Dec. 17-21

 

Last Day!!

It's been a crazy busy week in kindergarten. We have been reading a lot of gingerbread stories and talking about the setting, characters and main events of the stories. Thursday we decorated our gingerbread men and we also went on a gingerbread man hunt while working on counting backward and writing our teen numbers. We have been having a lot of fun playing with the gingerbread playdough. Thanks so much to the families that made the playdough and all the parents that braved the cookie decorating yesterday: Mrs. Hoskins, Mrs. Yack, Mrs. Thippisetty, Mrs. Sajja, and Mrs. Swanson!   Today we will have more fun with some gingerbread activities and our Winter party at the end of the day!!

Here are some suggestions for the time off--
1. Review sight words: If your child can read them all have him or her practice writing them or using them in a sentence.
2. Continue to work on writing sentences with correct spacing. (Thank you cards are a great way to practice this.)
3. Have your child practice writing his or her first name with a capital first letter and lower case letters for the rest. If they have this mastered, work on their last name or their address and phone number.
4. Have your child count by 2's, 5's and 10's as you are traveling in the car or waiting in lines.
5. Work on the math skill of COUNTING ON. (This is when the kids see a group of items--5 paperclips and then they count on 6, 7, 8, 9 to get a total of 9. They shouldn't have to count ALL the items. They should start to recognize groups of 5 or less without counting.
6. Point out numbers that you see and have your child practice reading them and writing them down, especially 2 digit numbers.
7. Talk about math problems that you solve with your child like we are having 4 guests over so we need a total of 8 plates tonight and talk out how you solved it . . . Just one example.
8. While you are reading with your child encourage him or her to retell the story they just heard (think beginning, middle, end or problem/solution)

We will be assessing all our math and reading skills after break . Report cards come out the following week.

Beginning in January, kindergarteners will no longer go outside for recess after lunch (until spring that is). Students will still have recess at lunch but it will be an indoor recess. The reason for this change is because of the time it takes to get snow clothes on and off. We are losing many minutes of instructional time to this task. We also have our specials (gym, music, art) right after lunch on many days. The students do not have enough time to get ready without being late. We will still be going outside at the end of the day for our assigned recess time so be sure to still send your child with appropriate attire for the weather.

I hope everyone has a happy and restful winter break!  See you all January 7, 2013!
 

Dec. 10-14

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 Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp 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.  Next week we will continue comparing and contrasting gingerbread stories. The students seem to love these stories and are getting good at making predicitons based on the patterns we have noticed. We will be doing math, language, and art activities based around gingerbread. Each day you will see some sort of gingerbread "thing" come home. Please take the time to ask your child about the gingerbread stories and activities we are doing. You might want to check out some gingerbread books from the library to read with your child as well. During the week, we will decorate gingerbread cookies and make a special winter surprise for your family. The gingerbread cookies will be sent home for you to see and EAT as a family. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all the people who sent in $2 to support these activities. It is so much appreciated!!!!!!!

 

Math:  We played several different games to practice number combinations up to five and up to ten.  We are showing our thinking and pictures on dry erase boards for addition and subtraction problems.  It is hard to believe, but 2nd quarter is almost over. Next week and then after break we will be assessing many skills. I have noticed that MANY students need to work on writing two digit numbers (68, 36, etc) PLEASE practice this skill at home. It is best if you tell them a number and then have them write it down. I would prefer that they do not use a visual to help them form the numbers. Another good thing to practice is writing the numbers in order from 1-50. It is typical of kindergarten students to reverse the formation of the number (although we do hope this disappears soon), but we do not want them to write 68 for 86! Some students still need to practice counting to 100 (those transitions can be tricky). Have you been completing the math homework pages? TALKING about the problems and listening to your child's thinking is so important!

Social Studies: Our cool tool this week was keeping our hands and feet to ourselves. When we remember this rule we are being respectful and safe. The rule that needs the most work in our clasrrom currently is BE RESPONSIBLE. Our days are packed with fun learning so it is extremely important that each member of our class take responsibility to follow through with directions without talking, being silly or chooising to ignore. We need everyone's help to try his or her best during transitions and lessons.

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. Yack for making the gingerbread playdoh. We love it! Thank you to Mrs. Karellas for presenting art awareness about Grant Wood. Thank you to Lucas' Grandma for being a guest reader.  Thank you to Mrs. Kramer, Mrs. Sajja, Mrs. Cowan, Mrs. Kalota, and Mrs. Karellas for leading Literacy Centers. Thank you to all who contributed to the gingerbread/gift fund. I appreciate you! And thank you, in advance, to Mrs. Loos and Mrs. Swanson for organizing a fun winter party   We couldn't do it without all of your support!

