A Peek Into Reading Group

The last story we read was Jamaica’s Blue Marker. This story is about a little boy who never has supplies he needs and gets in trouble.  The main character, Jamaica has to share her supplies with him for art class. The little boy, Russel gets mad at Jamaica and scribbles on her paper. Later the teacher announces that Russel is moving. They throw him a going away party and Jamaica ends up giving him her blue marker so that he could use it at his new school.

The kindergartners are drawing a scene from the story.

After each reading the students participated in discussions, sharing questions, and drawing scenes from the story. We also talked about situations where someone did something mean to us and how we reacted. The group also shared who they talk to when they’re  upset just like Jamaica did in the story.

A Peek Into the Next Two Weeks

– The students will learn what a poem is.

– The students will learn the vocabulary words: dainty, elegant, and silky.

– The students will write their own poems.

 


A Peek Into Reading Group

In reading group the kindergarteners listened to a story called, Big Wolf and Little Wolf. In the story, a little wolf approaches Big Wolf. Big Wolf gets nervous that this wolf might be bigger and better than he. It ends up that this wolf is smaller and starts copying what Big Wolf does. Little Wolf doesn’t follow Big Wolf when he goes for a walk an when Big Wolf returns, Little Wolf is no longer there. Big Wolf find that he is now lonely withought his friend, and worries about him. When Little Wolf returns, Big Wolf is happy and he lets Little Wolf copy him and follow him around all of the time.

During Reading Group time, the students participated in group discussions, evaluative activities, and comprehension activities. These activities include drawing scenes from the story, and writing down their own thoughts and feelings. After the last reading, the students evaluated how well they wondered while listening to the story. Then, they came up with a goal for the next reading sessions. They said they will do better at listening to their friends’ questions.

A Peek Into The Next Two Weeks

-The kindergartners will listen to the story Jamaica’s Blue Marker

-The kindergartners will learn the vocabulary words: grab,  bother, and upset.

-The kindergartners will participate in comprehension and movement activities.


A Peek Into Our Week|Ms. Courtney’s Class|Week of Feruary 17th

Presidents Day:

This week the class learned about the president and what he does. We learned that he makes laws and is in charge of the armed forced. The students got to complete coin rubbings and found out which presidents are on our coins.

A Peek Into Next Week: Dental health

Kindergarten:

The kindergartners went over fractions in group lesson this  week. They learned the terms: Numerator- The number on the top in a fraction that shows how many parts are taken from the whole number and Denominator- The number on the bottom of a fraction that represents the whole number. The students made their own fraction book too.

A Peek Into Next Week: Time

Work Time:

This student is practicing cursive letters in the sand tray with a stylist. This work prepares the student for handwrititng and gives more guidnce and practice before writing with pencil and paper.

This student is working on the short seven bead chan. The bead chains are used for linear counting and skip counting. This is in preparation for memorizing the multiples of 7: 7,14,21,28,35,42,49.

This child is tracing our skeleton work. He is strengthening his fine motor muscles while learning about the bones in the human body. He is also gaining concentration, coordination, independence, and order through this activity.

Enrichment Highlight:

In music class, the students got to sing hello to Alley the Aligator and continued in the unit of Peter and the Wolf to learn about different instruments.


A Peek Into Our Week|Ms. Courtney’s Class|Week of February 10th

Pets/Valentine’s Day

This week the class learned about what animals can be pets, how to take care of pets, and what is the process to get a pet. We also discussed what Valentine’s Day is and how we show each other our love with notes, cards, and candy to celebrate the holiday.

A Peek Into Next Week: Presidents

Kndergarten:

Over this week, the kindergartners have been learning about three demensional shapes by using our Geometric Solids work. These shapes are: sphere, ovoid, ellipsoid, triangualar based pyramid, rectangualar prism, triangular based prism, cylinder, cube, square based pyramid, and triangualar based prism. They played games where they had to be blindfolded and then had to gueses which shape Ms. Breanna gave them.

