The students were very creative decorators of their gingerbread cookies!
Have a wonderful winter break!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Gingerbread Fun!
Here are some pictures of the students working in cooperative groups as they recall the story elements of Jan Brett's The Gingerbread Baby.
The students were very creative decorators of their gingerbread cookies!
Have a wonderful winter break!
The students were very creative decorators of their gingerbread cookies!
Have a wonderful winter break!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Dec. 12-16
This week and next week are full of activities and excitement! I will fill you in on what we did and what we will do next week.
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was D. We will not have a new letter next week. Our sight words this week were "he" and "she." Next week we will have "see." We read Dazzle the Dinosaur and made our dazzling dinosaurs "do" something that starts with a d (action verb.) We read Lost Dog, Found Dog and made our own lost and found signs. We played doggie BINGO with sight words. In centers, we stamps consonant, vowel, consonant (CVC) words in gingerbread playdoh. We read many gingerbread stories and compared the characters, setting, problem and solution. It is amazing how many versions there are! We might be inspired to retell or write our own during writer's workshop! We will have a blast going on a gingerbread number hunt and decorating our own cookies to take home.
Math: We continued the gingerbread theme in math. We counted by twos, practiced double number writing, used dice to add numbers, added gingerbreads together, and played a fun attribute BINGO game. Every day we are practicing our backward counting from 15. It can be very tricky for some when we go through the teens numbers. Practicing at home with a number line will help. We also are singing our coin songs daily to remember the look and value of a penny and nickel.
Social Studies: Our cool tool this week was recognizing the difference between needs and wants. We NEED very little to survive: food and water, clothing, and shelter. Money, games, toys, and other things are WANTS. We had a great assembly this week called Pro Kids (People Respecting Others.) in a very fun presentation, the kids were reminded the importance of cooperating, caring, appreciating, respecting, and being responsible.
Notes: If you haven't already, please let me know if you are missing any school next week. I want to make sure certain items go home with your child before break.
Thank you to Mrs. Kain, Mr. and Mrs. McHale, and Mrs. Hernandez for making the gingerbread playdoh. We love it! Thank you to Mrs. Loos for presenting art awareness about Monet. Thank you to all who contributed to the gingerbread/gift fund. I appreciate you! And thank you, in advance, to Mrs. Loos , Mrs. Narayanappa, and Mrs. Hernandez for organizing a fun winter party and to Mr. Loos, Mrs. Simonich, Mrs. McHale, and Mrs. Hallissey for joining the decorating fun! We couldn't do it without all of your support!
Have a very joyful, safe, and restful winter break! See you next year!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was D. We will not have a new letter next week. Our sight words this week were "he" and "she." Next week we will have "see." We read Dazzle the Dinosaur and made our dazzling dinosaurs "do" something that starts with a d (action verb.) We read Lost Dog, Found Dog and made our own lost and found signs. We played doggie BINGO with sight words. In centers, we stamps consonant, vowel, consonant (CVC) words in gingerbread playdoh. We read many gingerbread stories and compared the characters, setting, problem and solution. It is amazing how many versions there are! We might be inspired to retell or write our own during writer's workshop! We will have a blast going on a gingerbread number hunt and decorating our own cookies to take home.
Math: We continued the gingerbread theme in math. We counted by twos, practiced double number writing, used dice to add numbers, added gingerbreads together, and played a fun attribute BINGO game. Every day we are practicing our backward counting from 15. It can be very tricky for some when we go through the teens numbers. Practicing at home with a number line will help. We also are singing our coin songs daily to remember the look and value of a penny and nickel.
Social Studies: Our cool tool this week was recognizing the difference between needs and wants. We NEED very little to survive: food and water, clothing, and shelter. Money, games, toys, and other things are WANTS. We had a great assembly this week called Pro Kids (People Respecting Others.) in a very fun presentation, the kids were reminded the importance of cooperating, caring, appreciating, respecting, and being responsible.
Notes: If you haven't already, please let me know if you are missing any school next week. I want to make sure certain items go home with your child before break.
Thank you to Mrs. Kain, Mr. and Mrs. McHale, and Mrs. Hernandez for making the gingerbread playdoh. We love it! Thank you to Mrs. Loos for presenting art awareness about Monet. Thank you to all who contributed to the gingerbread/gift fund. I appreciate you! And thank you, in advance, to Mrs. Loos , Mrs. Narayanappa, and Mrs. Hernandez for organizing a fun winter party and to Mr. Loos, Mrs. Simonich, Mrs. McHale, and Mrs. Hallissey for joining the decorating fun! We couldn't do it without all of your support!
Have a very joyful, safe, and restful winter break! See you next year!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Dec. 5-9
Let it snow!
While it was just a dusting, the kids were very excited to see the snow! If you send your child in boots, please make sure there is a change of shoes for inside...especially on gym days.
Our letter was N and our sight words were "we" and "me." We sequenced the accumulative story The Napping House. We wrote "nice notes" to each other in writer's workshop. We read and learned about the nickel and played a nickel flip game. Noodle sorting helped us count and record different numbers of sets. In science we learned about the characteristics of living and non-living things. In citizenship we talked about which noise /voice levels are appropriate for the school setting. The book Noisy Nora helped with this discussion. We enjoyed a great fifth great music program. The kids were respectful audience members. We continued our nutrition unit and celebrated those who participated in the food group snack activity...we also recognized those who had healthy snacks!
Thank you to those who brought in money to help the cost of our gingerbread activity and family gift. If you are considering donating $2, it will be much appreciated! We will have a fun two weeks before winter break!
Have a great weekend!
While it was just a dusting, the kids were very excited to see the snow! If you send your child in boots, please make sure there is a change of shoes for inside...especially on gym days.
Our letter was N and our sight words were "we" and "me." We sequenced the accumulative story The Napping House. We wrote "nice notes" to each other in writer's workshop. We read and learned about the nickel and played a nickel flip game. Noodle sorting helped us count and record different numbers of sets. In science we learned about the characteristics of living and non-living things. In citizenship we talked about which noise /voice levels are appropriate for the school setting. The book Noisy Nora helped with this discussion. We enjoyed a great fifth great music program. The kids were respectful audience members. We continued our nutrition unit and celebrated those who participated in the food group snack activity...we also recognized those who had healthy snacks!
Thank you to those who brought in money to help the cost of our gingerbread activity and family gift. If you are considering donating $2, it will be much appreciated! We will have a fun two weeks before winter break!
Have a great weekend!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
I hope everyone enjoyed the Thanksgiving Break! Your children came back rested and ready to learn!
Language Arts: This week our sight words were "no" and "go." We focused on the vowel A. We talked about both the long and short sound that this letter makes as well as learned about the word families 'at', 'am', 'ap', and 'an'. Students practiced making many new words just by adding a letter or two to the beginning of these word families. We revisited the 4 square method of writing when we recalled facts about alligators. We created a class book about food using nonsense rhymes. In writer's workshop, we made paper choices and used the offices and idea page as a resource. Next week we will discuss what writer's workshop should look and feel like and continue to practice the writing workshop procedures.I am excited to see writers in action!
Math: We worked on problem solving and number sense with our math wall. We practiced patterns and numeral writing. We talked about making smart guesses with estimation. By using a pan balance we experimented with different objects' weights. Next week we will learn about the nickel. You might want to practice identifying the name and value of coins at home. Counting backwards in the teen numbers is also tricky. Assessing skills for 2nd quarter is not that far off, be sure to be practicing the 2nd quarter skills at home.
Science: We began to learn about nutrition and healthy habits. A fun (optional) activity we will do next week involves our snack time. We are trying to encourage the students to eat healthier snacks as well as to try a variety of foods. As a team, we have come up with a snack schedule for the week. We are hoping the students will embrace this idea and try to eat a snack from a different food group each day. You should have received a yellow note explaining this activity, but in case you didn't, here is the schedule...
Wednesday Dec. 7 – Fruit Group
Thursday Dec. 8 – Milk Group (cheese, yogurt)
Friday Dec. 9 – Meat and Bean Group
Check out www.choose my plate.gov to learn more about healthy eating.
Notes: Friendly reminder! Please have your children practice zipping and snapping winter coats. We need to get ready for lunch recess and afternoon recess quickly and independence is KEY! The coat in a coat winter coats prove to be most challenging...practice, practice, practice! It's only going to get more difficult when snow pants and boots figure into the equation.
Thank you to Mr. Marron for sharing poetry during guest reader. Thank you to the students who brought pennies in for Willowbrook Wildlife Center (keep those pennies coming.) Go to www.willowbrookwildlife.org to see how those pennies are helping nature!
Our treasure box supply is running low. If you have anything to add, it would be greatly appreciated!
Language Arts: This week our sight words were "no" and "go." We focused on the vowel A. We talked about both the long and short sound that this letter makes as well as learned about the word families 'at', 'am', 'ap', and 'an'. Students practiced making many new words just by adding a letter or two to the beginning of these word families. We revisited the 4 square method of writing when we recalled facts about alligators. We created a class book about food using nonsense rhymes. In writer's workshop, we made paper choices and used the offices and idea page as a resource. Next week we will discuss what writer's workshop should look and feel like and continue to practice the writing workshop procedures.I am excited to see writers in action!
Math: We worked on problem solving and number sense with our math wall. We practiced patterns and numeral writing. We talked about making smart guesses with estimation. By using a pan balance we experimented with different objects' weights. Next week we will learn about the nickel. You might want to practice identifying the name and value of coins at home. Counting backwards in the teen numbers is also tricky. Assessing skills for 2nd quarter is not that far off, be sure to be practicing the 2nd quarter skills at home.
Science: We began to learn about nutrition and healthy habits. A fun (optional) activity we will do next week involves our snack time. We are trying to encourage the students to eat healthier snacks as well as to try a variety of foods. As a team, we have come up with a snack schedule for the week. We are hoping the students will embrace this idea and try to eat a snack from a different food group each day. You should have received a yellow note explaining this activity, but in case you didn't, here is the schedule...
Monday Dec. 5 – Grain Group (bread and cereal)
Tuesday Dec. 6 – Vegetable GroupWednesday Dec. 7 – Fruit Group
Thursday Dec. 8 – Milk Group (cheese, yogurt)
Friday Dec. 9 – Meat and Bean Group
Check out www.choose my plate.gov to learn more about healthy eating.
