Ask me about feb 15 - 18, 2022

This has been a very busy week in kindergarten!  We have been working with number bonds in math.  The children are doing a great job of finding the relationships between the numbers 6, 7 and 8.  We also have been working to write our numbers without reversals.  The children wrote numbers to 25 beautifully this week.  Before we started the practice, one child said that sometimes they get mixed up with 12 and 21.  Well, you know Miss Wolfe had a video for that!  Enjoy!

Although it's not a manipulative we use in Eureka, I broke out the Digi-Blocks.  This manipulative is a powerful tool for teaching children about place value.  We started with a big suitcase of ten smaller suitcases.  The children think the suitcases look like packs of gum, and they are right!  Then we opened up the suitcases of ten and found ten little pieces that stand in the suitcase.  The only way the suitcase stays together is if there are ten.  We took apart some of the suitcases and showed twelve with a suitcase of ten, and two more digis.  Then we showed twenty-one with two suitcases and one more digi.  We will use the digis from time to time so the children can practice counting by ones, tens, and showing numbers on a place value mat.  
We also read a really sweet book called Wag, by Patrick McDonnell.  The book is about a dog named Earl and his friend named Mooch.  We find out that Earl wags when he is happy and feels love.  We wrote a sentence about what makes us wag.  We are working to pound out the syllables, and tap out each sound in the syllable with our fingers.  The children are doing a good job of working hard to  show their best effort.  As I have shared with you before, writing is probably the hardest part of the day for the children because there are so many things they need to think about at the same time.  They are thinking of their idea, the words they will use, the sounds they will need to make the words, remembering the words they know how to spell, thinking about how to write the letters, and thinking about spacing and punctuation.  That is a lot, and I'm so proud of the growth I've seen, but more proud of the focus and effort the children are showing.
In Benchmark, we read a Read Aloud story about construction vehicles.  I found photos to go with the story and we matched verbs to the construction vehicles.  The children were really excited to talk about construction vehicles, and they knew so much!  Ask me to tell you which verbs go with which vehicles.

We've been reading some African folktales this week.  We read Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, by Verna Aardema.  This book was about animals on the Kapiti Plain waiting for a big cloud to bring them the rain they desperately need.  Ask me to tell you how the rain finally comes to Kapiti Plain.  Today we read Lazy Lion, by Mwenye Haitihi.  This story explains why the lion roams free without a home in the savannah.  Ask me to tell you what happens when lion orders some of the animals in the savannah to build him a home.
In Social Studies, we are learning about jobs.  We read a beautiful new book called Nigel and the Moon by Antwan Eady.  As soon as I showed the children the book, they were drawn in by the beautiful illustrations by Gracey Zhang.  This book is about a young boy who is feeling bad because many of the children at school have parents who work at "fancy" jobs.  His mom is a mail carrier and his dad is a truck driver.  He also feels like he cannot be what he really wants to be because he does not see black boys or men like him in the ballet books he looks at in the library.  He wants to be a ballet dancer, and an astronaut.  Nigel's teacher has all the children "shadow" their parents at work one day.  Nigel is worried to tell his class that he went with his mother as she delivered mail.  Ask me to tell you what happens that makes Nigel feel proud and strong enough to tell his classmates about what he really wants to be.  I love this book!  I'm supposed to be on a book diet, but I am so glad I bought this one!  We wrote about what we think we might want to be when we grow up.  Like Nigel, most of the children named two or three jobs they may want as an adult.  They told about why they might want the jobs.  They did a really nice job writing.  You will be happy to know our future is in good hands. I will be hanging these in the hall!  Ask me to tell you what I wrote about!
This afternoon we had the first part of our Kennedy Center jazz program called I Have a Song in My Heart.  We started our day with a short video from Sandra Boynton and B.B. King.  We listened closely to see what we noticed about the words.  I hope you enjoy this video of One Shoe Blues.

Our Kennedy Center program started with a story, then some jazz and an introduction of the instruments in the jazz combo.  There was also a vocalist, Riza.  Ask me to tell you what these instruments are and what I notice about them.

We learned about writing the blues and practiced with Riza and the jazz combo.  Here are some of our attempts at writing the blues we did after the program.  

Next week we will finish the jazz program and will be doing an art project to share the song in our hearts.  

Have a wonderful three day weekend!
​Miss Wolfe