We are steadily making our way through the alphabet as we have different letter concentrations each week. We are now on letter Jj and looking for things that make the "j" sound around our room and school.
Follow this link for an excellent article on how children learn letter sounds:
http://fcrr.org/news/news_
We have constructed igloos from either marshmallows or sugar cubes, paying attention to how we can construct things with the most success. They each estimated the number they believed necessary to cover their entire igloo, and then tested their prediction after the construction. Each step required counting each cube or marshmallow as we added sets of 20 at a time. We watched a video of an igloo being built by an Inuit family. The first time a son or daughter is able to help it is a milestone and memorable experience, and is celebrated as they learn through careful observation but also in making mistakes (much like we learn-and grow-as through correcting and modifying errors provides the greatest opportunities to understand/learn).
I have begun assessing the class as we approach our second round parent teacher conferences in February. When assessing oral language, we look at each child's ability to: speak clearly in complete sentences, respond to questions, initiate conversations, take turns, ask questions, participate in discussions, sing songs and recite finger plays, and tell about experiences. All of our daily morning meetings encourage these skills. It's amazing how intentional the JK curriculum is. Each activity is building upon their confidence, literacy, math and science skills, language arts, fine and gross motor and social emotional. The children are only aware of the fun they are having while learning these critical skills. Roycemore and the academics we introduce provides an amazing foundation for success throughout the school years and beyond. I am extremely happy with where we are in their learning for the school year. The social-emotional element of this class has risen to an advanced level and will be incredibly evident against their peers as they enter Kindergarten.
We are working on one to one correspondence and simple addition and subtraction in our math center as we use games, dice and different manipulatives to tell stories as we practice our number recognition and writing. The children need practice in recognizing and writing their numbers from 11-30, as most have mastered 1-10. Please start at 11 and work your way up if your child seems to be comfortable with 1-10. By skipping what they already know you can build on their familiarity and replace 1-10 comfort level with the higher numbers.
Each month we have the class paint a self portrait which I am compiling for their final portfolio. The details they are adding in comparison to the beginning of the year is outstanding. They are moving to the next developmental stage. It's very exciting to watch it unfold.
The sensory table has been filled with moon sand, penguins and icebergs. We have been experimenting with blubber and how the penguins are insulated from the cold, icy waters with their blubber layer. They were apprehensive to stick their hand in a plastic glove surrounded by Crisco, but loved comparing the temperature difference while putting themselves into the mindset of a penguin! Everyone finished their Penguin hats this week, and had fun wearing them and pretending to be their favorite kind of penguin. They can name a few; be sure to ask them their favorite.
Spanish time has been used to teach the children about each child's family and the people who live in their house. Tenemos diferente casas (we have different houses). Some of us have a mom/madre, a dad/padre, a brother/hermano, a sister/hermana, and some houses have pets. They have also lelarned about extended family/familia. Some families also have an aut/tia, and uncle/tio, a grandpa/abuelo, a grandma/abuela. They learned about the snowy own/Buho Nevado and been playing a matching game with con animales/with animals.
Have a wonderful week, and please let me know if you would like to be our special guest to come read or lead/assist/whatever your comfort level is- an activity for the class. They love having visitors and enjoy getting to know their friend's family's.
Mrs. Massey
