La Lectura

This week was an exciting one! ( It is always an adventure working with our children, isn’t it?). One of our goals was for our children to read words in spanish to practice their blending skills with vowels  “A” and “E”. The books we are using this week to read in spanish are “Papá, mamá y Ana” and “ Pepe y Adela”, making emphasis on the words that had syllables that use the vowels of the week (A-E), and also working on their ability to recognize the words as a unit or meaning (comprehension).

Likewise, the book of the week was “La sombra de osito” (The shadow of bear). This book tells the story of a bear who wants to get rid of its shado. What a great activity since all children participated with their own opinions about why that was an impossible task. We continued working with the shadow theater (teatro de sombras) as we did before, as it is an activity that really motivates the children to participate in telling their own stories using their Spanish vocabulary. This has been a great way for them to practice and reinforce their knowledge.

The Spanish words of the week were Gracias (Thank you) and Dijo (he/she said). Because Thanksgiving is almost here, we did an activity where the children would reflect on things they are thankful for. For this, they used a Paper Cut turkey and they were asked to color and write what they are grateful for in each turkey feather. It was very interesting to see the effort the children made to write their ideas.

 

This week we made a video for you to see our children expressing in Spanish what they are thankful for.

For both words of the week (Gracias and Dijo) the children practiced creating and talking phrases using them and writing them in their notebooks.

Here is a video of the sound chart we use on a daily basis in class.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkPcQqrFOZw]

 

Las matemáticas

This week we practiced sums using “la recta numerica” (the number line), blocks, dominoes and tallies. We reviewed the concepts  greater than and less than.

The numbers of the week were 53-57. We practiced recognizing when a number is even or odd and how many units and tens are represented.

We continue to practice counting in steps of 5 by 5 and 10 by 10 through 100.

Science

This week in The Five Senses science domain we finished learning about the sense of hearing and began learning about the sense of smell.  The class had fun trying to guess what different smells in our sensory bottles were.

Our weekly objectives were to:

• identify the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch
• identify each of the body parts associated with the five senses
• demonstrate understanding of the sense of hearing and smell
• identify the parts of the ear and nose and each of their functions
• provide simple explanations about how the ear and nose works

History & Geography

We finished our Native American unit this week.  We learned more about the Native Americans of today, took our assessment, and did some fun Thanksgiving activities, focusing on Native  Americans.

Our weekly objectives were to:
• understand that Native Americans still live in the u.s. today

English Sight Words of the Week

there, where, they, come

Character Education

During the month of November we have been focusing on Gratitude and what that means to us.  We have talked about expressing our thanks when others offer us things (not asking if there is more or a different kind of the offered item).  We have talked about being grateful for the time others spend with us, for the love of our families and friends, for the shelter provided to us at home and school, and for the food we eat. We talked about how not everyone has these things and how easy it is for us to take these things for granted.  Sometimes it’s important to stop and think about all the wonderful people, things, and opportunities we have in our lives.  Thanksgiving is the perfect time to reflect on these things and to give our thanks.

In the month of December we will be focusing on generosity.  We have already spoken about being generous with our time, our words, our actions and our resources.  Our tradition at SWS is to demonstrate generosity through a charitable organization.  This year we are collecting gifts for the YWCA Family Shop, which allows families in need to shop for free.  Tags can be picked up on the SPA bulletin board.  It would be great if you could include your child in this process. All items need to be returned to the school by December 16th.

Art with Ms. Kelly

Turkey Drawings, Paintings and Sculptures

The kindergarteners made some really cute turkeys this month! Our goals were:

• Look at photos of real turkeys
• Follow a Directed Drawing of a turkey
• Add patterns to the feathers
• Learn how to use watercolor paints

Pinecone turkeys

• Draw and cut out a beak and paper feathers
• Attach turkey features to a pinecone
• Learn about the difference between paintings and sculptures
• Listen to stories about the First Thanksgiving

Houses in Winter

• Cut rectangles and triangles to create houses
• Use sponges dipped in white paint to create snow

Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for the kind, creative and fun children in this delightful kindergarten class!