Partner Reading

Beat You To 20!

We played a new math game today called "Beat You To 20." In this game students work together to see if they can be the first to collect 20 Unifix cubes on their side of the game-board. We practiced playing as a whole group and then as a partner game. This game is stuffed full of early math skills including counting to 20, counting on, comparing quantities, reading numbers to 20 and adding 2 or more quantities.

Guest Appearance

Look who came for sharing today! :)

Which One Is Covered Up?

"Which One Is Covered Up?" Is a memory game that provides excellent opportunities for students to practice reading numerals to 10 and naming positions, using such words and phrases as below, beside, above, on top, and at the bottom. We played this game in pairs. To play one student covers a numeral while the second closes their eyes. Then he/she gets to open his/her eyes and tell which numeral was hidden. A second variation of he game goes like this: all of the numerals are hidden and one student gives a clue about which number they will uncover. For example, the student giving the clue might say "I am going to uncover the numeral that is one more than 6 but one less than 8.

Special You, Special Me

We have been learning about Martin Luther King Jr. And his dream that all people would be accepted just as they are. Today we worked on a paper quilt to show the diversity of our class. Each child worked on drawing and writing about something that makes him/her special or unique, such as a physical feature, a special ability, or a unique hobby. Here are some examples:

"My Dad is Frank."
"I can swim underwater."
"I am lactose intolerant."
"I went to the circus with my mom."
"I play hockey."
"I was born in the winter, early, because I wiggled in my Mom's belly so much."

For all 17 pictures you will have to come check out he bulletin board outside of our classroom, :)

This was a great activity, not only because of the result, but because of the process. They worked so hard and were kind and helpful with each other. I was happy to be a part of such a positive experience with this amazing group of five and six year olds!

Lining Up!

We used ten frame cards to line up before gym. Each of us had a ten frame card from one to seventeen. We had to determine the quantity of each card and then line up in order. We use ten frame cards a lot, this is just one fun example!

Community Service

The third and fourth graders came to our classroom today as a community service project. They shared a special story and then helped us create our very own classroom book! All Folsom students are participating in a community service project in honor of Martin Luther King Day. Kindergarten students are baking for the SHVFD as part of our project.

Special Guests

Our visit with Sheriff and Deputy Allen was a great success. We learned about what their job in our community is, what they wear on their belts (because we were really, really interested in that) and even got to meet Tom, their K-9 officer! Our students were polite, eager listeners and questioners!

There's A Shape In My Pocket

We played this fun guessing game on Friday to help us describe shapes by attributes, develop questioning skills and sort to solve a problem. To begin we looked closely at all of the shapes on our pocket chart and shared observations with each other. Here are some of our observations:

"There is a pattern."
"There are lots of different shapes"
"I see yellow, red and blue circles."
"There are triangles, circles, rectangles, and squares."
"Some are big and some are little."

After we really looked the cards over I told the students that I had a copy of one of the shapes in my pocket. They could each ask me a question to eliminate shapes from the pocket chart and eventually identify the shape in my pocket. They asked great questions, using what they knew about shapes. Here are some examples:

"Is it yellow?"
"Are all the sides the same length?"
"Are the sides curved or straight?"
"Does it have 3 corners?"
"Is it large or small?"

We played 3 times because everybody wanted a turn to ask their question!

Library Day

One of the best things about Thursday is library with Mrs. Hayes! The next best thing is free choice time follows our library time so there is time to enjoy good books with good friends!

January

This is what our number corner looks like now! We have had a lot of practice composing shapes by adding a triangle each day,

Reading, Reading & More Reading!

Skippyjon Jones

We read our first Skippyjon Jones book during read aloud in preparation for our trip to the Flynn at the end of the month. Our guest reader Windy gave us a great introduction to these funny stories. Thanks Windy!

Fundations

We had FUN during Fundations today with an activity called "Echo/Find Letters." I said a letter sound and when students were able to identify the sound they could move it from their letter tile board. Then I handed each student a letter sound card and put them in charge! They had the choice of telling us the letter they were holding by telling us the letter name, sound or keyword and then putting it back on the class alphabet chart.

Fundations Comprehension

One component of our Fundations program includes practicing comprehension. In Kindergarten we begin to develop comprehension by listening. Oral stories are acted out with Echo and Baby Echo puppets. In these pictures we are learning to re-tell the story in our own words. While we re-tell a previously heard story, Penny is illustrating it. Next time we will transcribe the words.

Read Aloud

Publication Party!

Today was not our typical writing workshop because today we stopped to celebrate our writing accomplishments. We began by sharing a piece of writing through an exercise called "reading into the circle." Each student read their piece while everyone else listened until we made it all around the circle. These pieces were then used to create a class book of our favorite writing samples. It is in our classroom library. After that, we shared an apple juice toast, congratulating each other for all we have learned and accomplished!

Number Memory

A game of number memory with our classroom iPad. Students tap to flip, identify the numeral (with a number line when necessary), and then try to find its match.

Ladybug Chart & Observations

Math

Today we made ladybugs that we will later use to help us practice counting by 2's. Each lady bug has 2 wings, 2 spots, 2 antennae and 6 legs. Tomorrow we are going to create a chart with our ladybugs that increases by one with each row. Look for it, as well as for our observations, on our outside bulletin board.

What's At The End?

In this activity students practice isolating and identifying final phonemes. Each student chooses a letter card, finds two picture cards that end in the same sound, make all the matches, turn over the cards to check, and then complete a related activity sheet.

January Number Corner

We have figured out the pattern on our January calendar!!! The first marker in the sequence shows a green triangle pattern block. The second shows a blue rhombus. The third shows a red trapezoid. The fourth shows a red trapezoid and a greed triangle. We think that a triangle is added each day, and sometimes are used to compose different shapes (2 triangles make a rhombus). We are looking forward to Monday when we are able to see markers 5, 6 &7!

This month provides us with another way of thinking about patterns, because up until now, much of our learning has focused on repeating patterns, such as AB or ABC patterns. The markers this month are designed to help us understand that a pattern can also be a sequence of shapes or numbers that grows or increases in a predictable way.

January Number Corner is exploding with learning opportunities including the following skills & concepts:
Identify, describe, and compare triangles, rhombuses, trapezoids, and hexagons
Combine shapes to create two-dimensional objects
Describe simple growing patterns with shapes
Analyze simple repeating and growing relationships to extend patterns
Use cardinal and ordinal numbers