Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread houses- phase one.

Phase two: let the decorating begin!

It was so fun to see how differently the kids decorated their houses.  We have some future architects, artists, and interior designers in our room!

December Math

A couple pictures from math this week:

Roll a Gingerbread Man

Race to the North Pole- working on one-to-one correspondence (counting the correct number of places) and reading double digit numbers accurately. 

Great games to play at home!

Wilderness Science Center

We had a beautiful fall day for our field trip to the BV Wilderness Science Center located behind Blue River Elementary.  Mr. Spake was amazing and taught us about habitats and native Kansas animals.

Going on a nature walk to see the three types of habitats we learned about: tallgrass prairie, wetlands, and the forest.

Matching pictures with Kansas animal pelts (so cool!)

Presenting animals in pairs.

 We will go back again in the spring to see how things have changed in nature and to learn more about the great outdoors of Kansas!

Sounding Out Games

I found a link that has all sorts of great games that work on the sounding out skill that we have been focusing so heavily on.  We are working on two specific skills (both of which are on the Kindergarten report card):

• Phoneme Segementing:  "What sounds do you hear in cat?"  Student: "C-A-T"
• Phoneme Blending:  "What does this word say? (dog)" Student sounds out word by either saying "dog" or "d-o-g"

Here is the link that I will also add to the "Just for Kids" section of our website. Sounding Out Games

Happy Reading!

Upcoming! Gingerbread Houses

One of the most memorable things in our Kindergarten year is building and decorating our gingerbread houses.  A letter was sent home on Friday explaining what your child needs to bring. We will need volunteers to help facilitate this fun project- please let me know if you are interested! We will work on these the mornings of Thursday December 13th and Friday December 14th. Students will take these houses home on Friday the 14th.

Unit 3 Inquiry Project: Home and Family

Our latest inquiry project was a two week process of answering the question "How are our families the same and different?"  Students learned how to take data (fun word for them to use!) and represent it in a graph.  We took data on type of homes, siblings, pets, and number of people in each family.  Students worked in small groups to create a graph and we concluded by adding all of the graphs together and making observations. 

Using a Scale to Measure Weight

In math today we learned more about the balance scale and how to use it to measure weight.  After exploring the scale and how it works, the kids got to "play" this game on the smartboard: Virtual Scale  to practice making each side equal.  Another game I found that looks fun is on PBS kids- Weight Game on PBS kids  The PBS game is great because it also works on counting by 5's, which we have been doing recently, as well! Happy Weighing!

Counting by 5's

Today we worked on counting by 5's, using our turkey hands to help us!  We also explored what counting by 5's looks like on a 100's chart.  Click this link for your child to show you at home:  100's Chart  The video above is a fun skip counting rap we practiced.

Each student had a number on their turkey- we got in order counting by 5's and then put them up in order in the hallway. 

Music Demonstration

Today was our Kindergarten Music Demonstration where the kids got to show off what they've been learning with Dr. B in music! They did such a great job.  Thanks to those who were able to make it! Below was the program:

Warm-up……………………………………………………….Body/Space Recognition

The Five Parts of Music…………………………………..…………..Elements of  music

Music Terms/Concepts…………………………...……………..Pitch, dynamics, tempo

Echo Clapping…………………………………….……………..…….Rhythmic memory

Reading Pitch Notation…………………………..….Lines and spaces on the music staff

Reading Rhythms………..…………………………………………..…….Note durations

Music Instrument Names…………………………………….……....Visual identification

C Major Scale (with solfage’ hand signs)………………………….Extending vocal range

Singing  melodies……………………………………………………………..….Pitch Matching

                                                Hello There How Are You?                            

                                                Come Along

                                                Let’s Make Music

                                                Bingo

                                                This Old Man             

                                                Indian Valley School Song

Fluency Performances

The fluency piece that your child brings home every Monday is something that we work on all week as a class- individually, with partners, whole-group and one-on-one with the teacher when needed.  The fluency poem this week was called "We Are a Family." 

Every Friday, kids perform this piece by choice to the audience.  Often kids will compliment the reader on things he or she did well- appropriate pacing, loud voice, speaking clearly, emphasizing punctuation marks, and great reading in general! 

You can look for the fluency poem/riddle to come home every Monday!

Paul Mesner's Puppet Show

We went to Paul Mesner's Puppet Show today to see Officer Buckle and Gloria.  We read the book this morning before we left and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. 

Paul Mesner's Puppets Link

Some of the characters from the play. 

