Language Arts
Group mural, day 1!
The kindergarteners finished their writing process and published their work. These can be viewed in the hallway. This was our first time through the process and I think they did a great job!
We also wrote in our journals about teams we participate on. We did several worksheets which involved writing sentences (using a word bank we brainstormed together). All this writing practice is providing lots of opportunities to work on our capitals, word spacing, line writing, and punctuation.
To practice our teamwork theme we have added a mural station to our daily rotation. Students looked at the mural and said, “that’s huge and a lot of work”. They changed their tune when they saw how quickly the work went (and how fun it was) when they worked as a team.
Math
We had so much fun estimating quantities in our estimation station! We also had fun learning all about scales. We worked with partners to see how many school supplies (markers or crayons or pencils) would be needed to equal a pound. This was their first experience reading the scale and they did a great job! We also worked with the balance scale and tried to find classroom objects that would equal the weight of 20 unifix cubes.
We also worked a LOT with number bonds this week. We continued using small beads in our morning binders to break apart numbers. We also used two tens frames and two different colored markers to add numbers greater than 10. This is a strategy we frequently use in mental math, but this breaks it apart so the kindergarteners can see how it works.
Math buddies.
The first graders came in and demonstrated fabulous teamwork by helping with number bonds (and reading buddies). Math buddies is a great
way for the kindergarteners to have one-on-one assistance while also providing the first graders with the fabulous opportunity to talk through their math. Math talk is important!!
History & Geography and Science
This week we learned about the different activities on farms according to the season. We learned how farmers protect their crops from drought and pests and we learned the sequence of planting, growing, and harvesting.
We also learned more about why farmers grow crops and identified that crops are plants grown on farms for use as food. We learned the sequence of events of crops from farm to store (planted, harvested, transported and packaged). See if your kiddo can explain this process to you. When you are at the grocery store, see if your child can identify produce that has come from a crop on a farm and explain how it got from the farm to the grocery store.
Lastly, we learned about Modern Agriculture. We learned about the machines and tools of farming and how farming has changed through the years.
The students took their end of unit assessment and did wonderfully! We also finished up the wonderful farm book they created. I hope you enjoy these together over the break.
I hope you all have a fantastic Spring Break! When we return, we will be learning about taking care of our Earth.
Music
We concentrated this week on novelty songs: B-I-N-G-O (en español), and the lullaby “Hush Little Baby.” We also watched YouTube videos of mockingbirds singing (“poppa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.”