Mrs. Shidal's Kindergarten Classroom : Letter Y week, Letter D week, and Letter V week

We some fun activities for St. Patrick's Day. We made pots of gold and wrote a story problem to go with the gold that they put in their pots.

We also talked about how important people are in our lives. Each student wrote about who was worth more to them than gold. They turned out so cute!

In our journals we worked on writing two sentences. They got to pick a Y word they like and then tell me about it. They did a great job!

We did a Y hunt using some old book order forms. They could cute out any word or picture with Y in it. They had a fun time hunting for the letter!

We talked about how St. Patrick's Day also is about being lucky. They drew or wrote about 4 things they are lucky to have in their lives. Then we painted them with a rainbow. They did a wonderful job.

We started our unit 3 lesson on shapes. We started it by talking about the difference between a straight line and a curved line. This helps them better understand the difference between the different shapes. We then sorted the shapes by straight or curved line. It led to a great discussion about where the shapes go that have both. They decided in the middle since they have straight and curved lines!

We continue to work on our teen numbers. This dinosaur puzzle helps them put them teen numbers in order.

When we first started doing these activities the kids only cut out words that started with the letter of the week. I explained to them that they have grown so much that we were going to change to writing the words that start with the letter of the week. They stepped up to the challenge and did a great job!

I encouraged the students to draw a picture using rectangles and triangles. I was impressed with what they came up with!

For one of our math centers we built shapes with tooth picks. Then they counted how many sides each shape had. This also led to another good discussion they had about how to make a rectangle instead of a square. They decided to use two on the long side to make it longer. But they also said it still only has 4 sides even though they used more toothpicks. I love it when they are such great problem solvers!

I am giving them more independence with their journal writing. I encourage them to write about something that includes our letter of the week. They can use the word wall for our sight words or sound out anything else they may want to say. Some of their sentences blow me away!

I am also encouraging them to start using writing in the sight word books. It helps them see how reading and writing go so well together. It also gives them some independence in what they want their book to say!

We are always practicing hearing the sounds in words. Here is another way we do that!

Watching the kids reading together is such an amazing experience. They take turns reading pages together or reading a book to their friends. It's so great to see how much they have grown in the short time I have had them!

This activity worked on identifying shapes by their descriptions as well as location words like in front, behind, under, etc. We read the description of the shape and talked about what we thought it might me and why. They always have good insight during discussions!

This was another math center activity to help them in drawing their shapes.

We used the iPads to let them create shapes using geo boards. They loved it. Then they started putting shapes together to see what they could create!

More reading together! They work so hard and love to help each other out!

We did an ABC scavenger hunt. We went outside to explore. They found an item they liked, drew a detailed picture, and wrote the letter it started with. Then we worked on sounding out the words as well. They were so focused and did great.

For Science we built volcanoes. I told each table they had to work together to create a volcano. The only direction I gave was that they needed to have the cup in the middle to fill up so it could erupt. I gave them access to different materials and they had to work together to figure out how they could built their volcano. Working together is a difficult task by itself. It takes a lot of team work and communication. They all seemed to work through their different opinions until they came up with a group plan they could all help with. It was a great learning experience. And they loved watching them erupt!