Adventures in Kindergarten: Last Week......Scarecrows!

Last week we had a scarecrow theme. We learned about scarecrows and why people might have them at their house, in their garden, or on their farm. We read lots of stories about scarecrows as well. We made a HUGE scarecrow of our own and made a book to go with it. That was done in our Creation Center that week.

In Reading, we learned how to make connections and about how to make predictions while we read. Those are very important skills and those are great to practice when reading with your child at home. I have completed some assessments with your children. One was the DRA, in which I assess their reading and comprehension. In the beginning of the year, Kindergarteners are expected to be at a Level A, which is at the emergent/pre-reading stage. This assessment helps me put the children into reading groups with children that are of the same ability. Then we will learn lots of new reading strategies and then we will see some wonderful reading from your little ones! It really is amazing how much they can learn in such a short period of time! I also did the district number knowledge assessment last week. This week, I am working on an alphabet assessment as well as some other Kindergarten skills. Once I am finished with assessments, I will begin our guided reading groups during center time. Also, you will be able to see all of these assessments during our conference in December.

We have also been working on writing in our classroom. We have our writing workshop during our morning literacy time. During writing workshop, we all sit together on the rug and I do a small mini lesson on what we will be working on in writing on that day. I model by writing my own story. The kids have been learning about how to choose a story to write about (a true story about themselves), sketch a picture, label their picture, and add words to their story. When they add words, they are to stretch out the word and listen to the sounds to spell it. I NEVER tell a child how to spell a word. I will help them sound out the word, but I love to see them figure out how to stretch it out and spell it. :) In a few weeks, we will publish our first story. That is where we fancy up our writing and put a pretty cover on the front.

So, during scarecrow week, we worked on many fun centers during our literacy and math time. In Math, we worked on patterns. The kids got to participate in Math centers that all had to do with making patterns. Here are some pictures from our centers:

Scarecrow Writing Center

Listening Center- They listen to the story and draw a picture of their favorite part.

ABC Center- Fishing for letters- The kids got to fish for letters and then they colored in the letters that they got. There was water in the bucket.....definitely a favorite center this week!