Thinking About the Future

The title of this post is a bit of an intended pun...
The last post was about our study of what life was like where we live 100 and 200 years ago.  While this unit has been lots of fun, it's equally important to think about what life will be like in Vermont 100 years from now... insert RECYCLE RHONDA!  Rhonda is a talented outreach educator from CSWD who came to talk to us about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling, the three things we can to to take care of the earth for generations to come.

Traveling Back In Time

As you know a recent topic of study in our room has been Long Ago and Today.  This is an integrated unit that we're exploring through stories, math activities, craft projects and our sharing theme!  Have a look at the children learning to weave with paper (the ultimate patterning experience), trying out their weaving skills with cardboard looms, designing paper quilt squares with shapes, and learning about an egg scales that were used on Vermont farms about almost 100 years ago!  In one photo you can even catch a look at our cardboard "hearth" that's been a popular place for dramatic play.

What's New In Math?

What's new in Math is CHOICE and INDEPENDENCE! After some professional development last spring and summer, I became very enthusiastic about devoting a part of our math block to what is often referred to as "Math Menu"- essentially a structure where activities are planned to target and practice an array of skills but the children can choose which ones they will engage with and how.  Some activities are games- do you want to play with a partner or without?  Some activities are worksheets- do you want to work with numbers below ten or above? And still others are teacher dependent- and these of course would be a "have-to"- not a choice.  Getting this structure up and running has been a slow and deliberate process that Kathy Lamphere (math coach) and I have worked on together.  Here you can see the children fully engaged and even tracking their own progress!

Let's Catch Up!

I missed posting last weekend due to technical difficulties and I didn't want any more time to go by without sharing some photos. So, this post will be a smattering- a little out of order but it will hopefully capture the range of what's been going on.  Below you can see us getting crafty and having snack at our Halloween Celebration.  We kept it creative and healthy with a little bit of "Halloween Themed Bingo" going on in the background. 

Another important thing to share with you is the  team teaching that Kathy Lamphere, Math Coach and I have been doing three days a week.  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday Kathy joins us for half an hour which enables the class to work in small groups for targeting instruction.  Here you can see Kathy introducing the concept of subtraction as "taking away"- as in bowling with cups and recording how it happened with equations on paper!

I absolutely NEED to share the positive, persistent, and powerful energy that the children are bringing to our Workshop time.  During Reader's and Writer's Workshop we connect with great books, discuss the author's message, learn to retell stories in our own words, AND learn explicit strategies for becoming strong readers and writers.  Below you can see us putting "pointer power" (touch each word as you read), together with "popcorn word power" (rely on words you know) to read some books with a friend.  Also you can see us building that store of popcorn (sight words) by sorting out words we can read already, and words we can't read YET on white boards.

And it's important and make time for self-directed, imaginative play.  Here's a little look...

Developing a Love of Literacy

As you may have read in the newsletter, we've been enjoying books by author/illustrator Leo Lionni over the last two weeks.  There are so many reason why I like to teach with his books- relatable characters, rich language, empowering messages, beautiful artwork and still more. I hope you have a chance to stop by the hallway outside our room to see our mural in person, but in the pictures below you will see us creating paper mice in Leo's style. Next we assembled them together in a scene that was created to look like pages in the book Frederick.  Just the way Frederick contributes to getting ready for winter by saving up words for future poems, we brainstormed and "saved" words that are special to us for stories we will write in the future. And speaking of story writing, take a look at some budding authors drawing and writing about their circus experience in their journals!

This writer is combing words from a word list with known words to enhance her message.

This writer understands that if she has more to say she may need more paper!

Adventures Indoors and Out

Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of all ages... 
There are four days until the Orchard School Circus and I am offering you a rare inside look at the performers in training.  Come behind the scenes to see them practice their plate spinning, feather balancing and hula hooping!  Afterwards, keep scrolling to watch the circus stars unwind in the woods with a story and some time to explore.

Get to Know Visual Phonics

Visual Phonics is a visual, aural and kinesthetic way of understanding letter sounds.  By attaching a hand motion to a letter name and the sound the letter makes, we are giving beginning readers and writers multiple ways to take in and integrate information.  Since being trained in visual phonics over a year ago it has become a key part of my literacy instruction.  Every time I teach letter formation I also teach the visual phonics motion, sound and example word.  The children are learning the motions/letter names/sounds as an entire alphabet as well so they can call upon them as needed for reading and writing.  You can check them out here and your kindergartner can practice at home.