Popcorn Word Practice

Our class has been learning and reviewing our popcorn words.  The popcorn words (high frequency sight words) are very important for beginning readers to learn.  Students need to be able to recognize sight words quickly and accurately as these words make up between 50-70% of the words we encounter in text.  Learning through play is an important part of FDK.  Here are some suggestions to help your child learn their popcorn words through fun and engaging play. 

 

1. Using a small tray, spread colourful craft sand and encourage your child to create the words by tracing in the sand.

 

2. Create the words using Wiki Stixs or Bendaroos - wax sticks that can be bent and shaped to make letters.

 

3. Write the words using three-dimensional glue on cardstock.

 

4. Create the words using play dough by rolling out the play dough and shaping into letters and words.

 

5. Place paper on top of plastic craft screens (for needle point).  Print the popcorn word on the paper using a crayon. The word will be bumpy once completed, and very tactile for your child to trace.

 

6. Use yarn and glue to write the words.

 

7. Pipecleaners can be shaped into the letters to spell the popcorn words.

 

8. Magnetic Letters on cookie sheets - allows words to be stretched apart and put back together.

 

9. Shaving Cream - spray onto cookie sheet - children using their finger to print the letters in the cream.

 

 

Our Noise O Meter

 

The students in Room 132 have been learning to use our Noise O Meter chart.  We have been learning that we need to use different voices at different times of the day.  No voice during input lessons, some carpet activities, Sharing Chair and snack time.  Whisper voice during literacy centres, indoor voice during free choice play centres and outside voice during outdoor play time at lunch.

I Wonder...

 

We have created a wonderful bulletin board to display our wonderings.  The students are invited pose questions about things they wonder about, things they would like to learn more about, things they would like us to research during our science time.  We have a very curious class, and we look forward to discovering answers to their wonderings!

 

The Three Fingers of Reading!

 

Our class gathers on the carpet each morning for morning circle time.  We have been learning about three very important rules for reading.  We call these rules our "3 Fingers of Reading."  The first finger of the 3 Fingers of Reading reminds us to look at the words while we are reading.  The second finger of the 3 Fingers of Reading reminds us to listen to the words while we are reading.  The third finger of the 3 Fingers of Reading reminds us that when we are ready, we need to read!

Our Popcorn Song

 

Please check your child's brown envelope on Friday.  We are sending home a copy of our popcorn word song.  We call the words "popcorn" words becasue these words pop up in all our reading!  The tune of the song is Mary Had A Little Lamb.  Your child has practiced singing the song at school, and we know your child would be happy to teach you at home.  It's important to practice reading the popcorn words to increase confidence with reading, and improve fluency.  Thank you for your assistance!

 

Morning Message

We begin each day with our morning circle time on the carpet.  Our students have been learning to use their knowledge of letter sounds to help us write the missing words in the morning message.  The boys and girls are very excited to be selected to use the marker to write in the missing words.  The students seated on the carpet assist the student with the marker by providing the letter sounds for each word.  Yeah Kindergarteners!

 

Pumpkin Science

Our focus in science has been on learning all we can learn about pumpkins.  We have studied the outside of our class pumpkins, cut one open to see the inside of our pumpkin, created class charts using descriptive language to describe our pumpkins.  We have learned how pumpkins grow, practiced sequencing the lifecycle of a pumpkin, and experimented with floating and sinking of pumpkins. 

 

 

Literacy Centres Have Arrived!

 

 

Our students are very excited!  On Monday, we began participating in our Literacy Centres.  Prior to this week, we have based our reading, writing, speaking and listening work during small group interactions or by rotating through language tubs.  We have a wide variety of literacy activities/resources available for the students to select from duirng the morning literacy centre time.  Mrs. Piurko and Mrs. Greco also use the morning literacy centre time to work with small groups on their reading and writing.  We have attached some photos to this post of some of our students exploring at the centres.  Enjoy!

 



Our Fall Hikes

 

The students in room 132 have been participating in fall hikes and scavenger hunts with Mrs. Greco and Mrs. King.  The students have been looking for the signs of fall, and each group also collected items to bring back to the classroom with them.  We used the items to talk about the changing seasons, and we also used the items to make fall art.  Photos to come...

Our Yoga Mats!



YOGA TIME!

 

 

Our Yoga mats have arrived!  And you can sense the excitement in the room!  We want to thank Mrs. Greco for searching high and low to find us mats for our daily yoga time.  The children are able to focus on their yoga practice in their own space.  We have created a class book about our favourite yoga poses.  Please watch for this class book to come to your home soon in your child's backpack.  I will add a photo of our new yoga mats once I return to school on Monday.

Our Farm Floor Puzzle

We have moved our puzzles to a new location in the classroom.  Following the move, the students have shown an increase in interest in working at this centre.  We added the giant farm floor puzzle to the puzzle centre after our trip to Knox Pumpkin Farm.

Our Trip to Knox Pumpkin Farm 

 

Wonderful fall display at the barn.

 

Petting the Pony

 

This friendly mare was very excited to see our class during the barn tour!  She leaned out and over the gate, and made our barn tour very memorable!

 

One of the cute little animals on the barn tour.  Our students were excited to be able to pet the ponies, pigs, rabbits, alpacas and kittens.

 

The friendly cows at Knox.

 

These goats arrived at Knox Farm on the very day of our tour.  They were not ready to be petted but we enjoyed looking at them.

 

 

One week old baby chicks.

 

Farmer J - our tour guide - holding one of the baby chicks.

Independent Reading - Browsing Bag Time!

Our Senior Kindergarten students have begun their independent reading time.  Our first session was an outside reading time in the Kindergarten yard.  The weather was perfect for outdoor reading, and the Senior Kindergarten students enjoyed their reading!  Mrs. Piurko supervised their reading time, and enjoyed listening to each student read to her!  We will continue our independent reading inside the school on days when the weather doesn't cooperate for outside reading.

Math Focus:

We have been learning about graphing - or as the students have been learning to call it "Data Management."  We have made a number of class graphs including:  Our Favourite Colours, Which Book Would We Like to Read First?, Which Book Was Our Favourite?, Healthy Snacks, Favourite Pets and Favourite Franklin Book.  The students have been learning about pictographs, and we will be learning about bar graphs next.

 

 Felt Board Centre

 

We have seen an increase in visitors to our felt board centre lately.  We discussed how students could use the felt images to retell a familar story or create a new story.  Here are three felt stories created in the last week:

 

 Upper and Lower Case Match Game

 

What Letter Comes Between?

 

Chester Alphabet Game

 

My Chester Story

 

Let's Learn our Colour Words with Chester

 

Chester Loves School Pocket Chart Sequencing

 

The students in our classroom have completed the second rotation through Language Tubs.  We circulate through six Language Tubs, over the course of six days.  We work on a variety of language skills by participating in games and hands on activities.

Terry Fox Run

 

Our students participated in the Terry Fox Run on Friday, September 27th, 2013.  We had many students dedicate their run to a family member or family friend.  Thank you to families who returned the pink notices so that we could write the correct information on your child's sticker.  Thank you also for the generous donations!  Our class partnered with Mrs. John's Grade 5/6 class for the run.  We appreciated having older students to help us run/walk around the route.  It was a great afternoon!