Kindergator Update 8.24


Kindergator Update 8.16.19

Marvelous! Magical! Magnificent! This week in kindergarten was all about the “m” sound for sure!

Reading: We began exploring the difference between fake fiction and real reading (non-fiction). We examined lots of non-fiction books about alligators to notice the photographs (and not illustrations), captions, maps and diagrams. We learned a lot about alligators too. The best misconception we cleared up…..they are not called crocogators!!!! We learned lots of “m” words, and read books like The Big Cat (We hope they read that to you at home too.) We have been working on sight words lots this week in centers too.

Math: We continued working on teen numbers and contrasted them with -ty numbers (as in 13 versus 30). We learned one strategy for how to transition from 9s to 10s (as in 29-30 or 79-80) and some of our kiddos even began counting by 10s. We examined number charts and used tens frames to represent teen numbers too!

Writing: We worked on the illustrations for our 3 sentence stories. The illustrations must have 3 details to further explain the main picture and at least 5 colors so this is no small task. We sounded out 2 words that begins with “m” on our bubble maps. We played a fun game of pass the pen during our phonics time too. The students had to draw a picture of a word that started with “m” then pass the pen to a teammate who had to draw a different picture without being able to talk about what had been drawn already. We do a lot of team games in class to help students learn how to work together or handle a loss and usually the first ones are a struggle. This class did really well with them though!

Growth Mindset: We read stories about students who had to overcome worry or frustration by talking to their brains with “can do” language. Now that we are getting into real content, we are noticing lots of our kiddos who will need help with this because they give up easily. We practiced phrases like “I am going to focus on what I can do.” Or “I need a new plan.” Or even “I can do this!” Perseverance is a big part of kindergarten and we will be working on developing this throughout the year.

Social Studies: We finished our map unit by examining the difference between land and water on a map and examining a type of map called a globe.

Science: We examined the material “cloth” and did a cloth walk around the classroom and a virtual cloth walk around a house.

Vocabulary:  photograph, caption, labels, diagram, cloth, pledge

Big Things:
We are so excited to have Mrs. Walkup back with us!

Please try to conserve pages in the homework journals whenever possible. We did not get enough primary journals for the whole class this year and had to buy/ borrow some to be able to make the homework notebooks. If we use up the pages too quickly, we don’t have many extras to work with. Please try to write on back of pages and fill the page if possible before moving on to another. And please have your students complete their homework in pencil.

Wednesday August 28th is an early release day so your child will leave school at 12:30 instead of 2:30. 


Thank You To:
  • Duncan, Audrey, Kendal, Caitlin, Ethan, Daniel, Mila, Jacob, Mae-Claire, Elaina, Arielle who earned their STAR behavior this week. We got to meet Foxy the Dolphin, Ruff-Ruff and Flipping Kitty, the stuffed animals, this week.
  • Thank you to everyone for another great week of homework. We had lots of kids do the “pledge” choice and I am happy to report they have pledged: not to throw pizza, not to kiss a sheep, to sleep in their own beds, to be loving to their families, to never hit their brother (again) and to do their best in school.
  • Thank you to Jacob who used his STAR behavior to take the whole class to the big playground for recess.
  • Thank you to Ethan who illustrated an amazing blue hedgehog that eats all the snails!
  • Thank you to Will who  illustrated a great horse that got sucked into a magic portal.
  • Thank you to Harrison who always compliments my shirt!
  • Thank you to Hadley, a super hard worker who makes sure we are always moving, and shaking as much as she is.
  • Thank you to super scientist Kendal who helped us understand what reptiles are.
  • Thank you to Lennox who created a great illustration of a fire dog saving his playground.
  • Thank you to Daniel for always being a great friend to others.
  • Thank you to Jacob who cleans up without being asked.
  • Thank you to Mae-Claire who braved new foods this week.
  • Thanks to Eldabelle for always modeling what it means to do “best work.”
  • Thank you to Audrey who ALWAYS  has her hand up first to try.
  • Thank you to Gabe for great counting this week. We knew we could “count” on him.
  • Thank you to Elaina who makes sure no chair goes unstacked when us teacher miss them.



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