Dec. 3-7

Language Arts:  Our letter was N and our sight words were "we," "me," and "see."  Our author and illustrator study is on Don and Audrey Wood.  We sequenced the accumulative story The Napping House.    We wrote our own version of The Napping House called The Sleeping Jungle.  We worked together to create a new setting and group of characters.  We worked in small groups to illustrate the pages.  In writer's workshop we wrote "nice notes" to each other, our family, and friends.  We also practiced opinion writing stating why we thought certain needs were considered the most important and why had a certain want.   

Math:  Noodle sorting helped us count and record different number amounts in the sets.  We recognized which group had the most and which had the fewest.  We played the game Shake 5 and Spill  to practice combinations of five.  We also played Bear in the Cave to create number sentences for the sum of 5.  We worked collaboratively to answer the question "How many legs (minus the flea) were in the Napping House cozy bed?"  We drew our thinking and pictures to find the answer.  The answer?  The granny, the child, the dog, the cat , and the mouse had a total of 16 legs!

Science:  We continued our nutrition unit and we also recognized those who had healthy snacks!

Social Studies:  With our nutrition unit and holiday gift giving approaching, we talked about things that we NEED to survive such as food, water, clothes, shelter and love vs. things that we WANT like toys, movies, and vacations.


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!

Kudos to those students and families who went to Family Math Night.  The STEM group organized a great event!

Please click the following link to learn of the upcoming holiday party.

https://webmail.ipsd.org/owa/attachment.ashx?attach=1&id=RgAAAAAUWxexXay3Rb68KItVA2p7BwBGSb6j9BhKTLtaLASTlEvbAARATt4kAABGSb6j9BhKTLtaLASTlEvbB3Ghroi8AAAJ&attid0=EABRPSwCkcPQQZA4jXLjTh%2bH&attcnt=1

Have a wonderful weekend!

Nov. 12-16

Language Arts: The letter of the week was C and our sight words were "in" and "it." Be sure to practice reading and writing popcorn words at home, learning the sight words is a very important part of Kindergarten. Last week and this 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 talked about both the hard sound (k) and the soft sound (s). We sorted c words into hard c and soft c categories, we brainstormed and worked on spelling words that start with c, and we will of course practice the correction formation of the letter. In Language Arts, we will read the books, Cookie's Week, Bunnycakes, Little Cloud and Yes, We Can! We will work on sequencing events from the stories and discuss events that happen in the beginning, middle, and end of the stories. We played a fun listening game called Draw a Rhyme.  Everyone was very creative in drawing their clowns!  Next week we will create a book called Gobble Gobble.

Math: We continued to practice teen numbers when we learn a game called Nearby Teens. (That's the game I showed you at conferences.We also practiced sequencing numbers with the In the Clouds game. The class will also look more closely at the hundred chart. We will looked for patterns and practice reading larger numbers. We practiced our numeral writing and sequencing birthday cakes. Colorful corn is decorating our room after we created patterns on our Indian corn project.  Students worked together in a small group to solve a story problem from the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They used their cooperative skills to discuss and record what they did to solve the problem. Remember to use math talk at home. Ask your child to explain to you their thoughts about math and how they solve problems. Next week we will play a math attribute game using turkeys.  we will also practice addition problem using turkey manipulatives.  They will bring the pieces home.  You can play with your children by asking them to show number problems (Ex:  Show 4 turkeys on the top and 3 turkeys on the bottom.  How many all together?)  We will also be learning the Flash Game with Five Frames.
Social Studies:  Our Cool Tool this week was Anti-Bullying.  This is a hard concept for kindergartners.  When someone bothers you once, he or she is not a bully.  A bully is someone who repeatedly teases, bothers, or hurts another person.  We will be discussing what to do if someone is bullying. 

Science: We finished up our senses unit this week.  Next week we will begin our nutrition unit.

Notes:  Mrs. Ashish was a guest reader this week. Thank you! Please note that I have added a sign up for art awareness on the left side of this blog post. I would love to have someone come in during December to share the Grant Wood presentation.  Please let me know if you are interested.  It is a favorite with the kindergarten students.(The date for that presentation is past but we can work it out.) 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!!!!

