A Peek Into Reading Group

In reading group we read the Mo Willems’ book I Am Invited to a Party! In the story, Piggie gets invited to a party and asks Elephant to come with him. They do not know what type of party it is, so they discuss how they should dress. They end up dressing for a fancy, costume, pool party.

After each reading the kindergartners completed different activities. They wrote about what they were wondering about, and what kind of party they would want to go to. Then, they drew what they thought Elephant and Piggie did at the party, and what they would wear if they went to a party.

These students are drawing aht they would wear if they went to a party.
The kindergartners are drawing what they think Piggie and Elephant did at the party.

 

A Peek Into the Next Weeks

-The students will be reading Waiting is so Hard

-The students will participate in comprehension and evaluative  activites.

-The students will participate in discussion about the story.


A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of October 21st

Classroom: Pumpkins

This week the students learned all about pumpkins and the different parts like: flesh, pulp, stem, seeds and rind. They were able to explore the inside of a pumpkin  by digging out the insides and touching the seeds and pulp. The students also created a venn diagram of apples and pumpkins.

A peek into next week: Bats

Kindergarten: Parts of Plants

The students 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.

A peek into next week: Addition

Reminders:

11/1 Halloween Party

11/ 14 Operation Christmas Child | Packing Party

11/22 Fall Progress Reports

11/2711/29 Thanksgiving Break | NO SCHOOL

Enrichment Highlight:
First belt test of the year!!!

Work Time:

Brown Stairs: This child is showing his grandparents how he can build the brown stairs by visually discriminating them from thickest to thinest.
Sound Cylinders: This child is showing her grandma how she can shake each cylinder and listen carefully to the sound then find its match.
USA Puzzle: This child is showing his grandma how he can independently put the USA puzzle together and name the states.
Trinomial Cube: This child is showing her grandpa that she knows how to build the trinomial cube by matching all the red sides to the red cube, all blue sides to the blue cube and all yellow sides to the yellow cube.
Pyramid Puzzle: This child is showing his grandma that he can match the different colors and shapes together in order to complete and create the pyramid shape.

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of October 14th

Classroom: Apples

This week the students learned all about apples and all the parts that make up an apple like the skin, flesh, core, seeds and stem. The students enjoyed tasting different types of apples: granny smith, red delicious, gala and honey crisp. They also discovered what the inside of an apple looks like and how apples grow.  The students even had the chance to do apple stamping and make homemade applesauce.

A peek into next week: Pumpkins

Kindergarten: Parts of Animals (mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians, insects and arachnids)

The kindergarten students learned the characteristics and body parts of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish by using and working with the animal puzzles and control charts in the classroom.

A peek into next week: Parts of Plants

Reminders:

10/24 Grandparents Day

11/1 Halloween Party

Enrichment Highlight:

In music class this week the students sang Skinnamarink and played tambourines.

Work Time:

Shoe Tying: This child is learning how to care for himself while developing a sense of independence and refining his fine motor skills and coordination of movements to successfully tie a shoe.
Cursive Chalkboard Writing: This child is practicing writing his first name in cursive on a chalkboard. He is developing multiple skills involving his eyes, arms, hands, memory, posture and body control.
Color Box 4: This child is grading different colors from darkest to lightest, while also refining his sense of sight.
Sandpaper Numbers: This child is learning the symbols for the numbers through the sense of touch and sight.

A Peek into Reading Group

These past two weeks, we read the Mo Willems’ book We Are in a Book. In this book the characters figure out they are in a book. They decide that it would be fun to make the readers say words. This amuses them a lot, and they continue to make the reader say words. Gerald finds out that the book is going to end and this makes him sad, so he and Piggie ask to be read again.

After I read aloud to the students, we had discussions about the book,  they drew scenes from the story, wrote about what they were wondering during the story, and wrote about how the characters felt in the story. For the last reading, we made puppets and the students acted out the story with their puppets while I read.

These students are drawing a scene from the book.
The kindergartners made puppets to act out the story.

A Peek Into the Next Two Weeks

-The students will listen to the Mo Willems’ book I Am Invited to a Party! 

-The students will participate in group discussions.

-The students will complete comprehension activities.


A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of October 7th

Classroom: Leaves

This week the students learned that a leaf is one of the most important parts of a plant. They discovered that leaves produce food for the plant through a process called photosynthesis, and that leaves of different plants vary widely in size, shape and color. Also, the students learned the life cycle of a leaf and why leaves change color in the fall. They discovered the different parts of a leaf like: veins, blade, midrib, petiole and stipule.

A peek into next week: Apples

Kindergarten: Biggest (galaxy) to Smallest (person/atom)

This week the kindergarten students started forming an understanding of their relationship to the larger world. They discovered that different places exists within a larger place. They reviewed their place in the universe and geographic location.

A peek into next week: Parts of Animals (mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, amphibians, insects and arachnids)

Reminders:

10/17 Picture Day

10/18 Bring Your Parent to Work Time

10/24 Grandparents Day

11/1 Halloween Party

Enrichment Highlight:

Freestyle poses at the end of a new combination the students learned this week during dance class!