Notes: Friendly reminder! Please have your children practice zipping and snapping winter coats. We need to get ready for lunch recess and afternoon recess quickly and independence is KEY! The coat in a coat winter coats prove to be most challenging...practice, practice, practice! It's only going to get more difficult when snow pants and boots figure into the equation.
Thank you to Mr. Marron for sharing poetry during guest reader. Thank you to the students who brought pennies in for Willowbrook Wildlife Center (keep those pennies coming.) Go to www.willowbrookwildlife.org to see how those pennies are helping nature!
Our treasure box supply is running low. If you have anything to add, it would be greatly appreciated!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Nov. 14-18
Thank you to ALL of the parents who participated in parent/teacher conferences! Although the minutes seemed to fly by, it was valuable time well spent. Thank you for helping me to know your child better and for continuing to partner with me so we can work together to ensure your child's success!
We had a busy week after being home for so long!
Language Arts: The letter of the week was C and our sight words were "in" and "it." Out word last week was "at." Last week, much of our read aloud time was spent learning about the Five Senses. We enjoyed fun experiments on the senses smell, hear, and touch. We also read an interesting book with picture puzzles to exercise our sense of sight. This week we got to enjoy our sense of taste! We went on a cookie hunt and were excited to find a plate of cookies waiting for us in our room! Yum! After reading Little Cloud we used our imaginations to write about what shape our clouds took. We read the book Cookie's Week and sequenced the story to retell. We are very excited to be starting Writer's Workshop! We had a discussion about WHY we write (grocery lists, letters to people, to become smarter...better readers and writers, to tell people things) and about people we know who write (moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, friends, teachers, US.) We discussed what makes authors good writers (writing about what they know.) We also talked about what we can use in the classroom to help us with our writing (writing offices, word wall, dictionaries, other books, word lists.) Very soon, we will begin MAKING great things in Writer's Workshop!
Math: Number writing practice, counting object and matching with numbers, symmetry, understanding number stories, and sequencing kept us busy this week in math.
Social Studies: The importance of using good manners at home and at school has been the social skill topic this week. Saying please, thank you, and you're welcome are certainly magic words. They help other people want to help you. Excuse me and I'm sorry are considerate phrases. Giving compliments makes other feel good! We want to always treat others as we would like to be treated!
Science: We finished up our senses unit this week.
Notes: Mr. Simonich, Mrs. Loos, and Mrs. Hernandez were guest readers these past two weeks. Thank you! Please note that I have added links to the guest reader sign up and Valentine party on the left side of this blog post. Although Mondays are listed as an option for guest reading, I'd like to avoid the morning slot...we are busy with our letter of the week at that time. With Writer's Workshop beginning, I have two favors to ask: If you would like to donate reams of white copy paper, we use a lot of it for small books. If you would like to fold and staple small books at home, I would love and appreciate your help. Just email me and I'll send home supplies! Thank you!!!!
It was fun seeing May Watts families at our Culver's Night
Have a great weekend!
We had a busy week after being home for so long!
Language Arts: The letter of the week was C and our sight words were "in" and "it." Out word last week was "at." Last week, much of our read aloud time was spent learning about the Five Senses. We enjoyed fun experiments on the senses smell, hear, and touch. We also read an interesting book with picture puzzles to exercise our sense of sight. This week we got to enjoy our sense of taste! We went on a cookie hunt and were excited to find a plate of cookies waiting for us in our room! Yum! After reading Little Cloud we used our imaginations to write about what shape our clouds took. We read the book Cookie's Week and sequenced the story to retell. We are very excited to be starting Writer's Workshop! We had a discussion about WHY we write (grocery lists, letters to people, to become smarter...better readers and writers, to tell people things) and about people we know who write (moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, friends, teachers, US.) We discussed what makes authors good writers (writing about what they know.) We also talked about what we can use in the classroom to help us with our writing (writing offices, word wall, dictionaries, other books, word lists.) Very soon, we will begin MAKING great things in Writer's Workshop!
Math: Number writing practice, counting object and matching with numbers, symmetry, understanding number stories, and sequencing kept us busy this week in math.
Social Studies: The importance of using good manners at home and at school has been the social skill topic this week. Saying please, thank you, and you're welcome are certainly magic words. They help other people want to help you. Excuse me and I'm sorry are considerate phrases. Giving compliments makes other feel good! We want to always treat others as we would like to be treated!
Science: We finished up our senses unit this week.
Notes: Mr. Simonich, Mrs. Loos, and Mrs. Hernandez were guest readers these past two weeks. Thank you! Please note that I have added links to the guest reader sign up and Valentine party on the left side of this blog post. Although Mondays are listed as an option for guest reading, I'd like to avoid the morning slot...we are busy with our letter of the week at that time. With Writer's Workshop beginning, I have two favors to ask: If you would like to donate reams of white copy paper, we use a lot of it for small books. If you would like to fold and staple small books at home, I would love and appreciate your help. Just email me and I'll send home supplies! Thank you!!!!
It was fun seeing May Watts families at our Culver's Night
Have a great weekend!
Friday, November 4, 2011
Oct. 31-Nov. 4
I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! Thank you to Mrs. Hallissey and Mrs. Henderson for planning and running a fun fall party!
Language Arts: I forgot to mention last week the lesson and writing activity we did on adjectives. We used adjectives to describe a pumpkin that I brought in to class. The students looked at it and touched it and we wrote describing words on the pumpkin. We recorded our ideas on a paper that went home. This week we finished Jolly Phonics with the ar sound. Our books went home for extra practice. We will now concentrate on our sight words and phonemic awareness within words (ex: words with same beginning sound or ending sound, words that rhyme, syllables, blending) Our sight words this week were "you" and "on." Our letter of the week was T. We read The Teeny Tiny Woman and made our own teeny tiny books. We read Mr. Tannen's Tie and made our own ties that show something special to us. We read a non fiction book about turtles and wrote a fact that we remembered from the book. To continue our celebration of fall, we read a scarecrow book and made wonderful scarecrows to decorate our bulletin board.
Math: The book Tally O'Mally helped us understand why and how tally marks are used and bundled. We read a tall tale and wrote about things that are taller and tinier than us. We played a game called Teen Partners to help us with the concept of teens...they are just a little more than ten. We worked on the concept of less than, more than, and equal and their symbols. We practiced our math extended responses by drawing our thinking and using key math words in our answers.
Social Studies: We are reading more books about good social behavior such as The Bear Who Shared, The Boy Who Wouldn't Share and Pumpkin Soup. Class discussions about making good choices and being a good friend will be a regular part of each day.
Notes: There will be NO SCHOOL Thursday and Friday of next week. I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences. Have a great weekend!
Language Arts: I forgot to mention last week the lesson and writing activity we did on adjectives. We used adjectives to describe a pumpkin that I brought in to class. The students looked at it and touched it and we wrote describing words on the pumpkin. We recorded our ideas on a paper that went home. This week we finished Jolly Phonics with the ar sound. Our books went home for extra practice. We will now concentrate on our sight words and phonemic awareness within words (ex: words with same beginning sound or ending sound, words that rhyme, syllables, blending) Our sight words this week were "you" and "on." Our letter of the week was T. We read The Teeny Tiny Woman and made our own teeny tiny books. We read Mr. Tannen's Tie and made our own ties that show something special to us. We read a non fiction book about turtles and wrote a fact that we remembered from the book. To continue our celebration of fall, we read a scarecrow book and made wonderful scarecrows to decorate our bulletin board.
Math: The book Tally O'Mally helped us understand why and how tally marks are used and bundled. We read a tall tale and wrote about things that are taller and tinier than us. We played a game called Teen Partners to help us with the concept of teens...they are just a little more than ten. We worked on the concept of less than, more than, and equal and their symbols. We practiced our math extended responses by drawing our thinking and using key math words in our answers.
Social Studies: We are reading more books about good social behavior such as The Bear Who Shared, The Boy Who Wouldn't Share and Pumpkin Soup. Class discussions about making good choices and being a good friend will be a regular part of each day.
Notes: There will be NO SCHOOL Thursday and Friday of next week. I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences. Have a great weekend!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Oct. 24-28
Wow! It really feels like fall! We have had a great week in school! Look at all we have done.
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was P Many of our themes centered around this letter. Our sight words were"to" and "do." We practiced the sounds qu, ou, oi, ue, and er. We read Bennie's Pennies and had lots of fun retelling it by acting it out. We made a small book of Bennie's Pennies to keep in our book bags for guided reading time. Another small book we made was My Pig. we are practicing tracking our reading by pointing to the words as we read. We also notice repetitive text, matching words to the pictures, and that our popcorn words keep "popping" up. We read The Big Pumpkin and stopped halfway to make a prediction. We had creative ideas! We read the fact book Hold the Anchovies which told us how pizza is made. We wrote a response book about our favorite pizza. On Friday, our fifth grade reading buddies visited. We read lots of fall and Halloween books. What a fun time!
Math: Sequencing was our focus this week. We talked about what came 1st, 2nd , ect. in the story Bennie's Pennies. We read Pumpkin, Pumpkin and created a sequence page of how to create a Jack-o-Lantern. We also graphed our favorite kind of pizza. Can you guess which won? CHEESE!
Science: We conducted an experiment with pennies. We observed pennies then predicted what would happen when the pennies drop into a mystery liquid. Ask your child what happened.
Social Studies: Our Cool Tool last week and this week have been STOP, WALK, and TALK...our bully prevention program. We also had a class meeting about how we should be acting at school including school rules and being a good friend. Many members of our class are having a difficult time making good choices in regards to school behavior and friend interaction. We are going to be making time every day to discuss how we should be treating others and ourselves. Beginning November, you will see a calendar going home to give you feedback on how your child's day went. I will send a note home explaining in better detail how this will work. I hope you find it helpful.
Notes: Kindergartners do not receive report cards the first quarter. You will get LOTS of information at our parent teacher conferences. Please look to you right to see the time of the Halloween parade and refer to the email that was sent last week about Monday.
Thank you to Eden's Grammy for being a guest reader. We look forward to our future visitors!
Have a great weekend!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was P Many of our themes centered around this letter. Our sight words were"to" and "do." We practiced the sounds qu, ou, oi, ue, and er. We read Bennie's Pennies and had lots of fun retelling it by acting it out. We made a small book of Bennie's Pennies to keep in our book bags for guided reading time. Another small book we made was My Pig. we are practicing tracking our reading by pointing to the words as we read. We also notice repetitive text, matching words to the pictures, and that our popcorn words keep "popping" up. We read The Big Pumpkin and stopped halfway to make a prediction. We had creative ideas! We read the fact book Hold the Anchovies which told us how pizza is made. We wrote a response book about our favorite pizza. On Friday, our fifth grade reading buddies visited. We read lots of fall and Halloween books. What a fun time!
