May
We have been writing then reading words and sentences. We are matching words and sentences in the pocket chart. We are learning how to make the sounds of the letters in a word to see if we can figure out new words. All month we have been learning to read little books. We love reading!
April 23
We read _I Can Dig_, a book with a predictable pattern. First we used the letters and the pictures to figure out the words. Later, we each had our own sentence to cut up and put back together on our own paper. After that, we found the individual words on cards and put them where they belonged on the pocket chart.
Each child received a copy of the words (retyped) to practice at home:
I Can Dig
by Jenny Taylor and Terry Ingleby
"I can dig," said the man.
"I can dig," said the dog.
"I can dig," said the badger.
"I can dig," said the woman.
"I can dig," said the steam shovel.
"I can dig," said the rabbit.
"Yes," said the girl, "I can dig, too."
April 17
This week, Mrs. Brooks' group continued to read in _Nine Men Chase a Hen_. The children circled the rhyming words in each pair of lines. They noticed that rhyming words usually end with the same letters, such as hat-that, pet-wet, letter-better, night-light.
They worked especially hard on making rhyming words for "hen," noticing the common spelling pattern "en." How many words can you think of that rhyme with "en?" Can you spell them? Do they look the same at the end? Do they sound the same at the end?
Each kindergartner took home his or her own paper with the first few rhyming words circled. Can they circle the other rhyming words?
Nine Men Chase a Hen
by Barbara Gregorich
One hen wants a hat.
Two men laugh at that.
Three men have a pet.
Four hens get very wet.
Five hens write a letter.
Six men say theirs is better.
Seven men sleep at night.
Eight hens make it light.
Nine men chase a hen.
Ten hens chase the men.
All the men run away.
All the hens begin to play.
Now this funny story ends.
All the men and hens are friends.
The end.
Later in the week, since "u" is the letter of the week, and Mrs. Jones is highlighting bugs, we brainstormed words that rhyme with "bug." How many can you think of? We added a few to our word wall.
March 26
Mrs. Brooks and the AM Kindergarten did a picture walk in the book
Ten Men Chase a Hen. Then we read it together, by thinking about the picture clues, the letter clues, and the words we already knew. Next we
will "cut" some of those sentences apart and put them back together
again. We will make surprise sentences using new words with the "-en"
spelling pattern. Later, we will match numbers with the words for them
(one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten). Later, we will use the words from that same book to identify concepts about print.
March 19
Each student had a copy of the words from the book, I Want a Pet
written out in story form. Their job was to find the following:
1) the title
2) a space between two words
3) an upper case letter
4) a lower case letter
5) the periods
6) the exclamation marks
7) the sentences
Later in the week, we played "Concentration" with the color words that are in the book and on our color chart. Half the cards had color words on them; the other half of the cards had colors on the back. The students were to match the color word to the color.
March 12
First each group did a picture walk in I Want a Pet. Then Mrs. Brooks read I Want a Pet to each group, with the students' help. The students used the pictures to predict what each page might say.
Here are the words in the book:
I Want a Pet
by Barbara Gregorich
I want a pet.
I do not want a very big pet.
I do not want a brown pet.
I do not want a black pet.
I do not want a white pet.
I want a green pet, yes I do!
I want two green pets!
The end.
Later, Mrs. Brooks put the following sentence (from the book) in the pocket chart and gave the same words to each student: "I want a pet."
The children's job was first to rebuild the sentence, and then to put the OTHER words in where they belonged: brown, green, white, black, two, do, not. Then the group read the new sentences.
Later, each group brainstormed words that rhyme with "pet" and made those words using their letter cards. They came up with lots of words that share that "-et" spelling pattern!
March 5
Mrs. Brooks found some "-at" riddles on the Internet, just in time for Dr. Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" week. Mrs. Brooks read the riddles to the students and they figured out the answer. Can YOU figure out
the answers?
The man looked sadly
Where his bike sat.
Anyone could tell
That its tire was __________.
Once upon a little green mat
Sat the sweetest little brown __________.
It's got a yellow ribbon
And it looks a little flat,
Still, it goes on someone's head.
That pretty blue ___________.
The cat ate this,
The cat ate that.
Even wearing a tie,
He still looked __________.
In the night sky
With his wings so flat,
I saw a flying animal
Called a ___________.
If you want some friends to visit,
To come by for a chat,
Put this outside your door.
It's a lovely welcome __________.
A girl was eating ice cream
As she watched
Both this and that
Upon a gray and green bench
Was where she _____________.
January 29
Mrs. Brooks and Mrs. Jones observed teachers in another school on Tuesday. On Wednesday Mrs. Brooks met her new class. She read some of the book Hop on Pop and had the children match the words to the sentences in the story.
January 22
We read My Bb Book and matched the words to the sentences in the book.
January 15
Mrs. Brooks did the "Concepts About Print" assessment with all the kids. On Friday she read My Ww Book with us and we matched words to the sentences in the story.
January 8
Working with the letter Qq: We counted words in sentences and made predictions by looking at the pictures. We also did word matching with the sentences from My Qq Book.
January 2
We learned about the changes in a bear's life in summer, fall, winter and spring. We labeled each bear picture with a season.
December 18
We played some rhyming games this week.
December 11
We made and read a book called Bears, Bears, Bears. Your child should read the book to a parent then write the title on our monthly Read-To-Me form.
December 4
We read the book My Spider Book. Your child should read the book to a parent then write the title on our monthly Read-To-Me form.
November 27
Mrs. Brooks read a book called Stellaluna and did some rhyming activities.
November 17
We answered questions by holding up a "yes bear" or a "no bear."
November 3 We began playing around with the words in our Silly Sentences. We listen to the sounds and sort words by sound.
October 24
Silly Sound Sentences by the AM Kindergarten
Nicholas likes nice noses, nickels, and neighbors.
John likes jellybeans, jello, and Juicyfruit gum.
Tara likes tiny towels, Teddy bears, and toast.
Colleen likes colors, cartoons, and cats.
Tatiana likes tea, TV, and tickling.
Shawn likes shells, sheep, and the shore.
Michael likes monsters, millions of marshmallows, and masks.
Dalton likes dogs, doughnuts, and dark.
Matthew likes Mom, mummies, and M and Ms.
Anthony likes Arthur, ants, and autumn.
Gabby likes goats, guitars, and green grapes.
Danielle likes ducks, daisies, and dinosaurs.
Bobby likes bats, baseball, and balloons.
Kerri likes kites, kittens, and Kit-Kats.
Kara likes Kerri, kitchens, and kittens.
Ryan likes rabbits, rectangles, and rice.
Danny likes Dunkin Doughnuts and dinosaurs.
*****
October 9 We worked on counting syllables in our names -- by clapping or jumping for each syllable.
John and Shawn each had one syllable in their first names, and Tatiana
had the most syllables in her first name: four!
See if your child can count the syllables in his or her whole name, or
in other members of your family!
*****
After Mrs. Brooks read a book called The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat, the AM kindergartners dictated the beginning of a new story about a fat cat and a rat. Parents can help their child find words that they know in the story, then encourage them to imagine and dictate what they think happens next.
The Morning Class Story
One night a fat cat went in the woods and saw a rat.
The fat cat did not like the rat.
The rat did not like that cat.
*****
After hearing Mrs. Brooks read the rhyming book, "I Can't," Said the Ant, the AM kindergartners made up their own silly rhymes.
