Alyssa participated in a Special Olympics Play Day before break. She had a wonderful time completing different activities throughout the day. Her favorite event was bowling. We were all so proud of the ribbon she earned that day.
Our Elf on the Shelf arrived today! Students were so surprised and excited that The Book Fairy and Santa left us this wonderful gift. Of course, we had to give our elf a name. To do so, we voted on a name and created a graph. The five names voted upon were: Smarty, Cookie, Buddy, Fred, and George. As you can see in the graph below, the name Cookie won by a landslide! Cookie will fly to and from the North Pole to report if my students are doing their best work and are respecting one another. It will be fun to see where and what the elf will be doing each morning when we come to school. With the beginning of the new trimester already a week underway, we are hard at work learning all sorts of new things. Here is what we are learning about in the following subject areas:
Reading We have been reading and studying various nonfiction books to learn more about the text features that are in nonfiction books. In addition, we have been learning the importance of comprehending a story. We have been practicing retelling fiction stories, focusing on who is in the story (characters), what happened in the story (plot), and where the story took place (setting). We will be learning about problems and solutions in stories. If you haven't heard yet, we now have I-Pad Minis to use in our classroom. We are currently using them during our reading time. As one of their 5 choices, students are able to "Listen to Reading" for 15-20 minutes of their reading time using the I-Pad Minis. We are using the Raz-Kids App right now, but we will purchase other apps to allow more options for Listen to Reading. Writing In conjunction with reading, we have been learning about non-fiction books. Once we have developed a list of text features commonly found in nonfiction books, we will begin to write our own non-fiction books. These books will be about an animal of their choice. In the next week, your child will bring home a research page regarding his/her chosen animal. Please help your child fill out the information and possibly print out some pictures for their books. This work will be really helpful when your child writes his/her book. To assist with your child's research, you may want to consider using the new accessible site called Pebble Go. Pebble Go provides kid-friendly information on animals, people, and earth/space. This site can be found on the Learning Websites tab on my blog. A sheet came home earlier this week with our school's log-in information. You should definitely check this out with your child! Math We have been learning more about teen numbers and how teen numbers are ten and some more. We have done a lot of problem solving using ten-frames, which has really helped us recognize what a group of 10 looks like. Students have learned that when a 10-frame is filled, they don't need to count every single item in the frame. Instead, they can say 10 and count on from that number. Students are learning that this is a much faster and more efficient way to count. Students are also learning about the concept of one more and one less. We have referred to these numbers as neighboring numbers. Some skills you can work on at home this trimester are: *counting to 100 by ones *counting to 100 by tens *counting to 100 by fives *writing numbers to 20 Science We are currently learning about various body parts and their functions. Within this unit, we will learn more about the 5 senses. Social Studies In Social Studies, we are continuing to learn more about how we are all alike and different. We will be learning about how we, as humans, are constantly changing. We will learn how we have all changed over time and will focus on the terms past, present, and future. At some point this year, students will create a time line and a book about how they have changed over time. It was a big week at Kreft! In the midst of the cold temperatures and the end of the trimester testing, we received a new slide on the playground. The old slide had been broken all year, so getting a new slide was a HUGE deal to my kindergartners. In addition, we hadn't had recess all week, so when Friday came, they were extremely ready to play and have fun. The new slide was like the new shiny red toy at Christmas...the students couldn't get enough of it. The line to get on the slide consisted of roughly 100 students that went from the slide all the way to the building. It was one of the craziest things I have ever witnessed in my teaching career! I hope the pictures captured the joy and excitement my students felt.