Math: Sequencing was our focus this week. We talked about what came 1st, 2nd , ect. in the story Bennie's Pennies. We read Pumpkin, Pumpkin and created a sequence page of how to create a Jack-o-Lantern. We also graphed our favorite kind of pizza. Can you guess which won? CHEESE!
Science: We conducted an experiment with pennies. We observed pennies then predicted what would happen when the pennies drop into a mystery liquid. Ask your child what happened.
Social Studies: Our Cool Tool last week and this week have been STOP, WALK, and TALK...our bully prevention program. We also had a class meeting about how we should be acting at school including school rules and being a good friend. Many members of our class are having a difficult time making good choices in regards to school behavior and friend interaction. We are going to be making time every day to discuss how we should be treating others and ourselves. Beginning November, you will see a calendar going home to give you feedback on how your child's day went. I will send a note home explaining in better detail how this will work. I hope you find it helpful.
Notes: Kindergartners do not receive report cards the first quarter. You will get LOTS of information at our parent teacher conferences. Please look to you right to see the time of the Halloween parade and refer to the email that was sent last week about Monday.
Thank you to Eden's Grammy for being a guest reader. We look forward to our future visitors!
Have a great weekend!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Oct. 17-21
We had another busy week in kindergarten! I have added a few links to my blog site. Please look to the left to find a link to our new author study, Leo Lionni. We enjoyed watching the video clip of the author himself explaining his artwork, characters, and messages. Leo Lionni likes to have a lesson taught in each of his books. You will find a list on this link as well as many of them featured on my Library Thing. Also, please note that there are links to all the specials teachers' blogs. Try to visit Mrs. Dunafin's site. Our KP class is featured!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was R. Our sight words were "am" and "and." We read Oh A-Hunting We Will Go and made a response book of our own with rhyming words. We made rhyme boxes and notices rhymes in our poems this week. We read Let's Make Rabbits by Leo Lionni and created pencil and scissor rabbits. Friday was Sound Book 6 review day. Our sounds were y, x, sh, and th. Other books we read were Red Racer, Tillie and the Wall, Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse, Frederick, and Matthew's Dream.
Math: We did many activities involving number quantity. We also made a rocket and counted down from 10-1. Tens frames help us organize the quantity of numbers up to ten. We played a tens frame game and Rabbit Flash math to produce number quantities to 10. Every Friday we work on a math extended response. The kids are learning about looking at the problem, showing their thinking in a picture, and writing a sentence with which includes labels.
Science: Thank you to everyone who remembered to send a rock to school. We had some who brought a few and were able to share. We studied our rocks with a magnifying glass and made a rock report. It was neat to see the different types of rocks and their characteristics!
Notes: Thank you to everyone who sent in wrapping/wall paper and other supplies on my wish list! I will not be sending out book order forms for October and November. Our May Watts LMC will have a Book Fair around conference time. A good portion of the proceeds will go towards resources for our school. I will be placing an order for December (and I would love to do it in time for them to return before winter break.) Please feel free to place an order any time for any month if you wish.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was R. Our sight words were "am" and "and." We read Oh A-Hunting We Will Go and made a response book of our own with rhyming words. We made rhyme boxes and notices rhymes in our poems this week. We read Let's Make Rabbits by Leo Lionni and created pencil and scissor rabbits. Friday was Sound Book 6 review day. Our sounds were y, x, sh, and th. Other books we read were Red Racer, Tillie and the Wall, Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse, Frederick, and Matthew's Dream.
Math: We did many activities involving number quantity. We also made a rocket and counted down from 10-1. Tens frames help us organize the quantity of numbers up to ten. We played a tens frame game and Rabbit Flash math to produce number quantities to 10. Every Friday we work on a math extended response. The kids are learning about looking at the problem, showing their thinking in a picture, and writing a sentence with which includes labels.
Science: Thank you to everyone who remembered to send a rock to school. We had some who brought a few and were able to share. We studied our rocks with a magnifying glass and made a rock report. It was neat to see the different types of rocks and their characteristics!
Notes: Thank you to everyone who sent in wrapping/wall paper and other supplies on my wish list! I will not be sending out book order forms for October and November. Our May Watts LMC will have a Book Fair around conference time. A good portion of the proceeds will go towards resources for our school. I will be placing an order for December (and I would love to do it in time for them to return before winter break.) Please feel free to place an order any time for any month if you wish.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Oct. 11-14
My post today will be short and sweet like our week! For social studies, we focused on fire safety this week. We read stories and wrote about things firefighters do to help our community. On Friday, we had a fire drill and listened to firefighters talk about changing smoke detector batteries, finding a meeting spot in case of a fire, staying low in the house to avoid smoke and our favorite: STOP, DROP, AND ROLL!
Math was centered around number quantities, counting, and numerical order.
We continued seasons in science and made beautiful fall trees for our classroom.
Next week we will be exploring rocks. Please have your child bring in a rock in a ziplock baggie with his/her name on it. We will also be doing an activity that involves old wallpaper or wrapping paper. If you have any to donate, we sure could use some!
Thank you to everyone who responded to our room parent's email about Sign Up Genius. I hope you find it to be an easy way to get involved. Look for more opportunities in the future. I will also try to create a volunteer calendar on the blog for you to check when you signed up.
If you have not returned your conference time sheets (I guess I sent them out a bit early.) please let me know if you can make it.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Math was centered around number quantities, counting, and numerical order.
We continued seasons in science and made beautiful fall trees for our classroom.
Next week we will be exploring rocks. Please have your child bring in a rock in a ziplock baggie with his/her name on it. We will also be doing an activity that involves old wallpaper or wrapping paper. If you have any to donate, we sure could use some!
Thank you to everyone who responded to our room parent's email about Sign Up Genius. I hope you find it to be an easy way to get involved. Look for more opportunities in the future. I will also try to create a volunteer calendar on the blog for you to check when you signed up.
If you have not returned your conference time sheets (I guess I sent them out a bit early.) please let me know if you can make it.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Oct. 3 - 7
On Friday, we met our fifth grade reading buddies from Mrs. Bennick's class. They came to our room and we paired up to read picture books together. We will get together about once a month throughout the year!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was "s" and the sight words were "I" and "like." Practice those popcorn words at home! Our jolly phonics sounds were ee or, z, w, and ng. We made a sound review book that we brought home to show you. We read books about spiders and seasons. We wrote a fact response about spiders. We made our own Itsy Bitsy Spider book and had fun singing "There's a Spider on the Floor" with our spider rings. We practiced Listen to Reading for Daily 5. In this center, we listen to a book on tape and write a rated response.
Math: We played listen and count games. We made a spider number book matching the correct amount of spiders to the number. We learned a fun game called Skyscrapers which is a counting, estimating and comparing game. We practiced the writing strokes needed to write numbers (lines, curves, strokes, diagonals.)
Social Studies: We continued working on our listening skills. It is important to be an active listener...not to just hear but to listen and think about what you heard. Some books and videos that reinforced this skills were Listen Buddy, Listen and Learn, and Active Listening.
Science: Our science was emerged with language arts focusing on seasons. We read The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree and reproduced what the tree looked like throughout the four seasons. We watched a video about seasons and collaborated with our Turn and Talk partners to draw pictures of things we see in the four seasons: specific animals, plants, activities, holidays.
Notes: REMEMBER: No School on Monday Oct, 10th. - Columbus Day. Wednesday, Oct. 12th is early dismissal. The students will be dismissed at 12:15. DO NOT SEND A LUNCH THAT DAY BUT SEND A SNACK!!!!
Enjoy the long weekend and beautiful weather!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was "s" and the sight words were "I" and "like." Practice those popcorn words at home! Our jolly phonics sounds were ee or, z, w, and ng. We made a sound review book that we brought home to show you. We read books about spiders and seasons. We wrote a fact response about spiders. We made our own Itsy Bitsy Spider book and had fun singing "There's a Spider on the Floor" with our spider rings. We practiced Listen to Reading for Daily 5. In this center, we listen to a book on tape and write a rated response.
Math: We played listen and count games. We made a spider number book matching the correct amount of spiders to the number. We learned a fun game called Skyscrapers which is a counting, estimating and comparing game. We practiced the writing strokes needed to write numbers (lines, curves, strokes, diagonals.)
Social Studies: We continued working on our listening skills. It is important to be an active listener...not to just hear but to listen and think about what you heard. Some books and videos that reinforced this skills were Listen Buddy, Listen and Learn, and Active Listening.
Science: Our science was emerged with language arts focusing on seasons. We read The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree and reproduced what the tree looked like throughout the four seasons. We watched a video about seasons and collaborated with our Turn and Talk partners to draw pictures of things we see in the four seasons: specific animals, plants, activities, holidays.
Notes: REMEMBER: No School on Monday Oct, 10th. - Columbus Day. Wednesday, Oct. 12th is early dismissal. The students will be dismissed at 12:15. DO NOT SEND A LUNCH THAT DAY BUT SEND A SNACK!!!!
Enjoy the long weekend and beautiful weather!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Sept. 26-30
Language Arts: Letter M was the letter of the week. We had letter day on Monday, where we read a poem, practice writing the letter in the air, and brainstorm words that begin with that letter. Our sight word was "my." Our jolly phonics sounds were Sound Book 2 review, ai, j, oa, and ie. We read Caps For Sale and Go Away Big Green Monster. We acted out stories and create projects. We read a monkey fact book and wrote a 4 square writing piece focusing on verbs...What Monkeys Do. We read The Very Grouchy Ladybug and made a response book. For Daily 5, we learned and practiced how to do Word Work.
Math: We created patterned on our peddler after reading Caps for Sale. We learned the Monkey Game which extends from Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. We practiced our number skills by counting to put specific numbers of monkeys on or off the bed. We went on a number walk and discussed the many ways we use numbers. A ladybug counting page also gave us number practice. We learned the Monster Squeeze Game which focuses on numbers that are "more than" and "less than." I encourage your child to do the following Math Home Links: 1.5 Numbers All Around, 2.5 Patterns All Around 2.8 Coin Detective, 3.2 Shape and Color Patterns, and 3.6 Monster Squeeze.
