Leadership & Kindness Week + The Grove

As stated in Ms. A's weekend newsletter, one of the many strengths of Roycemore is the attention to Social-Emotional Learning. In Kindergarten, the students engage in daily morning meetings where we discuss the concept of leadership by using the Leader in Me program. We have been slowly introducing the 7 Habits and have been enjoying the corresponding stories and discussion points in Sean Covey's book, "The 7 Habits of Happy Kids." It is exciting to see the language and lessons learned brought up organically during our school day! This week we reinforced the meaning of leadership and kindness and the students engaged in daily activities that promoted these ideas.

Art: Kindness Cards

Mrs. Lorenz invited the kids to create cards to hang up around the school. The kids designed cards with phrases like, "You are nice!" and "I like you!" The kids then drew pictures to go with their kind words.

Pre-K Visit: BEE Kind

Mrs. Dinelli and her Pre-K friends delivered us some friendly bees to remind us to BEE kind!

Journals: I spread kindness by...

This week we focused on how to be kind to others. Before we began writing we shared our kindness ideas and discussed why kindness matters! Our weekly journal activities increase the students writing skills. Each week the children get better at letter formation, sounding out words, and sentence structure.

Math: Math Fingers

This week the children learned a new math game called Math Fingers. During Math Fingers the students took turns holding up the number of fingers shown on a card and their partner determined how many fingers they were holding up. Students either counted the fingers, recognized the quantity without counting, or counted on from 5 (when 6–10 fingers were displayed). When students connect the number shown on the card to the number of fingers they hold up, they reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Math: Number Race

The purpose of this activity is for students to learn stage 1 of the Number Race center. Students practice recognizing and writing numbers as they roll a connecting cube onto the mat and trace the number that it lands on. Students continue rolling and tracing until one number "wins" (all of the numbers in the column are traced). After students have traced all of one number, they traced the rest of the numbers. In a future variation of this center, students will write the numbers instead of tracing them. We ended the lesson by graphing all the students winning numbers - 9 was the number that won the most!

Fundations:

This week the students learned proper letter formation for "e" "r." We also practiced spelling words by playing Mystery Word. During this game, the teacher taps out three sounds. The students have to identify the corresponding letter for each sound and write it on their writing tablets using proper letter formation. We then discuss the word and practice using it in a sentence.

Centers:

Centers this week included journals, reading groups, Harvest Hullaboo, fine motor skills, and the classic card game - war.

Music:

Library:

Art: Self-Portraits

Field Trip: The Grove

The kids had so much fun at The Grove! We went on a nature walk, explored the Interpretive Center, enjoyed a delightfully spooky hayride, and ate a picnic-style lunch outside.

Put First Things First

This week the kids were introduced to Habit #3: Put First Things First. They began to understand that Habit #3 is all about doing the things they have to do before doing the things they want to do. Work first, then play! In the book, "The 7 Habits of Happy Kids" by Sean Covey, we read the story, Pokey and the Spelling Test. In this story, we learned how awful it can feel when you procrastinate and put things off, like when Pokey crammed the night before the test.

Sensory Table: Corn

Mrs. Dinelli (Pre-K teacher) surprised the Kindergarten kids with a huge bag of corn cobs! The corn cobs are providing the children with endless exploratory play and learning about fall. The children are working hard to remove every last kernel from the cobs of corn! They are enjoying touching, feeling, plucking, and picking. The kids even used tweezers and magnifying glasses to get an even closer look at the kernels.

Math: Counting Collections

At the beginning of the week, the students counted collections and practiced keeping track of which objects have been counted. Keeping track of which objects have been counted helps students count accurately and ensure they count all the objects and do not count each object more than once. The students were provided with 5-frames to help them count accurately and organize their collections. The collections were created from classroom objects such as legos, connecting cubes, pom poms, buttons, etc.

Math: Connecting Cube Sculptures

To begin the lesson, the students were given a handful of connecting cubes. They were asked to first count their collection, and then use all of their connecting cubes to create whatever they would like. After a few minutes, they shared with their math partner what they made and told them how many cubes they used without recounting their collection. Then, the partners discussed some things that were the same about what they each made. For example, one group created a mining tank and a plane. They discovered that they both made vehicles! Another group made a magnet and a bridge and they discovered that both of their creations were the same shape! Another group made three different sculptures and they discovered that they each used a brown connecting cube!

Fundations: "s" and "d"

The children are continuing their hard work on learning proper letter formation. This week we learned two new letters - s and d. These letters are "plane line round letters." That means they start on the plane line!

