Visualize, Complete Sentences and don't forget MATH TALK!

The words "VISUALIZE", "COMPLETE SENTENCES" and "MATH TALK" were probably said about 100 times this past week... Here's why...

Writer’s Workshop has been going great this week.  When we work on writing it is important to not overwhelm the students with too many corrections.  During each writing session, we first take a moment to VISUALIZE what we want to journal about, discuss it with a partner, share, and begin.  I try to only COACH the students on one or two items during their writing session.  Initially we focus on: sounding out words, leaving space between words, capital letter to start a sentence, using a drawing to tell opinion, information or what happened, and so on.  We want the students to enjoy the daily Writer’s Workshop.  This is a time for minor adjustments each day (that add up to major gains!)and lots of positive reinforcement and encouragement!  Writing can be a daunting task for Kindergarteners! 

 In Reading and Phonics we have been working on Beginning sounds (specifically for Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj), recalling and retelling information IN COMPLETE SENTENCES.  Silly Mrs. Kressin often forgets the question she just asked or anything about the story we just read, so it is very important to always speak in complete sentences so she can figure out what is going on!  The students are doing a wonderful job adjusting their answers!  I can see them growing and learning every day.  It is so exciting.  J  I have been getting great feedback from parents that you are working on reading comprehension questions at home.  That is so awesome!  Anytime you can ask your son or daughter questions about the story (beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, etc...), you are teaching them how to be a better reader! 

This week we also had FIRE SAFETY.  I will post information and pictures from that event next week.  (I have to get pictures from another teacher.)  Reminder:  Make sure you and your family have a “meeting place” in case of emergencies! 

Math activities.  The students in this class are gaining a solid foundation with numbers.  We have started our “MATH TALK” during our Math centers, where we focus on talking about a certain topic.  This week we compared two numbers to see if they were greater than, less than or equal to.  We use a variety of different ways to measure our learning and understanding for these concepts.    

LESS THAN talk...

Fruit Loops GREATER THAN activity. 

Fruit Loops and Fruit Loops!

In this video I asked one of the students to quiz the other students on "EQUAL TO".  The number he wrote was 100!  You can hear at the end, he is saying what the other students wrote down.  They are number rock stars!!!

Addition Number Sentences

Corresponding Numbers with the correct Number of Stickers(objects).

 

Counting!

Cups and Cardinality Build Up.  We used this for our Math TALK..."Is my pyramid less than your pyramid?  Let's count and see!  I think this pyramid is GREATER THAN the other!

"Add them all up and let's decide whether my number is greater than your number?  less than?  What if our numbers are equal to?  That would be crazy!" 



I love using whiteboards as an assessment tool. I can ask a series of questions, each student quickly writes down their response. I can see who is "getting it" and who is not and adjust our learning needs accordingly.

 I can see some serious NUMBER POWER going on here.  Students are problem solving and making sense of numbers and how it makes sense to them....and trying to explain it to their friends!



Tech. center....creating addition number sentences. 



 One last thing, tomorrow we are celebrating our POPCORN reading party! They have already earned every REWARD possible on our REWARDS BOARD! Time to start over with a clean slate!

Enjoy the long weekend!  No school on Monday!  Read and Count!  Read and Count!  :)

Take Care,

Mrs. Kressin :)