Social Studies: The Cool Tool for the week was I Can Problem solve....Listening. we talked about the importance of being a good listener. We used our turn and talk partners to practice taking turns listening while our partner told of what he/she did that weekend. When we are in a conflict, it is important to listen to better understand what our friend feels and needs.
Notes: Don't forget!!! Picture Day is Thursday, October 6th! Send your child with their best smiles that day! Thank you again for all of the donations for our classroom. If you ever come across materials of which we might benefit, please know it will be put to good use! Thanks to Mrs. Simonich for the use of the fan. I'm afraid our warm weather is over. So bundle up and welcome fall! Have a great weekend!
Math: We created patterned on our peddler after reading Caps for Sale. We learned the Monkey Game which extends from Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. We practiced our number skills by counting to put specific numbers of monkeys on or off the bed. We went on a number walk and discussed the many ways we use numbers. A ladybug counting page also gave us number practice. We learned the Monster Squeeze Game which focuses on numbers that are "more than" and "less than." I encourage your child to do the following Math Home Links: 1.5 Numbers All Around, 2.5 Patterns All Around 2.8 Coin Detective, 3.2 Shape and Color Patterns, and 3.6 Monster Squeeze.
Social Studies: The Cool Tool for the week was I Can Problem solve....Listening. we talked about the importance of being a good listener. We used our turn and talk partners to practice taking turns listening while our partner told of what he/she did that weekend. When we are in a conflict, it is important to listen to better understand what our friend feels and needs.
Notes: Don't forget!!! Picture Day is Thursday, October 6th! Send your child with their best smiles that day! Thank you again for all of the donations for our classroom. If you ever come across materials of which we might benefit, please know it will be put to good use! Thanks to Mrs. Simonich for the use of the fan. I'm afraid our warm weather is over. So bundle up and welcome fall! Have a great weekend!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Sept. 19-23
We have a new author study, Eric Carle! Please look at the links to the right to visit websites about Laura Numeroff and Eric Carle.
Language Arts - We learned and discussed the sounds, o, u, l, f, and b. Our sight word was "is." Many of our read alouds and responses were with Eric Carle books. We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We wrote a response and we created story parts so we could retell the story at home. We read Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? and learned about the reading strategy "Look at the picture clues." We made our own mixed up animals after we read The Mixed Up Chameleon. We learned that Eric Carle likes to have a "gimmick" in all of his stories which tend to center around animals and nature. We made our own beautiful Eric Carle collages.
Work on Writing was the Daily Five practice this week. We learned how to write in our journals the whole time. Writing can look different depending on one's skills. Maybe we are writing through a picture. Maybe we can draw a picture and add a few sounds or a label. We might even be writing words and sentences! Our picture needs to tell the story with lots of detail. We will challenge ourselves and grow into writing words too.
Math - We played lots of fun games centered around patterns, counting, instant number recognition, and number recognition. We began our Math Wall. The students travel to the hallway for an engaging set of lessons focusing on number sense.
Social Studies - Our Cool Tool for the week was "How to Cool Off." We introduced this last week and reinforced it with stories like Mean Soup and videos like Hoppin' Mad.
Notes - Thank you to ALL who brought in donations of supplies!!!!!!! I am so appreciative of the support and everything will be put to good use! Thank you! Have a great weekend!
Language Arts - We learned and discussed the sounds, o, u, l, f, and b. Our sight word was "is." Many of our read alouds and responses were with Eric Carle books. We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We wrote a response and we created story parts so we could retell the story at home. We read Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? and learned about the reading strategy "Look at the picture clues." We made our own mixed up animals after we read The Mixed Up Chameleon. We learned that Eric Carle likes to have a "gimmick" in all of his stories which tend to center around animals and nature. We made our own beautiful Eric Carle collages.
Work on Writing was the Daily Five practice this week. We learned how to write in our journals the whole time. Writing can look different depending on one's skills. Maybe we are writing through a picture. Maybe we can draw a picture and add a few sounds or a label. We might even be writing words and sentences! Our picture needs to tell the story with lots of detail. We will challenge ourselves and grow into writing words too.
Math - We played lots of fun games centered around patterns, counting, instant number recognition, and number recognition. We began our Math Wall. The students travel to the hallway for an engaging set of lessons focusing on number sense.
Social Studies - Our Cool Tool for the week was "How to Cool Off." We introduced this last week and reinforced it with stories like Mean Soup and videos like Hoppin' Mad.
Notes - Thank you to ALL who brought in donations of supplies!!!!!!! I am so appreciative of the support and everything will be put to good use! Thank you! Have a great weekend!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Sept. 12-16
We just completed our first full week of kindergarten! It has been a busy week!
Language Arts: We finished Jolly phonic sound book two. As they come home, have your child repeat the actions to go along with the sound. Our sight words were "a" and " the." Notice the sight word poems that come home. We practiced reading those all week and raised our thumbs as we heard and read the sight word. We continued our exploration of shapes through literature this week by reading many shapes books including A Bear in a Square and The Shape of Things. We made a small book about shapes and worked with partners to create a scene made up of all types of shapes. We also read the book I Read Signs. We made a response book and went on a shape walk in and around our school. We read the book Officer Buckle and Gloria and talked about the importance of rules.
We are beginning to learn about Daily 5, our management program during guided reading. This week we practiced Read to Self. The students know that the teacher's responsibility is to work with a small group. Their list of responsibilities is much longer. If they follow the expectations, they are being independent. some of the expectations are Eyes on Book, Stay Still, Zero Voices, and Build Stamina. We started reading for 3 minutes and have successfully worked our way to 6 minutes. We will continue to lengthen our time until we reach 15 minutes.
Math: Shapes have been our main focus. In addition to reading many books, we have played a Shapes by Feel game, a listening game with a song, explored tracing with templates, and created pictures with shapes.
Social Studies: Our Citizenship Cool Tool this week was I Can Problem Solve. this is a process for solving a problem. 1. Stop and Cool Off (we talked about different ways) 2. Talk and Listen (Use I Messages - I feel ___ when...) 3. Think of Ways to Solve the Problem 4. Choose the Idea You Like Best!
We spent some time talking about what anger looks and feels like. We discussed the anger thermometer....annoyed...irritated...angry...furious...enraged. We know that it is important to control our anger and that most of the time it is not appropriate to go high on the anger thermometer.
Notes: Thank you to all who could make it to curriculum night. If were unable to attend, please look into your child's backpack where you can find a large ziplock full of resources and materials. Please look over and let me know if you have any questions. There are many upcoming May Watts events, including the optional Reflections program. Please refer to any emails sent directly from May Watts or check the May Watts website calendar.
Have a great weekend!
Language Arts: We finished Jolly phonic sound book two. As they come home, have your child repeat the actions to go along with the sound. Our sight words were "a" and " the." Notice the sight word poems that come home. We practiced reading those all week and raised our thumbs as we heard and read the sight word. We continued our exploration of shapes through literature this week by reading many shapes books including A Bear in a Square and The Shape of Things. We made a small book about shapes and worked with partners to create a scene made up of all types of shapes. We also read the book I Read Signs. We made a response book and went on a shape walk in and around our school. We read the book Officer Buckle and Gloria and talked about the importance of rules.
We are beginning to learn about Daily 5, our management program during guided reading. This week we practiced Read to Self. The students know that the teacher's responsibility is to work with a small group. Their list of responsibilities is much longer. If they follow the expectations, they are being independent. some of the expectations are Eyes on Book, Stay Still, Zero Voices, and Build Stamina. We started reading for 3 minutes and have successfully worked our way to 6 minutes. We will continue to lengthen our time until we reach 15 minutes.
Math: Shapes have been our main focus. In addition to reading many books, we have played a Shapes by Feel game, a listening game with a song, explored tracing with templates, and created pictures with shapes.
Social Studies: Our Citizenship Cool Tool this week was I Can Problem Solve. this is a process for solving a problem. 1. Stop and Cool Off (we talked about different ways) 2. Talk and Listen (Use I Messages - I feel ___ when...) 3. Think of Ways to Solve the Problem 4. Choose the Idea You Like Best!
We spent some time talking about what anger looks and feels like. We discussed the anger thermometer....annoyed...irritated...angry...furious...enraged. We know that it is important to control our anger and that most of the time it is not appropriate to go high on the anger thermometer.
Notes: Thank you to all who could make it to curriculum night. If were unable to attend, please look into your child's backpack where you can find a large ziplock full of resources and materials. Please look over and let me know if you have any questions. There are many upcoming May Watts events, including the optional Reflections program. Please refer to any emails sent directly from May Watts or check the May Watts website calendar.
Have a great weekend!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Sept. 7-9
We had a busy short week in kindergarten. We are slowly but surely getting used to the routine of school. The kids feel so good about themselves and their day when they know what to expect.
L.A. - We continued our Jolly Phonics program learning a letter sound and action each day. So far, the letter sounds presented are s, a, t, i, p, n, c/k, e, and h. After every 6 sounds, we have a review day and make a book to practice at home. Keep them handy. Last we we read stories about mice, names, and school. This week we focused on fish, colors, and patterns. We are making our own class books in response.
Math - Colors, patterns, sorting, and graphing have been the main focus these past two weeks. We will continue these skills through morning math boxes and afternoon centers.
Social Studies - Since school began, our s.s. topic has been school rules. We will always review throughout the year. All social skills are taught, modeled, practice and reviewed all year long. We are beginning to talk about friendship and what makes a good friend. We will then move into conflict resolution. This involves identifying the conflict, cooling off, using words to talk it out and come to a resolution that you can agree upon.
Science - We did our first science experiment using the scientific method. We predicted what would happen when a red ice cube was placed in yellow lemonade. Our predictions were spot on! Have your child show you the record sheet.
Notes: Don't forget to be a part of the May Watts community by attending the ice cream social on Monday, Sept. 12th. I look forward to seeing everyone (parents only) at Curriculum Night on Thursday, Sept. 15th. This is a night to receive information about the kindergarten curriculum and our schedule in KP. We will have a sign up for November conferences that night. Due to the short time allotment and large group setting, I will not be able to discuss your child's progress on Thursday. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at any time.
Have a great weekend!
L.A. - We continued our Jolly Phonics program learning a letter sound and action each day. So far, the letter sounds presented are s, a, t, i, p, n, c/k, e, and h. After every 6 sounds, we have a review day and make a book to practice at home. Keep them handy. Last we we read stories about mice, names, and school. This week we focused on fish, colors, and patterns. We are making our own class books in response.
