My NOT a box

An oldie but a goodie.  Enjoy my reading of Not a Box!

Guess my sightword

Guess my sight word is a quick, cooperative game that we play in the classroom.  I start by writing a few words on the board.  The kids ask yes or no questions like, "Does it have 3 letters?  Does it have the letter o?" to narrow down and guess my sight word!  Below find an alternate version of the game!

Little Hoot

Last Name Practice

A skill we had been practicing was writing your child's full name.  This is hard work for those with names like.... Giovannini!  Your child needs to learn how to spell their last name as well as remember the formation of the lowercase letters.  A simple way to practice spelling your last name is with post-it notes, as seen below.  I have modeled how our name is spelled and my son has been working on unscrambling the letters to spell our name below.  I then have him touch each letter and spell it again.  Quick practice!  If your child is ready, you can have them write their first AND last name, making sure they leave a space between the two AND only have a capital at the beginning.

Math ideas for home

Try one of our favorite games, Racing Bears or visit your Dream Box account.  

Click here for a letter form our math program, Terc about math at home.

Writing about Not Norman

Helping your child with their writing can be challenging!  It is hard to watch them put the letter K when it should be a C or only "hear" one sound in the word.  Below I model how I would show them how to write.  At this point in the year, many kids are hearing at least the first and last sound.  For example, if writing the word cat they might write "CT"  that is okay!!  If you spell each word correctly for them they a) aren't learning how to do it on their own and b) get the message that they can't do it on their own.

See here how I model at school how to write a sentence about the book I just read above, Not Norman I will be looking at and referencing our "sound map" found here. 

From the Science Department

Babies, eggs and nests - oh my!

Science Enrichment  K-2

Monday

Watch this video on why baby animals are so cute.

When you are done tell your teacher WHY is it important for babies to look cute.

If you want to explore more click on this online game that allows you to “cuteify” animals. You might need to click “enable flash”  and allow it to your computer for it to work. 

Tuesday

Now it is your turn: Do you remember the adaptations babies have that make them cute? 

Big eyes (compared to their head)

Big head (compared to their body)

Round body

Short legs (compared to their height)

Draw a picture of a made-up baby animal. Make its color be camouflaged to its surroundings so predators can’t find it. Cut it out.

Make a nest or a shelter for your baby animal to keep it safe. 

Take a picture and share it with your teacher.

Wednesday 

All living things have a life cycle. For a life cycle to happen plants and animals need to live long enough to have a baby and the baby needs to live long enough to have a baby and that baby needs to live long enough to have a baby. The cycle only ends when there are no babies. 

Go outside and find evidence of new life. Evidence could include:

A seedling coming out of the ground

A bud on a tree or bush opening up

New growth on an evergreen tree

Ants under a rock with eggs

Whatever life you see on your block that is new and growing and making its way to adulthood.

Take a picture, make an observational drawing, or write a description of what you see.  Share it with your teacher. 

Thursday 

If your teacher can share it with you, look at your classmates' work. Compare what they found. What do they have in common? 

Tell your teacher why you think growth is happening now. What can we do to help make this growth keep happening all summer?

Friday 

Some animals look different as they grow up - they have different stages of their life cycle. 

Watch this video to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. 

Draw the life cycle of a plant or animal. Take a picture and share it with your teacher. 

Or print this coloring page of the life cycle of a butterfly and color it in. 

Sight Words

If I had to pick ONE thing only for children to practice during this time, it would be their sight words!!  These words are found frequently in the level A, B and C books your child reads in kindergarten.  If they become fluent with these words, then they will be able to spend more time figuring out unfamiliar or tricky words while reading.

We practice these words two ways.

Reading the Sight Words
Reading the words comes along quicker than writing them.  There are endless ways to practice these words in fun way.  Here are a few ideas:

Play dots and boxes.  Take two markers.  You and your child take turns connecting 2 dots.  When you complete a box: read the word inside!  Find the board below and a blank copy here.

*Play memory or concentration: on index cards or blank paper, make 2 cards for each word.  Place the cards face down.  Flip over and try to find a match. I find this game is better if you choose 5-8 words at a time.  See it in action here.

*Play Roll and Read a word

Writing Sight Words
Learning to write the words is harder than reading.  This is because a lot of the words can't be phonetically written/sounded out.  You can practice writing the words by:

Rolling a sight word
Writing the words in rainbow colors
Building the words with playdoh
Writing the words in pudding, shaving cream or anything else you have around!
Find many other ideas here

In this video, I wrote words in white crayon and painted to reveal my mystery words!

   

Friday Flash Weather

*Watch a BrainPopJr.  about the water cycle!

*I will miss doing this rainshower art project!  You cover the drawing with a card and splash the blue paint!

*Science Lesson: What will the weather be like on your birthday?

*Listen to a National Geographic Book about Weather or the ever silly Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

*Play I Spy: Weather

*Practice writing  our sight words in the sky (aka shaving cream)

*Draw the weather each day this week!

From the Science Department

Teachers are helpers and everyone wants to help you right now. Our science department head has put together some weekly science ideas. Next week's ideas revolve around sound!

Sound Travels

Science Enrichment  K-2

April 6th - April 10th

Monday April 6th

Watch this brainpop jr. video to learn about sound and how sound travels from one place to another.

After watching the video try this: 

-Put your hand in the middle of your throat. Say the word “ahhhhhhhhh”. 

-Say “ahhhhhhhhh” in a higher pitch

-Say “ahhhhhhhhh” in a lower pitch

-What do you feel with your hand? What pattern do you notice?

-Tell your teacher what you observed. Can you explain why it felt this way?

Tuesday April 7th

Sound needs something to travel through in order to reach your ear. 

Let’s experiment with sound travelling through string.

Watch this video with instructions to get started.

You will need sting and different objects to test.

Here are written instructions

Test different objects - a hanger, a big spoon, a little spoon, a wooden spoon,
whatever you are curious about.

Share with your class which object made the most pleasing sound in your ear. 

Wednesday April 8th

Sound travels through different materials differently. 

Let’s experiment with sound travelling through other things besides string.

Watch this video about sounds travelling through solids.

Try it for yourself! 

-Put your ear on one end of a table. Have someone knock at the other end. 
Is the noise louder than when it travels through the air?

-Try it again but this time use a different material. What happens when you put
your ear on a chair and knock? Try a book, a glass, a broom handle.  

-Share your results with your class.  Which material made the noise the loudest?

Thursday April 9th

Usually the sounds we hear travel through the air. 

Watch the first 3 minutes of this video.

-Can you think of an experiment that could help you find  out if there are vibrations
in the air when we talk to each other. Tell your teacher what you came up with. 

-Close your eyes.  Have someone else make a sound - tear paper, zip a zipper,
clang a spoon, open a book, etc. With your eyes closed can you guess what the noise is? 
Was there any noise you could not figure out?

Friday April 10th

Sometimes we can direct sound so that it goes where we want it to. 

-Cup your hands behind your ears. 

-Face your partner and have them whisper to you

-Then listen without your hands behind your ear. What do you notice?

Grumpy Monkey

Hello friends!

We have all been feeling lots of feelings while at home!  Below I am reading the story Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang.  At the end, I ask the kids to draw and write for me.  Email me a picture of their work.   I can't wait to see what they do!