With the end of the third trimester coming to a close, we have been working very hard these last three weeks trying to wrap up our units. Here is what we have been working on in the following subjects: Reading In reading, students have begun to learn more about the different components of reading: comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary. The two components we have focused on have been comprehension and accuracy. Students understand that comprehension is the most important component of reading. If someone is just reading the words on the page and is not thinking about the text, he/she is missing the purpose of reading. Readers MUST think about the text as they read. Students have learned to stop and check for understanding. If they can't retell what they just read (who, where, and what happened), they should go back and reread. Students are continuing to learn accuracy strategies as well. To help students read words correctly, they are learning to check the pictures and find the first sound of the unknown word to help them decode. Students are also continuing to learn how important it is to accurately point to words when first learning how to read. Pointing to words helps us focus on each word as we read, which ultimately helps us learn words. As students become better readers, they do not need their finger there to anchor their eyes. At a certain point, students are able to read and track just with their eyes. Students have learned our last two Daily 5 choices: Listen to Reading and Word Work. For Listen to Reading, students are simply listening to books on CD. We just received 4 I-Pad Minis, so we will also add these to the mix. The hardest part about this choice is really learning how to handle the tools independently. Students had to learn how to put the CD into the CD player, how to push play, how to put the materials away, etc. The same will be true for the I-Pad Minis. I will have to teach students exactly how to listen to reading on that device. For Word Work, students have learned how to put words in ABC order. In each of the word work stations, students are placing 10 names in ABC order and then recording their work. Students picked up this concept fairly quickly, and have even learned what to do when there are two words/names that start with the same letter (they look at the 2nd letter). They have learned why this is an important skill, as many real world items are categorized in this way. Here are some pictures from Listen to Reading and Word Work. The words that students place in ABC order will change throughout the year as will the books that students listen to. Also, Word Work will soon include making words with magnetic letters. Students will learn more about word families (words that end with -at: mat, pat, fat, rat, sat, etc.). The tasks will change in Word Work, but what will remain the same is that students are working with words during this time. Math
Students have been learning more about numbers and equality. Equality is a concept that is very easily overlooked in math. When asked even as adults, many people wouldn't be able to tell you that the "equal sign" means "the same as". In kindergarten, students are already learning what the equals sign means. The way we first attempt to understand this concept is through True/False statements. I show my students various number sentences, and they decide if the statement is true or false. Here are some of the examples: 5=5 (True) 6=6 (True) 6=5 (False) 6=5+1 (True) Many students think this one is false because they just see 6=5 and they think it's false. 5+1=6 (True) Ironically enough, students usually figure out that this one is true because of the way the numbers are laid out. These equality sentences will get more difficult as the year goes on. It's been pretty amazing to see how quickly my students have caught on to the concept of equality! Feel free to try some of these statements at home. Students are also learning terms such as MORE or LESS. Students are asked to determine which number is more and which number is less when comparing numbers. When the equality sentence is not equal, or false, we figure out which side is more and which side is less. Students have continued to focus on counting. What we expect students to be able to do this trimester is: count by ones to 50 (1-50) and count by tens to 50 (10, 20, 30, 40, 50). We are also working on counting by twos to 20 and fives to 50. By the end of the year, students will be expected to count by ones, fives, and tens to 100. Please reinforce these counting skills at home. This can be done as you're driving, cooking, etc. Students are also expected to write their numbers to 10 by the end of the first trimester, however, many of my students are working on writing numbers to 20 and numbers past 100. To help with these various skills, students are currently rotating through three math stations each day: Math by Myself (counting or writing numbers), Math with Someone (some sort of math game that reinforces number sense), and Math with the Teacher (problem solving). Writing I have never been more impressed with my students' writing than I have been this year! It has been so wonderful to read my students' amazing writing and to see their progress in this area. It's very obvious my students truly see themselves as authors and illustrators. We have continued to learn about adding details to our pictures and words (who, what, and where). We have also continued to work on leaving spaces, saying individual sounds in words slowly, matching our pictures to our words, and rereading our writing to see if it makes sense. The main thing my students have focused on these past few weeks has been using tools to help us write. Students