Our Treasure Box items are getting low!  That's a good thing because that means our students are earning yellow tickets for good behavior!  If you have anything to donate:  extra Happy Meal toys, small party favor toys, dollar store items...the kids would love it!!!  Thank you!

It was fun seeing May Watts families at our Culver's Night.

Remember, there is no school Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week.  Enjoy your time with family and friends!!!

Have a great weekend!

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!!

Language Arts:  The kindergarten classes had a wonderful experience this week. We were visited by an author! Don Booty, a local author, came to May Watts and read his newly published book Brave Little Starling . He talked to our students about when he wrote his first book (he was 8!) and where he gets his ideas for his stories (from his real life). This was an excellent way to kick off our writer's workshop. He was so nice to the students and really inspired them to come back to the room and write their own stories. A big thanks goes out to Jackie Hoheisel From Mrs. Wilke's class who arranged for this amazing opportunity. If you are interested in purchasing his book, you can click on the link in the top left hand side of the blog. It will take you to the Barnes and Nobel website where you can buy it. It is also available on Amazon.
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: We showed our skills in identifying two d shapes and the use of positional words to describe their locations.  We are developing our fluency of making five with the Make Five finger game.  In addition, we had Game Day honing our counting and grouping skills with Monster Squeeze, Skyscrapers, Monkeys on the Bed, and Papa Get the Moon.

Science:A new topic we will focus on is our 5 senses. The class will be introduced to the 5 senses (taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell) through read alouds, short video clips, and hands on experiences. There also will be opportunities to visit our wonder center which will be filled with 5 senses materials. Our study of the 5 senses will carry into the following week and will lead into our next unit of study in science, nutrition.
Social Studies:  Empathy is our Cool Tool this week.  Understanding the feelings of others help us to make better choices with our friends.  We will continue read books about and discuss empathy.

Notes:  Thank you to PTA for our Popcorn Day!  Thank you to Mrs. Ashish for helping in the computer lab.  Thank you parents at home who are helping sharpen pencils and sending in supplies for our classroom.

Picture re-takes are being planned for Thursday, November 15, 2012, beginning at 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. If you need to have your child’s photo re-taken, please do the following:

1) Call the office to get your child’s name on the re-take list.

2) Return the complete original packet of photos on November 15.

If your child did not have money with them on the original picture day to purchase photos, forgot to turn in their payment envelope, was absent, or is new to May Watts School, they should also be placed on the re-take list. All students have their photos taken in order to have them appear in our May Watts yearbook and for their academic file regardless of whether you purchase photos or not.

If you have any questions, please contact the office at 428-6700.

Have a great weekend!

Oct 29-Nov. 2

Language Arts:  This week we finished Jolly Phonics with the ar sound. Our Jolly Phonics books will go home for extra practice at conferences. 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 "to" and "do." 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 had a lesson and writing activity 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 adjectives on the Tannen's Ties project.  We read a non fiction book about turtles and wrote a fact that we remembered from the book.  We made a fun Halloween book called We Weren't Afraid.  

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 created jack o lanterns using our shape templates.  We practiced our math extended responses by drawing our thinking and using key math words in our answers. In computers, we practiced using positional words to describe where our shapes were in our building.  We also practiced recognizing different sizes.

Social Studies: We will be 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:  Next week conferences will be held.  If I have not gotten a response whether you will attend, I have sent another reminder in your child's folder today.  Please return slip by Monday.  There will be no school on Tuesday due to conferences.  I look forward to seeing you all!

Oct. 22-26

Wow!  It finally 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"am" and "and." We had our Review Book 6.  We practiced the sounds th, qu, ou, and oi.   We practiced encoding (sounding out and writing) three and four sound words.We read Pete's a Pizza  and wrote a response book about our favorite pizza. On Friday, our fifth grade reading buddies visited. We made a  Halloween project. What a fun time!

Math:  Three dimensional shapes and positional words (behind, between, next to, above, below) were a big focus this week.  We also learned a few more games which help us with numbers to ten and  adding and subtraction.  We read Pumpkin, Pumpkin and created a sequence book about how a pumpkin seed grows.  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. 

Social Studies: Our Cool Tool last week and this week have been reviewing I Can Problem Solve.  We discussed when it is ok to "tell" the teacher about someone and that most of the time it is not ok.  We also talked about when friends copy each other.  Most of the time when someone copies your idea it is because someone likes you.  It is important to remember to be yourself and celebrate what you can do.

