Week Twentieth of Kindergarten: A Fresh Start to Our Second Term Adventure!

Hello family, it's wonderful to have you all back for another term of our awesome weekly blog. Second term is off to a fantastic start with tons of fun activities and recaps! This week, we engaged in a variety of fun and educational activities. Let's take you through what we've been up to.

Large Group

Our large group sessions always set the tone for our daily activities. During these sessions, we keep track of the date, weather, sight words of the day, rhyme time, and other educational content. We also generate discussion by talking about the day's themes and giving our children clues about what they'll be learning in literacy, math, science, or art class on the whiteboard along with the morning message. We intersperse songs throughout the topics to help engage our children and focus their attention. This week, we held our first and last large group sessions outdoors by the playground, and we had three additional large group sessions in the classroom. We had a wonderful time filled with both fun and learning.

"But 3 is like 'S' " Tang Tang

"Eight is strange" Lucas

Literacy

This week, our literacy session focused mainly on reading and writing. In the first activity, the students had three sheets of paper stapled together, each containing sentences for them to read and color the corresponding picture. This helped them read phonemically and recognize sight words as well. Each sheet had three sentences, so they read a total of nine sentences and colored the appropriate pictures. Our second activity was also centered on reading and writing. Our children received a sheet with a written paragraph, and after reading it, they copied the entire paragraph into the space provided. This activity helped us assess our children's reading and writing skills, allowing us to identify the areas where each individual needs support.

"This is a dog, it's easy Phi" Adelene

"I can read lots and lots and lots of this" Umar

Math

This week in math, we introduced the numbers as words. We spent most of our large group sessions learning how to spell the numbers from 1 to 12. We began by identifying the first two sounds of each number and eventually learned the letters in each number word. In class, we did a fun matching activity on the board where we stuck the words up and laid out the number cards on the mat. Each child took a turn placing the correct number card next to the corresponding number word. For our second math activity, we completed a matching worksheet where they matched the numbers with the correct words. We used the number words as 12 sight words and congratulated the children on learning these sight words in just a week.

"Do you know lucky number?" Junior

"Lucky is a dog" - Lucas

"My Aunty 'Mimmy' has a dog called Lucky too" Abigail

"I am 5, 5, 5, 5" Eliyab

Science

This week in science, we learned about 'The Life Cycle of an Apple'. First, we discussed apples and asked the children how they think apples grow. Most of them correctly identified a few of the processes, as they were all aware of the seed. Next, we did a cut-and-paste activity where each child received a paper with pieces representing the stages of the apple life cycle, along with a separate paper featuring boxes and arrows indicating the life cycle process. They cut out the pieces and pasted them in the correct order.

In our second science session, they received another paper with the stages, but this time they had to create their own cycle on a blank sheet, drawing the arrows themselves to help them remember how the cycle works. This activity excited them, allowing them to learn about the cycle and share ideas with their friends while helping one another.

"The seed grows into a tree and flower and apple so easy I have a book about apple at home" Lucas

"Do you have a book about Johnny Appleseed too?" Umar

Art

This week in our art session, we focused on coloring—not just random coloring, but coloring by identifying the given words. We printed out 'Johnny Appleseed' coloring pages as we learned about the apple life cycle. We introduced Johnny and explained why he is called Mr. Appleseed.

Our children were very excited to learn about him and looked closely at his image on the paper. The coloring pages had numbers and color words written next to each number. The idea was for the children to read the color name and color the section corresponding to that number. For example, if they saw the number 1 next to the word 'gray,' they were supposed to read 'gray' and color the part labeled with the number 1 in gray. It was such an exciting and educational moment as they created their masterpieces!

"My Johnny Appleseed is happy" Junior

"Is he real?" Yeabsera

"Johnny is a real name so yeah he is real I guess" Leayene

Gymnastics

This week, we held a friendly competition in gymnastics. We set up two boxes on one side, each containing nine small balls, and two empty boxes on the opposite side. The game involved two children standing by the boxes with the nine balls, racing to transfer one ball at a time to the empty boxes. The objective was to see who could move all nine balls into the other box first to win the game. We had a fantastic time with this activity! After the competition, we enjoyed a lighthearted ball fight with the small balls, which added even more fun to the session.

"I got more balls than the boys" Yeabsera

"It's okay to loose okay guys?" Adelene

"No face, don't hit face" Tang Tang

"Give me the ball, slide slide" Eliyab

Journal

This week, we had our journal session. Each child brought their journal book outside and drew whatever they wanted. As they worked, they engaged in conversations about their creative ideas, sharing inspiration and encouraging one another. It was a wonderful way to express their creativity in a relaxed and enjoyable setting. Seeing their creativity and individual personalities shine through their entries is always a delight!

"I'm making a robot" Umar

"I write A B C......." Eliyab

Next term’s weekly schedule:  

Monday – Math, Literacy

Tuesday – Literacy, Science, gym

Wednesday - Library, Math

Thursday - Science

Friday - Cooperative game

Specials:

Monday- Art

Tuesday - Gym

Thursday - Ethiopian center/ clay

Friday - Football

Reminders and notes:

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

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

This is how our week went! We hope you enjoyed reading our blog. Until next time, stay safe!