K/1 Week 2 News

Literatura

This week in language arts we had a lot of fun with our playful chancho. He likes to play with words by stealing their initial sound and sometimes their final sound. We worked a lot with the oral combination and separation of syllables. This is fun for the kiddos and definitely grabs their attention. We used the chancho to work on our listening skills for a directed drawing.  We then separated our names into syllables.  (Look for these on the hall bulletin board next week.)

We are working hard to remember our correct letter formations: top-down. Sometimes a student is sent home with extra practice or to finish something they didn’t quite have enough time for in class.  (They won’t receive homework unless they didn’t use their time wisely in class.) This week we reviewed letter formations for Bb, Cc, Ch ch, Dd.  We also worked with the following words of the day / palabras de use frecuente: en, con, qué, un.  You will see these words in their daily planner.

We’ve added our Spanish tally system and the students love it!  They got to go to the treasure box twice this week, which means they have been doing a great job using their Spanish in class!!

Matemáticas

We all had fun using our math boxes and tens frames to creat groups of objects. Kindergartners worked on identifying numbers, forming groups, filling out a tens frame correctly, matching up groups, and writing numbers correctly (top down).
First graders also worked on tens frames, using different colors to show all the different combinations we can use to add up to 10. We are working on identifying number words and making connections with greater than and less than. Some math words we focused on this week were:

• igual – equal
• más que– more than
• menos que – less than
• mayor – greater
• menor – less

History & Geography

I have been so impressed with how everyone is arriving each day ready to go with their materials and eager to work on their red binders. I can’t believe it is only the second week of school, what a wonderful class we have! In social studies this week we had a nice variety of ways to learn about geography. We made a “living” map, we danced to a directions song, constructed a cork compass and created a compass rose quilt.

Our objectives this week were to
•  locate the seven continents and four oceans on a flat world map
•  recognize the geographic terms of continent, country, state, city, and island

•  find directions on a map: east, west, north, and south
•  identify the points on a compass rose
•  identify classroom cardinal directions

Science

This week in Animal Habitats we went on a local Safari looking for plants and animals that live near us. We also learned about the Arctic tundra and the Arctic Ocean and plants and animals that inhabit this area

Our objectives this week were to:
• describe what a habitat is
• Understand that living things live in habitats to which they are particularly suited.
•  Identify two characteristics of the Arctic tundra habitat
•  explain how arctic animals have adapted to the Arctic tundra habitat
•  identify the characteristics of the Arctic Ocean habitat
•  explain how Arctic animals have adapted to the Arctic Ocean habitat

English Word Work

This week the class was introduced to our spelling program and how to do their sorts. I will be working with each spelling group throughout the week on their sorts and words. In our journals this week we wrote about the Arctic tundra.
Our daily vocabulary words were: shelter, Arctic, north, south, east, west.  Our word wall words were: you, me, in, can, we, us, see, be, want

Sharing:   Several students have wanted to bring something from home to share with the class.  I wish we had the time to hear about all these special things but because we are so busy all the time we have to limit sharing time and what is being shared.  Your child may bring in an item on Fridays.  This sharing should have something to do with what we are learning about in class.  Thank you for helping your child decide if their sharing fits this criteria.