Sneezy is cold, cold, cold! To warm up, he drinks cocoa, sits in a hot tub, stands near a warm fire–and melts! After reading the story, the students were given a writing prompt that encouraged them to write how their own snowman melted. Then they created their own melted snowman using a mixture of shaving cream and glue for the melted snow and a variety of materials for the snowman accessories.
Math: Pattern Block Design Addition
During this activity, the students were challenged to create a design using two different types of blocks at a time (example: green triangles and red squares). After they created their designs the kids were asked to identify the parts and total in the design. The students discussed their design with their table buddy and shared how many of each shape they used. The students recorded the expressions to represent the parts in their design.
Math: Decomposing Numbers
To decompose in math is to break down numbers into parts. During this lesson, the students practiced decomposing numbers using snap cubes towers. The students also practiced using expressions to represent their decompositions.
Fundations: Digraphs & Blends
A digraph is made up of two letters that work together to make one unique sound. This week we introduced "th" and "ch." The K kids are moving beyond CVC words and are working hard on writing longer words that include blends. A blend is two letters that come together but each makes its own sound. Gestures are a particularly powerful tool for triggering memory and recalling learned information so the kids practice "tapping it out." For example - a word like stop would have 4 taps, sprint would have 6 taps and shred would have 4 taps (one for sh, and one each for r, e, and d).
Sensory - Shaving Cream & Foam Blocks
Foam blocks and shaving cream towers are the perfect combinations of sensory play and STEM! You wouldn't believe how well the shaving cream stuck to the blocks and what a difference it made in keeping their creations together.
Leader in Me: Habit #7 - Sharpen the Saw
Sharpening the saw means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life - physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. As a class, we brainstormed different ways we can fill each "bucket" daily.
Journals: Polar Bears
The kids are working hard on developing their writing skills! As they continue to get better each week they require less teacher support. They are getting better at sounding out words and are remembering to use correct capitalization, finger spaces, and punctuation.
STEM: Polar Bear Dens
Mystery Reader:
This week our mystery reader was Jayden's mom. Thank you for reading to us!
Art: Rainbow Fish
Recess: Sledding & Spray Painting the Snow
Monster Store:
Student Teacher - Nikki Kim
Ms. Kim will be starting her student teaching practicum next week in the Kindergarten room. She will be spending the rest of the school year learning through a hands-on student teaching experience. She will observe, interact and teach the students! Student teaching is an extremely valuable experience and I am thrilled to be working with her and helping her grow as a teacher!
CTD:
Looking for something educational on Saturday mornings to keep your child engaged during these cold winter months? Roycemore's Junior Kindergarten teachers are teaching Saturday classes through Northwestern's Center for Talent Development. Ms. Massey is teaching "Business is Booming" and Mrs. DeSalle is teaching "Kid Chemists." If you are interested see the course descriptions below and CLICK HERE to register.
