How can we make 6?

How can we make 6?  Kindergarteners have spent the last few days working on the number 6.  Aside from learning how to write the number 6, we practiced counting out 6 counters, build stacks of 6 unifix cubes, wrote our numbers from 1-6, drew 6 objects and sorted through dominoes to find ones that had a total of 6.  After students found all the dominoes with 6, we talked about the different ways we can make 6 and created a chart.  We learned that we can make 6 by creating a group of 2 and a group of 4, two groups of 3, and so on.  This is an early introduction to the concept of addition!

Next up is the number 7!

September Family Projects

September Family Projects, oh my!  Wow!  Kindergartners did an AWESOME job on their book boxes.  Mrs. Harnish was able to come in and watch Kindergarteners present their boxes to the rest of the class.  We listened to our friends tell us how they decorated their boxes, who helped them and what materials they used.  Check out our boxes below!

Look for our October family projects coming soon!

Where's your *SMART* finger?

Kindergartners have been working hard on using their *smart* fingers when reading.  Our *smart* finger is the pointer finger on the hand that we write with.  I encourage my Kindergarten students to always use their *smart* fingers when reading texts, as it helps develop one-to-one matching, left-to-right and encourages us to cross the midline.  This is a great skill to practice at home when reading books.  Parents and older siblings can model the use of the *smart* fingers too! 

Ava reads I See Shapes with her *SMART* finger!

 While reading our I See Shapes books, Kindergartners also worked on identifying their colors and shapes and practiced coloring inside the lines.  All the books that we create in class and send home are books that your child should be able to read on his/her own.  Each time your child reads these books to you, he/she can fill out a reading ticket!  They can also be read repeatedly for numerous tickets.  All books that your child can read can be stored in your child's book box!

Kuiper's Apple Orchard

Our first field trip is coming soon!  On Friday, a permission slip was sent home in your child's folder.  Please fill out the permission slip and return it along with the $9.00 fee as soon as possible.  All parents who would like to chaperone are invited to attend, but need to pay the $9.00 fee as well.  Please indicate if you will be joining us on your child's permission slip or send me a note or email.  Hope you can join us!

In preparation for our field trip, we will be studying apples this week.  Look for posts later on in the week as to what we are doing in class!

Upcoming Week in Kindergarten!

We are off and moving in Kindergarten!  Upcoming this week will be...
       Letter of the Week:  Aa
       Sight Words:  like and see (have your child cut out his/her flashcards and practice nightly!)
       Math:  Shapes, Numbers 5 and 6
       Science:  Apples (parts of a plant)...in preparation for our upcoming field trip to Kuiper's Apple Farm!  Make sure to get your permission slips returned.  All parents who would like to chaperone are invited to!

2-dimensional Shapes

Kindergartners have been working hard on identifying their 2-dimensional shapes.  One of our first quarter goals for students to identify each of the following:  circle, square, rectangle, triangle and hexagon.  Yes...the hexagon...tricky isn't it?  The hexagon (6 sides) is most commonly confused with the octagon (8 sides).  While you are out and about, have your child look for not only this shape, but all shapes Kindergartners are required to know.  Identifying shapes in their environment is a great and interactive way to practice this skill.  Earlier this week, we talked about the characteristics of each of the five shapes and identified how many corners and sides each shape had.  We made the poster below together as a class.

Today, we practiced making each of the shapes using our bodies!

SQUARE

TRIANGLE

RECTANGLE

HEXAGON...this was a little bit tricky!

CIRCLE

Can't wait for the Twister-a-Thon later on today!

Twister-a-Thon!

The HBT Twister-a-Thon will take place on Friday, September 14th!  It will begin at approximately 1:15 at the flagpole.  All parents are invited to help us celebrate!  (And the extra hands are always helpful too!)  After we sing a few songs with the CHS band, we will walk up to the high school track to begin our walk.  If you have not sent in your child's Twister-a-Thon packet, please send it in by Friday. 

All KED students will attend the Twister-a-Thon.  AM students who are not in KED may attend and join the KED students in the afternoon, but need to have a parent/guardian with them at all times.  Thank you for your support and hope to see you there!

Go Twisters!

Listening Skills with Mrs. Mastio

Each week, Mrs. Mastio, our reading teacher, comes in to work with our Kindergartners on a variety of early literacy skills.  One of the very first skills we are work on is developing our listening skills.  Mrs. Mastio taught us a song called "5 Star Listener" that can be sung to the tune of Frere Jacques.  This helps us get our bodies ready to listen and learn.

Today, she read us the story "Doing the Animal Bop".  Kindergartners needed to use their "listening ears" to find out how each of the animals in the story dances. 

 

 

We then sang the "Doing the Animal Bop" song and danced just like the animals did.  Ask your child what his/her favorite animal dance was!