Testing Testing 123

Happy Yellow Day! This week was all about E, F, and TESTS!  We had a school lockdown drill, a tornado drill, and two days of MAP testing.  MAP testing is new to Scott County and is being used to measure academic progress of K-5th graders in math and reading.  The students used the computers in the upstairs computer lab to take their tests. The students will test again in the winter and then again in the spring.  

But we managed to learn alot in the classroom too.  We focused on E and F. The Letter Mailbox is one of the first things we check (nearly) everday to find new objects that begin with the new sounds of the week. This week we found an elephant and frog, eggs and french fries, and an envelope and folder. We always discuss what makes the items alike and different. When you are practicing with your child at home on his letters, remember to place the emphasis on the letter sounds. And be sure to have them listen to their letter chant cd. The link below shows how we start everyday - at the SmartBoard reviewing the letter chants.

Letter Chants Video

We also review the letters (sounds only-no chants) in our reading groups during center time Monday through Thursday. Repetition is HUGE when learning new things.  So I make sure we hear the sounds, say the sounds, and see the letters as often as possible. 

   Speaking of centers, we got to practice writing the letters A through E on the same letter app, LetterSchool, that we used last week. The students really enjoyed the game in the Math Center. We read a book called Mouse Paint last week and a book called Mouse Count this week by the same author and we compared the two books.   

The students got to practice their counting skills with the game Mouse Count. In the number work center, they threaded beads to match amounts on numbered flags attached to pipe cleaners.

As I mentioned earlier, we have been comparing books we've read in class this week. We also read Chicka Chicka 123 and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We made a Venn diagram on the board together and the students talked with each other about what was alike and different in the books.

We finished the week with a simple art project that let us test out our cutting skills. We pulled the tables together and followed instructions as a whole group. The students just love their Fun Fridays! 

A few reminders for when we come back from our wonderful 3-day weekend: have your child wear something orange on Tuesday. Also, there will be no Weekly Learning Goals test next Friday since it is only a 4 day week. And if your child is just dying to get back to school,  you can play the following links for them to get them through until Tuesday.

Numbers Help Me Count 

Letter E Song

Letter F Song

And now some cute pictures from recess this week.

We ARE American Ninja Warriors!



Fridays Bow Club





Thursday's Bow Club







The Virtual Classroom

Monday was blue day. Can you tell?  The afternoon class is rocking the "Color Mondays!"

So this week, just like last week and the weeks to come, started with a new color song and a group writing about blue.  These anchor charts, which are displayed in our room, are helping us learn how we put our thoughts on paper. They are direct examples for the students to use during journal time. The repetition in the sentence structure this week helped reinforce two new sight words: 'is' and 'blue.' 

  

      Centers were a hit with the kids this week. They got to play on the two classroom ipads in the Number Work center to practice forming/writing 1-5.  The app is called LetterSchool and I highly recommend it if you have an iphone or ipad (I'm not sure if it's available on android devices).  They played "Roll and Graph" in the Math Games center and Letter Cookie Match in the Letter Work Center.  The video link below shows Landan and Benjamin demonstrating how we're learning to take turns and help each other during center time.

Landan and Benjamin
(I would embed the video itself here so a new window wouldn't need to open but I don't know how. So, if any of you do, let me know!)

 

   The students earned all of their brownie points at the beginning of the week and I brought some fresh brownies for them to enjoy at recess.  We use brownie points to track how well we stay on task as a whole group during group intruction time.  At the end of each class, if the smile tally marks are more than our frown tally marks, we put a brownie in the pan. (This is teaching the concept of more and less as a bonus)!


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   You will see some examples of staying on task as a whole group in these video examples.  All of these were taken in the morning class (I promise I'll take the next few in the PM) and are during our whole group phonics and whole group writing time. First we have Makiah leading the class as they read her superstar chart. 

 

Makiah's Superstar



Next we have a two-parter.  Each week we learn two letters and make anchor charts to go with each.  The students brainstorm with their teacher partner, then we share individually as I add it to the chart. You'll have to excuse the videography. Mrs. Taylor is a techie-in-training. 

 

Teach! Okay!

 

 

C or D?

