Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Fall Teaching!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year to teach!! I LOVE being able to incorporate fun themes into my teaching to help students learn the Kindergarten standards! Students do not even realize sometimes all of the concepts they are learning while we are talking about spiders, bats, pumpkins.  

At the beginning of this week we started out learning with BATS! We read a nonfiction book about bats.


After reading we filled in a bat tree map with facts we learned from the book.

We used this later during writing to write informational pieces about bats. This 2nd 9 weeks our writing standard is writing informational pieces. We also made a bat out of a paper plate.







We practiced sounding out words by labeling a bat together as a class. 


We have been learning about rhyming words so we thought about all of the words that rhyme with BAT and sounded them out. 

We then read a fiction book about a bat.

We worked with a partner to sequence the story and then we came back together as a class to sequence it as a whole group!






The later part of the week we started learning with pumpkins! We started out again with a non-fiction book about pumpkins. 

We discussed why the book was non-fiction. We filled in a flow chart on how a pumpkin grows.

Then, students sequenced how a pumpkin grows by their self. 


We later made a tree map together with pumpkin facts. We filled in our own tree maps too.




We then made used the tree maps to write informational pieces about pumpkins.




We also read a fiction book about a pumpkin.

We compared the 2 pumpkin books using a Venn diagram listing similarities and differences. (I forgot to take a picture
of it!) 

MATH:
We started new math tubs this week! We have some fun "Halloween" themed tubs. 

Counting Jars- students count the number of cubes in their jars and then show it on their paper. Each child's amount is based on what they know both with counting and writing numbers. 

Numeral to quantity- Trick or Treat candy bags. Students count the candy and match the number.

Counting- students practice 1-1 correspondence with counting pumpkin seeds

Race to Trace- students role a dice and count the amount. They trace the number they counted. They try to be the first to trace all of the numbers in their row.

Pumpkin glyphs- students use a key to draw "carve" their Jack-o-lantern.

10s frame monsters- students choose a number card and write the number inside a monster. They then show the number on the 10s frames. (This game is found in my Monster game set on Teachers Pay Teachers.)

Story Problems
We have been working to solve some Halloween themed story problems in our math journals! We are learning new strategies to solve problems! Some drew a picture, some used their fingers, and some used 10s sticks!

ARRGH MATEY!!
On Wednesday it was "Teach Like A Pirate Day!" We have been reading the book "Teach Like A Pirate" as a faculty and doing a book study together. All of the teachers dressed as pirates! The students thought it was funny! 

....and finally, on Friday, all of kindergarten worked to put up our bulletin board for Red Ribbon Week next week! 


As you can see it was another busy week in our room!!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Fire Safety and Prevention presentation

Our local fire department in Bethlehem came out today to talk to us about fire safety! We learned what to do in different emergencies. 

We learned not to be afraid of firefighters when they are in their suits! 


We also received a tour of the ambulance and fire truck!









Thank you Bethlehem Firefighters! We had fun and learned a lot!


Friday, October 11, 2013

All Wrapped Up in Learning!

Our door completely sums up our week! We have learned so much! 

We started out the week with Scarecrows! 

We read a fiction book and a non-fiction book about scarecrows. We compared the 2 books discussing similarities and differences. (Of course we loved the props that came in our story bag from the media center!)

We created a circle map and wrote an informational piece about scarecrows.

We made text-to-self connections by pretending we were scarecrows and decided what we would scare. Students participated in a directed drawing of a scarecrow and then colored it! They turned out SO cute!! Their drawings have come such a long way!













Next, we started learning about SPIDERS!! Oh my! We learned Mrs. Edwards doesn't like spiders!! :) We read a fact book and a fiction book about spiders.
We answered comprehension questions about the books and then compared them. Did you know a spider is not an insect? It's an arachnid!! We collaborated as a class to create a tree map and then used the information to write informational pieces about spiders.

We worked with new vocabulary words that were in our story- Spinning Spiders

Last, we sang a poem to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot" titled "I'm a Little Spider" and made spider hats!


Phew, are you tired yet!? We also learned about Christipher Columbus! 

We learned he was an explorer! We read books about him, watched a short video clip about him, created a circle map about him and made these ships! 

...and now to enjoy FALL BREAK!!!