The Letter L

It's time to celebrate the letter L!

At the beginning of every letter study, the children practice differentiating between the lowercase and uppercase forms of the focus letter.  Then, they practice sorting pictures based on the sound of the focus letter vs. other letters we've studied. 

 After practicing together, the children completed the L page in their ABC books.  The children find an L sticker and an L in the newspaper.  They write the letter L and then draw a picture of something that begins with L. 

Jennifer found an L in the newspaper. 

This child drew a ladybug. 

Caitlyn is drawing a lion!

I do my best to match up our snack of the day and the letter we are studying.  It really isn't too hard since we only study each letter for two days.  And, the children are hilarious when trying to guess what we are having!  This week we had--

Lays and Lemonade



And, Lemon Squares-- homemade by Mrs. Lochel!





On Fridays, we combine the two letters that we've studied that week and complete a variety of activities.  First, the children complete a picture sort independently. Later in the year, the children will begin working with picture sorts based on their spelling stages from Words Their Way.  For now, I just create these sorts on a weekly basis with clip art for the letters we are studying!  I typically use the same clip art for the sorts on the smartboard so they have already practiced naming each one at some point during the week.  A good way to practice this at home would be to choose two letters/sounds and have your child find pictures in a magazine or newspaper that fit into either category.

Then, they have to use our favorite dot markers to locate both letters-- uppercase and lowercase! 

12 letters down...14 more to go!

Patterning in Guided Math Groups

I have seen the success first hand of the Guided Math Groups that I have implemented this year.  And, the children are having a great time working in small groups. Instruction is focused on each groups level of need within each concept.  This week, we began working with patterns.  On average, the children were able to create and extend simple AB patterns.  Groups this week were meant to challenge that thought--adding other elements to the simplicity of AB. 

One group worked with Fruit Loops to create and represent each patterns they displayed. Mrs. Alice, one of our wonderful parent volunteers, led this group one day.

Another group worked with our vegetable manipulatives to create and extend more complex patterns.

Caitlyn, Vincent, and Zachary created some great vegetable patterns.

A favorite group this past week was the beaded bracelet patterns.  I worked with the children to create a few different patterns of beads that they slid onto a pipe cleaner.  We tied it up into a bracelet when they were finished.

Mrs. Misenheimer worked with a small group to use dot markers to create patterns.  This was a less "guided" group because the children got to independently choose their  patterns.  Mrs. Misenheimer was there to encourage them in different directions if they seemed to choose the same one over and over again.

Like all math concepts, patterns are something we'll continue to practice and notice in the world around us.

Spirit Rock

Our Kindergarten team signed up to paint our school Spirit Rock for the month of October. 

And, what better to turn the rock into than a PUMPKIN! 

3 classes go out and paint a light orange base coat.  Within the next few days, the other 3 classes add darker orange hand prints for depth. 

My class got to do hand prints!  We put on gloves since we are using --non washable-- outdoor paint!  Our wonderful teaching assistant, Mrs. Misenheimer paints hands and then directs the children over to me at the Rock!

We tried nice straight lines that would look line the lines on a pumpkin-- but went for all over hand prints instead!

Here is my sweet little Kindergarten class in front of the finished product--

The Letter K

It's time to celebrate the letter K!

And the song of the week came about after our first K snack--

What you do-oo-oo for a Klondike bar??

We also enjoyed some Very Berry Kix!   Some of the children asked for milk to add and some ate the cereal dry. 

Here is our Environmental Print (snack) Wall!  



With each letter, the children practice writing it in uppercase and lowercase forms on these great practice pages I downloaded from Starfall.

One homework assignment this week was for the children to find an item at home that begins with the letter K and bring it in to share. 

Kit Kat bars, Kisses, Kangaroos, Kittens, and Koalas, oh my!

Nathan brought in and wore his Knight costume. 

Hellloooo silent K discussion!

The children then added a K page to their ABC books.  On the second day of each letter study, the children write the letter, draw a picture of something that starts with that letter, find that letter in the newspaper and find that sticker.

Austin is searching through the newspaper! 

 These girls are both working on pictures of kittens!

Here is Samuel working on one of our weekly picture sorts on the Smart board.  He is sorting pictures that begin with K and other letters that we've studied. 



Thanks for celebrating the letter K with us and for Keeping Up With The Kindergartners!