have learned how important it is to use the word wall words to help them write unknown words, their spacemen to help them leave spaces, and their letter charts to help them write letters and hear letter sounds. All of these skills have been applied when writing personal narratives, or true stories from our lives. We have been writing 'ooh-ooh' stories these past few weeks, which are exciting things that happen to us. My students have learned that these are the perfect stories to write about. Science/Social Studies We have somewhat combines our science and social studies concepts these past few weeks. In science, we have continued sorting different materials (this is also one of our math concepts). One of the main items we have sorted over the past few weeks has been people. Each student has received their own set of students' names and pictures to sort. Initially, students focused their sorts on the names (the number of letters, the beginning sounds, the number of syllables). Now, students are sorting based on appearances. In social studies, we have learned about how people are alike and different. Students are sorting the name cards based on how we are the same or different. I have been so impressed with the sorting rules they have come up with: students who are wearing bows/students who are not wearing bows students who have long hair/students who have short hair students who have earrings/students who do not have earrings students who are wearing stripes/students who are not wearing stripes students who are boys/students who are girls students who have curly hair/students who have straight hair students who have buttons on their shirts/students who don't The list could go on and on. We are realizing that there are endless ways to sort people. It's been a really fun way to get to know one another even more than we did before. We all had so much fun at the Fall Party! With six stations, we were extremely busy throughout the entire party. Here are the pictures from each of the stations: Cookie Decorating Pumpkin Bowling/Eyeball Race Eyeball Candles In case your child didn't tell you, we did not have time to draw the "eyes" on the candles. There has just been so much to do at school, I decided that this could be something easy students could do at home. If you have time, have your child make dots inside each of the holes with a black permanent marker. These holes will now look like "eyeballs". Scarecrow Pictures On Friday, I sent home a picture of your child from the Fall Party. This picture can be used to go into the picture frame your child decorated at the Fall Party. Sorry I didn't get done with this sooner. If you do not like the picture I sent home or it doesn't fit, feel free to print a different picture off of the blog. Halloween Bingo Picture Frame Decorating
Our study trip to The Children's Museum was so much fun. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to chaperone students at the museum. With so many helpers, I was able to divide students into small, manageable groups. It was so much easier and much more enjoyable to explore the exhibits in the museum as a small group. My students seemed to like the farm, career, and Halloween exhibits the best.
It's been a few months since school started, and things have really begun to take shape in our classroom. Procedures are in place, small and whole group instruction is happening, and a true community has been developed. My students have already taken off in their learning, and I believe it's in large part due to the fact that routines have been established. Once students know what is expected of them and are able to carry those expectations out, we are able to move onto the curriculum. Here is what we have been learning these past few weeks:
Reading Students have learned 4 of the Daily 5 choices. They have been practicing Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, and Listen to Reading. Once students were independent with these four choices and could maintain stamina for about 20 minutes, I was able to consistently meet with Guided Reading groups. Currently, I am able to meet with 3 groups every day; however, I am hoping that, by the end of this week, I will be able to meet with 4 groups per day. It is truly in these small groups where I feel I can best teach my students and meet their individual needs. Each group centers around specific skills and strategies to push my students forward in the area of reading. Because of this focused instruction, I have already seen a lot of improvement in my students' reading since this type of instruction has begun. The four main components that each group is based on consists of: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary (the acronym CAFE supports these four skill areas). The majority of my groups are working on Accuracy. The main strategy that each of my accuracy reading groups are working on is: "Find the first part and look through the whole word." Students are taught that when they come to words they don't know, they are to find the first part of the word (I usually have them frame the first one or two letters of the word with their pointer fingers and say those sounds) and then look through the rest of the word. This strategy really helps students to look at the first sound(s) of the word to help think of a word that matches that beginning sound. One of my groups is working on comprehension. These students are learning that comprehension is the main purpose of reading. All readers read to understand the words. If we're not thinking about what we're reading, we're not doing our job as a reader. The strategy these students are focusing on to help them understand what they're reading is: "Check for understanding." Students are taught to stop and check for understanding. If students are not able to retell what they just read, students are then supposed to "Go back and reread." These two strategies alone will help students become more aware of what they are reading. Even though groups are focused on different components of reading, I teach each component to the entire class in my whole group lessons. All student learn different accuracy strategies and comprehension strategies. Students have learned that there are 3 ways to read a book:
