their own author and illustrator in their November journal. I asked them to draw a picture, label and write one sentence about something they did this past weekend. They did a fabulous job drawing their picture and using their "brave spelling" to label it. Brave spelling is when they write the words on their own on how they phonetically sound them out. For example: if they write "fon" for "phone" that is great because that is how it sounds when you say it seperating the word into sounds. I was SO proud of the detail they all added to their drawings and how carefully they colored the pictures to ensure they used "realistic" colors. Way to go, K-1! The last part of their journal was the hardest part. I took some time with my kindergarten friends to convey to them that today was going to be "hard" to write a sentence for the first time. I wanted them to know that when we try new things, they are always hard the first couple times but the more they do it, the easier it gets! I reiterated to them that my motto is: PRACTICE MAKES BETTER! I told them that today, the goal was to try! Try to write one sentence on their own using their brave spelling. We talked about how we needed to make sure when they were writing that their sentence had a few things that good writers do: 1. Begin their sentence with a capital letter. 2. Put finger spaces between their words 3. End their sentence with the appropriate punctuation. As they wrote their sentences, I was so very proud of the confidence they all had in themselves when trying this hard task for the first time and how well they all did sounding out the words they wanted to write! I smiled ear to ear as I walked around and had the kids read me the sentences they wrote. Way to go, K-1!

In math, we are wrapping up Chapter 4 where I taught the class about the concepts of more than, less than, equal to OR the same as. To challenge them a bit more, we also learned about 1 more than and 1 less than. They did such a great job learning these math concepts! We will be taking the Chapter 4 math test tomorrow and I sent home the "extra practice" pages with my kindergarten friends in the event you would like to work with your child on these concepts a bit more.

In reading, we are continuing to learn more letters and sounds and practice implementing these sounds in reading and writing on their own. Each time we read words or sentences in class, I smile ear to ear seeing the growth they are making as learners! It is SO EXCITING! When they get to read to me, I love seeing the joy and pride them. have in themselves knowing they are reading and writing on their own. It is priceless! Way to go, K-1! In grammar, we are learning about present and past tense verbs. My kindergarten friends are growing so much as learners and it's so fun to see! Have a great night, everyone!