Paul Mesner's is great because when the show is over, the puppeteers show the kids how the puppets work and take questions from the audience. 

Happy 50s Day!

Wednesday was the 50th day of Kindergarten and we spent the day celebrating! We spent the morning doing rotations through each of the K classes.  These activities were followed by an all-Kindergarten sock hop in the gym- complete with music and hula hoops!  We concluded our day with root beer floats- yum!

Race to 50 game- activity in our room! This game was sent home. All you need are two pieces to play (we used bears) and a di.  Roll to see who can be the first person to reach 50!

Sock hop!

50s day pattern math- coloring in records.

Symmetry Paintings

Today in math we learned about symmetry!

To illustrate this, the kids painted on one side of a sheet of paper and folded it over to see what would happen. 

Painting one side

Folding it over

and ta-da!! Unfortunately, this refuses to upload going the right direction so I apologize. :(  The kids did a fantastic job.

Sight Word Bingo

Sight Word Bingo

Please click the above link to play sight word  bingo that we did as a brain break today after our unit 2 assessment!  Those results will be sent home soon.  The kids really enjoyed this game- we played the pre-primer level.

Pumpkin Life Cycle

We have been learning lots about pumpkins this week!  Today in our Scholastic news, we got to play a game online where we put the life cycle in order.  The kids are so funny- they are now requesting that I add specific things to our site (which I love!) so here is the link to the newspaper/game: http://letsfindout.scholastic.com/issues/10_02_12/book 

Below is a short video we watched to learn how pumpkins grow through the seasons, specifically the harvest schedule and how they are turned into canned pumpkins!

Story About Me game

Today in science, we continued with the five senses!

There was a fun game at the end that the kids loved to play- it makes a personalized book all about them.  Here's the link if they would like to do it at home! http://letsfindout.scholastic.com/issues/09_04_12

Fire Fighter Visits

 Today we had a visit from an Overland Park fire fighter! She read us a book about Sparkles the fire dog and what life is like for a fire fighter.

Then she showed us each part of her gear and how things look and sound.  We discussed not being scared of fire fighters, even when they sound like "Darth Vader" (according to one Kindergartener). :)

We've had a great week in Kindergarten learning about fire safety!

Tricky Teen Numbers

We worked with those tricky teens today in math!  Teen numbers are any number that has a 1 in the ten's place.  This is a fun song we learned with actions to help us remember teen numbers.  Warning: you may start dancing when you watch this video! :)

This Week in Math and Reading...

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween....!

In the midst of our growing excitement of the upcoming holiday, we have been BUSY at work! Please enjoy some pictures of various lessons the kids have engaged in this past week.

The kids went on a pattern hunt, looking for patterns in real-world settings through magazines.

The kids did the same thing last week with shapes! Those triangles were awfully hard to find... even Mrs. Coffey had trouble!

Practicing writing numbers in the correct formation in shaving cream...

Today's activity in math was money sorting- practicing sorting coins and identifying the name of each.  This sheet was sent home, as well.

In reading, we have been focusing on the five senses through our science integration.  The kids have conducted their first official "inquiry project" where they came up with questions that they could research.  The final vote was to learn more about "How do you taste things?"   

Kids worked in small groups to come up with "conjectures" (beginning ideas and thoughts) to answer the inquiry question.  They had some great beginning ideas!

We then worked today on revising those conjectures to see if we were correct or incorrect.  Through reading various books and checking out some Discovery Channel science video clips, we learned the following about how we taste.  The kids did a GREAT job, as the inquiry projects are tricky to grasp at first.  Next week, we will begin a new one!

Spin a Number

Today we played Spin a Number! This purple sheet was sent home with your child, along with a white directions sheet. 

The objectives of this game are to practice reading numbers 1-10, and to count and move between 1 and 10 spaces on a game board.  This also practices one-to-one correspondence (which is graded on our Kindergarten report card).

To access this game online, please go to: https://emgames.everydaymathonline.com/demosite/demo_chooser_ec.html

Ten Frames/Games

We had two lessons this week on ten frames in math.  Ten frames are a way for us to compose numbers in an organized fashion to represent various numbers.  It also teaches number sense- looking at the ten frame and knowing if the top row is filled, to count 5 and on.  We worked with ten frames 0-10.  Please see the two games below for your child to play at home if you wish!

http://www.fuelthebrain.com/Interactives/app.php?ID=29

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=75

Scholastic Book Orders September

Our next Scholastic Book Orders will be due on Friday, September 28th!  I will place the orders at 4:00 p.m. that day.  Magazines will come home with your child today along with an informational letter.

