Week 27- Hermit Crabs

This week, we focus in on hermit crabs with a nonfiction text and two stories 

with main characters that are hermit crabs (including an Eric Carle book). 

At the end of the week, we take a look at coral reefs. These books will 

provide us with opportunities to strengthen our questioning skills along with 

our retelling and comparing and contrasting skills.

Last week, we learned about when strong readers ask questions- before, 

during, and after reading- as well as some types of questions we ask- about 

the meaning of a word, clarifying (to make sure we understand), and to get 

more information (these are often sparked by an interesting detail which 

motivates us to know more). We also discussed various words that are often 

used to start questions (who, what, where, when, why, how, etc). Actually 

phrasing a question (and not sharing a comment- also important, but a separate 

skill) can be tricky for Kindergartners.

In math this week, we continue comparing amounts with a focus on “how 

many more/fewer”. The concept of “how many fewer” tends to be trickier than 

more, so additional practice and conversations centered on this are time well 

spent. We also spend some more time reviewing “one more” and “one less” as 

these are skills will desire students to have fluency with.

This week, we will be adding in some pictures of our animal's diet to our dioramas

as well as writing about some fun facts we've learned about our animals.

We have our Little Red Hen performance today, Monday at 1:30. The play should be

over at about 1:50 and you can take your kiddos home with you after.

HOMEWORK

Reading:

10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in the 

binder, and practicing sight words.

Your child should ideally be spending time with familiar texts (such as 

the printed books they bring home), as they help reinforce sight words 

in context and using word solving strategies. However, these books are not 

real meaty when it comes to comprehension, so they should also be spending 

time with trade books (high quality children’s literature- like from the local 

library or bookstore). These books lend themselves better to conversations. 

When you read to them, you are also providing important modeling of a 

fluent reader and a pleasant reading experience.

Math:

Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes each night.

This is a great time to play math games with your child. You can use 

materials from Math Night, online or printable activities, or traditional 

board/card games that have a math component.

Revisit any skill from the Comparing (G) section. We will be reinforcing 

comparing smaller amounts for a couple of days, before moving into

 comparing the teen numbers. IXL does not have objectives for comparing 

items within 20, so this is where materials from Math Night or collections 

of items from around the house can come in handy.  If your child seems 

pretty solid with comparing within 10, move on to comparing groups of 

real items up to 20. Using terms, such as “more”, “less”, “fewer”, 

“the same”, and “equal”. It is also great to practice “how many more/fewer”. 

For example if I have 12 crayons and 10 pencils, I could talk about how I 

have 2 more crayons or 2 fewer pencils. When making such comparisons, 

noting groups of 10 or how far away from a group of 10 is valuable too (I 

have 7 gummy bears- that’s just 3 away from a whole group of 10). When 

using real items you can physically group them into 10s. You can also 

physically line them up item to item to see how many more/fewer there are.

If it seems appropriate for your child, you may also spend some time 

revisiting any D section skill.

Week 26 - Ocean Habitat

This week, we will be widening our exploration of habitats by diving into 

a study of the ocean! We will begin with a look at the different ocean zones. 

Eric Carle will then lead us in a closer look at seahorses with his book

Mister Seahorse. Next, we will be learning interesting things about Weird 

Sea Creatures using a nonfiction text.

Asking thoughtful questions before, during, and after our reading takes on a 

bigger focus this week with a helpful animal friend Wondering Walrus. 

Asking questions is a huge part of truly understanding what we hear. It leads 

to deeper comprehension and critical thinking skills. If we can question, we 

are more likely to make meaningful connections, read with purpose, and 

reflect on what we have learned.

This week our project focus will be on diet. We are closing in on the 

completion of our projects, which means it is time to MARK YOUR 

CALENDAR!

Please plan on joining us at 1:30 on Thursday, March 29th.

Please enter through the front office and then come on down and join us. 

