Upcoming week:
We DO have school on Monday and Tuesday, although the rest of the district does not.
Riggs:
We will review and practice reading and writing with our phonograms.
Saxon 1 Math:
Estimating and measuring length with nonstandard units: before students get into inches, centimeters, or feet (standard units of measurement), they explore the concept of length through nonstandard units, which could be linking cubes, teddy bear counters, paper clips, etc.
Addition facts: adding 1. Just as we are getting faster at counting up and down, we will get faster at adding 1 to a number. Please continue to practice the doubles at home, and now you can add on adding 1 basic facts.
Core Knowledge:
We will take a break from our study of scientists to learn a little about the first Thanksgiving.
Kindergarteners will learn:
The Pilgrims lived long ago and were looking for a place to practice their religion without being bothered.
The Pilgrims sailed in the Mayflower across the Atlantic Ocean.
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
The Pilgrims had a terrible time farming and many people starved the first winter.
Tisquantum (Squanto, who learned English because he had been enslaved) translated for the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people. He taught the Pilgrims how to catch eels and farm in the rocky New England soil.
The Wampanoag people (led by Chief Massasoit) gave food to the Pilgrims when they were starving.
The Pilgrims were finally able to make a decent living in the New World, and they held a great feast of thanksgiving to celebrate the harvest, and they invited the Wampanoag people.
Life skills:
Feeling thankful, using words to express gratitude, and actions that show gratitude as well. Also, what can we do to help others like the Wampanoag helped the Pilgrims?
Week in review:
Riggs:
We learned the first 26 phonograms (the "alphabet")! We also encountered qu ("kw"), our first multiletter phonogram. In Riggs, ALL multiletter phonograms are underlined to help students remember that the letters are working together in a certain way to make a certain sound or sounds. When practicing multiletter phonograms, each individual letter should be "comfortably close to the others to show they are together, then underlined. There should be a slight gap between several multiletter phonograms, so they stand out.
The dialog that comes with writing a multiletter phonogram should sound like this:
"Qu...underline it because it's a multiletter phonogram." Yes, we say the rules and instructions OUT LOUD as we write!
We also continued to practice decoding (sounding out, AKA "reading") words.
- point to each phonogram as you read
- if a phonogram has more than one sound, try the first sound first (as the sounds that make up the "names" of the phonograms go in order from most frequent to least frequent)
- sound out each phonogram, listening for a word you know
- if it doesn't sound right, try the second sound of phonograms with multiple sounds
- read it slowly a few times, then smoosh it all together, and that's reading!
Saxon 1 Math:
Putting numbers in order 1-20; adding 1 to a number; "some, some went away" story problems (subtraction); counting backwards from 10 to 1; morning, afternoon, evening, and night.
Core Knowledge:
We learned about Jane Goodall and practiced quiet, calm observation of primates (staff and seventh and eighth graders) around school.
Life skills:
We were talking, and kindergarteners were a bit surprised by the idea that they won't live with their parents forever! We talked about that that's why we're practicing learning how to do things for ourselves, like tie our own shoes and zip our own coats. They thought it was a very silly idea for me to call my mom and ask her to tie my shoes for me every morning!
Thank you for taking the time they need to tie their own shoes and zip their own coats. It can be an excruciating few minutes of waiting when you're in a rush, but when will they learn these tasks, if not now?
We had a lock out drill this week. Lock outs might occur for a variety of reasons, but they are when there is a danger or potential danger outside the school, and we want it to stay out there. One real-life situation that has put us in lock out is dogs running loose on the playground. We primarily reinforce the importance of students responding quickly to teacher/adult directions (if I say line up, run to line up!).
Finally, we spent some time exploring the concepts of body language and "please stop!" Kindergarteners recognize facial expressions and body language, even if they don't always have the presence of mind to respond appropriately. If you are chasing a friend, and their face has a look of fear while they are running from you, you should probably stop and ask them if they are still playing and having fun. Similarly, if a friend says "please stop" (perhaps along with a hand held up), you must stop! The trickiest scenario for kindergarteners was when a friend had a smiling, laughing face but they were saying "stop." We will continue to practice paying attention to what people say with their words and actions, and respecting people.
Other/reminders/clarifications:
The staff of Cascade Heights cordially invites you to join us for the first of many Teacher Teas. Teach Teas will be held on the second Tuesday of each month at 8:00. This is your chance to share ideas, questions, or concerns. The first teacher tea will be held on December 8. Mrs. Adams will be the hosting teacher and looks forward to chatting with you.
If you get good pictures of learning and fun at Cascade, please send the to CHPCSphotos@chpcs.org so they can be included for consideration for the yearbook, school website, etc. Thank you!
The temperature is dropping! We have a winter recess policy, which can be read here.