A Peek Into Next Week: Fractions

Work Time:

These two students are working together on the addtition strip board. This work helps to reinforce the concept of addition and to help with memorization of addition facts.

This child is practicing her name in cursive on the chalkboard. Cursive has many benefits such as helping with letter reversals.

These two kindergartners are playing a game with the geometric solids. They  have to guess which shape they are holding with only using their sense of touch.

This preschooler is tracing and cutting out the leaf puzzle. She is strengthening her fine motor skills while learning about the parts of a leaf.

Valentine’s Party:

Thank you to all the parents who brought in supplies and helped at the party. We all had a great time!

 


A Peek Into Our Week| Ms. Courtney’s Class| Week of January 20th

Martin Luther King Jr:

This week we talked about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. We discussed how he wanted to make the world a better place through equality. The class learned that he talked about his beliefs through peacful walks and speeches. The students talked about how we can all learn and be together no matter what we look like.

A Peek Into Next Week: Zoo Animals

Kindergarten:

This week the kindergartners started working on division. They learned that dividing is the act of separating something into groups equally. Here are some vocabulary terms they learned: Dividend-The amount you want to divide, Divisor-The number by which another number is being divided by, Quotient-The answer of a division problem .

A Peek Into Next Week: Division

Reminders: Valentine’s party-2/14| Presidents Day-NO SCHOOL 2/17

Enrichement Highlight: Art

The students learned about contrast with Ms. Dayna. They made a collaborative piece that is hanging in the entry way!

 

Work Time

This preschooler is working on the flag stamps. He is learining about different countries flags while strengthening his fine motor skills to color in the stamps.

This child is woring on the Binomial Cube. This material helps develop critical thinking skills, problem solving, and spacial understanding. The Binomial Cube also prepares the student for the algebraic equation: (a+b)^3=a^3+3a^2b+3ab^2+b^3.

These two preschoolers are working together on Golden Bead addition. They are learning that combining two small numbers (two addends) make a larger number (a sum).


A Peek At Our Week|Ms. Courtney’s Class|Week of January 14th

Classroom: Ocean Animals

This week the students learned about ocean animals. We learned about different types of sharks, types of crustaceans, and even how an elephant seal can hold its breath under water for two hours!

A Peek Into Next Week: Martin Luther King Jr.

Kindergarten:

This week the students  continued learning that subtraction is taking smaller number from a larger number, and added in exchanging. We call this Dynamic Subtraction when exchanging is envolved.

A Peek Into Next Week: Division

Reminders: NO SCHOOL- Monday, January, 20th| Kindergaten walking trip-Tuesday, January 21st|Kindergarten trip to Natural History Museum-Thursday, January 23rd

 

Enrichment Highlight: Music

Ms. Lisa started her unit on Peter and the Wolf. The students will learn about the different instruments in the play, and will learn which instrument represents the characters.

Work Time:

This student is coloring the land and water forms work. He is learning about the different forms such as, cape/bay, straight/isthmas, and system of lakes/archepelego.

This student is refining his sense of touch by identefying the geometric solids using a blind fold. He has to use his memory of the shape to destinguish it by touch only.

This young lady is working on addition with the Dot Board. This work moves the child from concrete addition with manipulatives to abstract addition.

 


A Peek Into Reading Group

Last week we started our Junior Great Book program. We started off by going over what makes a good listener and how to have a good discussion. The kindergarteners listened to the story, Cornelius which was about a Crocodile who can do some amazing things. He tries to share his tricks with his crocodiles friends, but they do not seem to care. In the end, they start trying his tricks to and Cornelius knows things will never be the same again.

After we read the story,  the students participated in activities such as, writing what they were wondering, drawing the crocodiles trying to do the tricks, and they even got to act out a scene from the story!

These students are acting like the crocodiles in the story

 

A Peek Into Next Week

-The students will listen to the story, Big Wolf and Little Wolf.

-The students will learn the vocabulary words: approached, curious, and suspicious.

-The students will participate in discussions and comprehension activities.


