Several times a year, the safety officer comes and does a lesson with the children. This lesson focused on emergencies and how to call 911. Some of the children even made pretend phone calls to 911 to practice answering dispatcher questions. During word study, we have been working on the "H Brothers" (Sh, Ch, Th, Wh). I introduced the sounds with the pictured story and have continued practice through a picture sort, and a short Brainpop Jr video. This week we began our unit on patterns in math. We focused on repeating patterns and the term "core". In this mini lesson we made various patterns using foam pumpkins and leaves. One child would make the pattern and then another would circle the core. Then the children were able to practice making their own repeating patterns using Goldfish crackers. The children practiced their first Kagan activity this week! (Kagan Structures are instructional strategies designed to promote cooperation and communication in the classroom.) The children high fived a partner and shared two facts about apples and then they repeated it with other partners. With all the rainy days this week, we were lucky to have Go Noodle! It is a free site that has indoor recess activities to give the children physical activity. The children also had their first lesson with our school counselor, Mr. Lacy! They always enjoy his visit. A previous student of mine came and read to the class! I love that she chose this as her reward. :)
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In shared reading we have been focusing on story elements and making connections. In writing we have focused on complete sentences and handwriting. We read the book Elmer, retold the story using plush character pieces, and discussed reasons why we are special. The children colored their "Elmers" and wrote on the back about why they are special. Another day we read Pete the Cat I Love my White Shoes, and the children practiced handwriting and sentence structure. During math this week we have continued working on counting, number recognition and writing, as well as comparing numbers. The children played a "fill the cup" game. I drew a line in each cup and they moved from tub to tub filling their cups, counting the contents, and comparing who had more and less. We did another Promethean board activity that involved counting and we also discussed which numbers were greater or less. In celebration of summer reading, Jeff Bateman came to our school! He is a former principal who sings, plays the guitar and tells interactive stories. The children really enjoyed his visit! In Social Studies, we have been learning about Citizenship. In this lesson, we reviewed the CREST and the children worked in teams to draw pictures related to "Living the Crest". For example, one group drew pictures of what it looks like to live the CREST in the cafeteria. Friday was our first "Flashlight Friday"! This time we reviewed all of the Kindergarten sight words on the word wall by shining their flashlights on a word I called out. In the future we will be using "Flashlight Friday" as a time for the children to read independently from their book boxes using a flashlight.
The first few weeks of school we will be reviewing what was learned in Kindergarten. This includes sight words, math skills, book knowledge, letter identification and sounds. This week we did a variety of math activities that worked on counting and identifying numbers to thirty. This post will be mostly about math while future ones may focus more on language arts or a mixture. In this activity one student sorted the cups in order from 1-20 and then everyone took turns filling the cups with the correct amount of manipulatives. I read the book Chrysanthemum and the children wrote their names on block paper. Each child counted the letters in their names and we compared who had more and less. The children really enjoyed using the Promethean board to practice ordering numbers. During the first couple weeks, our math tubs are exploratory. The children came up with so many ways to count and compare numbers. I hope you enjoy visiting this web site through the year. I will be using the blog area to post a weekly update with pictures of some things the children were working on in class. This is a favorite spot for parents. :) Please also check the home page regularly because I will post updates and reminders there. Thanks for visiting!
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Mrs. StearnsWelcome! This is my fourth year at Crestwood and my 15th year of teaching. I love the families at Crestwood! I received my undergraduate degree from Longwood University and later received my Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in ESL. I am married and have a five-year-old daughter. I also have two dogs and one cat. When I am not teaching you will find me camping, reading, or going fun places with the family. Archives
June 2017
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