Tuesday, September 24

   

   
 Tuesday, September 24

Happy Birthday, Ellie and Caden!

Phonics: Letter a (Day 2)
Concept review from day 1: Letter a (short vowel sound)
Word Work: none
Irregular Words: the
An irregular word is one that cannot be readily decoded because either
1) It includes grapheme-phoneme correspondences that are unique to that
word or a few words (permanently irregular words), or
2) The student has not yet learned all the grapheme-phoneme
correspondences in the word (temporarily irregular words). 
Connected Text: none
 KinderLiteracy
Again, using the story, A Tree for All Seasons, the kids will answer simple recall questions such as: What is the job of an author/illustrator? Is this a fiction or nonfiction book? What is a fact we learned about the seasons? We will clarify the vocabulary words within the story (bare, cozy, bud, collect, chilly).

Handwriting: Handwriting: Tall and Short Line Down Review

Music Today

KinderMath:  Read and Write 0-5

The kids have been working so hard in this unit! We must never take for granted the importance of these strategies and concepts learned as they lay the foundation for true number sense. The kids are learning how to write the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5 correctly and will continue to practice those as we move forward. 
Today, the children will roll a dot cube, count the dots and write the number. If time allows, we will act out the story Five Little Ducks.

~If anyone knows where I could find mini pumpkins (36 total) for kindergarten, please let me know. Thank you!

Monday, September 23

   
Monday, September 23

 KinderLiteracy: Seasons
A Tree for All Seasons by: Robin Benard

Today, the children will hear the story for enjoyment and build an interest in the topic and expand their prior knowledge by telling me what they already know about the seasons. 
(Comprehension Strategy: Connections & Inferring)

 Today we begin explicit and systematic phonics instruction. Each 30 minute lesson is covered over two days by the following guide:

DAY ONE
Step 1: Phonemic Awareness    
Step 2: Visual Drill

Step 3: Auditory Drill
Step 4: Blending Drill

Step 5: New Concept

DAY TWO
Step 5: Review New Concept From Previous Day
Step 6: Word Work

Step 7: Irregular Words
Step 8: Connected Text
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's Lesson...

 Phonemic Awareness: Blend: /a/  /t/   (at)  Segment: at   (/a/ /t/)

 Visual Drill: none today

Auditory Drill: none today
Blending Drill: none today

 New Concept: Letter A (short vowel sound)

Handwriting: Handwriting: Tall Line Down and Short Line Down
(I indicated a couple of times last week that we would do this lesson but I am hopeful that today is the day!)

Writer's Workshop: Writing with Illustrations

This is a four week illustration unit to help kindergarten writers become confident in their drawing and coloring skills. They will learn how to draw with shapes and people with different facial expressions, hairstyles, and skin tones.

This illustration study sets kindergarten students up for success for the rest of the year during writers workshop. Students can reference their directed drawing notebook throughout the year if they forget how to draw an object already taught.
**Today the children will explore with pattern blocks in preparation for purposeful use of these materials tomorrow.

KinderMath: 

Understand Quantities 0-5

This lesson focuses on being able to state a quantity regardless of the arrangement or position of items. For instance, a group of 5 blocks (lined up, placed in a circle, stacked) is still 5.

Phy Ed today

***IMPORTANT***
How to pronounce the 44 phonemes

~This video will explain how it is done at school and for practice at home. Your child should practice these everyday until all the phonemes are pronounced automatically. Dialect across the nation can affect the way some phonemes are pronounced. The phoneme /r/ presented in this video should be skipped over and modeled by you. Toward the end of the video, the Schwa sound is explained. 

Friday, September 20

 

Friday, September 20

                                                 

Phonics: Sound Wall Review
The children have been introduced to A LOT of consonant and vowel sounds and where/how the sounds are made. Today, we will review all of them with particular focus on producing them in the correct place and manner of articulation.
**We will also practice making letters with slanted and straight lines: Y, Z

KinderMath:  Ordering Numbers 0-5 

Referring to the Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, the kids will be working on lining up the paper beds 0-5 and placing that number of 'monkeys' on each bed. Next, they will line the beds from 5-0 and put the corresponding number of monkeys on each bed. This lesson helps develop Collaborative Number Sense.

