25 Jan Classroom Update
Hello Room 211 Families,
How is the month of January nearly in the books? We have been working so hard in Room 211 and we are seeing so much progress from every child in class! I am so proud of everyone’s hard work – even with snow distracting us and freezing cold temps chilling us to the bone.
In literacy, we are doing a big push with identifying syllables within spoken words. We are clapping out a variety of words and also trying to feel the syllables by putting the back of our hand under our chin and feeling how many times our chin drops when we say the word. This is setting a foundation for successful reading as breaking words into chunks can help with decoding. As students become better decoders, their reading fluency will improve. As students become better decoders, they will also become better encoders (spellers).
Try clapping these words out with your child: apple, banana, cat
Try feeling the syllables with your chin using these words: dinosaur, elephant, and Friday
Check out this link for a more detailed explanation of Syllable Clapping
In Math, we are still focusing on sorting and counting objects. Students are learning to describe attributes of objects and mark objects that share the same attribute. We have done a lot of hands-on learning as students listen to oral directions to sort a group of objects into categories based on common attributes. Once items are sorted, we count the number of objects in each group, comparing the totals (which has more, which has less?) Soon, students will be introduced to sorting based on two attributes. Attributes we target include size, color, and shape. Our math vocabulary includes sort, category, attribute, same, and different.
During our social emotional learning, we completed the Self-Management Unit. We learned how to belly breathe, lion breathe, and cat breathe. Blowing bubbles have been a great visual for knowing if we are taking a deep enough breath to fill our entire chest, down to our belly, and if we are exhaling long enough to let the air out and produce multiple bubbles! Our new focus will be on Social Awareness. These lessons will focus on listening skills and following directions.
Motor Language Group has been a treat for all! We have been identifying shapes and practicing making the shapes on paper (circle, diamond, square, and heart). To take it a step further, Ms. Burd (SLP) and Ms. Danielle (OT) added a fine-motor sensory component that let us play around with baking soda and vinegar! It’s been a fizzy good time! Check out this YouTube song that’s been stuck in our heads these last couple of weeks that went along with the activity: https://youtu.be/TJhfl5vdxp4?si=0zcFXvThRV9HQ6n8
As always, check out the photos that have been added this month and take a look at the upcoming events as we wrap up January and head into February!
Take care,
Jaime