A Peek At Our Week| Ms. Courtney’s Classroom|Week of January 6th

Classroom: Polar Animals

Over this past week, the students learned about polar animals. We learned that male Emperor Penguin take care of their baby chicks while the female penguins go to the ocean to eat. The students also learned that polar animals have a layer of blubber or fat to help keep them warm in the arctic temperatures. Multiple students wanted to research on their own about polar animals and then shared what they learned with the class!

These students are waddling like penguins with their chick eggs!

A Peek Into Next Week: Ocean Animals

Kindergarten:

This week the kindergartners learned about subtraction. They learned that it means to take away a small number from a larger number. Here are some new vocabulary words they learned: minuend– “A quantity or number from which another is to be subtracted”, subtrahand– “A quantity or number to be subtracted from another”, and difference-“The result of subtracting one number from another.”

A Peek Into Next Week: Subtraction

Reminders:

Parent/Teacher Conferences-Friday, January 17th/NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS/ MLK Day- Monday, January 20th/NO SCHOOL

Enrichment Highlight:

For science this week, we discussed how polar animals have blubber that keeps them warm in the cold weather. This was demonstrated by filling a zip lock bag with shortening to create an insulated layer between a second zip lock bag inside, and having just a single zip lock bag. We stuck both bags in ice cold water and felt the difference. You could hardly feel the cold with the insulated bag!

Work Time:

These students are creating patterns with the knobless cylinders. They are enhancing their visual discrimination while improving critical thinking, problem solving, and short-term memory.
This kindergartener is working on the ten board. He is learning to recognize the quantity and the corresponding symbol and is practicing linear counting.

 

This student is tracing the Australia map puzzle. This work combines dexterity and geography by learning about the continent and strengthening the hand muscles.
This activity is floor scrubbing. Our student is strengthening her hand and arm muscles while gaining more concentration, independence, and a sense of order.


A Peek Into Our Week |Ms. Courtney| Week of December 9th

Winter/ Holiday Crafts:

This week we continued talking about different traditions for Christmas and how people celebrate differently. We painted winter scenes, built creations with marshmallows and toothpicks, and made a surprise for the parents!

Kindergarten:

This week the kindergartners learned about currency. They leaned how money is used, and matched the coins and dollars to their amounts.

Reminders:

Christmas Break | NO SCHOOL | December 23, 2019 – January 6, 2020|Parent teacher conferences: January 17th

Enrichmment Highlight:

In art class, the students made pipe cleaner snow flakes by stringing the pipe cleaners with beads.

 

Work Time:

This student is working wtih the Geometric Solids. This work is to help the child be aware of solid geometric shapes forms around him and to refine the sense of touch.
This child is practcing weaving. The aim of this work is to prepare the child for sewing and tying shoes, while also improving concentration, organization, coordination, and independence.
This student is learning to write his name in cursive.

 


A Peek At Our Week/Ms. Courtney’s Classroom/ Week of December 9th

Practice for the Christmas Show:

The students practiced extra hard this week for the Christmas show! We were all excited to perform for our parents and friends. I hope you enjoy the show!

A Peek Into Next Week:

Holiday/winter crafts

Kindergarten: Measuring in inches and centimeters:

This past week the kindergartners learned how to measure with a ruler in inches and centimeters. They even used measurments to create a monster!

A Peek Into Next Week:

Currency

Reminders-

Pajama Day!/DECEMBER 20th

Christmas Break | NO SCHOOL | December 23, 2019 – January 3, 2020

Enrichment Highlight

In music class, we learned about triangles and practiced our Christmas songs.

Work Time:

This student is working on the Number Rods. She is learning to match quantity to symbol and is refining her sense of order, coordination, concentration, and independence.

 

This student is practicing zipping. Zipping is an important care of self activity especially in the winter with getting ready to go outside in the cold.
This child is learning how to put the Trinomial Cube together while also getting an introduction into algebra and preparation for the formula a3+3a2b+3a2c+6abc+b3+3ab2+3b2c+3ac2+3bc2+c3.