Some students will be presenting in the classroom, while some students will 

be set up in the hall right outside our classroom (in hopes of helping you to be 

able to focus in on the child you are listening to). Please plan to listen to your 

child’s presentation first and then visit a few other children’s presentations as 

well. They will present their information as many times as needed. When 

finished, your child will be able to leave with you, but please allow them to 

share their presentation with others before you go. You will need to sign your 

out at the office if you leave before 2:00. (There will be no after school session 

this day). Also, there will be a very easy feedback form for you to fill out as 

you listen to presentations. This allows me to share feedback with the students 

later in class and it also helps students understand the importance of presenting 

to an audience.

In math, we continue to compare numbers while reinforcing the 10 and some 

more nature of teen numbers. We also focus in on the amount of difference 

between two quantities by noting “how many more” and/or “how many fewer”.

HOMEWORK

Reading:

10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in the 

binder, sight words, and working on alphabet letter sound fluency.

Your child should ideally be spending time with familiar texts (such as the 

printed books they bring home), as they help reinforce sight words in context 

and using word solving strategies. However, these books are not real meaty 

when it comes to comprehension, so they should also be spending time with 

trade books (high quality children’s literature- like from the local library or 

bookstore). These books lend themselves better to conversations. When you 

read to them, you are also providing important modeling of a fluent reader 

and a pleasant reading experience.

Math:

Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes each night.

This is a great time to play math games with your child. You can use 

materials from Math Night, online or printable activities, or traditional 

board/card games that have a math component.

Revisit any skill from the Comparing (G) section. We will be reinforcing 

comparing smaller amounts for a couple of days, before moving into 

comparing the teen numbers. IXL does not have objectives for comparing 

items within 20, so this is where materials from Math Night or collections 

of items from around the house can come in handy.  If your child seems pretty 

solid with comparing within 10, move on to comparing groups of real items up 

to 20. Using terms, such as “more”, “less”, “fewer”, “the same”, and “equal”. 

It is also great to practice “how many more/fewer”. For example if I have 12 

crayons and 10 pencils, I could talk about how I have 2 more crayons or 2 

fewer pencils. When making such comparisons, noting groups of 10 or how 

far away from a group of 10 is valuable too (I have 7 gummy bears- that’s 

just 3 away from a whole group of 10). When using real items you can 

physically group them into 10s. You can also physically line them up item to 

item to see how many more/fewer there are.

If it seems appropriate for your child, you may also spend some time revisiting 

any D section skill.

Week 25- Rainforest Habitat Continued

This week, we continue to add to our knowledge about rainforests. Reading

 a variety of nonfiction and fiction books about a similar topic gives us 

several opportunities for making connections and comparisons. We will also 

zoom in a bit on snakes with a nonfiction book about snakes and an Eric 

Carle (and Richard Buckley) book about a Greedy Python.

We continue our PBL work on our desert animal as well. This week’s focus 

is on our animal’s adaptations.

Students have done a great job with using their 10s to skip count. Counting 

by 1s all the way to 100 has proven a bit more difficult for some so this is a 

skill we will continue to practice at school and you can reinforce it at home 

as well. Those jumps to the next set of 10 (like 19 to 20, 29 to 30, 39 to 40) 

can be so tricky! The students love counting out collections. It can also be 

fun to do a variety of movements in sets of 10. For example, stomp your feet 

while counting 1-10, wiggle your fingers 11-20, tap your nose 21-30, and 

so on.

In math, we begin a new unit which will focus on comparing sets up to 20. 

In addition to IXL objectives, Math Night materials can also be used to 

reinforce these skills and to reinforce those teen numbers. While we move 

into comparing these larger numbers, we continue to reinforce the “10 and 

some” concept.

We have been conducting assessment interviews and I just wanted to take a 

moment to note that discussing what your child is reading (or being read to 

about) is oh-so-important. We want our young thinkers connecting and 

comparing to other texts and life experiences. We want them sharing details 

that they noticed, things they wonder about, and special words they hear. 

