Welcome to a new week of learning, exploring and having fun!
Thanks to all families for being responsible with our Core Value books and returning them the next day, we hope you’re enjoying having them at home for a night!
Last week Kindergarteners made their teachers proud by showing their reading skills as they read to PreK students. Ms. Trillian was delighted with how well all students are doing, and how much excited they are about being awesome readers! This was the way we celebrated the end of our second Reading Unit “Super Readers use SuperPowers!” Click here to see more photos.
Repeated and important announcements:
Winter Celebrations - December 21st
We are starting to plan for our KG Winter Parties and soon we will be meeting with room parents to get those plans ready for all of you! For the moment, we would like to extend an invitation to all parents that wish to participate and run an activity that day. All parents are welcome to join us, and when parents get involved in the activities we have a lot more fun!
Changes in dismissal plans
We kindly ask that you inform us ahead of time if your child is going home with another adult, as the policy indicates that we can only dismiss students with another adult if we have a written notification from their parents. We truly appreciate your support in keeping all students safe.
Water bottles!
Please make sure your child brings a water bottle to school every day. Having a water bottle in the classroom allows students to drink water as they need to without disrupting their learning and the learning of others. Thank you!
Writing Celebration - Save the date!
Kindergarteners will be celebrating the publication of their How-To books on Thursday, January 18th. We will be sharing more information after the break, but for now make sure you mark this day on your calendars! We can’t wait to have parents in our classrooms to see the growth of these amazing writers!
Learning This Week!
Reading Workshop
Now fully powered-up, our Super Readers are ready for something new: Reading for Information! Our nonfiction reading unit begins this week, and students are in for a real treat. To launch the unit, we will flood the classrooms with nonfiction of all kinds. We will examine and sort nonfiction books in our classroom libraries, watch nonfiction videos to pique our interest (travel! animals! how-to!), and much more! Taking the time to build student interest in this brand-new genre is going to be so much fun!
Writing Workshop
Writers continue to revise their “how-to” books making sure they are giving clear directions for readers to follow. One strategy they have been using is to imagine themselves following the steps they write, and ask “Am I using the exact words to follow this step?”. Partners are also providing help to each other, by acting out the steps in their books!
This week we start Bend III called “Keeping Readers in Mind” In this Bend, writers will learn how to:
- Write books about the things they learn throughout the day and from books (continuing the work of learning from Mentor Texts)
- Write a collection of series to teach readers even more about a topic.
“I love cooking! I want to write lots of ‘how to’ books about cooking different meals”
“I love soccer! I want to write a bunch of ‘how to’ books about playing soccer, forming teams, kicking a penalty, defending a goal!”
- Write introductions and conclusions to help their readers.
These mini lessons are always an invitation for students to try something that fits in their writing. Writers are still encouraged to be independent and do what think they need to make their books the best they can be!
Math
This week marks the last topic of our third Math Module. Students will be working on comparing sets of objects in order to establish which has more and which has less objects than the other. They will be using strategies such as lining objects up in front of each other and using one to one correspondence. Besides comparing physical objects, mathematicians will be comparing sounds and actions, such as claps and stomps. 
Social Studies
This week students will visit CAC workers to conduct interviews. Having chosen and rehearsed their questions last week, the kindergarteners are well-prepared. Students will take turns asking questions of their chosen CAC worker, while another student records the interview with an iPad. We are learning more and more about our big, big school!
Circles
This week Kindergarten classes will still be exploring and discussing the core value of compassion. In circles they will be reflecting on the kind things they have said to others and that have been said to them, as well as which actions or words might spoil a friendship and which ones might mend one. They will be making judgments about what makes a class friendly.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
Ms. Ana, Ms. Paola, and Mr. Balazs
No comments:
Post a Comment