This week and next week are going to be wild because it’s state testing for our 3rd and 4th graders which means our schedule is completely different and we all know how that affects the kindergartners! Also, we celebrated Adelynn’s 4th birthday party this weekend so this Dada is tired and I literally fell asleep writing this post…so hopefully there aren’t any mistakes!

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Phonics And Phonemic Awareness: Vowel Bootcamp

We are following our required foundational skills curriculum. And we are supplementing with our TKS BOOTCAMP Blends Bootcamp! Our foundational skills curriculum is focused on segmenting, word chaining, blending, and writing words using short vowels, blends, digraphs, and double consonants. Our focus this week is decodable texts and working on blending, changing, and writing words!

We will be segmenting, spelling, writing, and reading the words as well as changing sounds to make new words with short vowels, blends, and digraphs.

We also use our decodable texts in small groups to work on the skills in text. I have seen so much growth in my student’s reading with these decodables. The kids love them and I love seeing their confidence and excitement as they read!

In small groups, we’re using our Word Mapping Mats to really help us segment, spell and read words! Since we started using these I’ve seen great improvement in my students’ ability to segment, spell and read words!

We’re also doing a lot of word chaining with CVC words, blends, digraphs, and double letters! Word chaining is when you change one sound to make new words. This phonics activity is one of the best for helping students blend and write words and understanding how words work. For these lessons, we’re using our Digital Word Building resource! This resource includes a PowerPoint file and a Google Slides file so it can be used on any device!

As the school year has moved along, we’re noticing our handwriting and letter formation is slipping some. This tends to happen every year around this time. Part of it is that we as teachers are overwhelmed with everything and trying to help students master all the things, we just slack off a bit. Ya’ll! It’s ok. We’re human. We recognize the problem and we make a plan to work on it! So, each day for just a few minutes, we’re going to do some explicit handwriting practice using chalk and chalkboards. Here’s why chalk! Chalk creates friction. Friction creates muscle memory. Muscle memory helps us retain information. But we’re not just writing letters, we will add in sound recognition and vocabulary by coming up with words for each letter!

I will show a slide that shows correct letter formation, I will model correct letter formation and then students will practice!

We actually have these little chalkboards that my mom and dad made for my class about 10 years ago! it’s one of the few things left in my classroom that my mom touched and made for me! These are just small pieces of wood painted with chalkboard paint! I ordered dustless chalk from Amazon to use with these!

Math-Measurement And Money

This year our district is using Illustrative Math as our math curriculum. We will be completing those lessons and supplementing them heavily with our Math It Up! creations. The last few weeks have been shapes and strangely, in the middle of those lessons there were two random lessons on measurement and then it was back to shapes. We decided that made no sense so we postponed the measurement lessons until this week. Also, we realize the adopted curriculum didn’t include any lessons on coins which are in our state standards so we have added those in too.

For measurement, we’re comparing the weights of objects and learning about capacity.

To compare weight, students predict which object will be heavier. Then we use our balance to test our predictions and find out which object is heavier!

For learning about capacity, we want them to understand that capacity means how much of something, and then they will decide which cup they would drink from if they’re thirsty!

All of these lessons and more are included in our Math It Up! Measurement resource!

Includes:

• Measurement Word Web (sort and glue)
• Measuring Penny 
• Measure Your Friend
• Which is Heavier?
• How Much Does it Weigh? 
• Culminating Task (magazine cut-out balances)
• I Am Thirsty: Which Cup Should I Use?
• Shorter/Longer Sort
• Heavier/Lighter Sort
• How Big is Your Foot?
• I am Bigger/Smaller
• Anchor Charts

Money

We’re also introducing coins and values this week! We are focused on the names and values of the coins. We will be using our Math It Up! Money resource this week!

We start our money unit with the book Alexander Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday and discuss why we need money! We create a graphic organizer with all of our ideas on why we need money!

Lesson 2 is a money anchor chart. We identify the coins, their names and values!

We also create anchor charts for each coin!

Each day we use a PowerPoint to quickly practice each coin and its value! Grab the FREE FILE by clicking on the image!

Reading Comprehension: Zoo Animals Research Project

This week we are supposed to begin our 4th module of the required curriculum but the way it’s planned it would be 1 lesson this week and then we’d be done until next week. I’m choosing to just wait until next week to kick off the module so we don’t introduce the topic and then have several days between the lessons. So, this week we’re kicking off our Zoo Animals Research Project!

We do one animal a day. We read a book and/or watch a video of the animal. This is the research. We record our learning on our graphic organizer. Students then write about the animal. We also label the parts of the animals. This is great for vocabulary, and discussing animal adaptations and habitats. Finally, we do a directed drawing of the animal!

Our Zoo Animals Research Project includes 22 different animals: Animals included: elephant, monkey, lion, gorilla, panda, flamingo, snake, kangaroo, zebra, giraffe, camel, bear, meerkat, ostrich, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, seal, alligator,  frog, parrot, peacock.

For more animal research projects, check out these resources:

Foodie Fun Friday

This week’s Foodie Fun Friday will be an animal parfait! We will layer granola, yogurt, and chocolate. On top we add some banana slices and animal crakers!

Morning Meeting

Greeting-mingle greeting-students walk around and greet one another.

Activity-find the clothespin

This video was recorded in 2022 when masks were required. The greeting is a snowball greeting but the activity is find the clothespin.

FREEBIES!

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