December 6-17

 Hello Families! We have been super busy in Kindergarten these past couple of weeks. We have been learning about how animals adapt and  get ready for winter. So far we've learned that some animals animals adapt by growing thick fur and some animals hibernate or torpor during the winter months. We also did an experiment to learn about blubber and how it keeps animals warm in cooler temperatures.

During our phonics time we have been busy "catching sounds" and really listening to the sounds that we hear. Mabel (the elephant) has also been helping us form sentences. This  helps us with our writing as well. We just wrapped up our Show and Tell writing unit and will have writing celebrations in our classrooms next week. 

In math we have finished our unit about shapes and have started talking about  addition and subtraction. We've been playing some fun games to help learn this new skill.

Just another reminder that with the snow coming this weekend to come to school dressed for the weather! We go outside even during the winter months and staying warm is important. Kindergarteners were super excited when we got a little dusting of snow last week!

Have a great weekend!

Week of November 30th

 Hello Kindergarten Families!

December is here, which means that winter is right around the corner. Remember to have your child dress warmly.  Packing hats, mittens or gloves in your child's backpack is a great idea. Please practice putting winter gear on at home, it will make it easier to get ready when they are at school! 

We've been doing some fun things during writing workshop. We've been working on show and tell writing where we pay close attention to the details in an object and start to add more labels or even a sentence to the page. It was nice to see what everyone brought in from home to write about!

We are continuing to explore and learn about shapes during math time and in reading we are practicing our small books that are packed with snap words. Our favorites right now are about the gingerbread man. Pumpkin Jack is still looking funky in Mrs. Kalloch's room, he has some pretty cool white fluffy mold. In Mrs. Burke's room they covered the completely flattened Pumpkin Jack with soil before Thanksgiving break and there are sprouts already! So cool. 

Mrs. Kalloch's Room

Mrs. Burke's Room

Be sure to check back to get another peek into our classrooms! 

Week of November 15

 Hi Kindergarten Families!

Wow! We have been busy in Kindergarten! Todays marks the 50th day in Kindergarten! Can you believe it? Days are getting shorter and temperatures are starting to drop. Please make sure that you send your child to school with layers! A warm jacket or a sweatshirt in addition to their school outfit is always a good plan, we go outside everyday! Please reach out to your child's teacher if you need warm clothing for your child and we will see what we can do! We look forward to seeing you this week for parent teacher conferences. We have A LOT to share with you.

We started a new math unit on geometry. We are learning all about shapes! Exploring pattern blocks, making shape designs and reading a lot of books with shapes in them. We even went for a shape hunt to see what shapes we spied in our classrooms. In reading we have been retelling familiar stories and acting them out. The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a class favorite!

 

  

During our phonics time we have been listening to beginning sounds and learning lots of new "snap words". We've been practicing snap words so much that we've starting using them even more in our writing!

          

 

In science we just finished our Pumpkin Unit and learned all about the life cycle and different types of pumpkins. Did you know that some pumpkins grow so big that you can use it as a boat? Pretty cool. An ongoing project that we're doing in kindergarten involves decomposition. We read the book Pumpkin Jack and decided to do our own experiment. Check out Jack on day 1 and on day 16. Yikes! He's fuzzy.

 

 

Stay tuned for more Pumpkin Jack updates! It's going to get gross before it gets cool. Here is the story of Pumpkin Jack and you'd like to watch it with your child. 

Week of October 18

Happy Friday Kindergarten Families!

It has been an exciting couple of weeks in Kindergarten! We kicked off our Reading Workshop with the unit We Are Readers. During this unit we are on the lookout for things to read! That can be signs in the hallway, words on our classroom charts, and in our small books that we are practicing. Kindergarteners are also on the hunt for words that we know in a *snap*. Ask us about some snap words that we have been practicing.

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We wrapped up our unit about apples by trying different apples. We sampled red, yellow and green apples. In every classroom yellow was the favorite. A lot of us thought the green were too sour! We also talked about seasons and how apple trees change throughout the year. 

During our Writing Workshop we are putting our snap words to use by writing pattern books.  We're using sentence starters like "A ___" "The___" "I like"  or "I see". We've also started adding labels to our writing. We labeled a friend to practice! In math we have been comparing numbers and using words like fewer, more and less. We also made a pretty cool number book where each Kindergartener was able to help represent a number with a drawing. 

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Last Wednesday we had a virtual author visit by Brendan Wenzel, a Caldecott-winning author/illustrator. He read us his new book, Inside Cat and showed us how to draw the cat from the story.  We learned that he loves animals and they are his favorite thing to draw. 

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On Friday October 15, Mrs Kalloch's class had a film crew visit during their garden special from the Foundation Portland Public Schools (with permission of course) to see what we've been doing during our outdoor learning.  Talbot Kindergarten is so lucky to have such an amazing Garden teacher, Ms. Anna makes learning about the garden so engaging and fun.

This Friday was Unity Day! We wore orange, made crowns and went for a whole school walk around the building to kick off our day of kindness. This is the day we also wrapped up our Apple Unit with some delicious applesauce that we made ourselves! (some classes are making applesauce next week)

 

 

 

  

Have a great weekend!