To sum this up, all students are learning how to read the words accurately and how to retell stories. Writing Students are still writing personal narratives, or true stories from their lives. To help students accomplish this goal, students have had to learn how to write. Similar to reading, students have learned that there are three ways to write:
Students have learned how to stretch words out slowly like bubble gum to hear all of the sounds. They have also learned that stories consist of a beginning, middle, and an end. I have modeled how personal narratives can be told through the use of sequence words (first, next, then, last, finally, etc.). In addition, students are learning how to decide if their story is done. A story needs to include who, what, and where on each of their pages and needs to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. They are also learning that the cover of their book needs to include a title, the name of the author, and a picture of what the book is about. One more thing students are learning is that their pictures and words need to match and that a writer must stay on topic throughout the whole story. I know it probably seems like a lot, but my students are picking up these amazing writing skills. I am really proud of the work they are producing. At this rate, my students' writing will soon look more like first grade writing! Math Not only has our classroom begun to take shape, but we have been learning about shapes as well. In math, students have been learning all about 2 and 3-d shapes. They have learned the attributes of each shape. The main shapes we are focusing on are: square, rectangle, circle, triangle, hexagon (2-d shapes) and cone, cylinder, cube, and sphere (3-d shapes). Students have had opportunities to make these shapes out of play-do, which was really interesting. This activity, alone, forced students to really notice the difference between 2 and 3-d shapes, or as we've dubbed them, "flat and fat" shapes. Students have learned that shapes are all around us and that our world is made up of shapes. To continue working on recognizing these shapes, have your child try to point out various shapes in the world around them. As you're riding in the car, ask your child, "Do you see any cylinders?" (or any shape, really). In addition to learning about shapes, students have continued to work on counting efficiently and accurately. One of the ways I have been teaching students to count faster is through a game called Dot Card Flash. I have dot cards that I show my students for only 3 seconds. Students are forced to see numbers in groups. For example, on one card, there is a group of 5 dots (similar to what it looks like on a dice) and two more dots off to the side. When shown the card quickly, students are taught to see numbers in groups and then count on. I have taught them, if you see this group of 5 dots, you should think 5 in your head, and count on two more (5, 6, 7). Students are beginning to understand what a group of 3, 4, and 5 dots looks like. This game also helps students to develop early addition skills. For example, the card with 5 dots in the middle and two dots off to the side, students can see 5 and can count on two more. Speaking of addition, students are also beginning to learn how to solve story problems. This next week, students will begin to work with me in small groups to solve various story problems. At first, these will be addition story problems, but throughout the year, students will be asked to solve subtraction problems as well. All of these random counting, problem solving, and subitizing (recognizing dots quickly), activities will help students develop a deep understanding of numbers. Science Students are still working on sorting in science. Students have played the game, guess my sorting rule many times. This game is played by someone sorting a group of objects, and then other students trying to guess the sorting rule. A sorting rule is simply the way objects are sorted. Students have truly become critical thinkers through our practice with sorting. I have noticed that their sorting rules have become more sophisticated. Many of my students are beyond sorting by color, shape, and size. Rather, students are sorting by material, texture, use, etc. I have been extremely impressed by the critical thinking skills students are developing. Social Studies Students are learning how we are all alike and different. They are also learning how we have changed and how we will continue to change over time. We have examined how we all look different and how our names are different too. We will look at pictures of Ms. Benson and she has changed over time. Eventually, students will examine pictures of themselves as babies and toddlers and see how they have changed as well. We had a wonderful time at the ballet, hosted by Iowa Western Community College. We saw the story of Giselle. Students were truly in awe of all the beautiful dancing and movements happening on stage. This may have been the first time many of my students have watched a story told only through movements and music. It was an enriching experience to say the least. As always, here are the pictures from our trip.
