The children learned the characteristics and parts of trees, flowers, leaves, insects and arachnids by using and working with the puzzles and control charts in the classroom.
Cursive Handwriting: The students learned and practiced the correct stokes to successfully make a lowercase a and lowercase d. To make a lowercase a they learned to curve up to the midline, roll back around to the baseline, swing up to the midline and down to the baseline. To make a lowercase d they learned to curve up to the midline, roll back around to the baseline, swingtall to the top line and slide down to the baseline.
A peak into next week: Introduction to 9 Tray/ 45 layout/composing numbers using the golden beads
The last story we read in Reading Group was called Jamaica’s Blue Marker. In the story a little girl, Jamaica has to share her blue marker with a little boy, Russell even though she doesnt want to. The boy scribbles on her work after getting mad at her. The class ends up finding out he is moving, so they throw a good bye party. Jamaica doesn’t end making a card for him, and then feels bad about it, so she ends up giving him the blue marker he had borrowed.
Throughout the story, we discussed what we wondered about, what Jamaica was thinking when she gives Russell her blue marker, and how they would feel about giving away their blue marker if they were Jamaica.
A chart we created for when we share in discussion.
The kindergartners are writing about whether they would be happy or sad about giving away their blue marker if they were Jamaica.
A Peek Into Next Week
– The students will be reading a poem about a cat who has no home.
– The students will learn about the speaker of a poem and what stanzas are in a poem.
-The students will learn the vocabulary words: silky, dainty, and elegant.
Parts of Animals: The children learned the characteristics and body parts of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish by using and working with the animal puzzle and control charts in the classroom.
Cursive Handwriting: The students reviewed and practiced the correct stokes to successfully make a lowercase r, lowercase w, lowercase j, lowercase p, lowercase i, lowercase t, lowercase u and lowercase s. For the lowercase r they were taught to swing up to the midline, dip and then down to the baseline. For the lowercase w they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, dip connector at the midline.For the lowercase j they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, swoop, and pick up the pencil then dot. For the lowercase p they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, slide up to the midline, circle around to the baseline, touch and glide. For the lowercase i they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline,
pick up the pencil, dot. For the lowercase t they were taught swing tall to halfway between the midline and the top
line, down to the baseline, pick up the pencil, cross at the midline. For the lowercase u they were taught swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline. For the lowercase s they were taught swing up to the midline, scoop around, touch, glide.
These last two weeks the kindergartners have been listening to a story called Big Wolf and Little Wolf. Big Wolf meets Little Wolf and is a little curious as to why this little wolf would come under his tree. Little Wolf ends up doing everything Big Wolf does. Then when Big Wolf comes back from his walk the next day and Little Wolf is gone. Big Wolf realizes he misses Little Wolf and has an empty space in his heart without him there. Then, Little Wolf returns and they become friends.
The group got to share what they were wondering about while listening to the story, shared what makes a good friend, and even acted out a scene where Big Wolf gives Little Wolf some of his food. The kindergartners also worked together to write where Little Wolf went while he was away. Their story will be hanging in the hallway to check out!
These students are sharing their drawings of the wolves being curious about each other.
A Peek Into Next Week
-The students will be listening to a story about a girl whose classmate bothers her.
-The students will be learning the vocabulary words: grabbed, bother, and upset.
– The students will be continuing to discuss what they are wondering and share their ideas throughout the story.
Landforms: The children learned and explored the difference between a lake, island, bay, peninsula, gulf, harbor, cape, isthmus, strait, chain of lakes, and archipelago.
Cursive Handwriting: The students reviewed and practiced the correct stokes to successfully make a lowercase r, lowercase w, lowercase j, lowercase p, lowercase i, lowercase t, lowercase u and lowercase s. For the lowercase r they were taught to swing up to the midline, dip and then down to the baseline. For the lowercase w they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, dip connector at the midline.For the lowercase j they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, swoop, and pick up the pencil then dot. For the lowercase p they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, slide up to the midline, circle around to the baseline, touch and glide. For the lowercase i they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline,
pick up the pencil, dot. For the lowercase t they were taught swing tall to halfway between the midline and the top
line, down to the baseline, pick up the pencil, cross at the midline. For the lowercase u they were taught swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline. For the lowercase s they were taught swing up to the midline, scoop around, touch, glide.