Notes: Kindergartners do not receive report cards the first quarter. You will get LOTS of information at our parent teacher conferences. Please look to your right to see the time of the Halloween parade and refer to the email that was sent last week about next Wednesday.
Thank you to Liam's mom for being a guest reader. We look forward to our future visitors.

Oct. 15-19

We had another busy week in kindergarten!   But we found TIME to make a RHYME!

Language Arts: Our letter of the week was R. Our sight word was "said." 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.  Miss Lundeen came in to lead a fun rhyming game.  We made a rhyme game of our own to bring home.  We made Review Sound Book 5. Our sounds were y, x, ch, and sh.

Math: We played a Shapes By Feel game using attributes to find a specific shape without looking!  We learned a Pattern Train game which involved creating a pattern then, with a rool of a die, either extending our taking some away.  We practiced writing numbers 1-20.  We focused on the "over the hump" numbers like 29, 39, 49, to count to the next tens number.  Teens numbers were practiced as we played the Teens Ten Frame game.

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!  It was fun to make a rock report!

Social Studies: We focused on fire safety this week. We read stories and wrote about things firefighters do to help our community. 

Notes:  Thank you to Mrs. Sajja for helping in the computer lab and to Mrs. Dulam, Mrs. Swanson and others for donating supplies.


Have a great weekend!

Oct. 9-12

I hope you has a fun three day weekend with your family!  I spent time with mine at Delavan Lake in Wisconsin.

Language Arts: Our letter of the week was "s" and the sight word was "can." Practice those popcorn words at home! Our jolly phonics sounds were w, ng, v, and oo.  We read books about spiders and we wrote a fact response about spiders. We had fun singing "There's a Spider on the Floor" with our spider rings and we read everyone's page in our class book There's a Spider on Me.  We completed our second week of FLEX groups for guided reading.  The students could be with a different teacher during this 35 minute time.  We work on jolly phonics, blending words, reading strategies and writing.  Everyone is doing well with the routine and we will remain in these groups for a few more weeks.  We had our first Literacy Center time on Thursday.  The kids had a blast as they were led in different language arts and math games by our wonderful parent volunteers.  A big thank you to Ms.

Math: We had a math talk with our At The Park page.  Positional words were a focus in addition to questions like the examples I sent home on Tuesday. We made a spider number book matching the correct amount of spiders to the number. This book, along with another number board activity were to help students understand the value of number and how the amount increases by one as we count. We learned a fun game called Skyscrapers which is a counting, estimating and comparing game.  We learned about the Tricky Teens numbers stressing that teens numbers are a group of 10 plus some more.  We played a Listen and Do game showing a teens number flashcard and making a ten frame plus ___ to equal the teen.

Notes:  As mentioned in the email link, WE FILLED OUR MARBLE JAR!  We will be having a Pajama Day on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18th.  Please wear gym shoes that day...we have P.E.  They may bring slippers for the classroom.

Also, please have your child bring in a rock by Tuesday, October 16th.  It must be no bigger than your child's hand.  It would be great if there was something interesting about its shape color or texture.  Please send it in a labeled bag.

Have a great weekend! 

Oct. 1-5

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 words were "I" and "like." Our jolly phonics sounds were Sound Book 4 review ai, j, oa, ie, and ee, or.  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 writing piece focusing on verbs...What Monkeys Do.

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 learned the attributes of 2 dimension shapes and found those shapes in the real world.  We had fun singing and playing games about shapes.  We use shape templates to create pictures and patterns. 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 3.2 Shape and Color Patterns, and 3.6 Monster Squeeze.

Social Studies: The Cool Tool for the week feelings.  We read s few stories about feelings...what makes us feel that way and what we do when we have those feelings.

Notes:  Thank you, parents, for filling up the spaces needed to run Literacy Centers next week.  I have not yet put the sign up genius link onto my blog (technical difficulties) so please use the emails forwarded from Deborah McDonagh.  Thank you to Mrs. Kalota for helping in computers and Mrs. Barello for being guest reader.

The monthly reading calendar minutes include independent AND shared reading (parents read.)

Remember NO SCHOOL Monday!  Have a great weekend!

Sept. 24-28

Hello!  What a beautiful week we had here at May Watts!

