Kindergarten Happenings

Reading/Language Arts:  This week, we began a new Word Work exploration, Rhyme Climb.  While engaging in these activities we were reminded of word families, specifically the -am and -an families. These activities challenged us to think of -am and -an family words and to write sentences featuring those words.  

Math:  We continued our number sequencing exploration by practicing putting the numbers 51-75 in order from least to greatest.  We also continued to master simple addition and subtraction problems, and even learned how to solve word problems when verbally given.  

Update on our butterfly friends:  Over the weekend, our caterpillars made their chrysali.  We were very excited to see this transition as we came to school Monday morning.  In about 7 days, our friends will emerge from their chrysali as butterflies!  

Reading/Language Arts:  We finished up our Blend word sorts this week, and will revisit our word families explorations next week.  We are continuing to practice our sequencing skills by writing about the butterfly life cycle.  We've been working really hard to our writing skiills--It's showing and we're really proud of that! 

Math:  This week we practiced writing numbers greater than 100, putting numbers in ascending and descending order, and continued to work on our addition skills with our High Roller partner game.  


Butterfly Life Cycle:  We have five new critter friends in our classroom.  Over the next couple of weeks, we will watch them as they transition through the butterfly life cycle.  We read non-fiction books about caterpillars and butterflies, made our very own life cycles, and even named our new friends!  

Reading/Language Arts:  We continued our Blend Sorting Word Work explorations, but focused most of our attention on our writing skills.  We took a nature walk around the Pillsbury Campus and completed a 5 senses spring writing assignment.  We also practiced our sequencing skills by writing about how to plant a seed.  

Math:  This week, we worked on solving story problems and learned how to represent these word problems with 10-frames and pictures.  We also continued composing the number 5 using various materials.  


Plants:  Our main focus for the week was the plant life cycle.  We read many stories about plants and how they grow, planted our own lima bean seeds, and completed a plant needs and plant parts visual.  

Reading/Language Arts:  We are continuing our exploration of letter blends and working on our creative writing skills in Writer's Workshop.  Next week, we will take a spring nature walk, and write about using our five senses to describe spring.  
Math:  This week, we began the concept of composing numbers using various materials including pattern blocks, toothpicks, and popsicle sticks.  We continued our symmetry exploration, and experimented with paper helicopters.  




May Day Field Trip:  On Friday, we visited Brookdale Senior Living and delivered May baskets to the residents.  We had a great time singing for the Brookdale residents! 

 

Reading/Language Arts: This week, we focused on building our writing skills. We created Earth Day posters where we wrote about different ways we can help our Earth, and illustrated posters to be hung up outside our classroom to remind others the importance of taking care of our world. We also complete a spring themed writing project where we thought and wrote about spring time words.

Math: We continued practicing counting by 2's and exploring coins. We also continued building on our addition sense by creating our own addition sentences using lady bugs!


Weather: We have been exploring the different kinds of weather we experience. This week, we created our own weather machines to answer questions we had about weather! Students chose the type of weather they wanted to measure, thought about a question they wanted their machines to answer, and built their very own weather machines.

Earth Day: On Friday, we celebrated Earth Day. We read stories, had some really wonderful conversations, and completed an Earth Day art and writing project!

Reading/Language Arts: This week, we began a new picture sort series related to blends, and continued our word work explorations. We continued to develop our writing skills by writing about topics that interest us in Writer's Workshop. We also read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and created our own silly stories about the different types of food we wish the sky would bring.


Math: We read the story, The Doorbell Rang, and used Unifix cubes to explore fractions and dividing objects equally. We also wrote and illustrated our own subtraction number stories.