Ohio and its surrounding states: The students learned where Ohio is located on a map of the USA and the names of all the surrounding states Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan. They also learned different fun facts about Ohio like the state bird is a cardinal and that Ohio’s state flag is the only state flag that isn’t a rectangle.
Cursive Handwriting: The students reviewed and practiced the correct stokes to successfully make a lowercase r, lowercase w, lowercase j, lowercase p, lowercase i, lowercase t, lowercase u and lowercase s. For the lowercase r they were taught to swing up to the midline, dip and then down to the baseline. For the lowercase w they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, dip connector at the midline.For the lowercase j they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, swoop, and pick up the pencil then dot. For the lowercase p they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, slide up to the midline, circle around to the baseline, touch and glide. For the lowercase i they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline,
pick up the pencil, dot. For the lowercase t they were taught swing tall to halfway between the midline and the top
line, down to the baseline, pick up the pencil, cross at the midline. For the lowercase u they were taught swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline. For the lowercase s they were taught swing up to the midline, scoop around, touch, glide.
Bodies of water surrounding North America: The students learned where Canada, USA and Mexico are located on a map of North America. They also became familiar with and the location of different bodies of water such as: The Hudson Bay, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.
Cursive Handwriting: The students focused on the correct stokes to successfully make a lowercase r and lowercase w. For the lowercase r they were taught to swing up to the midline, dip and then down to the baseline. For the lowercase w they were taught to swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, down to the baseline, swing up to the midline, dip connector at the midline.
A peak into next week: Ohio and its surrounding states
For our first story in Reading Group, the kindergartners listened to Cornelius. Cornelius is a crocodile who walks upright. The other crocodiles don’t seem to care about his talent. He ends up meeting a monkey who teaches him how to stand on his head and hang from his tale. After showing his new talents, the other crocodiles end up trying to stand on their heads and hang from their tales too.
The kindergartners listened to the story, participated in discussions, wrote responses to prompts regarding the story, and shared what talent they are proud of. The last activity was to evaluate how well they listened during the story and while others where sharing their ideas. They even made a goal to listen and follow along with the story better the next time.
Our T-chart on the differences between real crocodiles and the crocodiles in the story
The students are sharing what they think Cornelius is thinking when he walks proudly back to the riverbeach.
A Peek Into the Next Story
-The students will be learning about the genre fantasy fiction.
-The students will listen to the story Big Wolf and Little Wolf.
-The students will be learning the vocabulary words: approached, curious, and suspicious.
Equator, Prime Meridian and Hemispheres: The students learned what hemispheres are and how to identify where each continent is located Northern/Southern/Eastern or Western hemisphere. The students also learned where the equator and prime meridian are located on a globe.
Cursive Handwriting:
The students focused on the correct stokes to successfully make a lowercase j and lowercase p. For the lowercase j they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, swoop, and pick up the pencil then dot. For the lowercase p they were taught to swing up to the midline, drop down halfway below the baseline, slide up to the midline, circle around to the baseline, touch and glide.
A look into next week: Bodies of water surrounding North America
The kindergartners learned that there are seven continents (Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia). They also learned where they are located on a globe/map and a fun fact about each one. For example Australia is often referred to as “the land down under.”
Continent Map: this child is tracing and labeling all seven continents.
Cardinal Directions
The kindergartners learned that the cardinal directions (North, South, East and West) are the most commonly used form of directions. They discovered how to use a compass to find their way and learned that their are also primary inter-cardinal directions (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest).
Cardinal Direction Race: The kindergartners labeled the playground using the cardinal directions, then had fun racing each other toward the given direction.
Cursive Handwriting
A peak into next week: Equator, Prime Meridian and Hemispheres
