Turkey Time!

This week was turkey-rific! We had turkey-themed centers, sang turkey songs, colored pictures of turkeys, labeled turkeys, and we even acted a bit like turkeys.  Watch this video of Mrs. Lukacsko's Thanksgiving Song and see what I mean!  We also recited a poem about turkeys, as you know, and Austin, in our PM class recited his 5 Little Turkeys Poem to the most people - 85! WAY TO GO, AUSTIN! 

   We read books about family and friends getting together for Thanksgiving and worked on our own anchor chart.  I demonstrated how to make labels in illustrations. Then we used our reading tools to help us read through the story.

We are using 3 reading tools right now to help us when we get to a word we don't know (any word that's not a sight word).  We are learning to use Lips the Fish and Owl Eyes first with simple sentences like the ones on our chart.

But as we read more complex sentences, we are learning to sound out the words (Stretchy Snake). After the break, we will talk about Lenny Lightbulb, who teaches us to think "What makes sense?" As you know, sometimes words just don't sound out the way they should and good readers will pick up on whats happening in the story and what words belong in common phrases. We will also meet "Skippy the Frog" who will teach us to skip the word, read the rest, then reread the sentence with Lenny Lightbulb in mind. The word "with" in the book page below is a good example of how we will use those reading tools.

Most students know "We like to play" and "the" because they are already committed to our sight word memory banks. They will get the word 'blocks' by making the first sound (Lips the Fish) and then checking the picture (Owl Eyes).  But that word "with" - we can't sound it out because we haven't learned the /th/ sound yet. So a good reader will make the /w/ sound and think, "What word makes sense here?" They may need to skip it, read to the end, and then reread the sentence to get some momentum.  These are things you can help your child with at home. Sounding out is NOT what its all about.  While it's very important they know how to sound out words and do it promptly when it's needed, they don't need to do it every time. If they do, they will not be reading fluently and most often won't know what they're really reading because of all the stopping and starting. 
    Ok, mini-lesson over.
 As I said, most centers had turkeys as a theme. The students played "Build a Turkey" in the Math Games center.  This is the exact same game we've been playing as a whole group on the SmartBoard during calendar time.  Students roll two dice, find the sum, and get a piece to their turkey. This was a big hit! Good thing there's more where that came from (Build a Reindeer, Build a Snowman, Build a Rainbow....).

In the Writing center, the students worked on making a difference between tall and short letters.  They labeled the parts of a turkey but first had to find the words that matched up to their word blocks.  

The students played "Teeny Tiny Words on a Turkey" in the Word Work center.  I made a turkey with sight words "hidden" on it's feathers in 6 point font. So they could only see them with a magnifying glass. Once they found and wrote all 15 sight words, they could color their turkey.

We did learn about some non-turkey related stuff this week. The students learned their very first digraph: /sh/.  I told them a story about how the /h/ likes to flirt with some letters of the alphabet, one being the /s/.  But the /s/ is very shy and doesn't want anyone to hear and tells him, "Shhhhh."  Here's Landon and Mackenzie in the afternoon class adorably demonstrating the story.

We topped off this week with another Fun Friday. The students made a pumpkin pie that showed four things each student was thankful for, 

Then we made magnet letter messages on the fridge,

And one more turkey, 'cause we just didn't make enough during the week.

 I can't wait for our Alphabet party on Tuesday.  Go all out with those letter-themed outfits. I'll post the pics on Tuesday evening. Have a wonderful weekend and Thanksgiving!

 

 

"Howa!" means Hello!

The students got a new perspective this week as we learned about the life of a pilgrim.  We read a little each day of  The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern. I wrote the key vocabulary words on the board as we learned them.  Your child should be able to tell you who the pilgrims were, what the Mayflower was and what life was like on the voyage to America.  They may even remember the name of the town, Plymouth, and the native American, Squanto, who taught the pilgrims how to live on the land.  We practiced retelling what we'd heard of the story each day and we made 'text-to-self' connections in our journals.  Aeden had some wonderful, detailed entries this week.

