Thursday, April 28, 2016

Persuasive Writing - A look around our world


It is amazing to think that 5 and 6 year old children can see problems in their world and think of possible solutions. Valentina wrote about littering:
    This is how to make the world a better place.
People have been littering and that's not good. 
I think we should get some friends and bring some
little trash cans and get the trash.
Students have also written about problems they see in their classroom and school:  backpacks on the floor, loud hallways, cafeteria lines, and not enough playground swings. The important thing about finding the problems is focusing on a solution. Students have also been writing notes to parents trying to persuade them to get a cat, pool or fish.  By writing letters, they are realizing the power of the printed word and realizing that they can make a difference at home, school and the world around them.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

R-Controlled Word Game

A favorite part of Skills Block is when students get to practice the lesson with each other. First, we we sorted r-controlled words (ar, or, er, ir, ur) as a group. Then each set of partners were given a cube, tiles and a r-controlled sheet to play the game. The cube has the "r" letter combinations on each side.   Then they tossed the cube, found a word with those letters, said the word, and placed the tile on the word. It was a great way to reinforce these sounds and have fun at the same time!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Lots of fun in P.E.


Every once in a while we get to have an extra P.E. class for our Kindergarten students in the morning. Coach Bailey plans activities that are a little out of the norm. They went to the big playground where the older kids play. They played with basketballs,soccer balls and playground equipment that they hardly ever get to go on.  From the looks of things, the children had a great time.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Poem Surprises



Every now and then students surprise us. It may be in Math, where the light comes on and they can add and subtract numbers in their heads. Or it may be in Writing, where students start to understand how to use capital letters and punctuation. Well, today we were surprised when one of our students told us that she knows the poem "The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson without looking at the paper...so in fact, she had memorized it.  We have been reading it everyday as a reading fluency activity as we have several other poems and songs. The poems and songs are put into their Poem Books and they can read them during Reader's Workshop along with their other books. We were pleasantly surprised when "L" recited the poem to the class and then again for this blog. Since then, three more children have memorized and recited the poem. According to Bestonlinecolleges.com, memorization can train your brain to remember, is essential to learning new concepts, and teaches rhythmic patterns (as with nursery rhymes). Yes, we were surprised but we are more happy for our students to gain all of these extra benefits from poetry.

Kindergarten Pow Wow 2019

Our tribe this year was the Inuit. Our students learned about the Inuit culture which included their food, housing and shelter. They sang ...