Despite all the changes, this past week included many fun activities for the students. It was Red Ribbon Week and we discussed making healthy choices. The children did a wonderful job on their contributions to our Red Ribbon Week poster. They each received a gel pen as a prize for their excellent Red Ribbon Week work. Once we get back to our classrooms, the children will be able to shop at our classroom PRIDE Store again with the PRIDE Cash they have earned for good behavior and choices at school.
They can view it again here:
Even with all the fun events and activities, the children still had time to accomplish a lot in Reading and Math. Next week, we will continue on with our first unit of the Kindergarten Reading program called Meet the Superkids. In each Unit the children are introduced to a Superkid whose name begins with the letter studied throughout the unit. Each Superkid has a unique interest, talent or hobby which becomes the theme for that unit. There is also a musical video used to introduce each Superkid that we listen to throughout the unit. Most units last 6-8 days so we will not be starting a new letter every Monday. Once we get back to our classrooms and have workbooks to use, you will know a unit is complete when your child's workbook for that letter is brought home. Reading tests do not occur after every unit. Children are usually tested after every third unit so we will review the previous 3 letters studied before each test.
We should wrap up Unit 1 and begin Unit 2 by Friday. This unit features the letter Oo and the Superkid Oswald who loves animals, both real and imaginary. We will turn our focus to animals in Science to coincide with this unit.
In Math class, the children have been working hard to understand the concepts of more and fewer. This is actually a difficult concept for many children. Comparing groups is also a more advanced concept and the term fewer is often new for our young students. Figuring out how many more or fewer one group has when compared to another takes a lot of practice. We will continue to work on these skills next week and will also introduce number order and ordinal words(first, second, third,...). Children usually understand first and last but, words like third and fifth can be tricky for them. You can practice these at home by lining up objects to count. First count using number words, then ordinal words for extra practice. We definitely miss our counters and math manipulatives, but the movable pictures on our Seesaw activities have been helping. Look for a few paper Math pages to come home next week as many of the lessons involve writing numbers and we don't want to student to lose their number handwriting skills by working solely on iPads. Given our lack of physical worksheets, journals and papers, we may send some handwriting homework home this week to strengthen those skills.
Thank you to all who sent in extra pencils, tissues and supplies. We have sufficient supplies for this coming week and we appreciate your help. Please continue to send in a snack and water bottle for your child each day.