Language Arts- Our sight word this week was "my"  We finished Jolly Phonics Sound Book 3.  Please practice sounds and actions at home.  We read many books about seasons.  We wrote two responses:  Fall is... and My favorite season is...  We also talked about the 12 months in the year and how they relate to the seasons, weather and holidays.  We worked in partners to make monthly posters showing what happens during that month.

Math-  We continue to practice counting in a variety of forms: line counting, circle counting and scatter counting.  We discussed strategies we can use to make sure we know which items were already counted.  We played a game call "Handful" where you grab a handful of items and count them.  We noticed that when the items were large is size, we could only grab a few.  When the items were smaller, we grabbed more so our number was higher.

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!

Please make sure you bring library books back on or before Thursday.  Please wear gym shoes on gym day.

If your child has chronically left items at school, know that they have whole class reminders to organize their belongings.  This is an area that would be helpful to work on at home, too!

School pictures are next Thursday, October 4th.  An envelope will come home soon.  You can send money and order in prior to Thursday if you would like.  They must have form at school by Thursday for orders.

The reading incentive calendar for the LMC program is coming home today.  Keep it handy and fill out as you go.  Send it in at the end of the month. The students love to receive the monthly rewards!

If you would like to place a Scholastic order online, please see the order forms in your child's folder.

Thank you! Have a great weekend!

Sept. 17-21

Language Arts:  Our sight word for the week was "is."  We finished Book 2 for Jolly Phonics.  Eric Carle is our new author study.  You will find a link to this blog that shows his website.  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. 

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!

Science:  We practiced the scientific method with a delicious experiment about secondary colors!

Notes:  Thank you to Mrs. Swanson and Mrs. Ashish for organizing our Math Wall binders!  It was a big job and the K teachers are so thankful for all the volunteers who helped!  I will be organizing the other Helper Sign Ups and let you know when you are scheduled.

Don't forget to remind your child to bring back library books on Thursday morning so new books can be checked out.

Language Arts:  Our sight word was " 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. 

Our author study this week was Laura Numeroff.  Please find the link to her website on our blog.  We learned about one style of her writing which is a circle story.  There were fun art projects and activities to go with one of her most famous books...If You Give a Mouse a Cookie!  We even went on a cookie hunt and found a delicious surprise waiting for us! 

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 5 minutes. We will continue to lengthen our time until we reach 15 minutes.

Math:  Numbers and counting have been our main focus.  We played a true/false game comparing a variety of ways a number can be represented.  Example:  True or false...the number 2 equals a picture of a hand with two fingers raised.  True!  True or false...five tally marks equal a domino that show 3 dots and 1 dot.  False!  We graphed whether we liked or did not like mice and math talked.  We practiced numeral writing and number sequencing.


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 resources and materials. Please look over and let me know if you have any questions. In that stack of papers you might have found the Scholastic online book order.   Ordering books is optional. Thank you for your participation.
The deadline for this month will be Monday, September 24th.  I will be alerted that you placed an order, I will finalize it, and the transaction will take place.

Have a great weekend!

Sept 5-7

This was a short week so here is a short post!

Our theme this week was colors.  We read stories, wrote responses, created art, and sorted and graphed colors.

We completed our first Jolly Phonics book.  We made words from the sounds in that book.  Our sight word this week was "a."  A poem was in the pocket chart all week.  We practiced daily and completed a sight work sheet that will come home next week with our next sight word. 

I am looking forward to seeing parents on Curriculum Night which begins at 6:30 on Thursday, September 13th.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Aug. 27-Aug.31

What a busy first week we have had here at May Watts.  I hope your child is feeling excited about school and getting used to our routine.  Rules, procedures and routines have been a huge focus this week.  I am thrilled to see that the kids are catching on to the daily routines of the day.  There is so much to learn and it can be tiring and frustrating for some but we will soon feel comfortable and confident about expectations.

You have awesome kids!!! I am enjoying getting to know them as we come together as a classroom community.  We have read stories about school and names such as From Anne to Zach and Tikki Tikki Tembo.  We counted letters in our names and compared the length of our name with a friend.  Get-to-know-you games have given us a little opportunity to learn about our friends in the classroom.  At the end of my post, I will share the first names of students in the class to help foster conversations about new friends.

Thank you for being mindful about what types of snacks can be sent to school.  We have several students with allergies and I know their families are appreciative of your efforts.  I see so many healthy choices too!  Please put snacks in the front zipper of your child's backpack...separate from lunch.  Thank you!