Centers:

During centers, the teachers each had their own small group working on reading and writing while the other students worked independently on their own center activities. Center activities included fivezi, CVC stamp and write, a math puzzle, journals, reading groups, and a literacy memory game.

Journals: "What do you like to do in the fall?"

During journals, the students are instructed to draw a picture to match their response and to write a complete sentence starting with, "In fall I like to...." The kids must use at least 5 colors in their picture and while writing they are practicing using finger spaces between words and sounding out the words slowly to hear all the sounds. We are teaching the students that writers don't ask how something is spelled - they must sound it out the best they can! Phonetic spelling ("inventive spelling") is more important than spelling all the words correctly. Phonetic spelling builds a sense of confidence, pride, and control over the learning process and allows students to express themselves creatively through writing without worrying about the spelling of unfamiliar words. When you practice writing and spelling at home, let your child sound out the word and write down what they hear. Resist the urge to correct their spelling!

Reader's Workshop: Pointer Power

The students were taught that "super readers" use their reading superpowers! The first reading superpower the children were taught was "pointer power." The children practiced using their pointer power by looking at the words carefully, pointing under each word as they read. Some students are sounding out letters and some students are reading at a quicker fluency. No matter what reading level students are they are encouraged to use pointer power!

STEM Challenge: Flying Bats

This week the students were challenged to create a bat and to make it fly! They were given the following materials - black cardstock, scissors, tape, a straw, and string. First, the children cut a bat out of cardstock. Then they needed to figure out how to make it fly with the remaining materials. With a bit of teacher guidance, they figured out they needed to tape the straw on the bat and pull the string through the straw. We then taped the string to something tall and then lifted the string higher and lower to see what would happen. As the STEM challenge continued we added various alternatives to see if we could make the bat fly faster!

PE:

Art:

Music:

Library:

Reminders:

-Our Field Trip is Friday, October 22nd.

-We will be using pumpkins next week during centers. We will also be decorating pumpkins the week after. Please bring a pumpkin for your child - any size!

-There are many more photos (and videos) on our Roycemore Kindergarten Facebook Group - it is private - please ask to join!

SPIRIT WEEK!

The kids had a lot of fun showing their school spirit this week. See our group pictures from the week - Fandom Day, Mismatch Day, Roycemore Day, PJ Day, and Beach Day!

Monthly Self-Portrait

The kids completed their October self-portraits this week. It is wonderful to see how the kid's self-portraits change from month to month. I love when the kids start to add more details and colors to their drawings. Their monthly self-portraits are collected for their portfolios that are given out at the end of the school year.

Monthly Sign-in's

Once a month the kids complete a sign-in where they are asked to write their name in their best handwriting. These are also collected for their portfolios that are given out at the end of the school year.

Math: How Many Sides?

Partner math games are so much fun! It is great to see the kids not only work on various math skills but work on skills like eye contact, turn-taking, cooperation, and teamwork.

Math: Write The Room

This week the kids were engaged in a new "write the room" activity. The kids walked around the room searching for donut skill cards. The kids practiced counting the number of sprinkles on each card and recorded them on their recording sheets.

Math: Different Groups, Same Quantity /Act It Out

Fundations:

This week we introduced c, o, a, and g. These letters are called "plane line round letters." The kids are working hard on writing these letters using correct formation. We are also working on sounding out and writing CVC words.

Journals:

This week we read the story, "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!" by Mo Willems. The story is about The Pigeon who really wants a puppy, but later has second thoughts about that idea. After reading the story I asked the kids to think about something that they really want. They were then instructed to draw a picture to match their response and to write a complete sentence starting with, "I want ...."

Centers:

The week we started small groups during centers. The teachers each had their own small group working on reading and writing while the other students worked independently on their own center activities.

STEM Challenge: Apple Tower

With this challenge students designed a tower that could support the weight of an apple. To build their apple tower students used straws, tape, and scissors. The students were challenged to see how tall they could build their tower!

Music: Vocal Exploration & Tempo

Vocal exploration or time spent exploring what the voice can do is a vital part of early childhood music-making. Ms. Redmann invited the kindergarten singers to experiment with different types of sounds. While watching "The Princess and The Troll: A Vocal Exploration Story" the students echoed each of the vocal sounds while listening to the exciting and magical story. Try the activity out at home! Click on the link to find the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtK46qyP7os

PE:

So many fun gross motor games in PE: Red Light/Green Light, Sharks & Minnows, Baseball, and Dodgeball Bowling.

Library:

Art: Glazing Pinch Pots & The Pigeon

Free Choice:

Recess:

Reminders:

-NO SCHOOL on Monday - Teacher Professional Development Day

-If you haven't yet, please send in $10 for our field trip. Thank you for those that already have!