Bus Safety 
Lesson: Stay out of the Danger Zone
Project: The kids will make a school bus to hang in our hallway.

Pedestrian Safety
~The kids will learn about pedestrian safety with follow up questions for discussion. 

 I encourage you to view this short video again with your child!

https://youtu.be/PzghGxEqBMQ

                                                           

 Music class today

 
~ We had fun celebrating Quinley's birthday yesterday!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday, September 19

  
Thursday, September 19

Happy Birthday, Quinley!

Phonics: Introduction to Schwa, R-Controlled Vowels, & Diphthongs
Diphthongs: These sounds change from one mouth position to another: /ow/, /oi/
R-Controlled: These sounds combine with a /r/ sound: /ar/, /er/, /or/
Schwa: A relaxed vowel sound that is unstressed: again-pronounced 'uh'gain
**The kids will also practice making letters with slanted lines: V, W, X

KinderLiteracy
Using actions, the kids will review the vocabulary words (delight, waddling, spotted, sigh, and skid) that are in the story, Huggapotomus. Next, we will will compare/contrast the stories, Huggapotomus to The Crayon Box That Talked, to see what similarities and differences there are between the two.

Handwriting: Tall Line Down and Short Line Down
(We did not get to this yesterday.)

Tall Line Down: Start on the "top line" and end on the "writing line".

Short Line Down: Start on the "middle line" and end on the "writing line".

KinderMath: Read and Write 0

            Using the story, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, the kids will be acting out the story to get to zero. What does '0' mean? How do you know? The kids will work on this skill through a variety of activities. 

Bus Safety 
Cross in front of the bus safely and obey the bus driver at all times.

Phy Ed today!

~All items from the "Kindergarten To-Do List" are due tomorrow.

~Mrs. Weninger reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

Wednesday, September 18

 

 Wednesday, September 18
 
Phonics: The Vowel Valley

The mouth position when producing vowel sounds goes from a small opening to a large opening then back to a small opening. This is referred to as a Vowel Valley. Vowel sounds where the tongue is high and at the front of the mouth move to the vowels where the tongue is low in the middle, and finally to the vowels where the tongue is high and at the back. This picture shows our classroom Vowel Valley sound wall.

Long vowel sounds are made from mouth muscles that are more tense and tight. Short vowel sounds are made from mouth muscles that are more relaxed and loose.
**We will also practice making letters with straight and slanted lines:
K, M, N

Mrs. Weninger will be here this morning to read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? This book helps children see how our actions and words can be helpful or hurtful.

KinderLiteracy
 Today, I will reread parts of Huggapotamus so the children can answer 'text-dependent' questions like: 
     ~Albert is described as "too rough." What details from the text support this 
             description?       
         ~On page 23, what clues do the pictures give us that the words do not?      
         ~Why did Albert like to give hugs so much? 

Handwriting: Tall Line Down and Short Line Down

Tall Line Down: Start on the "top line" and end on the "writing line".

Short Line Down: Start on the "middle line" and end on the "writing line".

Every Wednesday, the kids will spend their library time doing a fun book-themed activity with Mrs. Thomas. Books will be due back on the following Wednesday but can be sent back earlier when finished.
 Our library time is from 9:50-10:20.
Computer Class is today with Mr. Brown from 12:25-1:00. 

 KinderMath: Comparing Numbers 1-5
The kids will be comparing two different amounts of items (up to 5) and use math vocabulary (more/bigger, less/smaller) to tell what they notice. This is a basic introduction lesson for comparing numbers.

It's already our 10th day of school! To celebrate, the kids will meet Zero the Hero, our puppet friend who loves the number 0 and only comes to visit every 10th day of school.

Bus Safety Week

Lesson: I stay seated when riding the bus.

                                                           

 Music class today

~Watch this excellent pencil grip video that I show in class. The kids LOVE the alligator mouth so if you see something like that on your child's hand, that's what it is! 😊

~The kids learned some very important bus safety rules yesterday! 


~If you haven't sent in your family picture or child's baby picture, it's due Friday. Thank you!