The kindergarten room was filled with spiders and spider webs as we studied the creepy, crawly spider. We started off with a question, Are you afraid of spiders? and some data collection. Then we gathered information about spiders from books and video clips. We recorded many different facts on a can/have/are sheet. We also made a book, All About Spider, that contained many of the facts we learned. Next, we completed a spider writing project. We had to write about whether a spider would be a good or bad pet and why. We ended the week by creating spider webs out of glue and glitter. The Kindergarten classroom was filled with lots of laughter and different characters on Friday as we celebrated Halloween. We spent some time with our 5th grade buddies creating spider pictures, enjoyed a special snack from our room parents, and shared treats with our classmates. Throughout the week, we took time to learn about the day after Halloween, All Saints Day. This is a special day when we honor all of the saints in heaven.
Monday:
In reading, we were introduced to a new letter and letter sound, Nn. After watching our letter N video, we created a list of words that began with the /n/ and a list of words that ended with the /n/. Then we completed our letter n sorting worksheet. We also worked on identifying fiction and non-fiction books along with identifying the roles of the author and illustrator as read through several different books about spiders. Did you know a spider uses its eight legs to smell? Or that a spider can lay up to 2000 eggs at a time? During theme explored the wonderful world of spiders. We learned some very interesting facts like only part of a spider web is sticky to catch the insects or it is believed that spider silk is stronger than steel. We gathered our information from 2 different books about spiders and watched a couple of short videos. Then we made a spider book. Each page had a different fact about spiders and only part of the picture completed. Our job was to complete the picture.
In honor of Halloween, we made another class book. This time everyone had to write about what they want to be for Halloween. Our writing consisted of more than just filling in a few blanks. We were given a “story starter” (For Halloween) and we had to finish it with a sentence. The trick was to make sure it sounded right to our ears when we were done. If not, we had to change it. We also had to illustrate our page by drawing a picture of us in our costume.
In math, we worked on sorting objects. We started as a whole class. Ms. Torborg gave us a bowl full of domino pieces. We had to figure out different ways to sort them. We started by sorting them by color. Next, we tried sorting them by dots. All of the dominos that had 4 dots on one side and 2 dots on the other side were in a pile and so on. Then we tried sorting them by the number the dots equal. All the dots that equal 8 were on one pile and so one. Since we were getting good at sorting together, we broke up into groups. Each group was given a different bowl full of objects to sort. We sorted a bunch of buttons and/or foam stickers. We had to figure out at least 2 different ways to sort them.
In religion, we talked about the Saints. We know that they were people like us. They lived on Earth and loved God very much. Each week we learn about one of the Saints. To give us a better idea about saints, we watched a video Brother Francis: The Saints, Our Heavenly Friends.
Tuesday:
In reading, we each met with Ms. Torborg so she could check our progress identifying letters, letter sounds, and sight words. We also were introduced to two new sight words, it & in. After reviewing all of our sight words, we read through our new emergent reader, Trick or Treat. Before reading each page, we counted the number of words on it. After reading through the whole story, we read our story to a partner before adding it to our reading bin. Then we completed our it sight word worksheet.
We started our math lesson by reviewing tally marks. We make a tally mark everyday in our calendar binder. We know that the fifth mark “closes the door”. Together we surveyed the class to find out how many people had a pet. We recorded our data using tally marks. Then we took a survey on our own. Ms Torborg proposed a question, Are you afraid of spiders? Our job was to gather the data. We had to ask each of our classmates the question and then record the answer. After that we analyzed our data. We found out that most of our classmates are not afraid of spiders.
Plus we completed a spider writing project. We started our project by reading the story Aaaarrgghh Spiders! Then we had to determine if a spider would be a good pet. If it is we had to write at least one reason why it would be a good pet. And if we decided it wasn’t a good pet, we had to write at least one reason why it won’t make a good pet.
In religion, we continued our discussion about the saints in heaven. After talking about how to get to heaven, we read a story about the life of St. Isidore and St. Maria.
Wednesday:
In reading, we reviewed our letters and letter sounds. Then we sang our letter N song before we completed our letter Nn worksheet. On our worksheet, we had to discriminate between different letters, identify beginning sounds, and write capital and lowercase n’s. We also completed our it sight word sheet.
Plus we read the story, Spiders by Lola Schaefer. We identified several facts about spiders. Then, we reviewed some of the facts we know about spiders like it has 8 legs and 8 eyes, or that its skeleton is on the outside of its body. We recorded the facts in a can/have/are chart. (Spiders can... Spiders have... Spiders are…)
In math, we worked on identifying circles. First, we determined the different characteristics of a circle. We found out that all circles have no vertices and the sides are rounded. Then, we went on a hunt. We looked through magazines to find examples of circle. When we found out, we cut it out and glued it on a big circle poster.
In the afternoon after we completed calendar, we worked on a pumpkin coloring worksheet. We also created a spider. We started by tracing a big circle, a little circle, and 8 checkmark like shapes on one big black sheet of paper. We had to plan ahead to make sure all of the pieces would fit on the one big paper we got. Then we cut everything out. Next, we glued the different parts together. We also added 8 googly eyes and spinnerets to our spider. We glued it on a big piece of paper with our writings from yesterday.
In religion, we were introduced to a Litany of Saints. It is a special song in which we ask the saints in heaven to pray for us. Our Litany of Saints today was a video. We were able to see pictures of the different saints as we asked them to pray for us.
Thursday:
In reading, we worked on with the -at word family. After watching a short video, we created a list of words that belonged in the -at family. Then we created an at word family flip book. Then we got out the play-do. We made different shapes using the play-do. We also spent some time using our play-do on our alphabet cards creating letters and identify beginning sounds.
In math, we were introduced to the tens frame. The tens frame is similar to the fives frame were are familiar. It has two rows of five instead of just one. Today we practiced creating numbers on the tens frame. We started by creating the number 5 on our board with 5 counters. Then we compared our board to that of our neighbor. Some people had the same boxes filled and others had different boxes filled, but everyone had just 5 counters on their board. Next we compared how many counters we had in each row. We could of had 5 counters in the one row and 0 in the other, 4 in the one row and 1 in the other, or 3 in the one row and 2 in the other. We used our boards to compare several different numbers.
In Religion, we talked about St. Maria Goretti and then colored her picture in our saint book. Her feast day is July 6th. St Maria Goretti is the patron saint of youth. She was attacked by her brutally attacked by her neighbor. Before she died, she forgave him.
This week we are focusing on Spiders. Today we took a look at spider webs. First, we watched a video clip of a spider building a web and pictures of different spider webs. Then we created spider webs using glue and glitter. First, we used our glue to draw our webs. We could create any kind of web we wanted: orb, cobweb, tangle, etc… Then we covered it with glitter and shook off the extra. The last step was to glue a black spider on it when it was dry. Since we were working in small groups to make our spider webs, we also watched the movie Magic School Bus Gets Caught in a Web.
Friday:
Happy Halloween! This afternoon our class was filled with princesses, animals, skeletons and even more.
We started our day out with Mass, recess, Music, and Spanish. Then we completed our calendar binder. Since today is the last day of school in October, we changed out our pages. Now we are ready for November on Monday.
After lunch, it was time to change into our costumes. Once our costumes were on and pictures were taken, we passed our our treats, completed an art project, and played a game. Then we went to library class to check out new books. b After library, we met up with our 5th grade buddies. Together we made a spider picture. When we were back in our classroom, we had a special snack before we took off our costumes and packed up for the day.