Technology Time with Mrs. Breen

 Kindergarten has been working on MacBooks with Mrs. Breen.  On Monday and Thursday afternoons, Mrs. Breen comes to our classroom.  At first, students learned how to turn on the MacBooks and how to use the track pad, dock and other aspects of the MacBooks.   Several lessons were spent getting the students familiar and comfortable using the computers.  Now, we are busy playing math games.  We have played several games about graphing, pattern making, and missing numbers. Soon, we will have a computer station set up in our classroom and students will have time to play the games on their own. 

Don't Get Mad- Get Rad!

Assembly on January 24, 2011-click here


To find out what Don't Get Mad- Get Rad! means click on the above link!  Washington Elementary was pleased to have Rick Huddle come and perform.  Ask your child what RAD stands for and how they can deal with their emotions when they are getting "mad." 

100 Days Smarter!!!!

 

Students begin the day by making 100 Day Crowns!

We spent the day writing 100 words, counting to 100 and reading books about the 100th Day of School!  Students can hardly believe we made it to 100.  We talked about how 10 groups of ten make 100.   A couple kids figured out that in the number 100 we have nothing in the ones and tens spot.  We found other ways to make 100.  Several students already knew that 100 pennies made a dollar.

Students like to eat the snacks that they brought. Each student was asked to bring 100 things to eat.  All items were dumped together and shared.  Yum!

Jacy - Character Award

Jacy received the Character Trait Respect Award for second quarter.  Jacy is always considerate of her peers and teachers. She treats everyone she meets with respect and is an excellent example of respect in the classroom.  She is kind to all and treats people the way she wants to be treated! Congratulations!!

Math

Everyday Math is the name of the math curriculum we are using this year.  The concept behind Everyday Math is called spiraling.  This means that we might work on patterns one day, the next day work on measurement, and the next story problems.  Eventually, we go back to all concepts and build on previous lessons.  With the new curriculum, there are very few worksheets.  We try to keep students engaged by playing games and hand-on activities that build the skills needed in Math. 
Currently, we are making patterns like AAB, ABC. and ABB.  We have also talked about the subtraction and addition symbol when using story problems.  Children are sorting, identifying and naming the value of the penny, nickel, dime and quarter.  We have even begun to make change using the penny, nickel and dime.  There are many ways to reinforce math skills.  There are several computer games on Mrs. LaVan's website that are especially designed for kindergarten math.  Simple counting activities like counting marshmallows or playing with change is a great way to improve math skills!

Decoding Words

In reading, we are beginning to work with several word families  (phonograms).  So far, we have covered the "at", "an" and  "and" phonograms . When we are reading words that have these phonograms in them, I ask students to identify the chunk of the word that we know. For instance, if the word is "candy," I will ask students to identify the phonogram "an" which is in the middle of the word.  When students are able to identify these phonograms, then they will be able to add beginning and ending sounds.  This is an important skill for decoding words.  We also practice making lists of words that rhyme with these phonograms. 
Examples:
at: cat, bat, sat, fat, hat, that, brat,
an: van, can, tan, man, pan
and: band, land, sand, hand.
At the end of January, we will begin with the "it" and "ig" word families.  

From the desk of Mr. Dunlap

During the month of February the kindergarten and first grades will be
playing a variety of activities during their PE time. Some of the
activities will include; the climbing wall, scooters, the parachute,
ABC ladders, and tag games.

Beginning Writing

With the start of a new year, kindergarten students are working on sharing their thoughts and feelings through written word and drawing.  Students are encouraged to use inventive or transitional spelling. Students should be able to write several words correctly on their own.
  When a child does not know how to write a word they can use inventive spelling.  This is stretching out a word very slowly out loud and writing the letters for the sounds they heard.  Many times students have difficulty hearing the middle sounds in a word, however they are able to get the beginning and end sounds.  This is an important skill for beginner writers.  Encouraging your child to stretch out words at home is a great way to support this skill.  Other activities would be to write and illustrate a story together or have your child help you make a grocery list or list of things to do.

100 Days Of Kindergarten!

Soon, we will be celebrating the 100th day of School.  We will write 100 words, count 100 objects, read books and sing songs about this special day.  Students will be asked to bring 100 edible items to share with the class.  All food items will be put into a bowl and we will have a special treat for the afternoon.  Ideas of what your child can bring: 100 cheerios, 100 m&m's, 100 marshmallows, etc.
If we do not have any snow days, we will celebrate on January20th!