Work Time:

Bead Stringing Patterns: This child is developing an understanding that a pattern is something that repeats itself, while also refining her fine motor skills to string beads.
Sandpaper Numbers: This child is demonstrating his knowledge that each number is made up of separate quantities. He is also able to visually see the sequence of numbers and how many separate units go together to form each number.
Pyramid Puzzle: This child is matching the different colors together in order to create the pyramid shape. This puzzle involves not only the ability to concentrate but the ability problem solve.

A Peek Into Reading Group

Over the past two weeks, we read the book My New Friend Is So Fun. In this book, Elephant and Snake find out that their best friends are playing together. They get worried that their best friends are having more fun together and will forget about them. It ends up that Piggie and Brian Bat (Elephant and Snake’s best friends) were playing best friend games. They decided to draw their best friends, Elephant and Snake. At the end the two main characters are happy their friends are having fun.

After the readings, the kindergartners participated in discussions, writing activities, and drawing activities to aid in comprehension. Once the students are finished with their papers, they share and we discuss their ideas.

The kindergartners are drawing Piggie and Brian Bat playing best friend games.
This sudent is sharing her drawing with the group.

 A Peek Into the Next Two Weeks

-The students will be listening to the Mo Willems  book, We Are in a Book.

-The students will be participating in comprehension and evaluative activities.

-The students will be participating in a craft that goes along with the story.


A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of September 30th

Classroom: Body Parts

This past week the students learned about various parts of the human body. They discovered that even though all of the components of the human body work differently, they still manage to work together. They also developed an understanding of the basic functions of the bodies main components. 

A peek into next week: Leaves

Kindergarten: Landforms

The past week the kindergarten students learned and explored the difference between a lake, island, bay, peninsula, gulf, cape, isthmus, strait, chain of lakes, and archipelago.

A peek into next week: Biggest (galaxy) to Smallest (person/atom)

Reminders:

10/17 Picture Day

10/18 Bring Your Parent to Work Time

10/24 Grandparents Day

11/1 Halloween Party

Enrichment Highlight:

This week in dance class we practiced our combinations across the floor and worked on improving our coffee grinder technique.

Work Time:

Movable Alphabet: This child is practicing blending and forming words using the different letter sounds he has mastered box, hat, drum, sled and trumpet.
Forty-Five Layout: This child is becoming familiar with the names and relative sizes of the categories: units, tens, hundreds and thousands. He is also discovering that if he has 6 units and add 1 more unit than he will have 7 units.
Pumpkin Scrubbing: This child is using many motor skills while also remembering the order and sequence of each action to successfully pumpkin scrub, which naturally leads to the development of concentration.

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of September 23rd

Classroom: Five Senses

This past week the children learned how our five senses help us understand and explore the world around us. They learned that our five senses help us collect information about ourselves and our surroundings. They also learned to identify the five senses: hearing, tasting, smelling, touching and seeing.  We discovered that sometimes we use two or more senses at once; and how important it is for our senses to work together. The children had the opportunity to practice using their senses to determine properties of objects and distinguish them from one another.

A peek into next week: Body Parts

Kindergarten: Ohio and surrounding states

This past week the kindergarten 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.

A peek into next week: Landforms

Reminders:

10/17 Picture Day

11/1 Halloween Party

Enrichment Highlight:

For science this week we mixed a thymol solution into different chemicals such as NaHSO4, citric acid, citric acid and Na2CO3, NaHCO3 and Na2CO3. The students discovered that the color changed based on the pH level. We talked about how a pH level is either alkaline (higher than 7), neutral or acidic (lower than 7).

Work Time:

Movable Alphabet: This child is practicing matching and identifying cursive letters and print letters a through g.
USA Map: These children are learning the names of the states and where they are located on a map.
Object to Picture: This child is identifying and matching different objects to their pictures.

A Peek at Our Week | Ms. Courtney’s Classroom | Week of September 16th

Classroom: Feelings and Emotions

This week the students learned what they can do when they are angry, happy, sad, frustrated, excited etc. They learned different ways to manage their feelings and emotions. They also practiced how to process, identify and appropriately express their emotions in different scenarios throughout the week.

A peek into next week: Five Senses

Kindergarten: 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.

A peek into next week: Ohio and surrounding states

Reminders:

9/27 Bring Your Parent to Work Time

10/17 Picture Day

Enrichment Highlight:

In art class the students discussed their feelings and emotions and then drew self portraits of how they were feeling.

Work Time:

Movable Alphabet: This child is practicing blending and forming words using the different letter sounds he has mastered mat, bag, pan, zip and cup.
Dishwashing: These children are using many motor skills while also remembering the order and sequence of each action to successfully wash dishes, which naturally leads to the development of concentration.
Forty-Five Layout: These children are becoming familiar with the names and relative sizes of the categories: units, tens, hundreds and thousands. They are also discovering that if they have 6 units and add 1 more unit they will have 7 units.
Metal Insets: This child is practicing tracing a curvilinear triangle and an ellipse . He is developing multiple skills involving his eyes, arms, hands, memory, posture and body control.

 


A Peek Into Reading Group

For the first two weeks of reading group, the students listened to a Mo Willems book, A Big Guy Took My Ball. The group followed along with me while I read aloud and liked to repeat after me. After each reading, the students completed an activity such as writing about what they were wondering during the story, drawing a scene from the story, and discussing how they would feel if they were the characters.

The group is drawing the characters all playing together in the end of the story.