Math - Colors, patterns, sorting, and graphing have been the main focus these past two weeks. We will continue these skills through morning math boxes and afternoon centers.
Social Studies - Since school began, our s.s. topic has been school rules. We will always review throughout the year. All social skills are taught, modeled, practice and reviewed all year long. We are beginning to talk about friendship and what makes a good friend. We will then move into conflict resolution. This involves identifying the conflict, cooling off, using words to talk it out and come to a resolution that you can agree upon.
Science - We did our first science experiment using the scientific method. We predicted what would happen when a red ice cube was placed in yellow lemonade. Our predictions were spot on! Have your child show you the record sheet.
Notes: Don't forget to be a part of the May Watts community by attending the ice cream social on Monday, Sept. 12th. I look forward to seeing everyone (parents only) at Curriculum Night on Thursday, Sept. 15th. This is a night to receive information about the kindergarten curriculum and our schedule in KP. We will have a sign up for November conferences that night. Due to the short time allotment and large group setting, I will not be able to discuss your child's progress on Thursday. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at any time.
Have a great weekend!
Friday, August 26, 2011
August 22-26
We had a great first week in kindergarten!!! Despite the rain and hot temperatures, our class was able to learn so much! I know your kids came home exhausted but I hope they were able to tell you about some of the fun things they did.
We listened to a lot of classroom and school rules. We learned about all of the procedures needed to function in KP. We sang fun songs and read books about school and friends. We began our Jolly Phonics program beginning with the sounds s, a, and t. We explored many ways to play with unifix cubes and pattern blocks.
We were able to go to some of our specials but will see all specials teachers next week. Please refer to the specials schedule to the right. Your child must wear gym shoes on P.E. day or he/she will have to sit out.
Thank you for sending your child's snack in a separate place in their backpack. Everyone is doing a great job staying organized because of this. If you haven't started already and are interested, you may begin having your child buy hot (school) lunch. Please review the choices in the morning so sign up at school runs smoothly.
I'm sending home a Student Information Sheet today. Please fill out and return as soon as possible. If you already gave your emails to me, you can skip filling that out again. Thank you for your help with this.
Have a great weekend!
We listened to a lot of classroom and school rules. We learned about all of the procedures needed to function in KP. We sang fun songs and read books about school and friends. We began our Jolly Phonics program beginning with the sounds s, a, and t. We explored many ways to play with unifix cubes and pattern blocks.
We were able to go to some of our specials but will see all specials teachers next week. Please refer to the specials schedule to the right. Your child must wear gym shoes on P.E. day or he/she will have to sit out.
Thank you for sending your child's snack in a separate place in their backpack. Everyone is doing a great job staying organized because of this. If you haven't started already and are interested, you may begin having your child buy hot (school) lunch. Please review the choices in the morning so sign up at school runs smoothly.
I'm sending home a Student Information Sheet today. Please fill out and return as soon as possible. If you already gave your emails to me, you can skip filling that out again. Thank you for your help with this.
Have a great weekend!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Welcome New Kindergarteners!
Hi friends! Welcome to May Watts and to KP! I thought you might like a sneak peek into your kindergarten classroom. I am really looking forward to meeting you! You will come with a grown up on Monday, August 22nd. You will stay for just a short visit. During that time, I will chat will the parents as you find your desk and your coat hook and sort the supplies you have brought. Tuesday, August 23rd will be your first REAL day of kindergarten! Get ready for a year of learning and a year of fun! Kindergarten ROCKS!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Good Luck New First Graders!
This has been an awesome year! I feel so lucky that I had the privilege of being a part of your child's educational journey! Thank you to all of the parents who helped me at school and behind the scenes and to ALL parents for the support you gave me and your child this year. Good luck to every student as you continue your path of learning. I will miss you all! Happy summer!
Love, Mrs. Peterson
Love, Mrs. Peterson
Friday, May 27, 2011
May 16-27
It's hard to believe that we only have one week left of school! We have kept very busy!
Our science and language arts blended together the past two weeks as we have learned about seeds to plants. We had a few experiments to get to know the parts of a seed and the parts of a plant. We read the following books: The Tiny Seed, Seeds to Plants, The Flower Garden, The Sunflower House, Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash, How New Plants Grow, The Enormous Carrot, and A Field of Sunflowers. We sequenced the growth of a plant and observed and recorded the growth of our sunflower plants. We even planted HAIR :)
In math, we practiced the use of the function machine, which is still tricky for many so I encourage you to practice on the website I gave to you. We practiced making addition fact families and continued our math games.
Fairy tales have been another focus in our classroom. We read different versions of Cinderella and compared them using a Venn diagram. We retold the story of the Little Red Hen and The Three Little Pigs using puppets and a story map. We will continue this fun next week.
We all had a great time on the field trip to the DuPage Children's Museum. I was very impressed by the creative 3-D forms that the students put in their Geo Spaces. Thank you to Dr. Platt, Mrs. Parrilli, Mrs. McHale, and Mrs. Marron for facilitating their small groups.
Our published books have returned to the classroom. Thank you to ALL of the parents who took dictation and typed up the stories. Our authors will be illustrating them next week and taking them home after completion!
Two things to remember for Tuesday: We will be having an all school Citizenship Celebration on Tuesday to celebrate all students' efforts to learn, practice, and become better citizens in our school. The celebration will resemble Field Day so tennis shoes, comfortable clothes, and a water bottle will be necessities. Also, ALL library books must be returned on Tuesday. It's time for Mrs. May to organize the LMC and get ready for another great year. So look under beds, behind the couch, and on your shelves and send them in! :)
Have a GREAT Memorial Day weekend!
Our science and language arts blended together the past two weeks as we have learned about seeds to plants. We had a few experiments to get to know the parts of a seed and the parts of a plant. We read the following books: The Tiny Seed, Seeds to Plants, The Flower Garden, The Sunflower House, Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash, How New Plants Grow, The Enormous Carrot, and A Field of Sunflowers. We sequenced the growth of a plant and observed and recorded the growth of our sunflower plants. We even planted HAIR :)
In math, we practiced the use of the function machine, which is still tricky for many so I encourage you to practice on the website I gave to you. We practiced making addition fact families and continued our math games.
Fairy tales have been another focus in our classroom. We read different versions of Cinderella and compared them using a Venn diagram. We retold the story of the Little Red Hen and The Three Little Pigs using puppets and a story map. We will continue this fun next week.
We all had a great time on the field trip to the DuPage Children's Museum. I was very impressed by the creative 3-D forms that the students put in their Geo Spaces. Thank you to Dr. Platt, Mrs. Parrilli, Mrs. McHale, and Mrs. Marron for facilitating their small groups.
Our published books have returned to the classroom. Thank you to ALL of the parents who took dictation and typed up the stories. Our authors will be illustrating them next week and taking them home after completion!
Two things to remember for Tuesday: We will be having an all school Citizenship Celebration on Tuesday to celebrate all students' efforts to learn, practice, and become better citizens in our school. The celebration will resemble Field Day so tennis shoes, comfortable clothes, and a water bottle will be necessities. Also, ALL library books must be returned on Tuesday. It's time for Mrs. May to organize the LMC and get ready for another great year. So look under beds, behind the couch, and on your shelves and send them in! :)
Have a GREAT Memorial Day weekend!
Monday, May 16, 2011
May 2 - 13
It is hard to believe that there are only three weeks left of school. We have been working hard and will continue to have fun learning these last few weeks!
Language Arts: We completed the letter study with z, q and u. Our final sight words, have and here, were introduced. We are now using the pocket chart to read familiar nursery rhymes. During Z week, we read Zin, Zin Zin A Violin! and The Maestro Plays and created our own orchestra with musical sounds. We read Zinc the Zebra and created our own unique animal. We read stories about mothers in preparation for Mother's Day.Last week, We read Cassie's Word Quilt and made the most creative word quilts! We also showed great thinking and writing skills as we responded to the alphabet book Q is For Duck. Through the rest of the year, our students will be focusing on the various strategies found on the wheel that was sent home on Friday. So far, we have read books that have promoted the use of the strategies Picture Clues, Get Your Mouth Ready, Does It Makes Sense, and Does It Look Right. Keep that wheel handy to encourage your child to use more than Sound It Out...when your child fixes a word, ask him/her to tell you which strategy was used! We have had a lot of fun in Writer's Workshop. We continue to make lots of things and have added a large alphabet book of kindergarten spelling to the choices. The kids also had the opportunity to participate in Kinderpress. Our kindergarten authors will become PUBLISHED authors this year. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to take dictation from the kids and to type up the stories. When the books are bound, the students will illustrate them in class and bring them home at the end of the year!
Math: We have been focusing on number sense, addition and subtraction, telling time, and estimation. We have been following the "make then write" process, learning lots of games, and starting the day with math boxes that promote these skills.
Social Studies: The past two weeks our Cool Tool is to review bully behavior and the Stop, Walk, and Talk strategy.
Science: This coming week we will begin our seeds to plants unit.
Note: Thank you to Mrs. Sathianarayanan and Dr. Platt for coming in as Guest Readers. The kids always enjoy parent visits!
Language Arts: We completed the letter study with z, q and u. Our final sight words, have and here, were introduced. We are now using the pocket chart to read familiar nursery rhymes. During Z week, we read Zin, Zin Zin A Violin! and The Maestro Plays and created our own orchestra with musical sounds. We read Zinc the Zebra and created our own unique animal. We read stories about mothers in preparation for Mother's Day.Last week, We read Cassie's Word Quilt and made the most creative word quilts! We also showed great thinking and writing skills as we responded to the alphabet book Q is For Duck. Through the rest of the year, our students will be focusing on the various strategies found on the wheel that was sent home on Friday. So far, we have read books that have promoted the use of the strategies Picture Clues, Get Your Mouth Ready, Does It Makes Sense, and Does It Look Right. Keep that wheel handy to encourage your child to use more than Sound It Out...when your child fixes a word, ask him/her to tell you which strategy was used! We have had a lot of fun in Writer's Workshop. We continue to make lots of things and have added a large alphabet book of kindergarten spelling to the choices. The kids also had the opportunity to participate in Kinderpress. Our kindergarten authors will become PUBLISHED authors this year. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to take dictation from the kids and to type up the stories. When the books are bound, the students will illustrate them in class and bring them home at the end of the year!
