Fabulous Friday!

Happy Friday Kindergarten friends!

Just a couple reminders for upcoming events:

• Please look in your child's friday folder for information for the pumpkin patch.  Each child will need to bring $4 for this activity.
• School pictures were sent home today also.

Reminder that school will resume on Tuesday!  See you then.

Mrs. Vollan

Terrific Thursday

Happy Thursday Kindergarten friends!  We have had another hard working day!

We continue to work on books that are just right for us and how to "shop" in the classroom library.   We looked at books that teach the alphabet.  We learned that all of these books go into the same tub and that the number 7 can be found in the back of all of them.

We have also been practicing writing "I see."  Then Mrs. Vollan draws one of the students and the class has to guess which one.  Then one student is picked to write the child's name.  We have been working at finding and writing the words.  The kids have learned to ask the student, look for the name on the table spot, or use the lunch cards.

 We also continue to work on stamina.  Currently we are able to read 14 minutes without someone breaking stamina.  Our goal is 15 minutes at a time so we are doing great!

Wonderful Wednesday

It was wonderful weather outside today!  It won't be long before the snow flies though.

But we will continue to learn every day!

Do you remember seeing a chart like this earlier in the school year?  Look how much better all our writing is getting!  There are only a couple of us who still write backwards, but we will get it soon!

In reading, we are working on our classroom library.  Today we looked at Eric Carle books.  We learned that Eric Carle is the author of all the books in tub 3.  We also learned that at the back of each of these books is a sticker that says 3.  This way we know where to put the books back.

In math we had a hard problem for some kids to draw:

5 kids are on a swing.  Some are boys and some are girls.  Draw the swings.

Most of the kids drew 3 of one and 2 of the other.

Aker is showing us that it was fine to draw 4 being boys and 1 girl too.

In writing, we are working at finding words in the classroom.  So kids are even writing sentences!

 "Ocean, Africa, Indian"

"Do you like brown brownies?"

Trying Things Tuesday

It has been a while since I have been able to post.

Last Friday, we had a lock down drill  and an assembly.
Monday, I tried to use the camera only to find I forgot to charge it.
Today, we have been busy testing for midterm grades which will come out on Friday.

I did want to let you know some of the ideas we have been covering in Kindergarten lately.

In math we are working on problems such as:  I see 4 balloons.  Some are orange and some are purple.  Draw the balloons.

What we are looking for, are ways to make 4.  But, unlike when some of us grew up, we do not teach it like:

2+2=4  and 3+1=4

In fact, at this stage we do not use plus or equals signs at all.  Instead, we are looking at our 4 balloons and figuring out what they might look like.  So, both Kelan's and Isaac's answers are correct.

• Can you point to the author and the illustrator? 
• What does an author do?  
• What does an illustrator do?

We have also continued to work on our handwriting.  This week we are working on the letter Pp.

Thinking Thursday

Today we have been working on some hard ideas.

In math we are starting to figure out what number is one more.  For instance, today we were working with dominoes.  Krin had one with 6 dots.  So, she drew the domino she had and then had to find a domino with one more dot.  If you get a chance to work with your child, this would be a great concept to work on.

In writing, we are continuing to work on writing teaching books.  Myah was showing how to stack blocks.  It is still hard for some to write words but they always come up with great stories.

We have also been working at treating our friends nicely.  Sometimes it is hard to remember.  But it still amazes me how much they have already grown in school!

Terrific Tuesday

First of all, I am sorry I was gone yesterday.  Sickness always comes when you least expect it, even for teachers!

Yesterday the students made a new book for the classroom: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!  Who is in Our Room?   Everyone was able to draw a picture of themselves to show who is in K02.

Today we starting writing stories that teach.  We are also continuing to write new "risky words."  Below is "turtle."  In this story, the student was teaching how to paint pumpkins to look like turtles!

Below, Izzy is teaching how to swim.

.

In math we are working on our counting strategies. We learned that sometimes you just know how many there are by looking.  Other times we have to point and count, or can even move an object to count it.  Today we were counting with bears.

Picture Perfect Thursday!

First I wanted to let you know baby boy Cota is here!  He came yesterday.

Hayden Thomas

Born September 10, 2014

about 5:27pm 

7lbs 11oz 

20.5 in. long

With pictures today, we didn't get as much done as we normally do, but the kids were so precious.  I did ask the kids twice to check their backpacks for money or the form, but we still found one after pictures were done.  While, we were able to get that "found" one done, I am hoping none of the little ones missed another packet.  But if that is the case, retakes will be happening later so there will be a second chance!  You can also order more pictures online with the website address that will come when the first pictures come.

Today we read the books The Loud Book and The Quiet Book.  We are working very hard finding out what kind of voice we should use during the school day.  We learned that even when we are quiet, sometimes noises can sound very loud.  We also talked about using our loud voice during recess and not when we are working.

The math problem for today was counting the number of green bears our table had.  We had to work together to separate the colors and count only the green bears.  Beau did a great job drawing the bears too!

Wet and Windy Wednesday

Looks like fall is here!  Some kids got very cold outside today.


In math, the kids worked on this problem:
     How may cubes can you pick up with one hand?

Some of the kids put the snap cubes into rods and counted, while others counted individually on the table.  After coming up with the answer, the students drew the cubes on the paper to show how they came up with that answer as well as wrote the number.  We had some great block counters!

Poor Taylor!  I didn't realize I got her with her eyes closed.  Here we are practicing our handwriting with the letter Ee.  We are also starting to work getting our names in the lower case letters after the first one in our name.  If you have a kiddo that is writing in all capital letters, it would be great practice at home to work on adding the lower case ones.