To help with our journal writings, we made several anchor charts this week to show what our best work looks like.  The goal is for everyone to move up a "star level".  Some struggle with choosing a topic to write about/their answer to the prompt, so those students are working toward a 2 star level.  Other students are ready to start telling more with their words and are working on 3 stars.  By the end of kindergarten, everyone should be up to the 3 star level.  But I expect to have some even writing on the 4 star level!

Some of our centers had a Thanksgiving theme this week.  In the math center, the students played Turkey Trouble (yet another variation of Bingo).  The students rolled two dice, added them up and covered the amount (with a turkey feather!) shown in the ten frames.

And for the first time, the students got to play with the Lincoln Logs in the block center.  This helped to reinforce what we were learning about the pilgrims' way of life.

The Number Work center was also a new activity this week. The students pulled cards with teen numbers on them and had to recreate the amounts using the base ten magnets.

This was a big week as we finished the ALPHABET!  (Start working on those letter-themed costumes now).  Below is a link of the PM class doing ALL of the letter chants.  You may notice the 'T' chant is different from the cd. Instead of "teacher, teacher, teacher - Mrs. Lukacsko is our teacher," the students say "turkey, turkey, turkey - Mrs. Lukacsko's not a turkey." Every month, one of the letter chants will change to go along with that month's celebrations.  Last month, the 'g' chant changed to 'ghost.' Next month, the S chant will be about, who else? Santa!

 PM CLASS letter chants from A to Z

We wrapped up our unit on the First Thanksgiving with a special guest speaker. My good friend (and former student's parent), Amy Neel came to speak to our classes about her Native American heritage. She grew up in Pawhuska, OK on an Osage Indian Reservation. She taught the students some words in the native Osage language (Howa is pronounced hoo-way and means hello) and showed the students examples of the traditional clothing they wear when participating in ceremonial dances. She brought her fan, some mocassins, a picture of the arbor they dance under, and a friendship blanket.

Then she taught the class a few of their dances and we gave 'em a whirl! (The 5 videos below will only show up on a PC or desktop computer- sorry mobile viewers)!

Your child has a new poem to recite this coming week. It's attached to your newsletter. We learned it from a music video on youtube by Harry Kindergarten. It's a bit trickier than the last one (and shame on me for not putting picture clues on the poem print-out - I borrowed it from the somewhere in cyber space). So please click the link below if your child needs a refresher and draw some picture clues within the poem if your child needs them.  Write the names of everyone your child recites it to for the next week and return the sheet on Friday.  We will visit another big kid class and recite it to them.

5 Little Turkeys

 

Before I go, here are some pictures from the wonderful Veteran's Day program we had on Monday.  The morning class did a great job listening and participating.  Many thanks to our veterans!

 

Once Upon a Time...

This week has been all about fairy tales. We read Goldilocks, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Enormous Turnip.  Mrs. Taylor brought in her Faerie Tale Theatre collection (that's really how it's spelled) from the 80's and the students watched "Jack and the Beanstalk" during inside recess this week.  The fairy tales really engaged them and the students participated in discussions about the characters and the settings.  We also worked on sequencing the stories from beginning, to the middle, to the end. 

We learned the letters Ww and Xx this week.  You may notice your child calling it a "wouble-u" and that's okay by me. After all, I'm the one that taught them to say it that way!  I tell the students it's real name, of course, but I explain that we will nickname it wouble-u to help us remember it says wuh.

As you know, we are almost finished with the alphabet.  So we are getting ready to CELEBRATE this milestone with a party!  Start planning now with your child to come up with a letter-themed outfit (not a Halloween costume). If you need some ideas, take a look at the outfits from last year's Alphabet Par-tay!

 

Now that we're in November, our Smart Board calendar math has a new look - again! We always start group math time with a math song. This month, we are learning to count by tens. This week we have been singing "Climbing Up This Mountain" to teach us how to count by tens (and it lets us MOVE our bodies which is always a good thing when you're five).  

Once we're done singing and moving, we settle in and work on the calendar.  We usually have birthdays marked on each month, but we have no November birthdays in either class! The music note you see next to the month, is a link to the Months of the Year Song. We listen to this song 4-5 times each month. The red squares are interactive buttons that become transparent upon touch. The students figure out what will come next in the pattern and then I touch and reveal it. While we are on this page, we count down the days until our Alphabet party and Thanksgiving, we identify the days of the week, and complete and read the date.

