DreamBox

We started using DreamBox in the computer lab today.  We will be doing that weekly for some time.  It would be great if they could access it from home on occasion to make them more familiar with how the program works.  If they are using it at home, please allow them to go through the log-in and shutting down process independently as this tends to be the trickiest part for me to contend with in the lab, 1 vs. 20.

Also, I understand that headphones were requested perhaps before or during Summer.  I now understand that this was for DreamBox - we survived today but it was difficult for them to listen to the program giving them instructions and feedback with 20 computers talking at once.  If you happen to have a pair of headphones that you could send to school with your child, that would be handy.  Having said that, I won't be able to control all 20 at once so don't send your expensive ones!  Perhaps we can try to remember to send them on Fridays and I can remember to have them pack them back on to come home the same day???  EEk...sounds like a pain.  Even a handful would be helpful so some of the computers could go mute.

Thanks!

Cute math

 

From building bridges to selling cupcakes on the playground, these little guys are math geniuses and they don't even know it yet.  The best opportunities to assess learning in Kindergarten come from watching and listening to them play.  They use the skills they are taught to make play more fun - and they look cute doing it!

Letter Sound Practice

We are practicing letter sounds A LOT in the coming months.  Children started their hands-on fun Friday learning centres with some new activities to practice this skill.  Easy to practice at home and remember using 'C' and 'K' interchangeably is GREAT sound recognition because they know that these letters both make the same sound (sometimes).  It is a great idea to recognize that they heard the correct sound, but that in this case, "car" starts with a 'c,' not a 'k,' for example.

Given that computer-generated text can be written in a variety of fonts, they are also practicing distinguishing letters from different fonts as a pre-reading skill.

Numeracy Testing

I started the District Numeracy assessment with students today.  This assessment covers, counting, patterning, ordering, number recognition, sorting, directionality (eg., out of the 6 dogs, which one is looking a different way), greater than and less than, as well as part-part whole relationships (show me 6 fingers using 2 hands).  This is done during class time, one-on-one and is designed to flag students who may need extra practice.  I will let you know if your child falls below the benchmark.

So far, so good!

New Sharing/Special Helper Routines

You may have heard from your children yesterday that we will have a new routine starting on Monday!    There will no longer be sharing on a daily basis by groups of students or a different special helper each day.  Instead, (going in alphabetical order) each child will get the chance to be special helper for an entire week, and share each day of that week.  That means, that on Monday of your child's special week, they should come to school with 5-10 sharing items from home.  Each day, of their week, they can choose 1-2 items to share with the class.
The sharing/special helper schedule will be as follows:

The week of

Jan 20 - Lily
Jan 27 - Katelyn
Feb 3 - Adam
Feb 10 - Isla
Feb 17 - Ciaran
Feb 24 - Rylee
Mar 3 - Quinn
Mar 10 - Zoe
Mar 31 - Gabrielle
Apr 7 - Gabriela
Apr 14 - Nate
Apr 21 - Lexi
Apr 28 - Kai
May 5 - Jack
May 12 - Johnny
May 19 - Cameron
May 26 - Kiera
Jun 2 - Alisa
Jun 9 - Eli
Jun 16 - Sascha

Pics

We have some new toys in the classroom to begin Term 2 which was quite exciting.
We also started our 3rd IB Unit of Inquiry on Materials.  This led to some wood collection outside at the playground and ultimately led to a really EXCITING discovery - sap oozing out of the trees and mushrooms growing out of trees.  It is so GREAT when they discover things like this and run around collecting all their friends to share.

Invented Spelling and things to come

Welcome Back!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and thank you so much for all the heart-warming gifts.

This week, the children will begin to learn what we call, "invented spelling."  We are starting with a key word, and will move on into more than one word when we are ready.  This is their chance to put the letter sounds they know to use, primarily in their journals.
Invented spelling is the beginning stage of spelling/writing.  It is important NOT to correct the mistakes they make at this time by asking them to erase and change.  I do like to show them the correct spelling, while acknowledging all the sounds they found in their version.  It is common for them to omit vowels at this time and to include only the first and last sounds in a word or the middle sound if it is strong.  For example, "monkey," might look like "mke," which is GREAT!  I would show them "monkey," and praise them for hearing the m, k, and e sound on the end.

I look forward to hearing stories about them spelling at home and using these skills in their daily lives.

Coming up...syllables, and the math concept of more, less, the same.