Jan 15, 2010 ... Biggest, Best Snowman and started to talk about measurement. We looked at
how a ruler is used to measure the length of an item or how tall it ...
January 15, 2010 snowman that are big, bigger, and biggest. Once our snowman is complete, we will be measuring the different parts as well. We finished off the week with Cooking in the Classroom. While learning about snow, we discussed how water can be found as a solid, a liquid, and a gas. While cooking our delicious treat, we watched the food change from a solid into a liquid, and observed the water vapors in the steam as it came out of the pan. What a yummy science experiment!
Winter Wonderland This week we started our investigation into the winter wonderland. We read the books When Will it Snow?, Flakes and Flurries, and Snow Crystals to find out what causes the snow to fall. We learned that snow begins as a tiny speck caused from dirt, sand, bacteria, or ash. As the speck travels to the clouds, water vapors from the clouds stick to the speck turning into snow crystals. As more and more snow crystals attach to the speck, the snowflake becomes larger and larger and much heavier. Once the snow is too heavy it falls out of the cloud. If the temperature is warm the snow melts or falls as rain. If the temperature is cold, the snowflake will fall to the ground. We also learned that the larger snowflakes each have six sides unless it is a twin snowflake, then it has twelve sides. We made our own six sided snowflakes to hang in our classroom, and they are beautiful. We also read the book The Biggest, Best Snowman and started to talk about measurement. We looked at how a ruler is used to measure the length of an item or how tall it may be. We are currently making our own version of The Biggest, Best Snowman while creating and sorting parts of the
Mark Your Calendars • • •
We will have gym class on Mondays. Please make sure to wear appropriate shoes. We will have computer class on January 20th. (C Day) We will have library class on Friday, January 22 (E Day) There is no school on Monday, January 18 . Kindergarten Math Night will be on Thursday, January 28 from 6:30 – 8:00. This is a fun time to come and play math games with your kindergartner. Please plan to attend. Report cards will be sent home on Friday, January 22 . Please make sure to sign and return the envelope as soon as possible. If anyone is interested in setting up a conference to discuss your child’s progress, please let me know. nd
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Language Arts • •
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Weekly Specials Mathematics
We created a picture by listening to the clues and completing each sentence with an appropriate word that rhymes. We looked closely at the five vowels. We sand silly songs to help us remember their sounds. We sorted objects and pictures by the middle vowel sound heard and we went on a vowel hunt in our little readers. We built snowmen words and identified if the word made sense or was just full of nonsense.
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We used our estimating skills to make a good guess trying to identify the number of snowmen in a pile. We used the process of elimination to find a specific friend in the classroom and a snowman named Paul. We discussed how symmetry means that it is the same on both sides and when folded together an object will match perfectly. We made our own symmetrical poses with a our friends. We practiced measuring with nonstandard units of measurement including blocks, paperclips, pencils, and snowmen. We looked at the tricky teen numbers and observed how there is one set of ten and extra ones leftover. We played a game of Teen Snowballs, building our tens column first and then adding the ones that were left over.
Dinner Conversations
Make sure to ask your child some of these questions throughout the upcoming week. By having them share what they have learned together we are strengthening their retention and listening skills. This is a great link from school to home. 1) 2) 3)
We will continue our unit with the winter wonderland. Ask your child to explain how snow is created and what causes it to fall. What tool do we use to measure temperature? Have your child explain how it works. We will be working closely with vowels. Ask your child to identify the five vowels and what makes them special. Have them identify the vowels in their first and last name. Ask your child to explain when one should use a vowel that says its sound and one that shouts its name. We will also be working with measurement throughout the week. Have your child identify the tool used to measure how long an object is and explain how to use it. Find out what we are measuring in class as well.