From The Rose Theater study trip to learning in our classroom, students have been having a lot of fun these past few weeks! My students aren't the only ones having a great time in school. I have also had a fabulous couple of weeks getting to know my students as individuals. Often, kindergartners come to school timid and shy, taking a few weeks for them to feel comfortable and confident. In just a short amount of time, I have seen my students blossom, truly letting their little (or big, in some cases) personalities shine. Seeing my students learn and grow so quickly has been a rewarding experience to say the least! As I've said before, the purpose of this blog is to truly make you feel a part of our classroom without really having to be there. I want this site to be a window into the learning that takes place at school. I will do my best to update you with the big and small moments that make up our day. Let's start with the study trip to The Rose Theater. The Rose Theater Study Trip The trip to The Rose Theater was one of my favorite study trips I have ever been on. Three beloved books by Eric Carle came to life on stage in the form of puppets. It's hard to describe how this all works, but I will do my best. There are people dressed in black moving the puppets on stage, but the audience can't see them at all. There is a black light that highlights the colorful puppets so that they are the only things the audience is able to see. The puppets honestly look as if they are moving on their own, which made it a very magical experience for my students. The three books we saw come to life were: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Little Cloud, and The Mixed-Up Chameleon. If you haven't read these books, I would suggest buying them or checking them out at the library. Here are some pictures from our trip. Notice how fabulous we all looked in our crazy socks and our caterpillar necklaces made out of shapes! Reading My students absolutely LOVE to read. Some of the skills they have learned have been using the pictures to help them read the words, pointing to each word as they read, and saying the first sound of a word when coming to an unknown word. These skills have helped my students further develop their understanding of how to read. It helps that they have received several books at their level from "The Book Fairy". I have found over the years that if students continually get new books to read, their interest in reading grows. My students have loved receiving new books that are "just right" for them. During my students' independent reading time, I have been assessing each student, testing them on various reading skills. One of my main jobs as a teacher is to find exactly what each student already knows and what he/she needs to work on. This isn't just the case in reading, but rather, in each subject area. This is especially important in the area of reading because if students are reading books that are too easy for them, they aren't being challenged. And if students are reading books that are too challenging, they can become frustrated. It's my job to find a reading level that is "just right" for each child. I will be sharing these "just right" levels with you at conferences. I will also begin Guided Reading next week, which is when I am able to meet with small groups of students on reading. These groups typically comprise of students who are reading at the same level. For the first few weeks, I will meet with students every other day. By the middle of October, I plan to meet with each student every day in the area of reading. Writing Writing has quickly become one of my students' favorite things to do at school. All of my students love to write and draw true stories from their lives, and they have enjoyed learning new writing skills to help them accomplish this task. Much of my teaching these past few weeks has dealt with adding details to their pictures and their words to help tell the story. The details we have focused on have included: who, what, and where. Every story must tell who the story is about, what happened in that story, and where the story took place. My students have also continued learning how to stretch out words like bubble gum to help hear all of the sounds. My students are getting better at this already. It's amazing to be able to read their writing without them having to "read" it (or decode it) to me. A very exciting writing tool was introduced earlier this week: spacemen! These are simply small wooden clothespins that are painted to look like a spaceman. This tool is placed after each word to help students leave spaces between words. This tool has also made it easier to read my students' writing. I've collected most of my students' writing pieces since the beginning of the year. My plan is to, at the end of each trimester, place each piece into a folder to send home with your child. That way, you can truly see the progression of their writing development. I look forward to sharing several of your child's writing pieces with you at conferences. Math Students have been hard at work learning more about shapes and counting. Most days, students have had a chance to count objects using various tools such as ten frames and number lines. Similar to reading, I have figured out what students need to work on when it comes to counting. Some students are counting groups of objects less than 10, and