All students are able to do this, but their degree of confidence and use of 

details can vary. The more they share and discuss, the more they remember 

and the more reflecting on what they read becomes a strong reading habit.

HOMEWORK

Reading:

10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in the 

binder, sight words, and working on alphabet letter sound fluency.

Math:

Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes each night.

Revisit any skill from the Comparing (G) section. We will be reinforcing 

comparing smaller amounts for a couple of days, before moving into 

comparing the teen numbers. IXL does not have objectives for comparing 

items within 20, so this is where materials from Math Night or collections 

of items from around the house can come in handy.  If your child seems 

pretty solid with comparing within 10, move on to comparing groups of real 

items up to 20. Using terms, such as “more”, “less”, “fewer”, “the same”, 

and “equal”. It is also great to practice “how many more/fewer”. For example,

if I have 12 crayons and 10 pencils, I could talk about how I have 2 more 

crayons or 2 fewer pencils. When making such comparisons, noting groups 

of 10 or how far away from a group of 10 is valuable too (I have 7 gummy 

bears- that’s just 3 away from a whole group of 10). When using real items 

you can physically group them into 10s. You can also physically line them up 

item to item to see how many more/fewer there are.

If it seems appropriate for your child, you may also spend some time revisiting 

any D section skill.

Week 24 - Rainforest Continued

Our exploration of the rainforest habitat continues this week. Along with a 

nonfiction book that will teach us more details about this habitat, we will 

learn a bit in particular about the sloth. We will also be beginning an author

study on the wonderful Eric Carle. I’m super excited about sharing not only 

his stories, but his artwork and ways of cultivating his ideas with the 

kindergartners!

We continue our PBL work on our animals. At least a couple of days this 

week will continue to be dedicated to our habitat focus on the dioramas. As soon as we 

finish with that, it is on to our animal’s diet.

In math, we will be practicing our skip counting by 10s. Skip counting by 2s 

and 5s was a bit tricky for some of the students. At this point in their learning, 

this skill is introduced for exposure. We are hoping to aid them in seeing the 

inherent patterns in counting and that smaller amounts make up larger

amounts. If your child does not seem to master the discrete skills of counting 

by 2s and 5s, please do not stress. While it is a helpful skill, mastery of it is 

not expected at this age (counting both by 1s and 10s to 100 is a Kindergarten 

skill to be mastered). It can be helpful to reinforce the more familiar 

counting patterns within skip counted by using Whisper- Loud counting

pattern: this is done by whispering the “skipped” numbers and saying the 

“pattern” numbers louder. For example: whisper 1, loud 2, whisper 3, loud 4 

AND whisper 1, 2, 3, 4, loud 5. Getting the whole body involved adds another 

dimension and concreteness to the skill. Your child can crouch down on the 

whispered numbers and stand/hop up on the out loud numbers. Also, counting 

out real materials can be helpful.

We will also spend some time reviewing and practicing describing and 

comparing shapes as well as our teen numbers- continuing to focus on how 

these numbers are 10 and some more.

Please make sure your child has their 100 object bag ready to go for 

Monday. If your child does not bring a bag, they will still participate in 

the counting activities, but it won’t be quite as much fun.

HOMEWORK

Reading:

10 minutes each night. Reading can include reading stories, the poems in the 

binder, sight words, and working on alphabet letter sound fluency.

Math:

Remember, math should be done for 10 minutes each night. Time spent with 

the activities you got from Math Night is a great idea, too!

Monday- F.6 Learn to skip-count by tens

Tuesday- F.7 Skip-count by tens

Revisit a concept of your choosing for Wednesday and Thursday.

Some suggestions are:

* Any skill from the D skill section (Numbers and counting up to 20)   

* Skip counting by 10, if it seemed tricky for your child  

* Any shape skill that seemed tricky for your child, particularly 

 V.7 Compare sides and corners and W.9 Shapes of everyday objects I