Click here to go directly to our ordering page: https://orders.scholastic.com/GRN6C

Happy Reading!

Coins Song

Today in math we explored coins!  The kids got to look closely at each type of coin and compare with their neighbors.  We talked about who is on the heads side and what is on the tails side.  We also learned this fun/silly song called "Coins in my Hands" that reinforces what we are learning!

Making Inferences

Today in reading we tackled a BIG comprehension strategy called inferencing.  To make this topic go from BIG to bite sized, we made a class poster that broke down what inferencing is:

• Inferencing is figuring something out without a lot of information.
• Inferencing is using clues to make a good guess.
• Inferencing is being a detective!
• Inferencing SOUNDS like "I think..."  "Maybe..." "Probably..." "I infer that..."   "I predict that..."  "I guess that.."

I got out my wallet and we practiced inferring by letting the kids pick something out of my wallet- anything of their choice- and making an inference about me based on the item.  They did a GREAT job!!!

Inferencing is figuring something out without being told by a person, the author, etc.  Enjoy reading what the kids discovered about their teacher! :)

Inferencing is a great thing to practice with your child while reading (Ex.: How does the character feel? How do you know if the author doesn't tell you? What time of day is it in this picture? What season is it?) or when you're out and about (Ex.: All the lights are off in a building- maybe it's out of business?  Maybe it's closed for the day?)

Happy inferring!

Hallway Decor

Students worked very hard on their Pete the Cat projects!  They were given a sentence cut up that said "I love my _____ shoes."  They had to put the sentence in order and write in the color word of their choice.  Our hallway is looking great with the kids' fantastic artwork!

Online Math Games: Sorting

Everyday Math is our math curriculum we use in Kindergarten.  A different topic is introduced daily, slowly spiraling back over time to the same topics in a more complex way.  For more information, please click on the "Everyday Math" tab above.

Today in math, we focused on sorting. This is a fun concept for Kindergarteners to explore.

I broke students into two groups by a certain "rule" and they would guess my rule.  For example, I sorted students by sleeves/no sleeves, or boys and girls.  Students then broke out into small groups at tables to explore various manipulatives (buttons, chips, pattern blocks, etc.) and had to work with their team to sort the items by different attributes (shape, size, color, etc.) 

*The following link will take your child to a variety of sorting-based games online: http://www.onlinemathlearning.com/sorting-games.html

Sorting is an easy thing to do at home with food, laundry, toys, and more.  Thank you for helping your child to find math all around them each day!

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes

This book was a class favorite last year and I have been excited to share it with this group as we learn about colors and how to read color words.  Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes is a hilarious book (with a song, of course) that is all about a cat who keeps stepping in things that turn his shoes other colors but does he cry? Goodness, no! He just keeps walking along and singing his song...

Click the link to check it out! This is the actual author "performing" the book. 

Scholastic Book Orders: Due Aug. 31st

Ordering online is fast and easy: REGISTER at https://orders.scholastic.com/GRN6C
ENTER the Class Activation Code: GRN6C
CHOOSE from thousands of print titles, value packs, and Storia(TM) eBooks
SUBMIT the order to me online by Friday August 31st!

Please let me know if you have any questions! I am always happy to help. 

Mrs. Coffey

Back to School Night Tonight!

Looking forward to seeing you all this evening at Back to School Night!  Packets were sent home last Thursday (first day of school) and I will briefly be going over this this evening.  Below is the document for your records and/or to print.  I will have extras if you would like another hard copy. 
Back to School Packet

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes

Pete the Cat

We had a special visit from Pete the Cat after reading his book, Rocking in My School Shoes, today! This book is all about a cool cat who is new to school and doesn't know where anything is.  Instead of getting upset, he keeps walking along and "singing his song."  This book has a great message and it's a blast for the kids to read and sing along with.  Pete sent us on a scavenger hunt throughout the school that helped us to get to know where things are.  Above is a picture of the book (one of my all-time favorites) and the video below the song/narration that goes with the book.  Enjoy!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Welcome to our Kindergarten Class Blog!

My hope is that you find this site useful and informational throughout our exciting and busy Kindergarten year.  I am so excited to get started tomorrow and can't wait to start getting to know your kids! 

If you ever are looking for something and it's not here, or would like something to be posted on our blog, please let me know.  It will be an ongoing work in progress! :)

Welcome and here's to a WONDERFUL and memory-filled year!!!

Love,

Mrs. Coffey