Today I am sending all gym shoes home.  Some boys brought an extra pair that are not needed to stay here at school.  Girls who are wearing sandals during the warm weather time can send the gym shoes back to stay if you would like and then as it cools down I would like everyone to TRY to wear gym shoes to school on PE days.  If it's just too hard to remember the schedule (believe me,  I know it can be), feel free to keep them at school.

Curriculum Night is Thursday, September 13th.  This is for PARENTS ONLY.  If you have no babysitter, it is perfectly fine to have just one parent come while the other stays home with the kids.

Remember, this weekend is a four day weekend.  I will see the students on late start Wednesday, Sept. 5th.  Have a great weekend!

Gabby, Anay, Cassie, Morwena, Arth, SriLavanya, Keira, Shrikar, Samir, Hailey, Caleb, Bilal, George, Vishal, Ava, Lucas, Abby, Sai, Sathvik, Madhu, Stella, Sanvi, Drew, Rishab, Ja'vonn, Liam

August 23

It was great to see all the kindergartners and families today!  I know I put you to work and gave you a lot of information (and probably forgot to mention some things) so I thought I'd post some of the biggies.

TRANSPORTATION
Please make sure your child gets on the correct bus at the correct stop.  I know many areas have multiple buses and it can get confusing.  Your child will be escorted to our room in the morning and to the gym in the afternoon.

Daycare will also be escorted to their spots.

Walkers and riders will enter Door 11.  The doors will open at 8:50 and the last bell is at 9:05.  They will exit the same door at 3:35.

SNACK AND LUNCH

We will be having snack around 11:00.  Please pack the snack in the front part of your child's backpack or separately from his/her lunch.  We have several students with a variety of food allergies.  Please refer to the green sheet that has snack suggestions.  Please strike out the cheese option as dairy allergies are in our class. No dairy snacks please.  Please try to bring a lunch for the first week or so.  Have it clearly labelled.  We eat at 1:05.

SPECIALS
If you look to your left on the blog you will find KP's specials schedule. 

On the days your child has gym, he/she should wear gym schools to school.  If your child brought shoes to keep at school, that is okay but wearing them on the gym days is my preferred method as it can be difficult for the children to change their shoes by themselves and leaving the shoes on the floor creates a little extra clutter.  Whatever works best for you.

When your child begins bringing books home from the library, they will need to return them by the next check out day.  They are free to return them early but we will only check out on Thursdays.

Art shirts will stay in your child's backpack all year for art and in class activities.

We are signed up for computer lab on Fridays.  I welcome a parent volunteer during our time and I will let you know when we are up and running.

IMPORTANT DATES

I have a calendar on our blog.  Please refer to it so you don't miss our Ice Cream Social on Monday.

Thank you for coming today!  I'm looking forward to a great year!   

Welcome to May Watts Elementary school!  My name is Mrs. Peterson and I will be your child's kindergarten teacher.  I am looking forward to an exciting year of learning, growth and fun!  Although the 1st through 5th grade students will be meeting teachers on Monday, your kindergartner will step into the classroom on THURSDAY, AUGUST 23RD.  You should have received a letter stating a time slot when you will accompany your child to school.  

Above you will see a sneak peek into our KP classroom.  On Thursday, your child will find his/her desk and coat hook and enjoy a story.  We will confirm how your child is being transported to and from school.  Also during that time, all supplies will be labelled and sorted.  If you would like to get a head start, label only folders, binder, art smock and supply box. Pencils, crayons, glue and markers will not need to be labelled.

I am looking forward to meeting all the families of KP and cannot wait to spend the upcoming year with your child!  See you Thursday!

Wow...it is hard to believe that we are in the final week of school. The year sure has flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was meeting your children for the first time, wiping away some tears (from both the kids and the parents), and starting the challenging task of helping your children through a full day of school. AND now everyone is ready for 1st grade!

This week we had fun going to the Children's Museum.  Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Henderson, Mrs. Hector, Mr. McHale and Mrs. Hallissey for chaperoning the trip.  The kids had a blast exploring the stations of the museum as well as creating their "GeoSpaces" with 3D shapes.

Our green haired friends were sent home this week and we continue to observe and record data on our sunflowers seeds.  We have discussed the plant cycle, growth sequences and the things plants need to grow.  Next week we will explore and experiment with water.

Next week, the Kinderpress published books will be sent home.  Any extra time this week has been spent illustrating our stories.  Thank you to everyone who made Kinderpress a success.  I apologize for not naming specific names, but thank you to those who took dictation, typed and helped as the students illustrated. 

