Happy New Year
It is a new year, and we have many new activities in our room. We started the year diving into our study on penguins. We are trying to build an igloo in our room. It looks a lot like a tent, but with a white table cloth and blue magic marker we hope it magically transforms into an igloo. Good thing we are little and have amazing imaginations.
Sorting penguins by color
Hanging socks on the line to practice adding
I think this might be the first time many of them have hung clothes out to dry.
Deciding which group of bears is bigger and which is smaller
This week has been a challenge with the cold and the snow. We make every effort to go outside when it is warm enough. We will go outside if the wind chill is above 20 °. Needless to say, we have not been outside this week. Should the temperature rise, we will try to go outside, even if there is snow on the ground. Feel free to send snow boots/pants to school for your child to wear outside for recess. We can either keep snow pants here in a bag, or send them back and forth daily.
The thought of a full week in our room for recess is frightening. Monday we took a walk around the school. Today we brought the outside in. A few brave students (those with snow boots on) went outside for a few minutes (three minutes outside our door honestly felt like thirty) to collect buckets of snow. Some of us got rather creative with our snow creations.
James creates a snow castle
Nohely checking to see how much snow is left
And just look at all those smiles
Our progress reports will be going home next week. At this point in the year, it is not unusual for students to have a PM (partial mastery) for their skills. As the year progresses, we are looking for growth. Skills assessed may become harder, but it is our hope that with foundational skills, students are able to apply this knowledge to a greater subject base. Students with a partial mastery of skills in January should move to mastery, or exceeds mastery by the end of the year. Preschool is optional and mastery of all our skills is not mandatory to move on to Kindergarten. Our progress reports may be a helpful tool when deciding whether to move ahead to Kindergarten, or spend another year developing a solid social and academic foundation. If you have any concerns regarding whether your child should move on to Kindergarten next year please send me an email. I am happy to sit with you and work through your child's work samples to help you better understand their academic growth.
As students gain more understanding of numbers 1 -10, they are beginning to add. Using small lunch trays, we began using dice and beads to create addition problems.
Judith rolling dice and creating the correct amounts