Next, we play "Who's Coming to Dinner." I designed this game to help us decompose teen numbers into a group of tens with ones left over.  This student, Tyler, spun a 13. He chose between the 3 plates on the table and set his Thanksgiving Day tables for 13 guests.  We say that the top table is the "grown-up" table and the bottom table is the "kiddie" table.  Then we say the addition equation it illustrates, "10 + 3 = 13." Just like our Trick or Treat game from last month, every student will gets a turn, and we record how many are in each child's "dinner party" and discuss which is the most, which is the least, and if there are any equal amounts.  

A staple every month is our Days in School tracker.  This month we are following Tom Turkey through the number grid.  I have told the students that we will have a big 100th day party, so we are starting to count the remaining days until the 100th day of school. Once we add a ones unit to the days in school, we get to exercise.  Today we did 61 exercises to represent our 61 days in kindergarten.  

The final page is most likely their favorite.  Both classes are building a turkey and each class can keep up with the other's progress (this is getting them familiar with the same game they will have in the Math Games center in two weeks). This activity is sharpening our addition skills and teaching them SMASH addition (we smash the higher number on our hands and then count up the lesser number on our fingers. I'll post a video next week to give you a better idea).  So far, neither class has gotten the sum of 7 that they need to actually start putting their turkeys together, but they have plenty of feathers waiting for that body! 

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As far as centers go this week, we had a few new ones and a few repeats.  The puzzle center was one of the new ones. The students enjoyed putting together this Ocean Life puzzle.

The Word Work center was also new. The students rolled a number on a dice which coordinated with one of six sight words.  They wrote the word that matched up with the number they rolled.

We didn't get to have a truly Fun Friday since it was only a 4 day week, so there was no art project. But the morning class did get to make a banner for our Veterans' Day assembly which they are attending Monday morning.

 

 Before I leave, I want to recognize McKenzie and Amirah who received the Responsibilty Award this past Monday. Way to go, girls!

 And now a few miscellaneous pics. Enjoy your weekend!

 

Soaking up what's left of outdoor recess

Tree removal from last week's storm

The turkeys they made last Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOO to You!

It was a spooktacular week of rain, wind, indoor recess, and Halloween, of course.  We spent our shared reading time reading spooky stories such as "Inside a House that is Haunted," and "Scary, Scary Halloween."  The students shared the things that frighten them and wrote about it in their journals.  We discussed how the scary things we see at Halloween are just for fun and are make-believe so there's no need to be afraid.

 

 During our group writing time, we made a chart of what the students were going to be for Halloween, and the students rewrote their sentences in their journals.  We are working hard on adding details to our pictures - using 3 or more colors, adding backgrounds, facial features, etc.  The purpose is not to teach them how to be artists, but to teach them to think about details when they're writing and reading.   

   

Our centers this week were all brand new.  In the Math Games center, the students played Halloween Memory.  

In the number work center, they matched up addition problems to the ten frame that illustrated it. Then they used the bears to learn and see addition in a 'hands-on' way. 

 In the Word Work center, they played 'Read it, Build it, Write it' which builds up their sight word recognition. 

And in the puzzle center, they matched up opposites (which went along with their new sight words this week: big and little).

We finished up the week with a Write the Room activity where the students go about the room with a clipboard and pencil in hand looking for words that have the new letters of the week.  This week it was Tt and Vv.  They absolutely LOVE this activity!

And now that Halloween is over, we made our first craft of the "Holiday Season," (I'm one of those people who consider Thanksgiving a part of the Christmas season and started listening to Christmas music two weeks ago). We made turkeys that have as many feathers as the students have letters in their name.  These will be on display on our hallway bulletin board.

 I apologize for not having posted an update last week.  The pumpkin patch and Fall Festival last Friday was just the beginning of a very busy weekend for me so I simply ran out of time. But I have uploaded all of the pictures from the pumpkin patch field trip below.  Enjoy and have a great weekend!