some students are counting groups of objects near 100. This is all decided based on what students need to work on. Students are finding efficient and accurate ways to count by grouping objects in easier counting groups (fives or tens) and lining up objects while counting. They have also worked on recording their number and counting strategy. Our unit on shapes has been a very fun experience. Students are learning what 2 and 3-d shapes are, as well as specific names of shapes. They have also learned what the attributes of each shape are. Yes, they have actually learned what the word "attributes" means. They understand that this is how shapes are described. Students have also learned that shapes are all around us and that they make up our world. Some new learning that took place this week was that shapes can make up other shapes. Students came up with a list of all the ways to make a hexagon. Who knew there were so many ways? Science Sorting has been the big concept we have focused on in science. Students have learned that there are many ways to sort objects. They have also learned that our entire world can be sorted, and that sorting is a skill scientists use every day. Students have had the chance to sort several items independently this week. These items have included: shapes, picture cards, and buttons. Students have been able to come up with their own sorting rules, which originally consisted of color, size, and shape. This past week, however, I noticed that students' sorting rules have become much more sophisticated. One student came up with the sorting rule of 'things that hold items' and 'things that don't hold items' when sorting food picture cards. She explained, "A banana peel holds a banana, and a soup bowl holds soup." I was truly amazed at not only her smart thinking, but by many other students' thinking as well. One connection my students made this week was that objects can be sorted by attributes, which is a term we learned about in math. I love when students make connections across the curricular areas! Funny Moment of the Week
How I wish you could be flies on the wall to see and hear all of the conversations that take place in our classroom. One hilarious moment that took place earlier this week was when I was talking about Eric Carle, the author. As students learn about authors, I often refer to them by their first name to make it more personable. The conversation went something like this: Ms Benson: In most of his books, Eric drew all of the pictures and wrote all of the words. He's an author and an illustrator, which is really neat. Rylee: Hey! I know who Eric is! He's a good friend of Ariel's in The Little Mermaid. Ms. Benson: Well, sweetie, that was Prince Eric. This is Eric Carle, the author and illustrator of this book. Rylee: Oh... And this, folks, is why I love my job so much. Seriously! I can't make this stuff up. The conversations and moments are truly unpredictable! As I said in the blog earlier this week, students have been busy learning routines and procedures. Now that these routines and procedures have become pretty automatic, we have been able to focus more of our attention on the curriculum. Please read the sections below to see what we've been learning in the areas of reading, writing, math, and science. Reading Students have been hard at work learning the routines and procedures for Readers' Workshop. Once this workshop is fully up and running, students will be able to independently perform the following tasks: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Listen to Reading, and Word Work. Each day, students will have an opportunity to choose 4 of the 5 tasks to complete, while I work with small groups on specific reading skills. Although it will take a few months for students to become independent with all of these tasks, it will pay off in the long run. As I've witnessed these past few years, students learn exponentially more throughout the year with the implementation of this structure compared to a year without this structure. Already, my students have become independent with Read to Self, and are on their way to being independent with Read to Someone and Work on Writing. To help students become independent with each of these components, I have created anchor charts with my students on the specific step-by-step instructions they are to do with each task. Pictures have also been added to these charts. They serve as visual reminders on what to do for each component of the Readers' Workshop (see procedures and pictures below for Read to Self). Once a chart has been created, students directly practice each item, and slowly, but surely, they build stamina. Our first day of Read to Self, my students were able to read independently for 2 minutes. The second day practicing Read to Self, students were able to read independently for 3 minutes. I am proud to say that we are now able to read independently for 35 minutes! It's really amazing, considering many of my students don't exactly know how to "read" just yet. Even though not all of my students can read words, ALL of my students can successfully read the pictures. Students have learned that there are two ways (as of now) to read a book: through pictures and through words. They will soon learn that they can also read a book by retelling the story. This beginning skill of reading pictures will help students quickly develop the skills