Today I sent home your child's binder FULL of writing.  Please take the time to celebrate the growth and success your child made throughout the year.  As I was compiling each one, I was absolutely THRILLED by the progress each student has made.  I hope you treasure their work as much as I have!

This next paragraph comes from Mrs. Wilke's blog as I feel she explained our math focus so well!

On May 14th "while your children were off enjoying the beautiful weather, the May Watts teachers were spending time sharing some celebrations with our staff. The kindergarten team put some extra focus on math this year. We set a goal in August that ALL our kindergarten students would meet our end of the year CBM math goal. All the K teachers worked hard during our core lessons and while using the math wall to help reach this goal. We taught them how to THINK about math and how to notice math all around them. We engaged in meaningful math talk and discovered the power of learning from our peers. We worked on solving multiple step problems and encouraged our students to take mathematical chances. On Monday we stood proudly in front of the May Watts staff to present our results. We were excited to announce that ALL of our students made progress in math!!!!! We ended the year with 97% of our students meeting our set goal. But more importantly we know they ALL learned to THINK while solving math problems. The kindergarten teachers are so proud of our students and all they have accomplished this year. In fact, we were so inspired by the amazing learning we saw going on that we worked together to submit a grant. We were awarded this grant and will now be able to purchase even more math materials for our future students. We are very excited about this!"

 

Our class has been on an amazing journey this year.  We became a school "family."  Each student has grown socially and academically in their own way!  I feel excited to know that they are well prepared for first grade!  It has been a pleasure to get to know each and every student and their families.  I look forward to watching them grow and change throughout the years here at May Watts.  Thank you to ALL of you for your continued support and parnership for your child.  Our year would not have been as successful without your help!  Have a fabulous summer, students and parents!!!

 

 

 

May 14-18

This week, our last letter was introduced!  Letter Z!  We had fun finding the remaining letters in our classmates' name strips.  We read and wrote about zebras.  We enjoyed funny books like Zin! Zin ! Zin! A Violin!, Zoomer, and The Great Fuzz Frenzy.

We began our Seeds to Plant unit.  We were scientists who explored the inside of a seed.  Don't be surprised if you child tells you that we are growing hair in our classroom!  We also planted seeds.  We will give them the things they need to grow and observe what happens!

We are discussing how to tell time on the hour, practicing our number structures of five, and doing many challenging story problems and discussing the different ways to solve the problems.

Next Wednesday is our field trip to the Children's Museum.  As before, we will be gone for our regular lunch period so please pack a cold lunch and drink to eat in the classroom upon our return.  It will be a late lunch, so if we eat snack it will be towards the end of the day.  We will NOT be able to have a morning snack to PLEASE make sure your child eats a big breakfast.

Thank you to Mrs. Loos, Mrs. Kain, and Mrs. Antti for separating and collating student works that will be received at the end of the year.  Thank you to the PTA for a wonderful teacher appreciation week.  Thank you for the lovely notes written by students and parents.  I feel lucky to be a part of your child's school experience!

Enjoy your weekend!

May 7-11

We had a really fun week with Jump Rope for Heart, themes centered around letter q and u, math games, Kinderpress story writing, and preparing for Mother's Day! 

Thank you to Mrs. Hernandez, Mrs. Husseini, Mrs. Marron, Mrs. McHale and Mrs. Simonich (Mrs. Kain...sorry the babysitter didn't work out for you:)) for helping our kindergarten authors with their rough drafts.  The kids are extremely excited to be published!

I will need 5 volunteers for the upcoming Children's Museum on Wednesday, May 23rd from 9:15am-1:00pm.  Please send an email to me if you are interested.  If I have more than five offers, I will pick from a hat and let you know asap.

Remember, no school on Monday!  Have a great weekend!

April 30-May 4

It's hard to believe there are only four weeks left of school!  We are staying busy and having fun with our learning.

This week was letter Y.  We read a few stories with the was theme.  Our favorite was Yes Day!  What would you ask for if you knew the answer would be yes?  Each student wrote a book of their own and came up with some creative ideas!

We our working on solving multi step story problems.  Understanding what information is important and what is not is very challenging!  We are having conversations about HOW solving the problems.  This creates the opportunity for students to see that no one process is right or wrong.  However, we talk about which process is more efficient.  I am excited to see those who are challenging themselves!