Math: We have been focusing on number sense, addition and subtraction, telling time, and estimation. We have been following the "make then write" process, learning lots of games, and starting the day with math boxes that promote these skills.
Social Studies: The past two weeks our Cool Tool is to review bully behavior and the Stop, Walk, and Talk strategy.
Science: This coming week we will begin our seeds to plants unit.
Note: Thank you to Mrs. Sathianarayanan and Dr. Platt for coming in as Guest Readers. The kids always enjoy parent visits!
Friday, April 29, 2011
April 18-29
What a beautiful day! Let's hope the April showers will give way to May flowers!!!!!
Language Arts: Last week we finished our egg theme with the following books: Chickens Aren't the Only Ones, The Easter Egg Farm, and The Egg Book. We enjoyed creating an egg design and describing our eggs with adjectives and learning about the different animals that come from eggs. We even went on a color egg hunt. Our sight word for this week was "for" and our letter was Y. We read Yes Day! and created our own books that asked the questions that WE would like to be answered by YES! We read Yikes! were inspired to write about animals that we would react to with words like "Yikes" "Oh, no!" "Yow!" and "Ooops!" We wrote a TTQA (Turn that questions around) about what we liked to do in rain and focused on spaces. Mrs. Peterson wrote a smushed up sentence and SPACEMAN had to come to her rescue!
Math: We continue to work hard on addition and subtraction. It is important for student to UNDERSTAND what is happening when we add or subtract so we use manipulatives to CREATE the action and THEN write it down symbolically. We played The Plus or Minus Game (what is the action?), The Bean Game (fact families), the Domino Game, and created addition stories with given number problems. Addition Games will be in our morning Math Boxes for the next few weeks.
Social Studies: Our Cool Tool for the week was I Can Problem Solve. We continued to review the process of solving a problem through using words, cooling off, using I Messages and working towards a Win-Win solution.
Science: Last week was all about ecology. We celebrated Earth Day by instilling that every day is Earth Day! We focused on the responsibilities that we have to look after our environment, saving energy, reusing and recycling, and saving water. It all culminated with a school wide picture of "Earth" on the hill!
Notes: Continue to check folders every night. A lot of important papers are coming home for next year. We will have KinderPress on Friday, May 13. I am still working on narrowing down the time for those new volunteers who said they wanted to help. If you could email me if you signed up, I'd love to know who is coming that day.
We welcome Ariel to our class!
Thank you to Dr. Dozier for coming in as a Guest Reader this week!
I have four volunteers for the Thurs., May 19th field trip to DuPage Children's Museum. Those parents will be Dr. Platt, Mrs. Marron, Mrs. McHale, and Mrs. Parrilli. Thank you for volunteering!
Check out the upcoming events for May!
Have a great weekend
Language Arts: Last week we finished our egg theme with the following books: Chickens Aren't the Only Ones, The Easter Egg Farm, and The Egg Book. We enjoyed creating an egg design and describing our eggs with adjectives and learning about the different animals that come from eggs. We even went on a color egg hunt. Our sight word for this week was "for" and our letter was Y. We read Yes Day! and created our own books that asked the questions that WE would like to be answered by YES! We read Yikes! were inspired to write about animals that we would react to with words like "Yikes" "Oh, no!" "Yow!" and "Ooops!" We wrote a TTQA (Turn that questions around) about what we liked to do in rain and focused on spaces. Mrs. Peterson wrote a smushed up sentence and SPACEMAN had to come to her rescue!
Math: We continue to work hard on addition and subtraction. It is important for student to UNDERSTAND what is happening when we add or subtract so we use manipulatives to CREATE the action and THEN write it down symbolically. We played The Plus or Minus Game (what is the action?), The Bean Game (fact families), the Domino Game, and created addition stories with given number problems. Addition Games will be in our morning Math Boxes for the next few weeks.
Social Studies: Our Cool Tool for the week was I Can Problem Solve. We continued to review the process of solving a problem through using words, cooling off, using I Messages and working towards a Win-Win solution.
Science: Last week was all about ecology. We celebrated Earth Day by instilling that every day is Earth Day! We focused on the responsibilities that we have to look after our environment, saving energy, reusing and recycling, and saving water. It all culminated with a school wide picture of "Earth" on the hill!
Notes: Continue to check folders every night. A lot of important papers are coming home for next year. We will have KinderPress on Friday, May 13. I am still working on narrowing down the time for those new volunteers who said they wanted to help. If you could email me if you signed up, I'd love to know who is coming that day.
We welcome Ariel to our class!
Thank you to Dr. Dozier for coming in as a Guest Reader this week!
I have four volunteers for the Thurs., May 19th field trip to DuPage Children's Museum. Those parents will be Dr. Platt, Mrs. Marron, Mrs. McHale, and Mrs. Parrilli. Thank you for volunteering!
Check out the upcoming events for May!
Have a great weekend
Monday, April 18, 2011
April 4 - 15
We have been extremely busy the last couple of weeks! Thanks for your patience as you waited for the latest blog update!
Language Arts: Our letters of study were J and E. Our sight words were "see," "me," "look," and "little." We read Peanut Butter and Jelly and created our own "How To" sequence. We read many different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and compared a few using a Venn Diagram. We read elephants books like Elmer and Tuscanini and focused on beginning, middle and end. We read non fiction books about elephants and jellyfish. We recalled facts by writing an non fiction page and a four square.
Math: Fractions were introduced! We read a few different books about fractions and have had lively discussions about them. We will be manipulating math materials to create different kinds of fractions. The quarter was introduced. We read about the quarter and used magnifying glasses to study its features. We played a trivia game about all the coins that have been introduced: penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. The students need to recognize each coin and state its worth. We continue to practice sorting, more and less, addition and subtraction stories, and estimation. We will be practicing grouping items in sets of tens. Any extra help at home would be appreciated
Social Studies: Our Cool Tools for the past two weeks have been reviewing playground expectations and the I Can Problem Solve approach. This includes talking it out using I Messages, crating a win win situation, and remembering how to cool off when angry.
Notes: Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mr. McHale, Dr. Platt, and Mr. Parrilli for running our Literacy Centers last week. The kids had a blast. We will have just one more center day (We are cancelling the week of May 11 due to Kinderpress.) so our last one will be Wednesday April 27th. I hope we can have four volunteers that day.
Welcome Pranav Manur to our class! We will also have a new student coming next week. Her name is Ariel Schultz.
We have a new author study. Our author this month is Mem Fox. She was born in Austrailia, grew up in Africa, and now lives back in Austrailia. She loves to use different kinds of animals in her stories. She addresses gender racial, and age equity beautifully in her books. She likes to write with her family in mind.
Earth Day is this week, April 22nd! Happy Earth Day!
Language Arts: Our letters of study were J and E. Our sight words were "see," "me," "look," and "little." We read Peanut Butter and Jelly and created our own "How To" sequence. We read many different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and compared a few using a Venn Diagram. We read elephants books like Elmer and Tuscanini and focused on beginning, middle and end. We read non fiction books about elephants and jellyfish. We recalled facts by writing an non fiction page and a four square.
Math: Fractions were introduced! We read a few different books about fractions and have had lively discussions about them. We will be manipulating math materials to create different kinds of fractions. The quarter was introduced. We read about the quarter and used magnifying glasses to study its features. We played a trivia game about all the coins that have been introduced: penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. The students need to recognize each coin and state its worth. We continue to practice sorting, more and less, addition and subtraction stories, and estimation. We will be practicing grouping items in sets of tens. Any extra help at home would be appreciated
Social Studies: Our Cool Tools for the past two weeks have been reviewing playground expectations and the I Can Problem Solve approach. This includes talking it out using I Messages, crating a win win situation, and remembering how to cool off when angry.
Notes: Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mr. McHale, Dr. Platt, and Mr. Parrilli for running our Literacy Centers last week. The kids had a blast. We will have just one more center day (We are cancelling the week of May 11 due to Kinderpress.) so our last one will be Wednesday April 27th. I hope we can have four volunteers that day.
Welcome Pranav Manur to our class! We will also have a new student coming next week. Her name is Ariel Schultz.
We have a new author study. Our author this month is Mem Fox. She was born in Austrailia, grew up in Africa, and now lives back in Austrailia. She loves to use different kinds of animals in her stories. She addresses gender racial, and age equity beautifully in her books. She likes to write with her family in mind.
Earth Day is this week, April 22nd! Happy Earth Day!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
March 14-18
What a busy week in kindergarten!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was "x" and our sight words were "yes" and "no." Our theme centered around maps. We read many wonderful fact books and stories which told us about maps. As a result, we created a map of how we travel to school, a map of our classroom, a map of our hearts, a book about Illinois, a book which showed us on the map, and we mapped out places we have traveled. We will continue that discussion next week. We also read some pirate books and went on an "X marks the spot" tour of our school looking for X's. We returned to our room to find a treasure, a yellow ticket for every child!
Math: We continue to practice estimating. We learned about the dime and observed them through magnifying glasses. We practiced counting by 2's using our 100 frame. We practiced addition and subtraction. We played a coin recognition game.
Social Studies: We are having so much fun learning about maps. We studied different kinds of maps and realized that the map of the world is an unrolled globe. We made connections to magnets by looking for the north and south poles. We looked at different landforms such as mountains, valleys, deserts and plains.
Notes: Don't forget to come to the Book Fair and Fun Fair on Saturday, March 19th from 11:00-3:00. Report cards go home next Friday. I have only received the empty report card envelopes from half of our class. Please find 2nd quarter's report card, keep that, and return the empty envelope to be used 3rd and 4th quarters. Thank you to Mrs. Nosek for helping with Literacy Centers. We will need more volunteers for Apr. 13th. Next week we will focus on letter "v" and the sight word "play." Please check your child's folder for a math game to come home next week. Spring Break begins Sat. March 26th. Have a fun one and READ, READ, READ!!!!!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was "x" and our sight words were "yes" and "no." Our theme centered around maps. We read many wonderful fact books and stories which told us about maps. As a result, we created a map of how we travel to school, a map of our classroom, a map of our hearts, a book about Illinois, a book which showed us on the map, and we mapped out places we have traveled. We will continue that discussion next week. We also read some pirate books and went on an "X marks the spot" tour of our school looking for X's. We returned to our room to find a treasure, a yellow ticket for every child!