necessary to read the words. I have also done many lessons on how to read books: how to hold a book, how to point to the words as we read, how to use the pictures to help us read the words, and how to get our mouths ready to say the first sound when we come to an unknown word. "The Book Fairy" has also been extremely motivating in our reading adventure. She leaves books and materials in a book basket each day to help us become better readers. Oh, how my students LOVE The Book Fairy. They truly believe she is a magical creature who wants them to love reading as much as she does. My students have already received individual books from The Book Fairy to add to their reading box. These are the books that they know really well and can practice throughout the Readers' Workshop. Students have absolutely LOVED receiving these new books! Here are the pictures and procedures from Read to Self: Find Bubble Spot Get Started Right Away Read the Whole Time Quiet...Shhh!!! Writing Similar to our Readers' Workshop, we also have a Writers' Workshop. Essentially, it's the same concept: students learn to work independently so that the teacher can work with students individually. We started off slowly, creating an anchor chart to know exactly what to do during this time. We also took pictures to help us remember each of the procedures. We have also been building stamina. Students have gone from being able to write independently for 5 minutes to being able to write independently for 35 minutes. I have also done many lessons on how to write. Students understand that there are two ways (at this point) to write: drawing the pictures and writing the words. Currently, students are learning that they can add details to both their pictures and their words. All of my students feel successful at this point because they understand that even if they can't write yet, they can draw pictures to help tell the story. I am truly amazed at my students' writing and illustrating thus far. After several lessons on how to stretch out words and write down sounds, nearly all of my students have attempted to incorporate words into their writing. We are currently writing true stories from our lives (personal narratives). We have been reading personal narratives written by published authors to help us learn how to write this particular kind of book. Students have learned that some of the smallest moments in our lives can make the best of stories. They have embraced this concept, and I am loving the stories my students are sharing. Currently, I am keeping their writing pieces in individual files. At the end of each trimester, I will put the pieces into a book for you to keep. In the meantime, I am trying to copy a writing piece once a week so you can see their writing progression. Here are the pictures and procedures from Writers' Workshop: Find Bubble Spot Get Started Right Away Write the Whole Time Quiet...Shhh!!! Math In math, we have been learning several routines and procedures as well. This is the first year I am attempting to do the Math Workshop approach. Very similar to the Readers' Workshop and the Writers' Workshop I just described, Math Workshop involves students working on tasks independently while the teacher works with small groups of students. These small groups of students will consist of students who are working on similar skills. I truly believe this approach will allow me to meet the individual needs of my students. I can truly challenge them exactly where they are at. Currently, we are learning the procedures for Math By Myself. This time involves counting various collections and recording their thinking. Eventually we will add more to this, but for now, this is a task that will help deepen each students' sense of numbers. Here are the routines and pictures of Math By Myself: Find Bubble Spot Get Started Right Away Count the Whole Time Quiet...Shhh!!! In addition to learning Math By Myself, we are working on Math With Someone where students play math games with a friend. We are also learning about different ways to sort and different ways to count. Students have learned that we can sort objects in many different ways: by color, shape, size, kind, and material. Students have learned that math tools can help us to count efficiently. So far, we've learned about number lines and tens frames. We are also learning about shapes. Students have learned new terms such as quadrilateral, rhombus, trapezoid, hexagon, and parallelogram. They have also learned that by putting shapes together, new shapes can be made. Students have made the observation that shapes are all around us and that they make up our world. Science
In science, we have focused our attention on sorting. We have learned that scientists sort and classify objects in the world around them. We came up with a list of things we can sort at home. Our list includes: groceries, dishes, laundry, and toys/stuffed animals. Students have had opportunities to sort these items in many different ways. The sorting rules are becoming more and more creative. Today we sorted dishes that I brought from home. The sorting rule that one student came up with was breakable dishes and dishes that won't break. I thought this was "outside of the box thinking". Students are already thinking like scientists! |
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May 2015
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