Hoppin' Into Junior Kindergarten!

 Hi JK Parents!

This short week has gone by in a blink!  We have been studying bats and learning about the ways in which bats are the same and different than birds.  We have read many fiction and non-fiction books, and loved the story of Stella Luna, the baby fruit bat who had to eat grasshoppers and act like a bird until her mommy found her again.  It's such a beautiful story, and gave us an opportunity to compare bats and birds as we read.  

Math and Science:

We created a compare and contrast chart/Venn Diagram.  The children have loved looking at interesting pictures of many different kinds of bats and studying their skeletal structure and all of the interesting ways they help us, not least of all by eating many mosquitos each day!  We used a bouncy ball to demonstrate echo location, as a student was blindfolded and threw the ball to the wall to determine how far away he was from touching it.  This mimicked the echo a bat hears to determine how far away it is from food and other objects.  

We are learning 3D shapes and hunting for them around our classroom and school.  Challenge them to look for cylinders, cones, cubes and spheres at home and when you are out and about.  We love using manipulatives as we count and are playing pattern and number games in small groups.  

We measured and counted and took turns stirring (as we changed spoons or sanitized) and then cooked our Pumpkin Muffins!  They decorated and then enjoyed their tasty treat.  We talked about all of the healthy ways pumpkin helps your body.  Each step is an exercise in sequencing, and a great opportunity to discuss ingredients and all that is necessary to make baked goods.  

We are practicing writing numbers with finger spaces in between each number.  If they are practicing at their writing center at home, be sure they are starting from the top to write each number.

Literacy:

We have been working on blends and digraphs and the change in some letter sounds as they are combined with other letters.  Some children  have been working on reading strategies and that when the word ends in silent e, the e jumps back and makes the vowel say it's name.  We are all dancing and singing and pairing our movements with Zoo Phonics Animals.

Fine Motor:

We read the story Spookly the Squarely Pumpkin and then painted our own square pumpkins after stuffing them with paper and taping the tops to look like their stems.  We also created Jack-O-Lanterns on foam to give us ideas of how we will carve our classroom pumpkin!  

We created scary scenes with a moon, cat and bats and painted them with orange and black paint.  They love learning Halloween songs as we paint!  

French:

The children are learning animals in French, and practicing their colors and numbers.  They love singing about the animals as they act out the motions.

We are breaking into small groups as well as reading with children one-on-one as we work on literacy at multiple levels in the classroom.  Our Northwestern helpers have been amazing at assisting with concentrated reading as well as handwriting help.  The children are learning so much and are loving getting to know one another now that they are comfortable exploring their classroom and have the routines of JK learned.  

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms. Massey