Dr. Seuss Week Coming Up! :)

Dr. Seuss's birthday is Sunday, March 2nd.  We will be celebrating him all next week!

Here are some Dr. Seuss links for fun!:

listen to books online

Seussville Online

Printable fun and games

List of games with descriptions

PBS Kids Cat in the Hat

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas

Part of one of our last days of 2013 was spent with our beloved Pete the Cat! These stories are wonderful, funny, and carry a meaningful message.  The link below is to the Pete the Cat page where your child can listen to the songs from the books for free.  The one we did today was Pete the Cat Saves Christmas.

Happy Holidays!

Link to Pete the Cat songs and more! :) 

LEAD21 Online/Reading Groups

We started leveled reading groups this week in LEAD21!  I absolutely love doing reading groups and the kids have been really excited about them already, too.  

How do reading groups work?

• Students meet with me in small leveled groups of 3-4 students (on their reading level) to read books that are centered around our current unit and focus questions.  Groups last 10 minutes each.  Once we can accurately read our book (usually after 2 lessons), students place the book in their book box (below their backpack that they can access and read from at any time!) 

How can I see what books my child reads at school?

• 2 ways!  The first is by logging on to www.wglead21.com.  Your child's page will show up (once you login) and he/she can read the books we've been doing, both whole group big concept books and small  group leveled texts.  
• The other way is by our take home book system! This will start up shortly.  Books will be sent home for your child to read to you and then you return them when you're ready for another!  This is completely at your pace and what works for your schedule/your family.

What are other students doing while my child is in his/her reading group?

• As mentioned in my newsletter, we have been learning our literacy stations.  Stations range from science to imagination station.  Students work with 1-2 other students independently at a station while I work with students in small groups.  

Is my child in the same group for the whole year?

• Through my assessments and informal observations, I will move students as I see fit based on their reading level/need of support.  I have already moved students around and we've only been doing groups for 4 days! :) It is very flexible grouping.

Please let me know if you have any other questions! I strongly encourage you to log on to LEAD from home!  If you don't have your child's password and login, I'm always happy to resend it. Thank you! 

Beginning Sounds Games

We have been working on identifying beginning sounds of words, as well as matching a word with another with the same beginning sound.  This was a skill assessed on our LEAD21 Unit 2 Test.

Our class goal is for all students to know upper and lowercase letters by the end of December.  Once your child has mastered this skill, move onto sounds!

Great thing to work on at home:

• "What does the word __________ begin with?"
• "What other word starts with the same sound as ___________?" 

Games to reinforce this skill:

Clifford First Sound Match

Beginning Sound Match

Reading: Which words begin with what sound?

This is a link to a TON of reading links pertaining to letter sounds

Unit 2: Around Me: Inquiry Project

Our unit 2 inquiry project consisted of the kids being broken up into 5 groups by the 5 senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.  

Some students brought in pictures from home of them using one of their 5 senses.  These were added to the group collage, in addition to cut outs from magazines and/or drawings. 

Once collages were completed in small groups, students presented these to the class.  We worked on good presenting skills (facing the audience, loud and clear voice, etc.).  Then we added them all together to create a completed 5 senses collage.  They did great!!!

Now we are moving on unit 3, home and family. 

Mrs. Coffey's Kindergarten Walk

In library lesson on Friday, Mrs. Guinn worked with our class to read Rosie's Walk which has a focus on positional words (over, under, around, etc.).  Then our class got to make their own class book!  It is in the library for everyone to read and I am working on making it into a take home book for our class to share.  Be watching for it! Feel free to print at home to make your own personal copy or save to your computer.  Thanks for reading!

Mrs Coffey's Kindergarten Walk Book 2013 

Unit 1 Inquiry Project: All About Me!

With each unit in our LEAD21 reading curriculum, we complete a class inquiry project (question based- student driven).  Our question for this project was "What makes our class special?" Special was one of our vocabulary words.  Each child completed part of our class "quilt" to illustrate ways that make us special and different from other people.  Each child shared out loud one item he/she drew that makes them special and then added it to our quilt.  They did a great job! Check it out outside our room in the hallway! 

Rhyming

We have been working on hard on two skills in regards to rhyming:

1. Identifying rhymes when we hear them:  in books, "Do these two words rhyme?"
2. Making rhymes ourselves:  "What rhymes with cat?"  "What's another word that rhymes with _____?"

We played a game on Scholastic today that the kids really enjoyed.  Click on the following link to play the rhyming game from home:  click here!

Pete the Cat

We have been loving our Pete the Cat books!  So far, we have read Pete the Cat: Rocking In My School Shoes and Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes.   These books are super fun to read, sing, and they send positive messages about having a good attitude in life.  Please see the YouTube videos below to watch the stories in action!  These books may also be available through our Scholastic book orders which will be coming home shortly! :) 

   

Acted out/sung by the author himself, Mr. Eric!

