Good morning JK families!

This week we have begun our Gingerbread theme.  It hardly seems like December but there is definitely a little magic brewing around the classroom as the children are getting excited for upcoming holidays and the change in the season.

Literacy:
I had each child read to me this week one on one as well as reading groups.  It's nice to have time to really study the process as they decipher letters and sounds, and allow them extra time to answer questions and find answers without any interruptions or assistance from friends.  Early childhood teachers meet monthly (as well as informally often) to discuss strategies and ensure cohesion in our curriculum from one grade to the next.  We began using whole body letter writing as a result of this week's suggestion from our Lower School Learning Assistance teacher.  Allowing each student to sky write letters crosses the midline.  It's lovely that we have such wonderful resources from which to learn.  We continued our journal pages and sign in using Handwriting without tears.  The biggest daily struggle for early learners is beginning at the top for letter formation.  It's human nature to want a baseline from which to begin.  Practice is key, so we continue to remind each student to "start from the top". 

We read many holiday and Gingerbread stories this week, including How to Catch Santa, Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Man, Still Running, Snowman's Christmas, Mrs. Greenberg's Messy Hanukkah, Berlioz The Bear, Small Medium and Large, The Gingerbread Bear and Keep Running Gingerbread Man. 

Math and Science:
We completed a science experiment on water and how it effects paper Gingerbread people.  We submerged three different Gingerbread people in water for one minute, five minutes and 30 minutes, and recorded observations as we compared and noted differences.  The children first offered predictions and we discussed what a hypothesis is.  They also wanted to name the different paper people.  For young children, inanimate objects are also real so teaching empathy carries over to objects.  It's great to teach respect for even paper people as that transfers to real relationships.
We practiced our number counting, and played a Math addition game as a center this week.  Using frogs as manipulatives, the children rolled dice and wrote and added two numbers to play the game.

We talk about many math related questions in our morning and afternoon meetings, including comparison on bigger or greater than and less than numbers, further encouraging the one to one correspondence and meaning of each number.  We compare relational and sequential people and items, for example, "who is beside and behind Evelyn", or,  "who is taller than Emma but shorter than Kai". 

Fine Motor:
We made Gingerbread people using glitter, ribbon, sequins, tissue paper, markers, and anything else suggested.  It's fun to see the many creative ways the children choose to decorate their people.  We color and cut each day during free play, and also paint most mornings with either water colors or tempera paints.  We offer different size brushes, different colors for mixing, different kinds and colors of paper each day as we experiment with textures and brush strokes.  We also decorated foam Gingerbread people with stickers and hung them in our classroom-thank you Kai for sharing this craft with your friends! Each child also decorated a gingerbread house with stickers and added to their pictures with packages they decorated with tape and crayons. 

We have had a few children sick with fevers and vomiting.  We are careful to clean well and hand wash often, but know sometimes it just happens.  I will not hex us by saying that there have not been any lice instances in this classroom and with 20 children that's really wonderful, because the moment I say it they will find a way to us.  :)

Have a wonderful week, and thank you for letting me share time with your children.  It's my pleasure.  And, I should also share that our specials teachers LOVE this class as well.  They always comment about what a wonderful class this is, so it's not just me being bias.  Your kids are truly wonderful.

Ms. Massey

Good afternoon JK Families!

This week we have been talking about gifts we can give, that do not come from a store.  Some wonderful ideas have been "helping my mom put silverware away from the dishwasher", and "cleaning up messes" as well as giving hugs and making cards.  JK children love to give gifts, so giving them ideas about gifts they can give without having to buy them is such a powerful thing.  Learning that a smile is a gift, or that friendship is a gift made them happy.

Literacy:
We worked in our word books, and practiced writing words beginning with Kk, and are working on other letter words depending on each student's progress.  We are all practicing the zoo phonics sounds as we mimic the animal motions that help us remember the sounds associated with each letter.

We have read:  The Invisible Boy, The Totally Secret Secret, The Giving Tree, Boy + Bot, Last Stop on Market Street, The Lamb Who Loved to Laugh (Alpha Tales), I am Lost, and We All Sing With the Same Voice and A Sick Day for Amos McGee.  

We worked on our journal pages/response to reading, using inventive spelling.  We are all working on our "Stretchy Snake" and slowing down words and stretching out each letter sound so we may write them on our journal pages.  We are introducing new strategies as each child is ready.  Most children chose to write and illustrate their page this week on The Giving Tree.  It's a very common error for early childhood students to think the "Y" sounds is made by a "W".  If there are times you can work on this at home it would be helpful.  These two letters are difficult for 4 and 5's, along with the vowel sounds (because of all of the exceptions in our wonderful English language).  Encouraging any writing is wonderful, and labeling any illustrations is such great practice.

We met with our third grade reading buddies, and enjoyed the buddy books they checked out for us in the library.  Each group had such a great time reading to each other and doing art work together.  We are so lucky to have such great older buddies to visit our class and make us feel so special!

Math:
We are learning syllables and are working on our beats and counting to make this a fun math exercise too.  Rhythm sticks make the beats fun to accentuate.  Our number lines and calendar are great morning meeting times to discuss numbers that come before and after and learning more than just the sing song of counting.  Some children who can count higher do not have as developed an understanding of the one to one correspondence.  If your child is not counting as high but understands the one to one correspondence, feel free to work on the "song" of counting but continue to focus on the importance of understanding the relationship.  That being said, please continue to count starting from 11 each day as you are at home or even riding in the car.  We played number bingo (a class favorite) as a center this week and worked on the teen numbers and all numbers to 20.  We are also doing simple math with steps and manipulatives.  Playing catch with a Nurf ball while counting makes it fun and incorporates the essential bilateral/crossing the midline/left and right brain working together.  We are always mindful of the brain body connection and the importance to learning/literacy (and all of our multidisciplinary centers!)

Fine Motor:
Each student decorated their December calendar with packages, as part of our Giving theme.  We also discussed that these are the kind of packages you see but are not as important as the gifts you give that are not material.  Most students chose to use tape to decorate the packages as well, providing more fine motor practice as they peeled and cut each piece of tape, after "measuring" the place it would be placed.  Most everyone has mastered the curvy, zig zag and straight line for cutting, with reminders on placement of scissors.

Gross Motor:
We continue our balance and movement concentration as we master some of the advanced "Go Noodle" activities, that work on coordination, guided movement, bilateral movement, guided dance, mindfulness, sensory, etc.  It's such a great release when we have a short period of time to fill and they are extra wiggly!

Social Emotional:
We discussed the difference between cotton ball words and sandpaper words.  The visual and sensory aspect of this lesson provides a memorable reference for JK children.  We read the story by Mo Willems Should I Share My Ice Cream? and talked about the different words and categorized them into sandpaper or cotton ball.  We also discussed scenarios where different situations require different words.

We celebrated Jack's birthday, and had Asa, Aeriana's little sister visit for show and tell.
It has been a busy week, and a wonder we managed to accomplish so much!  Superstars!

Happy December!

Ms. Massey