Friday, September 6, 2024

Pete the Cat Week

                                                      

What a busy week we've had! Here are some of the important things we've learned this week.

We were rocking in our school shoes this week!  We have started exploring centers this week and are doing an amazing job! In the coming weeks, we will begin using our work board and finding various centers around our room including ABC center, Art center, Science center, Reading Group, iPad center, Writing center, and many more!   Our literacy centers have been exciting, as we have been learning with Pete the Cat!  Pete has helped us discuss the importance of being flexible, that we all have different strengths, and that it’s okay to be ourselves. Here are a few examples of some of the work we did at centers this week:

 ABC center- This involved matching uppercase and lowercase letters.  This has proven to be a tricky skill for us!  Please continue to reinforce this at home with your child by finding lowercase letters in environmental print, writing letters, etc.  We also played beginning sound games.
Handwriting center- We built letters and shapes using sticks and curves.
iPad center- We played the ABC app on Starfall and practiced letter sounds. 
Game center- We worked together to build a Chicka Chicka puzzle and a 
Pete the Cat puzzle. 
Word Work center- We practiced our power word "am"
Theme center- We colored Pete's shoes and worked on color words.
 Writing center- We talked about cause and effect and answered the question "What happened next?" while reading some of Pete's stories.   We completed a cause and effect activity and worksheet. 

We had our first Social Studies lesson and started to learn more about ourselves and each other.  We talked about how we are all alike in so many ways and different at the same time.  More to come in the coming weeks!

During Interactive Writing, we learned the power word “can" and were excited to add it to our word wall!  We had our first Shared Reading lesson and read a book with the words "I Can".  Shared Reading is an interactive reading experience that occurs when children join in or share the reading of a book or other text while guided and supported me. We worked on beginning sounds to help us decode and using our reading pointer finger to read. 

In Writing, we continue to work on stretching words and writing beginning sounds as we hear them. We have learned that we are ALL problem solvers and have worked hard to solve things that seem really hard. This is something we will focus on all year in many different contexts. Many children will come to me over the following weeks and want me to solve their “problem” of spelling different words. To practice this skill at home, give your child vowel consonant vowel words (CVC words) to write. Words like, dog, cat, rad, etc. work well. We are also focusing on spelling words phonetically (as they sound ) which doesn’t always include the “correct” spelling.  This practice gets the children on the correct path.  The more they practice breaking the words apart and listening for the sounds, the more comfortable they will become in their writing. We start with beginning sounds! 

During Reading, we continued to explore non-fiction and fiction books and share what we learned.  Reading time includes time for me to demonstrate a reading skill and time for the children to practice the skill(s) with me, with a partner and independently. We also explored some new word work activities. 

Our Phonics lessons this week we worked on identifying vowels and consonants and uppercase and lowercase letters, using tools to help us like our alphabet chart, alphabet bridge, and alphabet cards, identifying letters/words/spaces in a sentence, tracking print from left to right, and beginning sounds. 

In Social Studies, we read the books, "Shades of People" and "The Colors of Us" and discussed how there are many beautiful shades of skin. There are also different hair colors, eye colors etc. All of these things make us unique and beautiful. We each colored a hand with our skin color that we will make into a piece of art. 

Looking ahead...
Picture Day 9/16
Curriculum Night 9/17
Panther Day 10/4
Field Trip to Eckert's Pumpkin Patch 10/10 (more info coming soon!)
Don't forget to complete your volunteer registration! 

Have a great weekend!

Phonics


Practicing our power word- am

1st day of centers







Playground break










Phonics
2nd day of centers








Look at those independent readers!



Interactive Writing- learning the power word, "can"





Guided Math




Loving the weather!


Choice Time



Day 4 of Centers (sorry I was gone for day 3)




Coloring in our hands with our many shades


Writing



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