Classroom News of
Room 103
Kindergarten
November 26, 2012
I hope
you all had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday with your families.
Thank
you for helping us to celebrate a fun-fulfilled Slipper Day. The children
enjoyed many literacy games and activities with Mrs. Romanovsky, Mr. Romanovsky,
Grandma Romanovsky, and Masha Romanovsky (Oliver’s family), Mrs. O'Leary
(Shannon’s Mom), Mr. Perkins (Evelyn’s Dad), Mr. Dagan (Alma’s Dad), Mr. Bain
(Catherine’s Dad), Mrs. Roebuck (Harris’ Mom), Ms. Kim (Sally’s Mom), and
Chantal Hersey (Ms. Mukai’s daughter). The
entire day was delightful for all of us!
Important
Person
Sally was our Important Person
recently. Her Mom and Dad came in for her special sharing day and helped us
learn about Korea. Sally and both of her parents were born in Korea. They moved
to the U.S. when Sally was 10 months old. We saw some video clips to help us
learn about the culture of Korea. We even saw a clip of Psy, the star of K-Pop!
We discovered that Sally would like to be a teacher when she grows up. J
Myles was our Important Person just
prior to the Presidential election. When Myles’ Mom and Dad came in for his
special sharing day, we had an election in our classroom! Myles’ Dad is a
member of Town Meeting, so he demonstrated how an election works. Myles, his
Mom, and his Dad were running for a fictional “President of Fiske School’s
playground”. Each gave a brief statement to the class of why they should be
president. Then the children each got a ballot and marked their vote. They all
put their ballot in the ballot box. The ballots were counted and we learned
that Myles won!! J We learned that Myles loves to build with cardboard. He would
like to be a “cardboard engineer” when he grows up. J
Oliver was our Important Person last
week. We learned that Oliver is a geography whiz!! His knowledge of world
geography is amazing! Oliver’s Mom and Dad taught us all a fun map game that
Oliver enjoys. The children looked for different cities on the world map that
began with the last letter of the prior city found. The children were
detectives and could have continued the game for hours. Oliver would also like
to be a teacher when he grows up. J
Language Arts
Our
literacy lessons and activities have focused on letters, letter sounds, beginning
sounds in words, rhyming, and word-building. We have also been learning about
what a “character” in a story is.
Our
letters of the week were Mm and Bb. The children practiced writing the
upper and lower case Mm’s and Bb’s in their handwriting books.
Some of our literacy centers
and activities were:
•
Poetry and Song Books
“Chicken
Soup With Rice: October”
“The
Leaves Are Changing Colors”
•
Mini-books for book boxes
What
Should I Be For Halloween
Today
I Give Thanks
•
Important Person books (for Sally, Miles and Oliver)
•
Listening Center
We’re
Off to Find the Witch’s House
Bat’s
Big Game
One
Is a Feast For Mouse
•
Beginning sounds board game
•
Beginning sounds sort
•
Syllable sort
•
First Name Lotto
Writer’s Workshop
The
children have become very enthusiastic authors! They were introduced to the Word Wall. The Word Wall is where we
post “very important words” for the children to use as a reference as they
think and write. These are words that we use frequently in our writing. We
began by examining the Word Wall and sharing what we noticed. For example, the
children noticed that the letters are in alphabetical order and that both
capital and lower case letters are displayed. Each child posted his/her own
name on the Word Wall first since the children’s names are the most important
words of all! We then posted our very first sight words: I and my. This week we
will add: a, am, the.
We
taught the children how to organize and store their writing in their writing
folders. In the right pocket, labeled
with a green dot, they store all writing that they want to keep working on. In
the left pocket, labeled with a red sticker, they store all of their finished
stories.
The
children learned how to use the ABC charts to help them find the letters that correspond
with the sounds they hear as they write.
They
were also introduced to booklets (“writing across three pages”). The children
are planning their stories so that they have a beginning, middle and an end. We
have been examining how authors include the characters feelings in their
stories. The children are beginning to add their own feelings in their writing,
as well.
Most
recently, the children selected a piece of writing to ”fix up and fancy up” for
our very first Author’s Celebration. Our lessons included how to add onto and
edit their writing, and how to add details to their illustrations.
Finally,
we celebrated the children as authors on Thursday, November 16th. During our “Author’s Celebration”, all of the
children sat in a circle, read their story and displayed their pictures. The
children did a fabulous job and were very proud of themselves. Their “fixed up
and fancied up” pieces are on display in our classroom. You will all be invited
to an Author’s Celebration later in the year.
Math
The children
continue to play numerous number and counting games. These games reinforce the
concept of counting with 1-1 correspondence, recognizing number patterns and
quantities, making numbers larger and smaller, and addition. Most recently, the
children have been thinking mathematically with number stories. We have also
been focusing on the “tricky teens.”
We do
many activities to help the children begin to subatize. Subatizing is
when we instantly recognize a quantity, such as the dot combinations on a die.
When we subatize, we are able to combine these smaller numbers to manipulate
and figure out larger numbers.
We
continue to explore, create and define shapes with geoboards, pattern blocks,
shape templates, and shape collages (which are displayed in the hallway). We
are exploring how objects are alike and different and describing the various
attributes.
Most
recently, the students have been introduced to the concept of estimation
(making a Smart Guess”). The children will rehearse estimating with our “Estimation
Jar” a few days every week and through various math center activities.
Please
play board games and card games with your children at home. They reinforce a
variety of valuable concepts and lessons!
Social Studies
We
read various Thanksgiving stories and poems, and discussed what we are all
thankful for. The children wrote about what they are thankful for and drew a
picture.
We
also read about and discussed Veteran’s Day and why we honor this important
day.
Science
Our
Fall Big Backyard Walk was great fun! Thanks to our parent volunteers, it was a
success, as the children explored and discovered many signs of life (plants and
insects). They learned about the different parts of a plant and then “recorded”
(illustrated and labeled) some of what they learned when we returned to the classroom.
These pictures will were hung on our science bulletin board in our classroom.
Rhythm Kids
Did
your children tell you about the fun they had with Rhythm Kids? The children
imagined that they were in Africa as they listened to various kinds of
instruments. This two-man drumming group had the children drumming, dancing, singing,
and smiling broadly!
Holiday Celebrations
The
holiday season is upon us and families everywhere are preparing to celebrate in
their traditional ways with family and friends. To share the diversity of our
celebrations, I invite you to come and spend some time sharing your family
traditions with your child’s class. If you are able and willing to do this,
please send me an email or write a note. Thank you!
Thank
you very much for your support. Feel free to contact me with any thoughts,
questions or concerns.
Lisa Williams
Chihiro Mukai
lwilliams@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us
Fiske
(781) 541-5001