Math Talk

Math can be found in anything in ways that are appropriate for different ages. Say you are out shopping: How many people are in the store? How high is the ceiling? How many beach balls would it take to fill up the room? How do you know? Taking the time to engage with your student around any of those questions is math talk.

Many of these questions might not have a readily available answer, and that can be a good thing. Talking about what you would need to know or do to find an answer is just as valuable, and likely even more valuable, than time spent with flash cards and apps with math “games” that only focus on speed with procedures. Blogs and social media have become spaces to share the ways in which you can be “talking math with your kids” (#tmwyk on Twitter).

Here is the article the above information was taken from on Math Talk.

Frankenstein fun (from October)

Writing Development

Writing development is one of my favorite reasons to teach kindergarten.  What other job can you see growth in students daily?  Check out these stages of writing development.  Can you guess where these amazing examples fall in the stages?  Praise your child wherever they are at.  Children develop at various rates and benefit from positive praise on their efforts.  As a parent, ask them to read their work to you.  Let their confidence shine and remember to avoid correcting their spelling or letter shape. This is a time to let them be proud and share their work.  (You can always take mental note of those things and do a fun activity later to reinforce letter shapes or sounds they may have missed)

Can you see the word lollipop, socks, flowers?  What other words can you see?

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Beginning sounds are present here and many other sounds.  What words can you read?
Feet, flower, slime...

Here a student knows that sounds are created by letters but has not yet firmed
up the letter/sound correspondence.

Using sight words to get their message across to the reader.

Students beginning to use the lines on the paper

Here a child labels and writes a sentence to tell the reader more
about their writing.

Using some of the sight words we are working on in the classroom
to give more information to their reader.

Sentence writing without spaces but many sounds are there to help
the reader understand the author's message.

Adding words to a detailed piece of writing to help the reader
understand the message written.

1:1

Daily practice of one to one correspondence is essential in building emergent literacy skills. Children practice with an interactive PowerPoint, whole group, small group, in partners and independently.  Students use a variety of tools to develop the skills: easy readers, naming pictures in books, sticker books, and many other digital literacy activities. 

Go fish

Students played “go fish” with both numerals and tens frames as cards.  This game concept is used to reinforce skills all year in the classroom. What can you do to support your child in the classroom?  Play card games like go fish or war.  Practice turn taking, being a good sport, matching numbers, watch as they develop strategies to grow as learners.  

Turkey Trouble

The turkeys in disguise are probably hanging in the hallway, that is if you can recognize them. Be sure to keep an eye out and check out the creativity and hard work each child put forth in helping their turkey to stay safe.

Abstract Turkey Art

Students use your variety of rectangles to create an abstract turkey as a decoration for their families. They love the freedom of making the turkey anyway they wanted.

Fire Station fun