Our First Full Week

We made it through a full week, and we had a blast!  We have finalized our rules:  Be safe, be respectful and be responsible.  We talked about lots of rules and how they fit into these three which are also known school wide as Gecko Goals.  We are spending the most time on whisper voices while working.

We have practiced a couple of fire drills.  I am so proud of how well the kindergarteners listened and followed with the class.

In math, we have been working on identifying numbers to five in a few ways.  We played a game called Bump and Jump.  The students caught right on to the rules and we will use this same game to practice lots of skills this year.  Many of the other games we played came from k-5 Math Teaching Resources.  We played Five Frame Flash, Five Frame Dice Match, and Concentration.  It is important for students to be able to recognize how many there are without counting.  You can practice this at home playing games with dice, dominoes, and cards.

This week we learned about Elbow Partners in Reader's Workshop.  We learned that good readers talk about books.  An Elbow Partner is the friend sitting next to you.  We sometimes Turn and Talk to our Elbow Partner when we want to tell a longer story.  Other times, we Lean and Tell a quick answer.  We always whisper and stay on topic.  We are also learning the jobs of the author and illustrator.  You can help at home by pointing out the author and illustrator or reading the About The Author.

Some of the books we have read this week are:

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