Kindergarten has a lot of great things happening! We are wrapping up unit 4 in Math comparing groups and number 0-10. We just began Cycle 3 in Reading, asking and answering questions about unknown words in a fictional story! We spent the past few weeks working on asking and answering questions from a non-fiction text! Here is a great comparing numbers game to help students practice with working on how to read and write a comparing number sentence.
https://www.abcya.com/games/birthday-candle-counting.
In reading, one concept we will continue to work on throughout the school year is phonics. Here is a manipulative kit/ strategy that we use to further assist your student with the breakdown of blending sounds to form words. If possible, laminate or place in a sheet protector and write on it with a dry erase marker so it can be reused.
The students should begin practicing in the 1st set of (purple) boxes with blending 2 sounds together to form a word (the sequence of the letter should be a vowel, consonant) or word family.
Those same letters/ sounds should be carried into the 2nd set of (blue) boxes in corresponding places; then add an additional letter to the beginning of the word to change the word. The student should then begin practicing blending those sounds together to form a word (the sequence of the letters should be consonant, vowel consonant).
Repeat practicing various letters at the beginning of the word then change the blue boxes to a new word family. The student should point to each letter and state the sound of the letter.
Then, the student should practice blending the sound together to form a word. Example:
1st box (purple):- an
2nd box (blue): can, fan, ran, man, pan, tan, van.
You can use this strategy with multiple word families ( words that sound and are spelled the same at the end) such as as, an, ap,, en, et, it, op, ut word families. There are several more word families you can use.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lBZtzgD_Hu42g_NZxSl_iFYqCmhNVy3I/view?usp=sharing
As we continue to work with phonics, we have begun to utilize Orton Gillingham and the pound and tap strategy to help students with writing, blending words. Here is another video to help with using strategy:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rpZkY3hrspnQny_f-wGmT1ylUbL29TOc/view .
As we begin our new Unit in Math “Sorting, Classifying, and Counting Data” and, Cycle 3 in reading understanding unknown words, we are excited to adventure into learning to sort objects into categories and, using context and pictures clues to help us understand the meaning of unknown words. For a fun read at home, check out these read-aloud to help with sorting, taking and/or reading data “Sort it Out” by Babara Mariconda, “Tally O’ Malley” by Stuart Murphy and “The Best Vacation Ever”. Be sure to pause during the any read- aloud to check for understanding. Great books for help young readers build their vocabulary are “Hoot and Peep” by Lita Judge, and “The Boy Who Loved Words” by Roni Schotter.
Now that we have extended virtual days Kindergarten has begun instruction with Science and Social Studies. We are finishing our “Maps and Globes” unit and will begin on our “Motion” unit next week.