The theme of the week was scarecrows in the Kindergarten room. We started the week by talking about living and nonliving things. We discovered that all living things need air (to breathe), food (to eat), and it has to change & grow. Throughout the week, we were able to classify many objects as either living or nonliving things. From there we determined a scarecrow is not a living thing. We found out that scarecrows are made out of old clothes, hay, and a pole. Their job is to scare away the crows. We wrote about an imaginary (make-believe) scarecrow. We had to write 2 things our scarecrow could do and one thing it couldn’t do. When everyone was done, we turned our pages into another class book. (It can be found on our class website.) Along with our writing project, we created a scarecrow glyph, (A glyph is a pictorial form of data collection.), sorted objects into living and nonliving things, and we made a scarecrow with moving arms and legs.
Monday:
We started our morning out with prayer and pledge out at the flag pole. Mondays is our day to raise the flag outside.
We stayed outside while the older kids joined us for bus safety. When we went outside, we saw two Hicks buses. One bus was parked on a large tarp. There was a big red area around it. We found out that is the danger zone. The bus driver can’t see us if we are in that area. We need to make sure we wait for the bus out of that area and when we get off the bus we walk 5 big steps away. On the second bus, we learned what to do inside a bus, where the emergency exits are, and how to get off the bus safely.
In reading, we were introduced to the letter Ll. After watching a video about the letter l, we practiced writing both the capital and lowercase Ll. Next we worked on creating a list of words that began with the /l/. For each word, Ms. Torborg helped us break out the sounds and we helped her identify the letters to write down. Some of our words were so long that Ms. Torborg taught us a trick to break words up into syllables. A syllable is a way to break up a word into parts. After watching a couple of video, we worked together to break several different words into syllables. For each syllable, we clapped our hands. We started to notice some of our words had 1 syllable and others had 2. We even found some words that had 3 syllables.
Living and Non-living was the topic of the day during theme time. A living thing needs three things air (to breathe), food (to eat), and it has to move & grow. After reading a book and watching a couple of short videos on living things, we did a little experiment. We had to determine if a given object was a living thing or a non-living thing. First, we picked out an object. Then we asked our self some important questions:
Does it need air?
Does it need food and water?
Does it move and grow?
From that information we could answer our last question: Is it living? We also completed a worksheet. For each item in the chart, we had to answer 4 questions. Does it need air? Does it move or grow? Does it need food or water? Is it living? We worked together to answer the questions.
During calendar, we started something new. The students are getting a chance to be the teacher. Each day one student gets to “teach” the calendar to the rest of the students. They need to complete all of the activities on the SMARTboard as Ms. Torborg completes them in their calendar binder. Then we worked on the number 4 in our number book. After air writing our numbers, we practiced writing the number 4 in our book.
In religion, we talked about the importance of sharing with our neighbors. We also talked about how our neighbor isn’t just the person who is right next to us, but those in our community, city, and world.
Tuesday:
We started our morning talking about scarecrows. First we reviewed what makes something a living thing. Then we listened to the story, The Shy Scarecrow. As we listened to the story, we identified the main character of the story. At the end of the story, we reviewed what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story. We also talked about the job of a scarecrow is to scare away the crows just like its name. We know that scarecrows are not living things because they don’t eat, breathe and grow. Today we imagined a scarecrow that could do anything we wanted. Some of our scarecrows could jump, run, job, hop, skip, etc... While not quite anything, there was one thing it couldn’t do (but we got to choose.) Once we had decided what our scarecrows could and couldn’t do, we wrote down our words for a story. Ms. Torborg helped us listen for our beginning sounds of each word.
In reading, we reviewed our letters and letter sounds, Ll, from yesterday. Then we turned our focus to the letter T. We watched a letter T video, identified words that started with the /t/, and practiced writing both capital and lowercase Tt.
In math, we completed our calendar before we worked in our number books. Today we completed the number 5. After air writing our numbers, we practiced writing the number 5 in our book.
In religion, we watched the installation of Bishop Zielinski. As we watched, we colored a picture of a deacon, priest, and bishop.
Wednesday:
In reading, we were introduced to the letter Ii. After watching a video about the letter l, we practiced writing both the capital and lowercase Ii. Next we worked on identifying if “I” in a given word was in its short and lazy disguise or its superhero disguise. Ms. Torborg would write down a word and help us sound it out. We would make are “i” action for short or long.
We were also introduced to a new sight word, to. We each created a sentence using our word.
Then we reviewed all of our word. Next, we read through our new decodable story, Scarecrow goes… We started by reading the story together. We used the picture clues to help us figure out some of the tricky words. We also made several predictions about where the scarecrow was going to go next in the story. The second time we read the story with a partner. First Ms. Torborg taught us how to partner read. It starts by sitting next to each other. Our elbows and knees should be next to our partner. Then we take turns reading the story. The first person reads the whole book before the other person takes their turn. We need to make sure we always start with the title when we read a story.
