Last week...
Last Thursday and Friday I began the ELOT assessments for each child. ELOT stands for Early Literacy Observation Tool and it is a Board assessment. The assessment takes about 15 minutes per child and is broken down into 3 components: Letter identification (children may name the letter, the sound,or a word/name that begins with the letter), Reading Continuum (book awareness...where do I begin? which way do I go?, etc.), and Phonological Awareness and Encoding (listening to 2 sentences and writing them down). I use these assessments throughout the year to inform my planning and teaching, however, only one set of data is required by the Board, so I will submit this latest round of assessments.
What we're working on...
The children continue to work cooperatively within their groups to plan, investigate and complete a number of literacy and numeracy based activities. Our focus has been on 2-D shapes and 3-D figures for math and the children have really impressed me with how quickly they are internalizing the new (and challenging!) vocabulary. They enjoy investigating the box of 3-D solids, figuring out the placement of geometric shapes on the puzzle cards and reading our "Shape Monster" poem on their own. I often hear things like, "Ms. Cox! It's a rectangular prism!" Impressive!
We have also be investigating the elements of a story (characters, setting, problem and ending). We have been reading and discussing "The Fox and the Springtime Blossoms" and children have been drawing and writing about their personal responses to the story.
During large group meetings we have been playing a number of games to help strengthen our awareness of beginning/middle/ending sounds (sound segmentation). We clap the sounds and jump into hula-hoops to represent each sound (3 sounds= 3 hula-hoops). As the children progress, they will be asked to jump into the right hula hoop (i.e. for 'cat'..."jump to the 't' sound", and the child would jump into the 3rd hoop). To reinforce our circle time learning, we have a number of centres which the children visit to practice and reinforce their knowledge of sounds.
In science, we continue to explore the world around us, noting the changing weather (the kids love using the karaoke machine and microphones to deliver the daily weather or to sing our weather song), the changes to our natural environment (tulips! daffodils!birds!buds!) and our understanding of living and non-living things Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our crocuses yesterday. Despite our efforts they did not bloom or survive the hot, long weekend. The children considered the many reasons why plants sometimes die. Our maple tree, however, is really opening up and the children have been enjoying watching it grow and change all year. Hard to believe we only have on more monthly journal entry to make!
We have also been learning about pussy willows and are currently experimenting with the branches (some are in water and some are not). We've made predictions and observe the plants each day. Watch for your child's pussy willow paintings to come home soon.
SUNSCREEN
Please ensure that your child has sunscreen, a hat and sturdy shoes for outside play. Thanks!
SCHOLASTIC
I will send home the final book order forms next week (for June) to ensure any orders are received well in advance of the end of the year.
PD DAY
Please note that Friday, June 8th is a PD Day.
END-OF-YEAR
I will be planning an end-of-year celebration for later in June. Parents/grandparents/caregivers will be invited to join us for a slide show, our portfolios and to share some treats. More info to follow.
AT HOME READING
Thanks so much for participating in the program this year! Our combined efforts have resulted in a number of independent readers! Wow! I will run the program for 2 more weeks. Please check that all of the books have been sent back in as I am missing several (I know they are small!). Thank you!
Enjoy the sunshine!
Warmly,
Ms. Cox
Last Thursday and Friday I began the ELOT assessments for each child. ELOT stands for Early Literacy Observation Tool and it is a Board assessment. The assessment takes about 15 minutes per child and is broken down into 3 components: Letter identification (children may name the letter, the sound,or a word/name that begins with the letter), Reading Continuum (book awareness...where do I begin? which way do I go?, etc.), and Phonological Awareness and Encoding (listening to 2 sentences and writing them down). I use these assessments throughout the year to inform my planning and teaching, however, only one set of data is required by the Board, so I will submit this latest round of assessments.
What we're working on...
The children continue to work cooperatively within their groups to plan, investigate and complete a number of literacy and numeracy based activities. Our focus has been on 2-D shapes and 3-D figures for math and the children have really impressed me with how quickly they are internalizing the new (and challenging!) vocabulary. They enjoy investigating the box of 3-D solids, figuring out the placement of geometric shapes on the puzzle cards and reading our "Shape Monster" poem on their own. I often hear things like, "Ms. Cox! It's a rectangular prism!" Impressive!
We have also be investigating the elements of a story (characters, setting, problem and ending). We have been reading and discussing "The Fox and the Springtime Blossoms" and children have been drawing and writing about their personal responses to the story.
During large group meetings we have been playing a number of games to help strengthen our awareness of beginning/middle/ending sounds (sound segmentation). We clap the sounds and jump into hula-hoops to represent each sound (3 sounds= 3 hula-hoops). As the children progress, they will be asked to jump into the right hula hoop (i.e. for 'cat'..."jump to the 't' sound", and the child would jump into the 3rd hoop). To reinforce our circle time learning, we have a number of centres which the children visit to practice and reinforce their knowledge of sounds.
In science, we continue to explore the world around us, noting the changing weather (the kids love using the karaoke machine and microphones to deliver the daily weather or to sing our weather song), the changes to our natural environment (tulips! daffodils!birds!buds!) and our understanding of living and non-living things Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our crocuses yesterday. Despite our efforts they did not bloom or survive the hot, long weekend. The children considered the many reasons why plants sometimes die. Our maple tree, however, is really opening up and the children have been enjoying watching it grow and change all year. Hard to believe we only have on more monthly journal entry to make!
We have also been learning about pussy willows and are currently experimenting with the branches (some are in water and some are not). We've made predictions and observe the plants each day. Watch for your child's pussy willow paintings to come home soon.
SUNSCREEN
Please ensure that your child has sunscreen, a hat and sturdy shoes for outside play. Thanks!
SCHOLASTIC
I will send home the final book order forms next week (for June) to ensure any orders are received well in advance of the end of the year.
PD DAY
Please note that Friday, June 8th is a PD Day.
END-OF-YEAR
I will be planning an end-of-year celebration for later in June. Parents/grandparents/caregivers will be invited to join us for a slide show, our portfolios and to share some treats. More info to follow.
AT HOME READING
Thanks so much for participating in the program this year! Our combined efforts have resulted in a number of independent readers! Wow! I will run the program for 2 more weeks. Please check that all of the books have been sent back in as I am missing several (I know they are small!). Thank you!
Enjoy the sunshine!
Warmly,
Ms. Cox
