This week, we focused on the letters Ll and Mm.  We added two pages to our Nursery Rhyme Book: "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Little Miss Muffet".  On Wednesday, we reviewed the letters Aa-Mm. Here is a picture of Joshua, our letter expert for Bb.  

On Wednesday, we also did all of the Heidi Songs that we have learned so far.  Our favorite is the letter Jj.  It is so much fun!  Here is a video of us doing the dance.  :)  

During math on Monday, I went over to our math manipulatives to grab some blocks for us to sort and guess what I found?!  All of our math tools were all mixed up!  We think that maybe it was Chester the raccoon playing a trick on us.  ;)  

We decided that the fastest way to get it all cleaned up was to take handfuls and sort them.  First we sorted them by type (blocks, bears, cubes, etc.)  Then we sorted them by other attributes like color, shape, and texture.  

On Wednesday, we did a fun mimio sorting review lesson.  Next week we will work on some problem solving and sorting in our math journals.  

We also finished up our "All About Me" unit.  We have spent a lot of time getting to know each other and have made lots of new friends.  It has been a lot of fun!  Next week, our theme will be "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom".  I can't wait!  :) 

Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk...

I can not believe we just finished up our fourth week of school!  Time flies when you are having fun!  

This week we continued our study of the alphabet.  We focused on the letters Hh, Ii, Jj, and Kk.  On Monday we learned about the letter Hh and read the nursery rhyme, "Humpty Dumpty".  We added a page to our nursery rhyme book.  We learned our new Heidi song and picked a letter expert.  We also read a silly book about a hippopotamus that had the hiccups!  

On Tuesday we learned about the letter Ii.  We read Leo Lionni's "Inch by Inch".  He is one of my favorite children's book authors.  After reading the story, we made our own inch worms.  They turned out great! 

On Wednesday, we learned about the letter Jj and read "Jack and Jill".  We made another page for our nursery rhyme book.  I loved how these turned out!  They all look so different. We have quite a creative bunch!  

On Thursday, we learned about the letter Kk.  We read the Berenstain Bear's, "We Like Kites" and made some kites of our own.  We also had our very first picture day!  They did great! 

On Friday, we reviewed the letters A-M with a fun game called "Swat!".  We split up into two teams.  One person from each team goes to the front and holds a swatter.  I call out a letter and they race to swat that letter.  It was a lot of fun!  

In math this week, we have been focusing on sorting.  We began this unit by comparing things and talking about how they are alike or different.  The ideas for this unit came from a blog called Kindergarten Kindergarten.  Thanks Kathryn!  :)  

First, everybody got a ball.  They drew their ball in their math journal and came up with different words to describe it.  We took our journals to the carpet and made a list of all the different words that could be used to describe our balls.  We also worked with partners to come up with ways that are balls were the same and different.  

The next day, we learned a new vocabulary word: attribute.  We learned that attributes are words that describe, like size, shape, color, etc.  We took our list of words from the day before and grouped them by what attribute they described.  We even came up with more words!  

On Friday, we took all the balls and sorted them by different attributes.  They did a great job!  Next week we will work on sorting other things like buttons, lids, and attribute blocks.  

In social studies, we have been working on our "All About Me" unit.  We learned about our first thinking map: the circle map.  We took magazines and cut out pictures of things that represented us and glued them into a circle map.  

Then we took turns sitting in the "share square" ( a yellow square stool) and shared our circle maps.  

After sharing their map, they got to ask if there are any questions.  They are allowed to answer three questions from classmates.  We also do this on Fridays during show and tell.  Speaking and listening skills are an important part of the Kindergarten curriculum.  :)  

Here are some pictures from Show and Tell this week. 

Lily shared her stuffed moose, named Antlers.  

Aidan shared his toy truck.  

Mason shared some glow in the dark balls.  

Sophia shared a fossil.  

Taylor shared a picture she worked really hard on.  

And Aleah shared her doll.  

Next week is a short week, so we will only be working with the letters Ll and Mm.  We will continue sorting in math and will finish up our "All About Me" unit.  

Have a great weekend! 

More Alphabet Fun!

It has been another fantastic week in room 204!  We are learning our routines and getting to know each other well.  We read David Shannon's book, "David Goes to School" and talked about why rules are important.  We wrote a class pledge and signed our name at the bottom.  We will keep this up all year as a reminder.  I love hearing the different things they come up with!  :)  

On Monday, we learned about the letter D.  We read a book about dinosaurs and the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle".  We learned our new Heidi Song and practiced our old ones.  Heidi Songs are short little dance songs for each letter.  It helps us remember how to write the letter and what sound it makes.  We LOVE these songs!! 

On Tuesday we learned about the letter Ee.  We read "Elmer" and made our own colorful elephants.  

On Wednesday we learned about the letter Ff.  We read lots of fun frog books and made frogs with freckles.  I love how they all turned out so different!  

On Thursday we learned about the letter Gg.  We read a book called "Greta the Grateful Goldfish" and talked about what it meant to be grateful.  Then we made gobs of glue!  We mixed a gob of glue with some food coloring and swirled it into different designs.  It sure was messy, but we had a lot of fun!  

On Friday, we reviewed our letters from the week and we also had our first round of show and tell.  

Matthew shared his Avengers book.  

Logan shared his magnets that you can build things with.  

And Mary shared a picture of her puppy.  

They did a great job!  Please remember to check the newsletter to see when it is your child's turn.  

One of our writing lessons this week was about making sure our papers were "3 Star" papers.  This means that we colored in the lines, our colors made sense, and we left no white space.  Please remind your child of this when you are working with them at home.  :)  

We had a great second full week!  Next week we will be focusing on the letters H, I, J, and K.  We will also begin our sorting unit in math.  

Our First Week!

We had a great first full week together!  We spent a lot of time getting to know each other and learning daily routines.  

In the morning, we have center time.  This has been a great time to make new friends and learn to share.  Here are some pictures from center time this week.  :)

On Monday we read "Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes.  

We counted the letters in our names and graphed it on the mimio.  

Most people in our class had names with 5 letters!

Then we worked on our fine motor skills by tearing paper and making rainbow names.  They turned out great!  

On Tuesday, we learned about the letter Aa.  We sang a song about the letter Aa (which I have not been able to get out of my head all week) and chose our letter expert.  Avery W. brought in an airplane to add to our reading wall.  

On Wednesday, we learned about the letter Bb.  We read the nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep".  We made our own black sheep and highlighted all the Bb's in the rhyme.  

Joshua was chosen as our letter expert for Bb.  He brought in a ball.  

On Thursday, we learned about the letter Cc.  We read one of my favorite books, "The Crayon Box that Talked".  We made our own box of crayons and used them to retell the story.  You can use these props at home to retell the story with your child.  :) 

Taylor was chosen to be the letter expert for Cc.  She brought in a candle and a cookie cutter! 

On Friday, we began our "Question of the Day".  Every morning when we come in there is a question up on the mimio.  Our first question was, "Do you have the letter Aa in your name?".

We had so much fun this week!  I am looking forward to more fun next week as we learn about the letters Dd, Ee, Ff, and Gg!