In math, we reviewed the number 0-5. We started by counting a group of objects and identifying the corresponding number. Then we practiced putting the numbers 0 to 5 in order. Finally, we played a new game, Steal the Number. We started by sitting next to our partner and putting the numbers cards in order. The object of the game is to guess the missing number. Player A covers their eyes while player B takes a number card and hides it in their hands. Player A then tries to guess the missing number. After they figure it out, they which jobs. We were able to play several different rounds before we completed the next page in our number book. Today we practiced writing the number 6. First, we wrote it in the air. Then we practiced writing it in our book.
Our theme project today was a glyph. Glyphs are a pictorial form of data collection. Our goal today was to make a scarecrow glyph. We had to listen carefully to Ms. Torborg’s directions. We had to decided which choice was right for us. (If you a re 5 years old, color your hat orange. if you are 6 years old, color your hat yellow.) After all of the parts were colored, we had to cut them out and glue them together into a scarecrow. We each made a unique scarecrow just like us.
In religion, we talked about emotions again. Today we worked on comparing emotions. We started with the story, The Boy with the Big, Big Feelings. We discussed all of the things he was feeling. In the story, he was afraid to let his emotions show because he felt like he was the only one who felt that way. In the end, he found a friend who also had big emotions. Next we talked about the similarities and difference between two different emotion cards. We found that some emotions can look alike and some are very different. Finally, we identified how we would feel in a specific situation. Ms. Torborg read a story and we had to decide how we would feel. We found out that different people can feel different ways in the same situation.
Thursday:
In reading, we were introduced to the letter Jj. After watching a video about the letter J, we practiced writing both the capital and lowercase Jj Next we worked on creating a list of words that began with the /j/. For each word, Ms. Torborg helped us break out the sounds and we helped her identify the letters to write down. Then we listened to the story, Alpert. Alpert loves blank sheets of white paper or snowstorms as he calls them until details are added to the page to make it exciting. We took the information we learned about Alpert and applied it to the scarecrow book we are creating. On Tuesday, we wrote the words to our page. Today, we had to add the picture. When everyone is done, Ms. Torborg will combine them into a new class book.
In math, we worked on subitizing numbers. Subitizing means a number or group of objects by sight without counting. We started with our quick look cards. We looked at the card for just a short time before we identified the number of dots on it. We tried to figure out the number of dots without counting them. Then we practiced air writing our numbers before we complete the number 7 page in our number books.
This week we have been singing and dancing to a new song, Dingle Dangle Scarecrow. It sure has been a fan favorite! Today we created a dingle dangle scarecrow. Ms. Torborg gave us two papers with all of the different parts on it. We started by coloring and cutting it out. Then Ms. Torborg helped us punch holes in each of the parts. Finally, she put a little fastener on it to keep it together. The arms, legs, and head move in many different ways.
In Religion, we were introduced to a new saint, St. Francis of Assisi. His feast day is today, Oct. 4th. He loved animals, so he is the patron saint of animals. As we colored his picture in our Saint coloring books, we watched a short video about St. Francis of Assisi.
Friday:
Our Friday schedule is a little crazy. Our day starts with a short prayer service at in the Assembly room. Since there was a funeral at church this morning morning Mass was cancelled. When we got back to our classroom, we completed our calendar binders.
In math, we worked on putting numbers 0-5 in order. Then we played steal the number. Next, we worked with five frames. We each started with a five frame board and 5 counters. As Ms. Torborg showed us a number card, we had to put the corresponding items on the five frame. If the number card was 3, we had to put 3 counters on our board. Then we talked about where the counters where and how many open spaces we had. Next, we reviewed some of our quick looks cards. We only had a few seconds to try to identify the number of dots. Then we played our game from yesterday, Find It! We ended our time by completing our number 8 page in our number book.
In the afternoon, we had Spanish and library class. Then we worked with the letter Uu. First we watched the letter video. Then we worked on identifying if “u” in a given word was in its short and lazy disguise or its superhero disguise. Ms. Torborg would write down a word and help us sound it out. We would make are “i” action for short or long. Finally, we practiced writing the letter Uu.
We also reviewed the characteristic of a living thing. Then we worked together as a class to identify if the picture was a living or nonliving thing. We also completed a sorting worksheet. After cutting out each of the pieces, we had to glue them in the correct column either as a living thing or a nonliving thing.
We ended our day with our last Marathon rally. After praying for our intentions, we found out we have raised $33,648. We are off to a great start. Now we just have one week to make our goal. Then we completed an activity. Today we broke up into groups and when on a scavenger hunt. Each group started with a clue to find a puzzle piece and our next clue. Once we found all of our pieces we had to put the puzzle together and glue it on a sheet of paper. When everyone was done, we looked at each puzzle and read the Bible verse. Each one had to do with light.