Polar Bears...growl!

This week, the K-Kids traveled to the Arctic Circle and learned about the various animals that live in this chilly place.  The focus of the lessons went to the polar bear - the largest land carnivore in the world!  The K-Kids learned about the polar bear's body, what they eat, and how the female polar bear takes care of her young.  We read Bill Martin Jr.'s fiction book, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and created our own class book based on the story pattern of text.  At the end of the week, we compared and contrasted the polar bear and penguin using a Venn Diagram.

K-Friend, K-Friend, what do you hear?

The K-Kids learned a new reading strategy this week - Chunky Monkey.  When a reader comes to a word he/she doesn't know, the reader can look for a word chunk that he/she recognizes.  In "flat" the reader may look at the "-at" ending and then blend the onset into this known chunk.  This strategy is especially helpful when the K-Kids read words with -ed, -ing, -es, etc. word endings.  The reader can recognize the root word and then add the word ending.  Chunky Monkey joins Lips the Fish (get your mouth ready for the first letter sound), Stretchy Snake (stretch the word to hear the sounds), and Eagle Eye (use the picture to check your reading).  Please encourage your child to use these strategies at home while reading!


Shapes were the focus of the math lessons this week!  The K-Kids identified the different shapes by learning to count sides and corners/angles.  They discussed what made a shape a shape and sorted attribute blocks according to shape, color, thickness, and size.  To make the sorting activity even more difficult, the K-Kids had to sort the blocks by two or three attributes.  The K-Kids also created pictures using the tangrams and were challenged to cover a given puzzle space using a set number of tangrams.  It was really fun to watch the K-Kids step up to the puzzle challenge and really think outside of the box!  This is a fun website that will allow your child more practice completing tangram puzzles: PBS Kids/Tangrams

 We welcome Ms. B. to our classroom this week!  We are so lucky to have her happy smile and helpful hands.  Everyone has really benefited from having Ms. B. in the classroom this week!