Welcome to week 13 of kindergarten, which is another short week due to in-service on Election Day. We’re starting unit 2 of our required curriculum (FINALLY) and learning about farms and elections decomposing numbers, and more fun kindergarten activities:
Kindergarten Activities: Lesson Plans
You can download our weekly lesson plans by clicking on the image!
You can get our lesson plan templates here:
Kindergarten Learning Activities: Word Family BOOTCAMP
This week, we’re continuing to work with CVC words using our Word Family Bootcamp, along with our required foundational skills curriculum. This week, we’re doing -UT and -UG words. We do two different word families a week, focusing on all three sounds in the word! We do circle charts, word chaining, and word writing, and we’re using decodable texts! Throughout the lessons, we’re saying the word, segmenting the sounds, mapping the sounds, spelling the words, decoding the words, and we’re writing the words.
One of the tools we’re using in small groups are these word mapping mats. These are so effective at helping students read and write words. They also promote the mental process of orthographic mapping.
This week we’re also using our Digital Word Building tool! This is such a great way to word chaining and the kids LOVE it!
Kindergarten Learning Activities: Phonemic Awareness Bootcamp
This week, we also continue Phonemic Awareness Bootcamp! Phonemic Awareness Bootcamp is all about hearing the sounds and the oral language. We start with sentences and work our day down to sounds in words, segmenting, etc. This research-based resource is designed for each lesson to take about 10 minutes. Then we move to Word Family BOOTCAMP, which has explicit phonics instruction focused on blending, decoding, spelling, and writing CVC Words. This week in Phonemic Awareness Bootcamp, we’re working on skill 4, which is Rhyming or the same ending sound.
Kindergarten Learning Activities: Sight Words
This week, we’re continuing sight words in our classroom using our science of reading-aligned resource: Sight Word 60! And yes, you can still teach sight words as long as you teach students to decode, spell, write, and read the words in context! We’re not teaching them to memorize words anymore.
Here’s the routine:
Monday: I will introduce the words by segmenting the sounds, decoding the words, spelling them, and using the word in a sentence.
Tuesday and Wednesday-review the words with segmenting and decoding the words; kids use the words in a sentence
Thursday-sight word: Students find and color the word!
Friday-we play a game to practice the words!
Kindergarten Activities: Elections and Voting
This week we are learning about elections and voting. We believe this is a necessary topic to introduce students to. They’re hearing about elections and voting, and it’s part of our social studies standards. Our Election Research Project has been used in our classroom since 2012 and is very kid-friendly and developmentally appropriate.
Our first activity is to read Duck For President and talk about how the animals had to make a choice. This is how we introduce voting and elections. After we read the book, we read our election reader about our upcoming presidential election. Then, the students get to vote for the President. We count our votes and we will compare our results to the actual outcome of the election.
To keep the fun going, we also do a fun Duck For President art project!
We also vote for cats or dogs!
The kids will also be writing about what they would do if they were president!
Kindergarten Activities: Farms
This week we’re starting the second unit of our required curriculum. This unit is all about farms! We’re excited to be moving onto something new. We will be using our Farms Research Project along with our required curriculum.
This week the focus is on questions and answers about farms and animals and collecting text evidence for an upcoming writing task.
The week actually begins with The Three Little Pigs! We read the story and generate questions about the book. We will be re-reading this story many times during this unit!
Kindergarten Activities: Decomposing Numbers
This week, we’re starting to learn about decomposing numbers. Our curriculum moves a little slow with this, focusing on decomposing a single number for two days. Eventually, we get to decomposing numbers to 10. This week’s goal is to learn how to make 6 and 7. We are currently updating this resource to add in additional lessons and activities. Stay tuned for the update.
This week we’re using cupcakes and ducks to decompose numbers. We’re also playing shake and spill to find all the ways to make the numbers.
We will use red and blue cupcakes to make 6. The cupcakes are printed on red and blue cardstock and then I staple them back to back so we can flip them over to show all the various ways to make 6. To make 7 we use ducks. We use green and blue ducks. We put the ducks in a pond to find ways to make 7. With both lessons, we’re also writing the equations. The kids write the equation on their white board and I’m adding the equation to our anchor chart.
The second day of making each number is shake and spill. We use red and yellow counters and dominos. We shake, spill and place the counters on the domino. Then we make the dots and write the equation.
Kindergarten Activities: Turkeys
Since it’s November, we are doing a turkey-directed drawing. We have to prepare our Halloween art work with November art projects!
Kindergarten Activities: Mad Science Thursday
This week our hands-on science lesson is dancing corn!
Kindergarten SEL Lessons: Morning Meeting
This week, our greeting will be a turkey greeting. The turkey will run way and the students will greet their friend!
Kindergarten Cooking: Foodie Fun Friday
This week our Foodie Fun Friday snack is a turkey cookie! Sugar cookie, frosting, candy corn, candy eyes and some red icing!
WEEKLY RESOURCES
Click below for the resources we are using in our classroom this week:
FREE FILES
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