Mrs. LaBlanc's Kinderblog: April 23rd-April 27th

Hello Kindergarten families! I wanted to start off by saying, “I’m sorry!” Last week as I was working on the blog I had some technical difficulties due to the new website formatting. Resulting from this half of the pictures I tried posting did not post onto the blog.

This week was my last week of “teaching” in room 306. Mrs. LaBlanc takes back over this coming week as I observe and tie up some loose ends. This has been such a great experience I have had at Dublin Elementary.

Word Study:

To begin the week we started with a big book, Cats,Cats,Cats. We re-read this book everyday throughout the week and did different activities correlating with the story. We started off by making connections by asking who has animals at home and what kind? We moved into making predictions, thinking of words that have the /k/ sound, and finding words in the book with the /k/ sound (cat). Next we looked at word families with the –at ending such as; cat, mat, bat, etc. Then we looked through the book looking for rhyming words such as; fun - run, or lap-nap. Lastly we learned more about antonyms and focused on the words big, small, fat, thin, short, and tall.

Writer’s Workshop:

We continued our focus on poetry this week in writer’s workshop. We looked at poems that have different formats. We worked on completing an “I Like” poem. Then we looked at poems that don’t have a format. Poems with no format may look like a story from left to right. These types of poems with no format may have no rhyming words, or repeated text. After looking at poems with different or no format we looked at poems that "sometimes" rhyme. Lastly, we looked how poems don’t have complete sentences. This was a struggle for some students to write poems without using complete sentences. Our poets have been working so hard at writing their own poems using different formats, sometimes rhyming, and not using complete sentences. To end the week we worked on a rain poem rhyming every other line. We have had so much fun the last couple weeks as poets!

Making a poem that doesn't rhyme

A way to make a poem without using complete sentences

Our poets hard at work

Reader’s Workshop:

In reader’s workshop this week we connected our focus with writer’s workshop on poetry. We looked at how you read poems expressively similar to a fiction book, and unlike a non-fiction book. We looked at the poem “Unscratchable Itch” by Shel Silverstein and read the poem expressively. Next we looked at how we use our prior knowledge to make sense of poems. For example we looked at a few poems connecting them with our prior knowledge. We looked at poems about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, jets, and ice skating. Then we looked at how we can make connections with poems and students had the opportunity to share their poems with their partners.

There is a spot that you can’t scratch

Right between your shoulder blades ,

Like an egg that just won’t hatch

Here you set and there it stays.

Turn and squirm and try to reach it,

Twist your neck and bend your back,

Hear your elbows creak and crack,

Stretch your fingers, now you bet it ’ s

Going to reach—no that won’t get it—

Hold your breath and stretch and pray,

Only just an inch away,

Worse than a sunbeam you can’t catch

Is that one spot that

You can’t scratch.

-Shel Silverstein

Math:

This week in math we did a lot of reviewing with our numbers and addition facts. First we completed a number grid and filled in the missing numbers. This helped students’ review how to count to 100, and writing their numbers. This is something you can keep practicing at home with your son/daughter giving him/her a number and have them write it down. Another opportunity for practice with recognition of numbers is to play the monster squeeze game. Have your child teach you how to play this at home!

We had the opportunity this week to play the plus or minus game. Students were paired up with a partner and had to roll two dice. One die told the students if they were adding or taking away counters from their board. The other die told the student how many counters they were adding or taking away. The first person to get their whole board filled was the winner! Students enjoyed playing this game! This is something you can play at home with your child.

Then we looked at many different ways to make ten. We learned that you can reverse addition problems. For example 3+7=10 and 7+3 also equals 10.

To end the week we focused on understanding time. We pulled out our paper clocks we made, and practiced showing different times. We focused on understanding the concept that the small hand is the hour hand, and the big hand is the minute hand. We looked closely at how many minutes are in one hour, and how many minutes are in half of an hour. We focused on telling time when the big hand is at the 12 it means “o’clock”, and when the big hand is at the 6 it means “thirty.” We continued practicing showing times on our clock (12:00, 4:00, 8:00, 1:30, 3:30 etc.) This is something you can continue practicing at home with your child!

Science:

With the sun shining we ended our week going outside to visit Mr. Maple! We were able to see what Mr. Maple looks like in the spring. Mr. Maple’s leafs are starting to turn a red color because he is a Red Maple. We noticed how there are some buds still on the branches that are just beginning to pop open. We also noticed how the grass around the tree is green. We reviewed the three things Mr. Maple needs to stay alive (water, sun, and soil). After visiting Mr. Maple we drew pictures of what our noticing’s were how Mr. Maple looks in the spring.

Work Stations:

Magnetic Center:

Handwriting: Students were working with the letter "A"

123 Center: At 123 Center the students had to shop for toys and put them in their basket. Once they had the toys they wanted they had to write down what they bought, and how much they were. Afterwards they were to count how the price of a toy with coins and put the coins into a plastic bag.

Browsing Box: Reading the book "Spring is Here!" Students had to identify the word "are" and highlight it throughout the book. After highlighting the word they had to read the book to a friend.

Writing Center: At the writing center students were making a color flip book. They had to think of colors and something to go along with that color. They had to make sure to use the checklist to make sure they were using capitals, spaces, periods, and re-reading to make sure it makes sense.

Game Center: Students were able to play a game where they had to think of rhyming words to be able to move ahead spaces.

Star Center: At the star center we worked with more rhyming words. Students had to match up the frog and the log that rhymed together. For example: fire and tire

Art Center: At the art center students were provided with a poem. They got to stamp their finger prints under the beehive and make them look like bumblebee's.

Listening Center: Students listened to the book "The Lady with the Alligator Purse". After listening to the book students drew a picture of what happened at the beginning, middle, and end.

Clipboard Cruising: Students were able to think of their own question to survey the class. For example, "Do you like chocolate or vanilla ice cream?" Then students went around the room asking other students and making tally marks corresponding to their answer.