Kindergarten MP3 Campus

School Data is open on February 1st for parent reviews. These are due by the 5th. We hope the cut and paste grade level newsletter will be helpful to supplement your remote learning plan reviews. Thank you for submitting in a timely manner and if you need help, please reach out to your SLPC.

Topics:

Winter Season, Letters, Sounds, Sight words, Writing

Letters: R,r, N,n,

Sight words: he, she, like, we, are

Activities

Winter: We have read stories about the winter season and snow, and had discussions about how the weather is different in the winter from fall. Students followed directions and worked hard at making folds and cuts as they created glittery paper snowflakes for the classroom. For some this was a lesson in perseverance!

After reading Thomas’ Snowsuit, students brainstormed ideas about what they like to do in the snow. Then they created snowsuit kindergarteners and wrote about something they like to do in the snow.

Students watched a Mystery Science video answering the question, “Why is snow white?”, and a scholastic video, “What do you know about snow?. Students also used Qtips to make snow scenes (called pointillism), painted and wrote magic snowflake sight words, and used tongs to pull out snowballs from our sensory tub of snow. After pulling out an upper case letter they matched it with the lower case letter on paper and traced the letter. We also made bleeding tissue snowflakes, cut them apart and put the pieces back together like a puzzle.

We practiced reading sight word while reading the poems/mini books: “Winter” and “Where Are You?” .These can go in their “I Can Read” bags for continued reading practice!

Writing: Our focus in writing was on starting our writing with a capital letter, and leaving spaces between our words. I am trying to get students to sound out words on their own (Kindergarten Spelling) too! We have been practicing sounding out words with “labeling” activities where students label different things in a picture and then work to write a sentence about something in the picture. Some can do this on their own, most can do it with me talking them through it.

We are practicing writing letters with correct formation on white boards, and paper.

**Please continue to be working on printing, using correct formation, and using a correct pencil grip at home. – Printing neatly is something most all of them need to be working on! They should be writing their names with a beginning capital and remaining lower case letters. With just a little practice they will be doing this with ease!

Stories we have shared include: The Golden Snowflake, Snow Friends, Meet Einstein, What do Scientist do?, Jack and Jill and Big Dog Bill, Lets Find Out: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas’ Snowsuit, The Snowy Day, Clifford’s First Snow, Snowy Winter Day, Winter, Where Are You?, Just a Snowman

Teacher Tip: As we start the second semester it is a good time to think about where your kindergarten student should be by the end of the year. Be working towards mastering all letter names and sounds, at least 20 sight words, and be able to write a sentence using our 5 star rubric. (1. Start with a capital (remaining lower case) 2. Spaces between words 3. End with punctuation mark (.!?) 4. Use sight words I know and sound out new words 5. My words make sense.) They also need to work on printing letters with correct formation and check to be sure your student is holding their pencil correctly (and scissors). Usually a quick reminder is all they need. They are all doing awesome!!!

Topics:

Holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Activities:

Martin Luther King Jr.: We watched a Scholastic video about Martin Luther King Jr. , “Dr. King, A Leader and a Hero”, and then discussed how Martin Luther King Jr. helped change unfair laws. Together we read our Let’s Find Out Newspapers about Martin Luther King Jr. We looked at different pictures and discussed ways we could be fair and kind to others.

Topics

Scientific Method, What Dissolves in Water?, Insta-Snow experiment

Activities:

Scientific Method: We used the scientific method to conduct two experiments. For the first experiment our questions was “Which of the solids will dissolve in water?”. We created a hypothesis (prediction) and tested our hypothesis by adding each one to a cup of water. We observed and recorded our observations and came to a conclusion that salt and sugar dissolve in water, and flour, pepper and corn meal don’t. In our second experiment students were given a cup with some white powder-like substance in it. They used a magnifying glass to observe the material and describe it. Many thought it might be salt or sugar. We then asked, “What would happen if we added water to this?” After brainstorming ideas such as: it would dissolve, it will float, it will disappear… Students added a cup of water to their solid and watched as it “exploded” into “snow”! Insta-snow is a super absorbent material (like what they use in baby diapers). It sucks up the water and as it absorbs it expands! Students created a “hypothesis” (prediction), conducted the experiment, recorded their observations and made their conclusion.

Students watched a Mystery Science video answering the question, “Why is snow white?”, and a scholastic video, “What do you know about snow?

Mrs. Hays, Campus Kindergarten Teacher

khays@meridian.wednet.edu