More workstations

 

This morning I changed workstations to better fit what we are learning in the classroom.  Ask your child which ones they like working at?

 

 

Blue sand is a favourite activity.  Students use small spoons to fill the bottles with the sand.  Students start to learn about capacity at this station.

Students have lots of counting practice at Domino parking lot. 
They have to park the dominoes in the correct space from 0 - 12.

Unifix cubes are a great tool to create patterns with.

Students have white boards, printing boards and printing books to practice printing with.

Students can play Tic Tac Toe  - a wonderful strategy game.

Dice games reinforce counting. 
My goal is that children will soon learn to read the dice without having to count the dots every time.

A big book and wiki-sticks equals lots of fun.  These students were looking for a few of the sight words we are learning.  They put the wiki-stick around each word they find.  They can also find letters they know. 

Students love writing notes to Mrs. Dankwerth, Mrs. Heisler and Mrs. Gross.  This center works on printing skills and creating their own writing topics.

They also love writing notes to each other

I have introduced a few sight words recently - to, we, I, is.  Some children already know these words and many more while others are just learning these words now.  Don't worry if your child doesn't know them yet.  While I will introduce about twenty sight words, I only want your child to know about ten of them by June.  I use a program called Biffytoons which has an action that goes with each word.  Ask you child if they remember any of them. 

Cuisenaire rods

We have been using cuisenaire rods in the class since the first few days of school. 

The students like to play with them - build towers, making patterns and creating complex enclosures for my little ponies. 

Now we are starting to use them to further their learning of numbers and partitioning. When the students use partitioning they are able to break numbers apart and put them together again.

Cuisenaire rods allow us to play and learn about numbers.  These pictures were taken the first day we used them in a lesson.  I put these pictures in the big screen and each student talked about what they were doing with the rods.    

 

 

Most students started with some kind of stairs model.

The blue rod is the same length as one black and one red rod.  The blue rod is 9cm, black is 7cm and red is 2cm.  By playing with the rods students will soon know that 9 = 7 + 2.  This kind of thinking is extremely complex if I expected the students to use the conventional symbols and product written work BUT when we play we can learn it and have lots of fun. 

Part of my job is observing the students thinking.  In this building one yellow rod is used while the longer rods are stacked - both equal 5 cm.  By observing, I would know if he already knew the yellow rod is 5 or if he experimented to find a match.  Both skill are important to mathematical thinking but I need to know which he used to support him further.

 

Ask your child about their creation.  Don't ask about length yet as we haven't started to learn it.  Focus on what they notice about their picture and their classmates.

Super Reader Assembly January 17

 

 

We had our first Super Reader Assembly today. 

Twelve students earned their t-shirts by reading for 100 nights. 

Remember to continue sending in the reading calendars as there are more prizes to be earned.

 

 

January 16 - Newsletter

Kindergarten News – January 16

            Important Dates:

Jan. 17 – Super Reader Assembly 9:15

Feb. 10 Family Day – no school

Feb. 13 100 Day

Feb. 14 – Super Reader Assembly

Friendship Party

Feb. 20 – Early Dismissal 12:15

Feb. 21 – Professional Development Day – no school

March 17 – 21 Spring Break

This year 100 day is on Feb. 13.  I will be sending home a poster for your child to glue/tape a collection of 100 items.  The posters will be carried in a parade and then hung in the class so please pick things that can be easily glued/taped on.  You are welcome to come and watch the parade.  We haven’t decided on a time just yet.

On February 14 we will be having a friendship party.  Children will be encouraged to bring a small snack to share.  There is a sign-up sheet on the door.  Most students will eat so many of the snacks that they won’t eat most of their lunch.  Don’t worry they will have the healthier items before all the treats.  We will have an exchange of Valentine cards, so if your child wishes to give Valentine cards to the whole class, please send them on this day – NOT earlier.

Parents are welcome to come between 10:30 – 12:15 to help with the snacks and the exchange of valentines. 

Jorja  Kayden  Alexa  Owen  Arlee-Jo  Ethan  Rylan  Liam  Vincent  Payton  Justin  Ayva  Jordyn  Hayleigh  Erica  Lukas  Jayden  Mariah  Anthony  Livia  Grace  Jaime

We have started having rough & tumble play when just our class is outside.  Your child has the option to partake.  The guidelines that we follow are;

1)    No hitting

2)   No kicking

3)   Keep hands away from heads

I am closely supervising and most of the time the children have enormous smiles on their faces.  I have included a handout that includes more information.  If you have any questions, please ask.

Please remember to send in the Show & Tell item each Monday.  The list is on the blog  www.kinders12.blogspot.ca

Mrs. Wiebe

 

Creating Patterns

We have focused lately on creating patterns.  The goal for kindergarten is that your child is able to create and extend repeating patterns using two or three attributes.  If your child hasn't brought home a making patterns book yet they should in the next week or two.