Week 26 Kindergarten: Cool Learning & Water Fun!

Dear Family,

We hope you all had an amazing week! Ours was full of fun and excitement. Along with our usual routines, we added a little splash to our days and enjoyed some special water moments together. Be sure to keep reading to see what we’ve been up to, and don’t miss the water fun photos at the end of the blog!

Large Group

We started the week by talking and laughing about how our weekends went on Monday, then continued with our usual large group routines; setting the date, adding numbers to our caterpillar (we ended the week on Day 122!), reading our large group book, and joining in on our daily group activities. This week, our large group focus was revisiting numbers to support our learning about time. Since we are working on clocks in math and even made our own DIY clocks, we practiced skip counting by 5s on the board each morning. To make it more meaningful, our children also practiced filling in missing numbers by fives. This daily practice is helping build a strong foundation as we get ready to learn about telling time in minutes next week.

“We eat cake and then Betselot said I eat cake too because the birthday was my family” -Yemariam 

“I eat cake my family” -Betselot 

“When it’s church day I didn’t go to church because my mom was sick” -Yadon 

“Yesterday was Dibo’s birthday. My mommy put a white spray on me and Dibo and I had a white beard” -Leul 

“I went to the science museum with Jamie and Leul and watched the planets and with a telescope. Jamie was like I’m hungry I’m hungry. Also after we go home at midnight we saw a shooting star” -Liyat 

“I went to century mall with small Dagim, he’s 9 years old” -Ismael 

“The doctor now allows me to eat any food but before that I was in pain. I was resting a lot and then I am fine now that’s why I came to school today” -Lubono 

Literacy

This week in literacy, we continued building our classroom alphabet word wall while practicing our writing skills. Our focus letters were F and G. In the first session, our children traced and cut out paper shapes to create their own writing spaces, then worked on forming and writing words that begin with the letter F. During the second literacy session, we repeated the same process with the letter G, encouraging them to think of words, sound them out, and write them independently. These activities supported fine motor development through cutting and writing, while the main goal was helping our children grow confident in word formation and spelling.

Math

Yay, practical time! This week’s math sessions were full of excitement as we began creating our very own DIY clock. In the first session, we sat together in class and our children chose numbers and wrote the 12 hours on colorful papers, making each number bright and unique. During the second session, we took our learning outside by the infants and toddlers area. There, our children painted the clock background white and then stuck their numbers on using paint instead of glue; a new technique they absolutely loved! Watching the paint work as glue was fascinating and added to the fun. After letting our clock dry, we brought it back to the classroom. Next week, we’ll choose materials for the clock hands and continue our learning as we move into telling minutes.

Science

We continued working on our landform projects this week with a strong focus on reflection and improvement. We began by going to the art room to observe each project together, sharing thoughts, ideas, and suggestions about the different landforms and what could be added, changed, or fixed. After our group discussion, our children sat individually to continue working on their projects or to draw their final ideas and conclusions on paper. This week, we focused on completing the main parts of each project, while also reminding our children that changes are always welcome. Since this is a process based project, we agreed that our classroom remains open for revisions, new ideas, and creative fixes; just like real scientists and designers do!

Art

This week in art, we revisited one of our favorite activities erase to create art! Since our children enjoyed this technique so much last time, we brought it back with a new and exciting twist. They began by sketching lightly on their canvas with pencils and then coloring over the entire surface with pencil shading, completely covering the space. This required a lot of hand strength and focus, so we took a short break over a couple of days before returning to the project refreshed and ready. When we came back to it, our children used the eraser to create instead of erase; slowly rubbing away the pencil to reveal their rocket ship designs underneath. Each child worked at their own pace: some erased gently to outline their shapes, while others took their time making bold, clear rocket ships that really stood out. The concentration, patience, and creativity they showed were wonderful to see, and the final results were absolutely stunning!

Water Fun Moments

Next week’s schedule:

Monday – Math, Literacy

Tuesday – Literacy, Science

Wednesday -Library, Math

Thursday - Science, Music

Friday - Library

Specials:

Monday- Art

Tuesday - Gym

Thursday - Ethiopian center/ clay

Reminders and notes:

• Please make sure that our children are wearing suitable clothes on Monday as we have art class and activities get messy sometimes.

• Every Wednesday and Friday is library day. Our children will be bringing home a book of their choice in their library folder, so please make sure to read the book with them over the weekend. Please return the folder the following Wednesday so they can get a new one.
• Every Tuesday, we have gymnastics, so please ensure that our children come dressed in comfortable and loose-fitting sports attire to facilitate their exercise.

• Every Wednesday and Friday, we have football, so please make sure our children wear their football jerseys if they have them, or any comfortable shorts.

That’s a wrap on another exciting week of learning and creativity. Stay tuned for more fun adventures ahead!