K002 – Week of 3/20/17

Reminder: PuppetWorks Field Trip: Thursday, March 23rd

Kindergartners have been hard at work.  

Last week, we continued to work on our How-To books.  We looked at different ways to order our pages.  We learned that we can use page numbers and transitional words such as first, next, then and last.  We also discussed how to draw only the very important parts in the pictures.  We will finish up our procedural writing unit this week by making covers for our books and sharing them with the other Kindergarten class on Friday.

In math we have begun a new unit focusing on story problems.  Students are exploring the operations of addition and subtraction as they act out, model and solve story problems. Kindergartners are learning and sharing different strategies to solve problems and record their work on paper.  Here is one example of a story problem we solved this week:

Ms. Rita was cleaning up after choice time.  

She found 5 Lego pieces on the floor.  

She found 6 Lego pieces on the table.  

How many Lego pieces did she find?

Students were able to use different strategies to solve the problem and then show their thinking on the paper.  Some students used their fingers and counted all.  Some students started at one number and counted on.  Some other students used their knowledge of 5+5 to help them figure out 5+6.  We are learning that there are lots of ways to think about and solve math problems.  

Our word wall continues to grow as we learn more and more “sight words.”  Remember these are words that students should recognize by sight.  They should not have to sound them out.  Kindergartners should be able to read and write these words:  

am, and, are, can, come, do, is,

it, like, look, my, me, see, said,

she, to, the, went, was, we, you

If your child has difficulty reading or recognizing any of these words here is a game you can play to practice.

Sight Word Memory

You will need 2 index cards or pieces of paper cut to the same size for each word you want to practice.  Write each sight word on two cards.  Mix up the cards and spread them out, face down.  Take turns turning over two cards and reading the words.  If the words match you keep both cards.  If they don’t match you turn the cards over and it’s the next player’s turn.  Once all the cards are matched the player with the most cards wins.

Our kindergarten students have been participating in a “hands-on” technology learning experience with Xposure. Students have been learning the 9 (nine) Key P’s that are essential to being a “Digital Citizen”.  They also worked in small groups and learned how to create a presentation together on an Ipad, using writing, photographs, digital images from the web, and recording their voices.

Ask your child about the 9 Key P’s:
 Password, Photos, Permission, Personal Information, Privacy, Personal Brand, Protection, Property, Professionalism

Please note – Your child has these on a key ring that they will be bringing home today. Talk with your child about being a “Digital Citizen.”