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!





 












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!

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!

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...

Monday Dec. 5 – Grain Group (bread and cereal)
Tuesday Dec. 6 – Vegetable Group
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!