  

(This isn't the whole story- its more of a promotional video! But you get the idea. :) )

Starfall Reading

I want to share a wonderful reading website full of games and activities to promote early literacy.  We visited Starfall today to explore the letters A & B.  To access letters, click on the first tab (ABCs).  For now, I would stick with the first and second tabs and the fun activities on the right.  Once we're really reading, 3 and 4 would be more appropriate. Enjoy and have fun!

Click here to access Starfall

PS: Our letter sounds song we started to learn today is under ABCs- down at the bottom in the right hand corner click on ABC and the song will pop up with a friendly man! :) 

Summer Reading!

Can you believe summer is right around the corner?  Just because school is over doesn't mean reading and learning should be, too! :)

"Decades of research confirm that summer learning loss is real. According to a report released last month by the RAND Corporation, the average summer learning loss in math and reading for American students amounts to one month per year. " came from the NY Times article "This is Your Brain on Summer"

I will be sending some information of reading recommendations from our librarian, as well as information on some fun summer reading programs.  If you child participates in one of these, please have he/she visit me in August for a special treat! :)

Link to Johnson County Library Summer Reading Club Program

**Your child is bringing home a bookmark from this great program today!**

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

As Kindergarten is coming to an end in 6 short days, we are doing some fun reading activities!! We read one of the newer Pete the Cat Books called Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.  This book is all about having a positive attitutude and how things in life come and go- like buttons. :) Above is the video of the main part of the chorus.  For the whole song, visit this website:  http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/  and go to "free song downloads" on the right hand side for the entire song. 

"It's all good!" :)

Free Books Online

Below are links to two great sites we use for storytime from time to time.  Both of these are accessible from home and are another great way to listen to stories outside of school!

The first is Storyline Online which is a program provided by the Screen Actor's Guild Foundation. 

The second is Tumble Books.  This one requires a username and password.  Click on the far left green area that says Tumblebook Library for Kids and then in the top righthand corner, use indianvalley as the username and books as the password. 

Happy reading!

Kick off to March!

We kicked off March today by reading There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover!  The kids love these books, as there is practically one for every major holiday. These books are wonderful for praticing retell, a very important Kindergarten skill.  These books are also great to work on sequencing, as you can see below:

The kids put the events in order and then we had a "teacher" help us read through them.  One student was the book checker to ensure that things were in the right order- anothe great skill we practice- referring back to the text to check for correctness.

The kids then practiced reading their own books and got to take them home. 

Students were able to practice reading by themselves or with a partner. 

We watched a short video from Discovery's United Streaming on the origins of St. Patrick's Day and what common symbols we will see this month. 

Can't believe that St. Patrick's Day will be here in a few short weeks!

Unit 5 "Let's Celebrate!" Inquiry Project

A component of our LEAD21 Reading program is the student-led inquiry projects.  This unit's project involves students coming up with a puppet show that answers the question "How do we celebrate?" 

Students worked in small groups (see papers above) and came up with the holiday or special celebration of their choice and brainstormed ideas for their puppet show.  Then the puppet making began!

Students will "rehearse" next week and then put on shows to teach about how different celebrations are celebrated! These projects are so fun and engaging for the kids.  They also learn about how to work effectively as a group and to be a contributing team mate.

Sounding Out Word Games

We are busy, busy in Kindergarten learning strategies of how to sound out words.  Your child may have shared our slinky strategy- kids get to use small slinkies to "stretch" and "shrink" words.  The kids know that even if they don't have a slinky in their hands, they always have an imaginary one. :)

Here's a link to a bunch of games that work on sounding out words:

click here

Stations this Week

The second half of our reading block after whole-group instruction is stations and small leveled reading groups.  I meet with each group (4-6 students) daily for 10 minutes each to work on a book at their level.  While I am doing this, the rest of the class is at stations.  Here are a few things that students were engaged in this week during stations!:

 

Math Station:  Build a Snowman

Writing Station: using winter-themed words to write notes, letters, cards, and all sorts of things! This student was writing about hot chocolate- yum. :)

Computer station: students can choose from a variety of games they've learned in computer lab or games that I have listed on our website under "Just For Kids."

Listening Station: books on CD, often themed to what we're learning or the season we're in.

Word Work: using letter cubes to build winter words

Science Station: working with the 5 senses and sorting

These are just a few of the many stations students do- some change weekly while others remain the same always.

Not a station, but a math activity that the kids loved this week- we talked about pattern blocks (shapes) and their attributes.  Students created a picture and then used a pattern block stencil to recreate their picture.  This was such a hit that I will put it as a math station for next week!

December Pictures

Blogger is finally up and running! I apologize for the major hiatus in my posts.  Please enjoy some pictures from the end of 2nd quarter.

Playing "Letter Detectives" with magnetic letters and holiday words.

Sequencing the story of There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell

Our parent gifts ready to be wrapped!

Our class book exchange- each student brought in a used book wrapped and signed on the inside so the friend who received it can always remember!  This was super fun. Students drew numbers and got to open the book that matched his/her number.

My beautiful gift card tree I received from some students in our class- thank you for making me feel so special! You all are the best.

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!

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.