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Literacy: We have been focusing on WH- comprehension questions (Who, What, Where) during our whole group read aloud time and into our small group centers. When asked a comprehension question, students are learning to connect their answer to evidence in the text. They are practicing how to retell parts of the story using the illustrations and what they can remember said in the text. An example of answering a “who” question is shown below. A student drew pictures of the four different community helpers in the story People Who Help in My Neighborhood by Janet Preus. *This week, students were introduced to the app Storybots during small group time. This app allows children to listen to stories and watch videos on a variety of topics (alphabet, numbers, dinosaurs, colors, etc.).

Social/Emotional: Last week, we read Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister and talked about the expected and unexpected behaviors shown by the main character-Rainbow Fish. Students practiced identifying the emotions of the fish by facial expression and scenario. Students also discussed similarities and differences amongst characters and then with people around them. We talked about what makes us all special and unique. To follow up on this topic, students listened to We are All Alike, We are All Different by The Cheltenham Elementary School Kindergarteners. This week, students talked more about what on accident means versus on purpose. Mia and Joshy, our Second Step puppets, made an appearance several times to role play various scenarios. Students had to identify which conflict was an accident and which were done on purpose. Then they talked about the expected way to communicate with others in both situations. We will continue to revisit classroom rules and routines within the next two weeks reading stories such as: Hands are not for Hitting by Martine Agassi and The Caring Me I Want to Be by Mary DiPalermo.

4K News February 6, 2020

Math: Students continue to practice skills such as: -comparing quantities using the vocabulary terms more, less, same -identifying numerals 1-10 -recognizing quantities 1 to 5 when shown in a regular spatial dot-die pattern (without counting) *One engaging card game to play that practices these skills is more/less (very similar to war) taught at the end of January. I encourage you to practice playing this game with your child at home!

Upcoming Events: February 10th: 100th Day of School and PTA Meeting February 14th: Red, White, Pink, Purple Spirit Day and 4K Valentine’s Day Party February 17th: Culver’s Night February 26th: Dentist (Dr. Gilson) visits 4K/K for Dental Hygiene Month February 27th: 4K Showcase of Learning (Open house format)

In-Class Visit: The Waukesha Environmental Education Program (plus a few live creatures) visited our classroom on Wednesday, February 5th, to introduce the topic of living versus nonliving! Students had the opportunity to engage in a nonfiction text about this topic, meet two live turtles, a hissing cockroach and complete a living/nonliving sort.