 

   We finished the week with another Fun Friday art project.  Our theme this week was the primary colors and we read the book "Little Blue and Little Yellow" to wrap up.  The illustrations in the book are simple, different-colored shapes. The students retold a part of the story with their tissue paper artwork.  The kids loved this activity!  

Before I go - just one more cute pic of the kids enjoying their favorite part of the day- RECESS!

PS. Wear YELLOW on Monday!

All About Us

This week we became familiar with new friends and new routines. We started the week off learning our first color word; red. The students wore red on Monday and we watched the. Red Song on YouTube at the beginning of each day. After making our RED anchor chart as a whole group, the students completed their first journal entry about things that are red.  Right now, the students are only expected to express their thoughts with drawings and are encouraged to add details. As they learn more letter sounds and sight words, they will be expected to write letters and words to go along with their detailed drawings.

   We focused most of our whole group writing on the kids themselves. We shared our names, our ages, and our favorite colors. We wrote the information in sentences to reinforce the conventions of print (how to follow text, purpose of punctuation, words being separated by space, etc) that we are also learning in reading groups. We rearranged mixed-up sentences as a group to make "I like" statements about our favorite colors. Then the students constructed their own sentences about their favorite color in their 2nd journal entry.

   The students learned a very exciting part of our class routine this week- CENTERS! This is the core of our individual instruction. Students go through three rotations. One rotation is spent in a reading group with students who have similar instructional needs. We read, reread, and work on the letter/phonics rule of the week. The other two rotations are spent in independent centers. These include floor puzzles, blocks, handwriting, read-to-self, computer, letter/word work, number work, and math games. By the end of the day on Thursday, the students have completed all independent centers. By the way, each center's task changes every week so the students will be challenged and can discover new content in a fun, hands-on way.

    We wrapped up the week with our first Fun Friday. Because centers are finished on Thursday, we spend that time on Friday working on an art project that reflects a theme of the week. The students colored an "All About Me" pennant which has a photo of them from their first day of school and has facts and favorites listed on it. These are hung on our hallway bulletin board.  They will be laminated and sent home in 3-4 weeks when I'm ready to change up the bulletin board again.

    We have had a blast this week and have learned a lot already. I can't wait to see how much we'll learn and grow this year!

 

Kindergarten and Kindness

I couldn't ask for a more wonderful first week of kindergarten! The students have done a great job at learning our rules and classroom routines.  We know how to form and stay in a perfect, quiet line.

We can follow the rules for learning during carpet time.

We can follow directions in the lunchroom.

We can also recite the 5 rules of the classroom. And they are:
Rule #1: Follow directions quickly
Rule #2: Raise your hand for permission to speak.
Rule #3: Raise your hand to leave your seat.
Rule #4: Be kind to others.
Rule #5: Keep your dear teachers happy!

The students have hand motions to go along with all 5 rules and they're so cute when they do it!

Our biggest objective this week was to establish a kind and caring classroom environment.  I read the story "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" The story talks about how everyone has an invisible bucket that can be filled with good thoughts and feelings when others show kindness to us.  But we can also dip into each others' buckets when we choose to be unkind.  We discussed ways we can be kind to one another and the behaviors we want to avoid so we don't become a 'bucket dipper.'  We made a chart that is posted in our room to help remind us of this lesson.

We also did an exercise in kindness where we sat in a circle and rolled a ball to a classmate.  We then paid that person a compliment.  My goal is to have a classroom full of students who love and respect each other and who look for opportunities to make their classmates happy.

Every student is looking forward to their chance at being the daily superstar.  Each day, a new name is magically revealed (ok, it's a blue marker colored over a name written in white crayon - but don't say anything!) and that student gets to share 3 things about themselves. This activity builds early reading skills and sight word recognition.  And when the day is over, Mrs. Taylor laminates the chart for the student to take home. 

The students also learned how to operate the Smart Board (which is basically like a jumbo-sized ipad).  We use the Smart Board multiple times a day, everyday. We listen and watch instructional songs on Youtube and play fun learning games. We also do our classwork together.  The worksheet is on the board so I work through it as they work at their own tables. 

 Since we had a little rain this week, the students also got to see what inside recess is like.  We dance along with Kids Just Dance videos on the Smart Board and they get to play at the tables.  

All in all, it has been a terrific week.  We are making friends and having a great time.  I can't wait for next week.  Remember to have your child wear red on Monday!