Tomorrow is picture day!  I can;t wait to see all the cute faces tomorrow.  Have a great night!

Mrs. Vollan

Krystine Vollan-Reavis

Big News People...

We are going to the hospital tonight! Yay! Hopefully baby Hayden will arrive in the world tomorrow. He'd better! I was due last week :) Haha.

It's been a true joy getting to know your little kiddos for 4 weeks. How lucky am I to have had this time to get to know them. Mrs. Vollan and I have been communicating non-stop to try and make this a smooth transition.

It's hard to let your class go, just as it is hard for the kiddos to re-adjust. Please encourage them at home. I will be back in December! I know Mrs. Vollan will do a terrific job!!! Direct any questions/concerns, etc...to her and I know she'll let me know too, so I'm in the loop when I return. I can't wait to return as well.

Please enjoy the Fall and think about me :) I'll email a picture out soon to everyone!

Mrs. Cota

Happy Tuesday :) :)

Morning sentence! We are going to be very picky about first names from now on. Just so you know...we'd like your child to only capitalize the first letter in his or her name. Some of us need extra practice...so we dug out our namecards and did it! 

Taylor found 'by' on the front cover today! Very exciting stuff people...

Practicing our snap words! See if your child can read these. Way to go Kelan! 

Here is a sneak peek at some of us practicing our namecards :) 

Work with your child at home on naming and finding the parts of a book! This is awesome practice.

We missed you Beau and hope you're feeling MUCH BETTER!!!! 

Happy Monday!

Today we practiced finding the parts of a book. Your child should know how to find the front and back cover, author/illustrator, title page, words and pictures! 

He are some friends very busy reading. Today we got up to 4 minutes without breaking the stamina....or reading independently! 

Myah is showing us the answer to her math problem. Today's problem was awesome. It was: Draw a cat, a fish and a dog. Which one is different? Why? Many of them came up with some very unique ideas.....proving that mathematicians solve problems differently.
Examples I saw:
A fish is different because it has fins
A fish is different because it swims underwater
A fish is different because it doesn't make noise
A dog is different, because if you put cat and fish together, you get catfish! 

Fantastic Friday!

The weeks are flying by.  It is wonderful to see the students grow every day.

We finished up the week reading the sentence, "Can you see green snakes?"  We used picture clues to help us read as well as sounding out letters.

Sometimes we just need some quiet time.

As writers, we are working at stretching out our sounds as well as using words around us to help us. Ally was able to find the word "see" as well as write some letters.

Wait until you see what we can do in the coming days!

Mrs. Vollan

Krystine Vollan-Reavis

Happy Thursday!!

Today Mrs. Cota was out sick so Mrs. Vollan was with K02.  The baby is not here yet so please feel free to email both of us, if you need to do so, so all messages are received.

In Math today we wrote our names and counted how many letters there were.

We also worked on looking for the number in the room if we couldn't remember how to write it.

We are becoming great writers.  We learned that spelling can be hard.  But if we sound it out, we can come close so others know what we are trying to say.

Myah was working on writing monkey bars.  She is thinking very hard on what sounds each letter makes.

Dallas was so proud of how he spelled "person."

Mrs. Vollan

Krystine Vollan-Reavis

Happy Wednesday!

This is our How Did You Do It wall for math strategies. Each day, we have a math problem that our kiddos have to solve. Today's problem was: How many kids are at your table? How can you show your answer. We work for a bit and then share our work. The kids discuss whether or not what a friend tried made sense. You can notice that our friend Aker is our FIRST friend to have a strategy on the wall.
When she wrote her answer, she wrote the number and circled it!
I saw many friends try this today! 

Our first reading strategy (what good readers do) is to recognize or read, sight words.
We call them snap words because you have to read them in a snap! Please visit our shutterfly page for the first 20 words and practice them at home. 

We also have a goal of learning our letters and sounds by Halloween! Please practice this at home too.

Today we talked about Reader Respect. These are the things we do when we read to self.

Here are some friends reading the survey. See how Autumn points to the words as she reads? Try this at home! 

We went for two minutes without 'breaking stamina.' We have to read quietly, stay in one spot, get started right away and work the whole time or stamina is broken! We are learning to be independent.

Couldn't resist a picture of these cuties who built a HUGE ship during choicetime. They were so proud :) 

Happy Tuesday!

Welcome back from Labor Day weekend! I can tell we all needed a nice, long weekend to relax and unwind. It sure felt good! 

This is so exciting! We practiced our first read to self round today. Each child has his or her own book bag that has 3 books I've pre-selected. Eventually, students will be tested and taught to book shop for 'just right books.' It's more fun to read when you can pick out your own book! They did a great job. Just look at these readers.

We'll continue to read each day and build our stamina. We are developing an I chart together to help us remember what we are expected to do during this time. I hope to see them reach 20 minutes in the next couple of months! Then we start introducing more choices and that's why this time is called Daily 5. There will eventually be 5 literacy based choices. Some days I'll pick where they need to work and other days they get to pick.

We just started our first newsbook today! Very exciting! Each Monday (or Tuesday after a break) we will share what we did with our new elbow partners. Then elbow partners share out what their partner said and this helps us work on listening to each other. Today I picked Ally's share about Wild Water West!!!

Amare showed us how he reads the pictures today. We'll be having more in depth lessons about how to read a book soon. What a brave kiddo! Just like Eric Carle!