Five Little Pumpkins

It was a fun filled day in K-1! All my little owls have been very busy learning letters/sounds, "new" heart words, learning the difference between fact and opinion and how being different from one another makes us special in literacy, finishing up Chapter 2 in math, and starting our science weather unit in science. Today I did a fun "Five Little Pumpkins" project with the class and they had so much fun following my step-by-step directions in making their own! We learned the rhyme with the motions and we did the project after. I am SO proud of everything my kindergarten friends are learning! They are growing a lot as learners and I couldn't be more proud of ALL of them!

My kindergarten friends are so excited about our "new" science unit where we will be studying the weather. To kick it off today, we talked about what it means to be a scientist and we did a little mini-book together. They LOVED doing the last page where they got to draw and color themselves as a scientist! It's going to be a fun unit!

Being Different Rocks

With our HMH reading curriculum, I read a book to the class today that was called Being Different Rocks. This book was a persuasive text where the author is trying to get the readers to believe or do something. This book had a wonderful message on how we are are all unique and different. We should celebrate our differences because being different or unique rocks! After we read the book, I did a few activities to go along with it. First, I showed them a partner activity where I gave each student in the class a piece of paper and they had to circle things they liked. It was a "Do you like this or that?" activity. When they were done, I paired up the class in groups of two or three and I had them sit with their partner(s) and discuss what they both liked that was the same and what was different. I asked them to discuss some of the things with their partner such as if they both liked video games, which one was their favorite? This was a great way for them to get to know their partner(s) and see what made them different or the same. I LOVED seeing how much fun they all had working together on this activity!

Next, we made guitars that displayed things that were all about them. It asked them what their favorite color was, favorite food, favorite sport and favorite toy. On their guitar, I also printed out a picture of them and glued it on before hand. I asked my kindegarten friends to color and decorate their guitars however they wanted to. I wanted them to use their own creative, unique ideas. As they colored and decorated, I walked around the classroom asking them the questions that were written down on the guitar and writing them down for them. They were so excited about making their guitars and they turned out AMAZING!!!! This was such a fun way to display how they were all different and to celebrate our differences. Here are some pictures of the class with their awesome guitars.

Last, I did a group lesson with the class where we learned about the concept of fact and opinion. After the lesson, we did an activity together that allowed them to practice what we learned. In the lesson they learned that a fact is something that is always true and an opinion is what someone thinks or feels about something. They did such a great job learning about this concept and we will continue to practice this skill tomorrow in our next lesson. It was a wonderful day in K-1 and I am so proud of my rock star kindergarteners! They are all unique and AMAZING! I am so proud of all of them!

Fun Friday

With today being "Fun Friday," I did a directed draw pumpkin with the class today. They all did such a wonderful job following the step-by-step directions until their whole pumpkin was drawn on their paper! These activities help my kindergarten friends in many ways as learners such as developing their fine motor skills and helping them to strengthen their ability to follow directions and problem solving skills. They were so excited about this activity and they had so much fun adding their own creative details when they were done. They couldn't wait to bring them home to show them to you!

In math, we are finishing up Chapter 2 and will take a math assessment on Monday to see what they have learned. This unit focused on numbers 1-10 helping them to understand the quantity of each number and how to write the numbers the correct way. They learned how to show each number in a ten frame and that each number can have many combinations to equal that desired number. We also learned about ordinal numbers too. This unit brought a great challenge to them and I have loved seeing how much they have grown in math. Way to go, K-1!

In structured literacy, we have learned some more letters and sounds that they make. With learning more letters, they are growing as readers and writers. I am amazed with how quickly they are able to blend the sounds together to read and write! It's so fun to see! We are also learning about the structure of a sentence. Today's lesson focused on how a sentence is a group of words put together to tell a complete thought or idea. We also learned that sentences have to start with an uppercase letter and have some type of punctuation at the end. If a sentence is asking a question, there will be a question mark at the end. If a sentence is written to show excitement there will be an exclamation point at the end. If a sentence is written to share an idea or thought, it will have a period at the end. We learned that when we read sentences with a question mark or exclamation point our voice fluctuates to represent that when we read it. My kindergarten friends are growing so much as learners each day and I am amazed each day as I have the amazing opportunity to teach them! I am so proud of all of them! Have a great weekend, everyone!

October Already?

We have been busy owls in K-1 today! We made our October calendars where it was good practice writing numbers 1-31 in order. I wanted them to make sure they were forming the numbers the correct way from top to bottom and that the numbers were facing in the right direction. They all did a GREAT job! They LOVED making this calendar because they got to use their own creativity into turning the backside into a jack-o-lantern with black and white paper. They all turned out so cute! They couldn't wait to bring them home to show to all of you!

In math, we are learning about ordinal numbers. This concept was "tricky" for them so I have been doing a little extra with my kindergarten friends to make sure they are understanding it. They did great on our ordinal number activity today! Great job, K-1!

In structured literacy we have been learning more letters and the sounds that go with them. We are learning to blend them together to read words and write them on their own. I am AMAZED with how well they are reading and writing words with the learned letters/sounds we have learned so far! It has been so exciting seeing them grow as readers and writers! We are also continuing to work on rhyming, syllables and identifying what sound they hear in the beginning and end of words.

In reading, we are continuing to learn about parts of a book, authors/illustrators, and identifying the characters, setting, and main idea of books we read together. We are also continuing to solidify their knowledge of nouns, verbs and adjectives. I am amazed with all they are learning and how much they have grown as learners! Remember we have a day off tomorrow (Thursday) due to Yom Kippur but school will resume back on Friday for our pajama/stuffie day. Have a great night, everyone!