Friday News Flash

Wow, what an intense week we have had in Kindergarten. We learned two new letters this week and we have been preparing for conferences left and right. The students made so many wonderful projects to show you, and I can't wait to brag about how wonderful they are!

I don't have any photos this week, I'm sorry about that, but here are some highlights of what we have been working on in class.

Math

This week we have been honing in on decomposition. Students have been finding ways to break apart numbers using their fingers, beans and cubes. First we looked at 2 finding that we could break it into 2+0, 0+2 and 1+1. Then we moved onto 3s. This is such an important skill for the students as we move into addition and subtraction that they are comfortable and flexible with their number sense. You can support this at home when dividing up objects in your house say desert or even a toy with a sibling, using language like "so 1 and 1 make 2" or "we have 2 all together."

Reading

Students have added two new letters to their toolboxes. This week we learned about the letter P and T, and what sounds these letters make. If you ask students to show you the sound they should put their hands down to their sides like a penguin for P saying "puh puh penguin" and put their muscles up saying "tuh tuh tiger" for T. As part of our phonics program we use what is called "Zoo Phonics" that helps give children an animal and a movement to associate with the sound. You would be amazed at how much it helps them even when it comes to sounding out words!

Science

We are coming to an end of our pumpkin unit as we head to the pumpkin patch next week, but this week we discussed how pumpkins grow, the parts of a pumpkin, and the pumpkin life cycle. The real fun will come next week when we get to put this knowledge of pumpkins to use as we carve our own pumpkins in class as part of our pumpkin inquiry! Students will get to count the seeds, measure how big their pumpkin is and decide if a pumpkin will sink or float when submerged in water! It is going to be a blast!