May updates

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 

This month for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we will be highlighting stories from authors in the AAPI community. Here are the books that we will be focusing on : 

Eyes that Kiss in the Corners, by Joanna Ho (in English) 

Los Vegetales Feos by Grace Lin

La gran paleta roja, by Khan Rukhsana

El frasco de los nombres by Yangsook Choi (we used this for our name unit too! 

Jewish Heritage Month

In addition to it being AAPI heritage month, it is also Jewish heritage month. Next week we are going to read some books and listen to music in Ladino. Ladino (also known as Judeo-Spanish) is the language of Sephardic Jews- Jewish people who settled in the Iberian peninsula. It is very similar to Spanish but includes lots of Hebrew. To do this work we are going to use books and music by author and musician Sarah Aroeste.

Abril

 Hola familias,

Wow! I cannot believe that we have made it to April. We have been busy enjoying time outside, wrapping things up before April break, and growing in Spanish and academics. Here are some updates from our learning: 

Reading

Students are learning about being avid readers. We have focused on non-fiction books and are learning to play pretend, identify key terms, and teach others like experts. We have also been growing in phonics by focusing on sílabas and trying to build sílaba recognition as students prepare for reading more complex books in first grade. 

Math

We have been working hard on addition and subtraction, place value and teen numbers. Students are counting by tens, building teen numbers and trying to complete more complex addition and subtraction problems. Students have been working hard on building independence during math menu times. Next, we will work on comparing and data collection. 

Writing

Our class has finished up our how to books! We are so excited to share our how to books with everyone. Students have grown in sentence structure, adding lots of detail, and going back to edit their work. Don't forget! We have a virtual writing celebration next Friday at 10:30 am. 

Social emotional
As we move towards the end of the year, there is typically a noticeable shift. Students become more energetic as the weather changes, and they often begin to test their social relationships as they grow older. As a class, we have been reviewing expectations, and doing some SEL work. Some main topics that we have discussed are: keeping our bodies in control, taking care of our classroom, reading each others emotions, and identifying what is an independent problem and an "I need help¨ problem. Next week, we will spend some time talking about how to share when someone is bothering you by using the script "I feel__________ when you_________"

Marzo Updates

 Hola familias,     

                                            

Wow! We are almost to Spring. This time of year in kínder is so busy. Students are becoming readers, writers, and doing more complex math. It is so fun to watch our class grow into almost- first graders. 

Here are some updates from our learning: 

    Snow Motion

Thank you so much to everyone who helped out on snow motion! It was such a great experience. On our last day, everyone was so impressed by how much progress the kindergarteners had made. 

Reading

Recently we have been focusing in on words to support reading more complex texts. Our class has been using different strategies to solve tricky words. We have learned about two types of tricky sílabas: a sílaba trabada (blend like bla or tre) and sílaba cerrada (a closed syllable like con or lar). We have practices segmenting words to make sure each sílaba is read correctly. A class favorite is to make sure that we read the end of the word correctly so they don't mistake "fresh doughnuts" for "free doughnuts". 

Writing

Our class has been moving into how-to texts. In how to books, writers teach their readers how to do something step by step. Some of the important parts of writing how-to books are: using detailed pictures that teach the reader each thing, using action words so that the reader knows exactly what to do, and making sure each step has just the right amount of information. Stay tuned: We will be inviting you to a virtual celebration of How-To books soon! 

Math

Our class has been working hard on building our math skills. Right now we are focusing in on decomposing numbers and doing addition and subtraction. Students are making observations about groupings, and playing games to do solve equations. Next we will explore place value through teen numbers. Recently we learned about three characters to help our equations: Lenos el menos, ToMÁS and Merial igual.