A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of March 9th

Classroom: Insects

The students learned that most insects do more good than bad. That bees, wasps, flies, beetles, mosquitoes and butterflies are great pollinators. Some insects eat other insects, keeping each insect group from getting too big. We also talked about how insects like ladybugs are a farmers best-friend, because they eat tiny crop eating insects called aphids. They also learned that all insects have three main body parts: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head has large compound eyes, the antenna (feelers), and the mouth parts. That the thorax is the middle region of the body and has the legs and wings. Then, their is the abdomen.

A peek into next week:

Kindergarten: Vowels and Consonants

The students learned to recognize and distinguish vowels from consonants, which is an important step in the development of reading and writing skills. We talked about how all words contain at least one vowel. The students were quickly able to recognize the vowels, which is great because they will have a strong foundation for learning rules and spelling patterns for short and long vowels, final vowels, unaccented vowels, silent vowels and irregular spellings.

A peek into next week:

Reminders:

COVID-19 | NO SCHOOL | March 16thApril 3rd

***Kindergarten students are to complete all the pages sent home in the black binders, continue working in their phonics workbooks and continue to fill out their reading logs.***

Parent Resources: 

Google Classroom “Absorbent Minds Primary (preschool) Students”
1. Go to goodvpn.website
2. Click “sign in”
3. Click “join”
4. Enter class code: lvxrlnh
5. Click “join”
Enrichment Highlight:
In art class this week we experimented with India Ink and learned how to paint self portraits.
Work Time:
South America: This child is practicing returning all the countries to the map while learning their names.
Trinomial Cube: 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.
Movable Alphabet: This child is practicing blending and forming words phonetically to create the sentence “I lic to tac pictrs. (I like to take pictures.)

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 at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of March 2nd

Classroom: Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle

This past week we celebrated Theodor Seuss (Ted Geisel) also known as Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle who were children’s authors and illustrators. Dr. Seuss was known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 rhyming children’s books and Eric Carle was known for his beautiful illustrations. 

A peek into next week: Insects

Kindergarten: Telling time to the half past

The past week the kindergarten students have been learning how to tell time to the hour and half past.

A peek into next week: Vowels and Consonants

Reminders:

Bring Your Parent to Work Time | March 13th (https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-bring)

Elementary & Kindergarten Event | World’s Fair | March 19th @ 6:00 pm8:00 pm

No School | Teacher In-Service Day | March 20th

Spring Break | NO SCHOOL | March 23rdMarch 27th

Enrichment Highlight:
In music this week the students reviewed the piano key patterns and got to play a “three black key” piano solo. 
Work Time:
100 Board: This child is memorizing where the tiles should go and be placed on the 100 chart, while also learning to identify names of the numbers 1 through 100.
Tracing and Labeling Bird Puzzle: This child is tracing, coloring and labeling the bird puzzle. By doing this he is learning how to correctly grip and hold a pencil. He is also refining his hand control to steady the pencil and he is learning the characteristics of a bird.
These students are practicing identifying the time using an analog and digital clock.

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of February 24th

Classroom: Dental Health

The past week we discussed how different foods and drinks can affect our dental hygiene. We learned that our teeth get sad and full of tooth decay from sweets and soda and get happy and shiny and bright from brushing and eating healthy foods. We also learned that every tooth has a specific job. The incisors are used for cutting food, the canines are used for tearing food and the molars are used for grinding food. We talked about the importance of constantly visiting a doctor to take care of our health in every way! For parents, we recommend clicking here to find a pediatric doctor who can monitor your child’s health!

A peek into next week: Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle

Kindergarten: Telling time to the hour

The past week the kindergarten students have been learning how to tell time to the hour. They learned that the long hand is the minute hand and the short hand is the hour hand. They also learned that when the minute hand is pointing to the 12 it means zero minutes have past that hour and we can say it is __ o’clock. 

A peek into next week: Telling time to the half hour

Reminders:

Bring Your Parent to Work Time | March 13th (https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A8A92DA6F94-bring)

Elementary & Kindergarten Event | World’s Fair | March 19th @ 6:00 pm8:00 pm

No School | Teacher In-Service Day | March 20th

Spring Break | NO SCHOOL | March 23rdMarch 27th

Enrichment Highlight:
In science this week we etched a robot into a piece of iron using a salt water solution.
Work Time:
Trinomial Cube: 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.
Tooth Brushing: This child is learning how to care for herself while developing a sense of independence and refining her fine motor skills and coordination of movements to successfully brush her teeth.
Shoe Tying: These children are learning how to care for themselves while developing a sense of independence and refining their fine motor skills and coordination of movements to successfully tie a shoe.
Buckle Frame: This child is developing his hand-eye coordination, fine motor coordination and manual dexterity while learning to care for himself by successfully buckling the buckles.

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.