Math: We continue to practice estimating. We learned about the dime and observed them through magnifying glasses. We practiced counting by 2's using our 100 frame. We practiced addition and subtraction. We played a coin recognition game.
Social Studies: We are having so much fun learning about maps. We studied different kinds of maps and realized that the map of the world is an unrolled globe. We made connections to magnets by looking for the north and south poles. We looked at different landforms such as mountains, valleys, deserts and plains.
Notes: Don't forget to come to the Book Fair and Fun Fair on Saturday, March 19th from 11:00-3:00. Report cards go home next Friday. I have only received the empty report card envelopes from half of our class. Please find 2nd quarter's report card, keep that, and return the empty envelope to be used 3rd and 4th quarters. Thank you to Mrs. Nosek for helping with Literacy Centers. We will need more volunteers for Apr. 13th. Next week we will focus on letter "v" and the sight word "play." Please check your child's folder for a math game to come home next week. Spring Break begins Sat. March 26th. Have a fun one and READ, READ, READ!!!!!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Mar. 7 - 11
Language Arts - Our letter of the week was "w" and our sight word was "what." We read the story Where the Wild Things Are and discussed what is real and make-believe. We responded to the story by recalling the beginning, middle and end of the story. We read a non-fiction book about whales and wrote a four square. We read a fiction story, Dear Mr. Blueberry which contained some whale facts and added another letter-writing opportunity in Writer's Workshop. We also enjoyed the story Mrs. Wishy Washy. We continue to work on writing words (sound blending). Some of the words have digraph (sh, ch, ck, th) and some have blends (spl, st, nd, gl.)
Math - We are focusing on estimating! We use what we know (such as what the amount of 10 items looks like) and make a "smart guess" to estimate. We also are practicing count on to add, simple addition problems, instant recognition and more than/less than.
Social Studies - Our Citizenship Cool Tool for the week was Mind Your Manners. Saying please and thank you, greeting students and teachers with a "hello," being a good listener, and taking turns are ways that we can mind our manners. Thank you to our guest reader, Mr. McDonagh who could authentically read two fun Irish tales (about leprechauns!) We enjoyed listening to his Irish brogue!
Science - We are enjoying our unit on magnets! We learned about attract and repel, north and south poles, what magnets stick to and what magnets stick through. It is fun to observe, predict, experiment, record data, and interpret what we discovered! We are scientists!
Notes - I believe I forgot to notify you of last week's post, so please read the post prior to this one. I have one parent volunteer for next week's Literacy Centers. Let me know if you are interested (3/16 @ 1:10-1:45) Have a great weekend!
Math - We are focusing on estimating! We use what we know (such as what the amount of 10 items looks like) and make a "smart guess" to estimate. We also are practicing count on to add, simple addition problems, instant recognition and more than/less than.
Social Studies - Our Citizenship Cool Tool for the week was Mind Your Manners. Saying please and thank you, greeting students and teachers with a "hello," being a good listener, and taking turns are ways that we can mind our manners. Thank you to our guest reader, Mr. McDonagh who could authentically read two fun Irish tales (about leprechauns!) We enjoyed listening to his Irish brogue!
Science - We are enjoying our unit on magnets! We learned about attract and repel, north and south poles, what magnets stick to and what magnets stick through. It is fun to observe, predict, experiment, record data, and interpret what we discovered! We are scientists!
Notes - I believe I forgot to notify you of last week's post, so please read the post prior to this one. I have one parent volunteer for next week's Literacy Centers. Let me know if you are interested (3/16 @ 1:10-1:45) Have a great weekend!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Feb. 28-Mar. 4
In like a lion
the March wind blows
Out like a lamb
the March wind goes.
I sure hope that's true! We had fun talking about that saying and making lions and lambs for our room and hallway!
L.A. - Our letter of the week was "o" and our sight words were "on" and "one." We read Do Not Open. Partway through, we answered the question "Should she open it?" We predicted what might be inside. We read Otto is Different and wrote a response. We read a fact book about octopuses and wrote a four square. We sang songs and read books about opposites. We also read fun books about owls and the -ock ending. We read Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog and worked with partners to think of -og words. Every day we are blending 3 and 4 sound words and writing them on our white boards. Wednesday was Read Across America Day. We had two teacher guest readers, Mrs. Raspillar and Ms Deloria, help us celebrate by reading Dr Suess books to us!
Math - We explored nickels this week. We read a non fiction book and used magnifying glasses to look at all the details on the nickel. We counted by fives to see how many nickels were in the piggy bank. We played a coin matching games at centers. We talked about the passage of time. Identical things can take a different amount of time depending on HOW you do them. EX: Singing the abc's takes longer than saying them. Walking across the room takes less time than tip toeing.
Social Studies: Our cool tool for the week was Do Your Personal Best. We discussed how important it is to try your best and that doesn't always mean finishing first. We saw a short video about how one feels so proud when working hard. We had Art Awareness with Mrs. McDonagh (thank you). She introduced us to the artist Henri Rousseau. He paid a lot of attention to detail, used great colors, and loved drawing plants and animals. The students created the own Rousseau inspired drawings. They were wonderful!
Notes: Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Parrilli, Dr. Platt and Mrs. Marron for leading the Literacy groups this week. Our next one is March 16th. Please let me know if you can come. Please check out the spring fundraiser pack that came home today. Don't forget to look at the March events shown on the right of the blog. Have a great weekend!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Feb. 14-25
This week seemed to fly by. I hope everyone enjoyed the warmer tempurature and sunshine!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was K and our sight word was "are." We will not have a new letter next week but will focus on the sight word "do." We read Valentine and love books, went on a heart hunt to write our color words, and wrote our February assessment "Why do you love your family?" We read Spring in the Kingdom of Ying and discussed -ing words. We heard the story about King Midas who wanted everything he touched to turn to gold, read a version of that tale called Chocolatina and wrote what WE would want to changed with our touch. Next week we will be practicing blending words (similar to the spelling list sent home) to listen and write the beginning, middle and ending sounds in words.
Math: We continued counting activities like the Skyscraper Game. We practiced the Top It game which focuses on recognizing numbers and comparing smaller and larger numbers. I created a copy of the game for you to play at home and as I was showing the kids, realized that I only made one set of numbers. I will send the other set home next week. We saw examples of three dimensional objects such as sphere, cube, cylinder, cone, and prisms. We brainstormed different items of those shapes. We completed many different kinds of worksheets that focused on patterns, different types of counting, more or less, and number sentences. We will focus on measuring and coins during the next few weeks.
Social Studies: We continued to focus on acts of kindness. May Watts had an incentive program which offered blue tickets to students showing kindness and respect. This Friday and last Friday a name was chosen from each classroom to have juice and cookies with Mr. Raczak. Our bucket was very full of tickets which is great to see! We read a bit about President Lincoln and will also discuss Washington next week.
Notes: I forgot to say thanks to Mr. Marron for being a Guest Reader last week. He shared some pretty and funny poetry. Thank you also to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Nosek, Dr. Platt and Mr. Parrilli for helping with Literacy Centers. Our next date is March 2. I need two volunteers if you are interested (1:05-1:45.) Thank you, in advance, to Mrs. Nosek for coming in as Guest Reader next week.
I am sad to say that our classmate Advika moved today. We will sure miss her and wish her the best of luck!
Enjoy the four day weekend!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was K and our sight word was "are." We will not have a new letter next week but will focus on the sight word "do." We read Valentine and love books, went on a heart hunt to write our color words, and wrote our February assessment "Why do you love your family?" We read Spring in the Kingdom of Ying and discussed -ing words. We heard the story about King Midas who wanted everything he touched to turn to gold, read a version of that tale called Chocolatina and wrote what WE would want to changed with our touch. Next week we will be practicing blending words (similar to the spelling list sent home) to listen and write the beginning, middle and ending sounds in words.
Math: We continued counting activities like the Skyscraper Game. We practiced the Top It game which focuses on recognizing numbers and comparing smaller and larger numbers. I created a copy of the game for you to play at home and as I was showing the kids, realized that I only made one set of numbers. I will send the other set home next week. We saw examples of three dimensional objects such as sphere, cube, cylinder, cone, and prisms. We brainstormed different items of those shapes. We completed many different kinds of worksheets that focused on patterns, different types of counting, more or less, and number sentences. We will focus on measuring and coins during the next few weeks.
Social Studies: We continued to focus on acts of kindness. May Watts had an incentive program which offered blue tickets to students showing kindness and respect. This Friday and last Friday a name was chosen from each classroom to have juice and cookies with Mr. Raczak. Our bucket was very full of tickets which is great to see! We read a bit about President Lincoln and will also discuss Washington next week.
Notes: I forgot to say thanks to Mr. Marron for being a Guest Reader last week. He shared some pretty and funny poetry. Thank you also to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Nosek, Dr. Platt and Mr. Parrilli for helping with Literacy Centers. Our next date is March 2. I need two volunteers if you are interested (1:05-1:45.) Thank you, in advance, to Mrs. Nosek for coming in as Guest Reader next week.
I am sad to say that our classmate Advika moved today. We will sure miss her and wish her the best of luck!
Enjoy the four day weekend!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Jan. 31-Feb. 11
Language Arts: The letter focus was on H and B. The popcorn words were "it" and "you." Last week we read our last Jan Brett book Hedgie's Surprise. We had fun using Jan Brett's side picture gimmick to predict what was going to happen next! We read The Magic Hat and made a class book in response. We read Hector the Hermit Crab and recorded the beginning, middle, and end of the story. This week we read the poem Bandaids and created a class book. We read a fact book about bats and wrote a four square response. We are really getting good at these! We red a fiction book about bats called Stellaluna and made Valentine bats for our room. We have a new author to study! His name is Mo Willems and we love him! He has speech bubbles in most of his books. If you look at the left side of the blog post you will notice My Library Thing. Some of his books plus many more of our favorites are listed. If you click on the book, you will get information about them. Check it out!
Math: We had a fun 100 Day celebration this week! Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Nosek, Grandpa McHale, and Mr. Parrilli for helping out! We did many 100 day activities...hopefully every student has a good sense of what 100 is. Keep counting at home. Last week we read Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? and wrote a sequence of events in our own days. We played addition games on calculators. We play Guess My Number using the number lines on our name tags. We played a Bug Addition game adding two dice an coloring in the sum. We focused on the 100 number grid. Check out the 100 game in the web link abcya (look for link to the left) for additional fun practice.
