Mrs. Bixby's Weekly Newsletter

 

KINDERGARTEN ROOM 116

Eisenhower Elementary School M a rc h  1 0 ,  2 0 1 7    

Mrs. Bixby’s Weekly Newsletter Kindergarten Literacy Below are some books we enjoyed: •   Everything Spring by Jill Esbaum •   This Is Me by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell •   Mama Eat Ant, YUCK! by Barbara Edmonds •   Who’s In My Family by Robie Harris •   Me and My Family Tree by Joan Sweeney •   Surf’s Up by Kwame Alexander •   If You Give a Mouse a Brownie by Laura Numeroff •   Pete and the Missing Cupcakes by Kimberly and James Dean •   Click, Clack, Surprise! by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin

Readers’ Workshop—Consonant Blends This week readers learned about consonant blends: Two consonants next to each other in a word whose sounds blend together. Ex: crown, crow, crayon or spoon, spider, spot. We made a variety of blend sounds in our sound blender and sorted words beginning with blends. Our reading activities were: •   Blend Ice Cream Cones: Each cone has a different consonant blend. Match the ice cream scoop pictures to the correct beginning blend. •   Wake Up Spring Poem Book •   Reading Eggs on Our NEW iPad! •   Kindergarten Self Portraits •   Word Families: If I can spell cat, then I can spell hat, bat and mat. •   Snap Word Hunt Around the Classroom •   Listening Center: Max at Night •   Book Groups at Teacher Table

•   Clever Tom and the Leprechaun by Linda Shute •   There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover by Lucille Colandro •   Max at Night by Ed Vere Letter, Words and Poems of the Week This week readers focused on two new snap words: All and of. The class learned two new poems: A family poem titled, “All Families are Different,” and a spring poem titled, “Wake Up Spring!”

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Mrs. Bixby’s Weekly Newsletter Writers’ Workshop—Family Writing

Learning Centers

Kindergartners continued to write about why our families are the best and why we love them. We also did detailed work creating the title page for our family book, which we will finish after vacation. Writers learned about a new element to include in their writing: STOP signs! We can add a stop sign at the end of each sentence or thought we write to make it easier for the reader to read our writing. We learned three different stop signs: Period (to use when we are telling something), exclamation point (to use when we are telling something exciting), and a question mark to use when we are asking a question.

At Star Project we read Me and My Family Tree and learned what a Family Tree is. We painted giant family trees and added our family members to our family trees. Kindergarten explorers continued to enjoy feeling and experimenting with squishy OOBLECK in the sensory table. Half way through the week we cleaned up the oobleck and turned the sensory table into a dish washing station, because all those dishes from the family house were getting dirty. Kindergarten Family members worked in the kindergarten family house to take care of their families by cooking dinner, feeding the babies, getting dressed and going to work. Students enjoyed using Reading Eggs and Math Seeds on their new iPads and beginning to explore Doodle Buddy to create beautiful technological creations. And of course, builders were busy building with the big blocks, Lincoln logs, magna tiles and they especially enjoyed including the large animals in their imaginative play.

Mathematics: Addition Mathematicians continued to practice adding two numbers together. They solved addition sentences using a variety of adding strategies. We learned and practiced a fourth way to solve a number sentence this week: Use a number line. Ways to Solve a Number Sentence. 1.   2.   3.   4.  

Count All and Use your fingers Draw a Picture Count On Use a Number Line

Kindergartners continued to play our addition math station games: Create, Draw and Write an Addition Number Sentence, Partner Addition with the Addition Machine, Truffala Tree Addition, Gum Ball Addition, Parking Lot Addition Sentences, and Roll and Build a Tower.

Art: St. Patrick’s Day After reading a few books about tricky leprechauns, we each used our imagination to create a way to catch a leprechaun. We illustrated our plans during art, using markers and labeling the designs. Artists shared their artwork and ideas with the class.

Reminders

•   March Vacation 3/13-3/17 No School HAVE A WONDERFUL VACATION!