Writer's Workshop

….We are off to a wonderful start! The kindies are really loving writer's workshop and the chance to "talk on paper". Each kindie comes in every day with different stories to share and tell friends about. They are encouraged to think of something they want to share, and write about it! We have been discussing how authors "take their time", "add more than 5 colors", and "stretch their story across pages". Just like Donald Crews and his story, Freight Train, we too, can stretch out one small moment across multiple pages. We have referred to this book everyday during our workshop as our primary "mentor text".
Ask your kindie what they know about Donald Crews as an author…

Components of writer's workshop:

1. Mini-lesson

-Students are explicitly taught something new.

-Teacher explains the new writing concept and models to students

by sharing their own drawing or referring to the mentor text.

2. Turn and Talk

-This is an opportunity for students to talk to one another

about their ideas for today's writing.

3. Independent Write

-This is the exciting part where students are able to "think, draw, and write" their

small moment story on paper.

-Authors write independently as soft classical music plays in the background

-This is the time where I can conference with each kindie

4. Share

-We love to share our writing!

-Each day, 2 "share tickets" are given out. One ticket is for 1 friend in ABC order, and the second ticket is for a writer who really understood the mini-lesson and included it in their writing.

Mini-lessons so far…

1. Authors think of a "small moment" in their lives and draw a picture and write down words

2. We think, we draw, we write!

3. Authors make illustrations with at least 5 different colors.

4. Authors have more to their story so, we need to add more pages! (We told our story and touched each page to see how many pages we would need)

Parents, chat with your kindie about the Applecrest Field Trip. Refresh their brains so they are ready to write on Tuesday. Take a picture walk through all our wonderful photographs above. Our next workshop time will be geared toward writing a small moment story about our field trip to the apple farm. Ask your kindie what happened first, next, then, and last.

Sorting Fun

What is sorting? What does the word attribute mean? Ask your kindie to sort something for you at home. Whether it be buttons, stickers, markers, or even food. Sorting means "putting things together that go together". We have been hard at work exploring different objects and sorting by attributes (sizes, color, animals, amount). Can you guess what these kindie's "sorting rule" is?….



Oh…did I tell you that each kindie sorted all by themselves without any teacher help? Some of us had 1 rule to sort by, others had 2, others had 4 DIFFERENT ways all on 1 mat! Super cool :)

We are ALL stars!

Attention all K-L stars! Star of the week goes in ABC order every week! We had an awesome week celebrating our first star…Take a look 

Each star is celebrated Monday-Friday. The star brings in 5 things from home that are super special to them, and they fill out the About Me book. Each day, the star shares 1 special item and reads from their About Me packet. Also, our stars are invited to sit on the bench as their "special spot" all week. They are invited to lead us in different activities, and are chosen to be our "counters", "time keeper" and phonics dance leader. Oh, and we cheer their name letter by letter every day! It is such fun :)

The last special part of the Star's day….is that we cheer their name with fun pom poms!

Parts of an Apple

We have been working hard on exploring and identifying parts of an apple. We learned how the skin can be different colors, it feels smooth, is sometimes tough to chew, and protects the apple. The flesh is white and is wet, juicy, and tasty! Inside the center, is the core of the apple. The tough, waxy part that holds the apple's seeds. Ask your kindie what the different parts of the apple are. See how much we have learned!

Whats YOUR favorite?

Do you prefer Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, or McIntosh apples? Ask your kindie what they did in this activity. Ask them what "dot dot, not a lot" means :)

Reading is a Hoooooot!

Thanks to everyone who came out to Reading is a Hoot Night. We had lots of fun and it was a great informative event. We learned that Emerging Readers can read in three ways…

1. Read TO someone:

-talk about the story

-point to the words

-make a guess at unknown words; use the pictures as beginning letter

2. Read WITH someone:

-Interpret the pictures

-Look for popcorn words

-Take turns reading paragraphs or pages

-Each person read a chapter's parts

3. Listen to someone or something READ!

-Read with an older sibling or parent

-Books on tape, CD or apps

-Tumblebooks

-www.wegivebooks.org

Special thanks to our literacy coach, Emily Darby for putting together such a wonderful event!

What's 1 more?

We are hard at work in math. The kindies explored with a 0-10 sheet by adding one more to each number row and representing the numeral with fun objects….stickers! We figured out that as the numbers get higher, so do our row of stickers! Explore at home with stickers and numbers with your kindie. They love it!