Week 19 Highlights!

What a lovely week!

Our Nora Project focus this week was how our feelings and behaviors can affect others.  Using our wrinkled heart template, we listened to scenarios, folded our paper when we felt affected by the situation, and reflected on how other's words, feelings, and behaviors can impact ourselves and our peers.  During this curriculum outcome, we will work to recognize emotion in peers and begin to develop empathy.

During our Shared Reading, we focused on the poem, Arctic Animals. We used this poem to explore letters, sounds, rhyming words and print concepts.  We introduced two new snap words this week.  Our new snap words are up and it.  Please practice identifying, reading, and writing our snap words with your child at home.

We continue to explore letter-sound correspondence in our Phonics curriculum, Word Scientists.  This week we reviewed the blends and digraph chart.  We used this resource to write and read beginnings blends.  Take a peek at our blends detectives.

In Reader's Workshop, we continued our third unit, Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles.  This week we added the blends and digraphs chart to our book bins to help us read consonant clusters at the beginnings of words.  We practiced checking our reading to make sure that it makes sense, sounds right, and looks right.  We also introduced new reading partners.  Take a peek at our kindergarten readers!

Our Read Aloud of the week was Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport.  Our comprehension focus was identifying main idea and key details, sequencing events, and making connections.  Please ask your child to share the life of Martin Luther King Jr. using their retell strip.

During Daily Five word work stations this week, used play-dough to make our names, created name puzzles, made name necklaces, matched letter and picture puzzles, composed letters using wood pieces and practiced phonemic awareness and phonics skills using Lexia.  We practiced labeling pictures at the writing table.  We began our fourth phonics sort in our Words Their Way curriculum this week.  We practiced many of our new routines and procedures when cutting, sorting, and gluing pictures into correct categories.  We also played partner sort and minute to win it.  Please ask your child to share their sound sort with you.  Please ask your child what was their favorite daily five station this week.

This week during Writer's Workshop, we continued to explore narrative writing our Writing For Readers unit.  This week we reviewed how to write a narrative story, use our writing checklists, and worked in partnerships to help make our writing the best it can be.  We introduced using mental and written images to revise our writing. Take a peek at our kindergarten writers!

In Whole Group Math, we continue to explore measurement and data in the third Eureka Math module.   This week we reviewed comparing numbers and quantities.  Our focus vocabulary is more than, less than, and same.  We have also been practicing subitizing and writing numbers to 10.

We continued our round of Math Tubs which include: teen number identification, addition to ten, nonstandard measurement, subitizing, dice addition, number writing, BUMP, and Zearn.  Take a peek at our math tub partners hard at work.

We began our first lesson in our Materials and Motion science unit this week.  We identified, explored, and sorted wood and plastic.  Please ask your child to name and describe these two materials at home.

Upcoming Dates

• January 20th--MLK Jr. Day-NO SCHOOL
• January 21st--Coffee with Mr. Hodge-8:00-9:00am
• January 30th--Parent-Teacher Conferences-please make sure to take a peek at our sign up
• January 31st--Parent-Teacher Conferences 1/2 day-11am dismissal