Motion
I have to be honest, motion is not typically one of my favorite units to teach...but these kiddos of ours made it so fun this year!
I mean- look at those faces! Pure joy!
We read, "Magnets Push, Magnets Pull" and did some exploration with magnets. We learned that magnets work through water & paper (and other materials).
We made marble race tracks after learning about friction, gravity, & inertia.
With an appearance from a tape monster! (I was dying laughing... please try to have a bad day in our room- it's pretty impossible!) We learned about collaboration through our teamwork & this is how she chose to help her team! :)
We had a challenge to make marbles move without using our hands to create a force!
We are experts on forces: push, pull, & push AND pull (both). - these vocabulary words were perfect with our learning about digraphs: "sh", "th", "ch"
We had push/pull centers with a side of transportation (sight word parking lots)!
We worked on encoding and decoding CVC words + CVC words with digraphs by using transportation elkonin boxes and then blending the sounds by driving our cars on the road!
& we worked on those silly nonsense words with stoplight sounds during reading groups!
Ask Your Child About:
-Phonemic Awareness: Sound deletion & manipulation- "What is bat without the /b/? (at)" "Change the /f/ in fog to /d/ (dog)" ...if your child has mastered manipulating the first sound and needs a challenge, move on to manipulating the final sound and then the middle sound/vowel! This skill requires SO MUCH PROCESSING that we do in our heads without realizing it as adults... if your child is able to manipulate phonemes, they are actually able to do the whole spectrum of phonemic awareness which is the goal for the end of kindergarten!! :)
-Phonics: Digraphs- "sh, ship, /sh/" "ch, chin, /ch/" "th, thumb, /th/"
-Poem/Fluency: "The Big Red Train"
-Reading: Using our strategies when we're stuck on a word! The goal is independent readers- please do not just tell them the word or sound it out for them- ask them what they could try! Does the picture help? What's the first sound? Can they chunk it? Can they skip it and figure it out after they read the rest of the sentence? Does that make sense? etc.
-Science: Motion- How do magnets have to do with motion? (They push and pull) Can objects without muscles move on their own? (No, they need to have a force push or pull them) What is your favorite kind of motion?
-Math: Addition (within 10+) - What strategy do you use when adding? Do you start with the bigger number or smaller number when counting on? (bigger)
-Writing: We are hitting those tree maps hard! Can you show me how to make a tree map? Can we write "can fly." for a sentence? (No, it's missing the subject! That's a cave man sentence! What can fly?)
-Technology: ABCya- Make a Gingerbread House, Type Rocket Jr., Curious George Shapes
Thank you for letting me share & love on your babies! I had the best week with them... and we go on to my favorite unit of the whole year next week: Gingerbread versions! Get ready for a whole lot of comparing and contrasting... and probably some requests for gingerbread cookies/houses! :)
Have a wonderful weekend!
With SO much love,
Ms. Ham