Social Studies: Our Cool Tool last week was reviewing the Bully Program. We realized that not all conflicts are bullying. Our Cool Tool for the next two week is Kindness. Teachers gave out blue tickets to children displaying kindness and respect. Students are writing about other friends and their acts of kindness to be displayed on hearts in the building next week.
Notes: Monday is Valentine's Day. We will be passing out Valentines before the party. If your child is participating, please send in 27 signed valentines addressed to My Friend with your child in the morning. Next week it is supposed to get a little warmer. (Hard to believe!) Please send your child in winter boots for recess. It is going to get very wet and slushy outside!
Let me know if you are interested in Literacy Centers next Wed., Feb. 16th from 1:05 to 1:45. I currently have Dr. Platt and Mrs. Marron. I would love three more! Your help is very much appreciated!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Math: We had a fun 100 Day celebration this week! Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Nosek, Grandpa McHale, and Mr. Parrilli for helping out! We did many 100 day activities...hopefully every student has a good sense of what 100 is. Keep counting at home. Last week we read Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? and wrote a sequence of events in our own days. We played addition games on calculators. We play Guess My Number using the number lines on our name tags. We played a Bug Addition game adding two dice an coloring in the sum. We focused on the 100 number grid. Check out the 100 game in the web link abcya (look for link to the left) for additional fun practice.
Social Studies: Our Cool Tool last week was reviewing the Bully Program. We realized that not all conflicts are bullying. Our Cool Tool for the next two week is Kindness. Teachers gave out blue tickets to children displaying kindness and respect. Students are writing about other friends and their acts of kindness to be displayed on hearts in the building next week.
Notes: Monday is Valentine's Day. We will be passing out Valentines before the party. If your child is participating, please send in 27 signed valentines addressed to My Friend with your child in the morning. Next week it is supposed to get a little warmer. (Hard to believe!) Please send your child in winter boots for recess. It is going to get very wet and slushy outside!
Let me know if you are interested in Literacy Centers next Wed., Feb. 16th from 1:05 to 1:45. I currently have Dr. Platt and Mrs. Marron. I would love three more! Your help is very much appreciated!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Jan. 24 - 28
It was great seeing all of you at Open House. I hope you enjoyed the tour with your child and that you have a clearer picture of how your child spends his/her day.
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was L and our sight word was "we." We created a four square about animals in winter and listed facts about lions. We made a snow scene picture and wrote our favorite winter activity. We added more choices in Writer's Workshop and began our at-home highly decodable spelling checks.
Math: We enjoyed more games that had us creating addition and subtraction stories. We made a mitten full of patterns. We began talking about non-conventional and conventional ways to measure.
Science: We finished our winter unit. We read a story about animals in winter and discussed migration, hibernation, gathering and hunting. We read a fiction and non-fiction book about arctic animals. We read a non-fiction book about lions and wrote three facts that we recalled.
Notes: Next Wednesday is Literacy Centers. We DO have enough volunteers but would love some more parents in the future. (Feb 16, Mar. 16, Apr. 13, Apr. 27, and May 11) Please look for two other opportunities to volunteer. First, a note will come home next week asking for help with our 100 Day Celebration that will take place Tuesday, Feb. 8th around 2:00. Specific details to follow. We also have a Valentine's Day Party on Monday, Feb. 14th. I have one volunteer (Ms. Reddy-Yampati) but need one more. Let me know!
Have a great weekend!
Language Arts: Our letter of the week was L and our sight word was "we." We created a four square about animals in winter and listed facts about lions. We made a snow scene picture and wrote our favorite winter activity. We added more choices in Writer's Workshop and began our at-home highly decodable spelling checks.
Math: We enjoyed more games that had us creating addition and subtraction stories. We made a mitten full of patterns. We began talking about non-conventional and conventional ways to measure.
Science: We finished our winter unit. We read a story about animals in winter and discussed migration, hibernation, gathering and hunting. We read a fiction and non-fiction book about arctic animals. We read a non-fiction book about lions and wrote three facts that we recalled.
Notes: Next Wednesday is Literacy Centers. We DO have enough volunteers but would love some more parents in the future. (Feb 16, Mar. 16, Apr. 13, Apr. 27, and May 11) Please look for two other opportunities to volunteer. First, a note will come home next week asking for help with our 100 Day Celebration that will take place Tuesday, Feb. 8th around 2:00. Specific details to follow. We also have a Valentine's Day Party on Monday, Feb. 14th. I have one volunteer (Ms. Reddy-Yampati) but need one more. Let me know!
Have a great weekend!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Jan. 10-21
Winter is certainly here! While we have been cooped up inside, we have been reading, writing, and talking about winter!
Language Arts: Our letters last week and this week were G and I and our sight words were "go" and "in." For G, we read The Gruffalo, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and The Smartest Giant. We worked on recalling, predicting, and retelling. We also read The Important Book and made a class book The important thing about me is that...We read many winter books and have made beautiful and fun art projects to fill our room and hallway.
Math: We are practicing addition. One game is with blocks, the addition sign and recording on our slates. Another game involves rolling two dice, adding them and graphing the answers. We practiced number sense with a visual and auditory game using slates to write numbers. We continue to practice counting on, patterning, and sorting.
Science: Winter!
Social Studies: We are reviewing school rules and expectations. We talked about Martin Luther King and the good things he stood for. We read Tacky the Penguin and discussed that everyone is different but each of us is important! We used cooperation when making snow creatures in small groups!
Notes: We had our first Literacy Centers day and had lots of fun. Thank you to Mr. Marron, Dr. Platt, and Mrs. Sathianarayanan for volunteering. Our next Center Day is Wednesday, Feb. 2nd. @ 1:10. I have 3 volunteers but would love a 4th so I can float from group to group. Please let me know if you are interested. Open House is Thursday, Jan. 27th from 6:30-8:30. You are encouraged to come at your scheduled half to help with crowd control. :) If anyone is interested in being a Guest Reader, let me know! We've had Mrs. McDonagh and Mrs. McHale and the kids have enjoyed the stories so much!! Fridays work best but I can sure accommodate your schedule.
Have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm and GO BEARS!
Language Arts: Our letters last week and this week were G and I and our sight words were "go" and "in." For G, we read The Gruffalo, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and The Smartest Giant. We worked on recalling, predicting, and retelling. We also read The Important Book and made a class book The important thing about me is that...We read many winter books and have made beautiful and fun art projects to fill our room and hallway.
Math: We are practicing addition. One game is with blocks, the addition sign and recording on our slates. Another game involves rolling two dice, adding them and graphing the answers. We practiced number sense with a visual and auditory game using slates to write numbers. We continue to practice counting on, patterning, and sorting.
Science: Winter!
Social Studies: We are reviewing school rules and expectations. We talked about Martin Luther King and the good things he stood for. We read Tacky the Penguin and discussed that everyone is different but each of us is important! We used cooperation when making snow creatures in small groups!
Notes: We had our first Literacy Centers day and had lots of fun. Thank you to Mr. Marron, Dr. Platt, and Mrs. Sathianarayanan for volunteering. Our next Center Day is Wednesday, Feb. 2nd. @ 1:10. I have 3 volunteers but would love a 4th so I can float from group to group. Please let me know if you are interested. Open House is Thursday, Jan. 27th from 6:30-8:30. You are encouraged to come at your scheduled half to help with crowd control. :) If anyone is interested in being a Guest Reader, let me know! We've had Mrs. McDonagh and Mrs. McHale and the kids have enjoyed the stories so much!! Fridays work best but I can sure accommodate your schedule.
Have a wonderful weekend! Stay warm and GO BEARS!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Jan 5 - 7
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break! It was GREAT to see the kids again. The short week was a great way to ease back into our school routine.
Language Arts: The letter of the week was F and the sight word was "she." We read non-fiction and fiction books about frogs. We discussed the difference between the two types of books and did an activity focusing on fiction and non-fiction. We wrote a four square about frogs. We continue to make wonderful things during Writer's Workshop.
Math: We learned a new game called VersaTiles that gives us the opportunity to practice patterns, number sense, sorting and classifying and shapes. They are so much fun and will be a part of our centers next week.
Science: We read and saw a few video clips about frogs. We learned about the life cycle of frogs. We recalled facts that we had read about in our non-fiction books and wrote a four square (three facts and a feeling statement) about frogs. Next week during Writer's Workshop, the kids will have an opportunity to write a non-fiction piece about frogs.
Notes: On the 19th, we will begin Literacy Centers. The students will rotate in small groups through centers that are parent led. I have four parents signed up for the 19th @ 1:15: Mr. Marron, Mrs. Parrilli, Ms. Platt, and Mrs. Sathianarayanan. We need one more parent for Literacy Centers. Please let me know if you are interested. Volunteers, please come 5 or 10 minutes early so I can explain your center to you. We will be finished not later than 2:00. THANK YOU!
Yearbook order forms were passed out to those who did not order pictures. This is the last chance to order if you are interested.
A random language survey was passed out to a handful of students. If you received one yesterday, please read. Thank you for your participation.
Have a great weekend!
I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break! It was GREAT to see the kids again. The short week was a great way to ease back into our school routine.
Language Arts: The letter of the week was F and the sight word was "she." We read non-fiction and fiction books about frogs. We discussed the difference between the two types of books and did an activity focusing on fiction and non-fiction. We wrote a four square about frogs. We continue to make wonderful things during Writer's Workshop.
Math: We learned a new game called VersaTiles that gives us the opportunity to practice patterns, number sense, sorting and classifying and shapes. They are so much fun and will be a part of our centers next week.
Science: We read and saw a few video clips about frogs. We learned about the life cycle of frogs. We recalled facts that we had read about in our non-fiction books and wrote a four square (three facts and a feeling statement) about frogs. Next week during Writer's Workshop, the kids will have an opportunity to write a non-fiction piece about frogs.
Notes: On the 19th, we will begin Literacy Centers. The students will rotate in small groups through centers that are parent led. I have four parents signed up for the 19th @ 1:15: Mr. Marron, Mrs. Parrilli, Ms. Platt, and Mrs. Sathianarayanan. We need one more parent for Literacy Centers. Please let me know if you are interested. Volunteers, please come 5 or 10 minutes early so I can explain your center to you. We will be finished not later than 2:00. THANK YOU!
Yearbook order forms were passed out to those who did not order pictures. This is the last chance to order if you are interested.
A random language survey was passed out to a handful of students. If you received one yesterday, please read. Thank you for your participation.
Have a great weekend!
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