Week in Review ~ October 9th - 13th

In ELA  we talked about how baby animals move.  Our vocabulary words were movement, exhausted, exciting, arrived, and adventure.  We listened to the stories Pouch! and The Tortoise and the Hare.  Pouch! was a favorite story by all. Ask your child about the animals that scared the baby kangaroo back into his mom's pouch.  We focused in on the letter Aa and read words that were part of the _at, _am and _ap word families such as hat, ram and tap.  The sight word we was introduced as well. This week we also talked about what a noun is. The K2ers sorted picture cards into person, place, thing/animal categories. In learning centers the K2ers sorted names that had an Aa in them and names that did not, wrote in their journals about how animals move, practiced writing uppercase and lowercase Aa, and practiced writing the sight words I, can and the for review.

In Math we continued on with Topic 2.  We worked on the terms "equal to" and "greater than." Each math lesson starts with something called a Solve & Share.  Students are given a problem to solve and as I walk around I am always looking for different ways that the K2ers came to the same correct answer. I then choose some students to "share" how they came to their answer.  The purpose of this activity is to show the students that often there isn't just one way to come to the answer.  I was so impressed with the math thinking that went on during one of our lessons this week...I found 5 different ways that the problem was solved.  Here is a glimpse into the mathematical thinking of K2!

We will be working on Topic 2 again this coming week. 

We are also well into our School Wide read-aloud of the book Rump! On November 3rd we will be participating in a School Wide Read-Aloud celebration.  Each classroom has been asked to make a pixie habitat on that day using various materials collected by the students in each class. The K2ers brainstormed some items to bring in. If you have any of the following items and would like to send them in, it would be greatly appreciated. 

Lexia Core 5 and Symphony Math

Your K2er came home today with a letter about two programs they can use at home that we use here in school.  Attached to the letters you will find how to access the games (computer or iPad/Android tablet) as well as their username and password.  I would like to have students go on 2 times per week for each program for about 15 minutes if possible. (2 nights on Lexia, 2 night on Symphony) 

It is imperative that you DO NOT help your child when they are using these programs because it adjusts what they are learning to their understanding. Many parents in the past have found it helpful to have their child use headphones so that they are not tempted to help however, headphones are not needed to use these programs. 

As always, please contact me if you have any questions!

Week in Review ~ October 2nd - 6th

It was a fun but busy week in K2 with all the extra activities that went on such as the magazine drive assembly, school picture day and then the walk to school day/half day. We were still able to get a lot done in the classroom despite the craziness of our schedule.

In ELA our essential questions was: How can we get along with new friends? We listened to the stories What About Bear and The Lion and the Mouse. We focused in on the letter Mm and introduced the sight word the.  During learning centers we practiced writing the letter Mm, sorted our classmates names by if they have the letter Mm or don't have the letter Mm in their name, distinguished between uppercase and lowercase Mm with a letter match cover-up, sorted letters, and we also did some activities around the word the. 

In Math we finished up Topic 1 and moved into Topic 2.  In topic 2 we will be comparing numbers 0-5.  We introduced the terms more and fewer. However, the K2ers were doing a great job with these terms because each morning at morning meeting we have been comparing the names of our Regal Beagles by deciding which classmate has the longest/shortest name or who has more/fewer letters. To practice these terms the K2ers paired up and used counters and a dice to see who had more and who had fewer.  We will continue on with Topic 2 this week. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend! 

Walk to School Day

We had such a fun morning on our walk to school today and we could not have asked for a better weather day. All the K2ers that participated did a great job walking the 1.4 mile stretch.  Here is a little video with some highlights from the walk.