We continue to review the I Can Problem Solve procedures and the Stop Walk Talk anti bully process.  It is important for the students to take responsibility in trying to solve their conflicts and to know that involving an adult is only necessary if the problem persists. 

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the parent volunteers at home or here at school.  I hope you were able to attend the Volunteer Tea in your honor!  I can't say enough that SO MUCH of what we do here at school is a reality because of your hard work.  Thank you!  Thank you to Mrs. Simonich for rounding out the year with an interesting and fun Art Awareness lesson on painter Grant Wood.

Have a great weekend!

April 20-April 27

Last Friday was Earth Day!  We spent time last week and this week reading stories that center around Earth Day as well as non-fiction books to teach us the many things we can do to help our environment.

We all had a great time on our field trip to see the play Beauty and the Beast.  Thanks to Mrs. Simonich for accompanying us.  Our May Watts kindergartners were well behaved and respectful audience members!

We had the chance to be a part of a respectful audience two more times this week as we enjoyed the second grade music program and the ecology clubs Earth Day presentation.  Both were entertaining and educational!

Our letters last week and this week were V and J.  We participated in reading writing and math activities centered around vegetables.  We wrote beautiful spring messages on kites to decorate our room.  Caring letters were written by all to Mother Earth sharing ways we want to help protect our environment.

Last week was our final Literacy Centers.  Thanks to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Simonich, and Mrs. Hallissey for leading the groups and to all who made the centers possible by volunteering.

We have a few weeks left of library check out.  If your child has not brought back books recently, start looking for them.  Our goal is to have no missing books at the last check in, May 25th.

Have a great weekend!

April 9-13

Another busy week has flown by in kindergarten.  Our letter of the week was "e."  We read many fiction and non-fiction books about elephants.  Some of the books were Saggy Baggy Elephant, Elmer, Tuscanini, Elephant Moon, and Elephants.  We created artwork, discussed beginning middle and end, reported facts, and made text to text connections.

Much of our math practice had an elephant theme to them.  We focused on the concrete representation of the addition and subtraction problems by using circle counters to manipulate the action of the operation.  The quarter was introduced.  We enjoyed reading about the coin and exploring them by using magnifying glasses.  We noticed that coins made after 1999 showed the different states on the back of the quarter.

Our cool tool this week was I Can Problem Solve.  We reviewed the process of conflict resolution.  Many of our stories this week carried the theme that it is okay to be yourself.  The chatting and noise level was at a high this week.  By Thursday, our class was more in control and we discussed how we could feel a difference.  The fourth and fifth grade chorus put on an amazing performance Thursday morning.  Our class was an extremely well behaved and respectful audience.

Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Boicuic, Mr. Henderson, and Mrs. Simonich for leading Literacy Centers last week.  Thank you to Mrs. Simonich for sharing the Art Awareness lesson about Vincent VanGogh.

Our field trip to the play Beauty and the Beast is Wednesday, April 18th.  Because we will be arriving back to May Watts after our scheduled lunch time, we will be eating in our classrooms.  We are asking that students do not take hot lunch but to bring a lunch from home.  It would be extremely helpful if you pack a drink so the kids don't have to walk down to get a milk.  Your help is greatly appreciated!

Have a fantastic weekend!  Go White Sox!

April 2-5

I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable spring break with your families!

We had a fun start back to school with a wonderful assembly featuring trick bike competitor Matt Wilhelm.  He spoke to the children about three important topics:  bike safety, bully prevention, and remember to work hard and never give up on your goals and dreams.  He was funny, impressive, and inspirational!

We had an EGGxellent time reading stories and doing activities involving eggs.  We read Chickens Aren't the Only Ones, The Easter Egg Farm, The Egg Book, The Talking Eggs, and more.  Art activities and writing followed many of these books. We saw two interesting videos.  One was about different kinds of eggs and who lays them.  Another was about the process egg painting with author Patricia Polacco.

In math we are practicing writing our own addition and subtraction number problems.  We are focusing on recognizing the key words in the question, determining what math operation we need to do, show our thinking and number sentence, and writing an answer that includes the number, label, and key words. 

Our citizenship cool tool this week is reviewing the playground safety rules.  Some of our books included the theme of acceptance.  We discussed that it's okay to be different and not perfect.

For those of you who celebrate Easter, have a happy one!  Everyone have a great long weekend!  

Mar. 12-16

We had a wacky week for W week!  We read fun stories like Mrs. Wishy Washy and Wacky Wednesday.  We made a Wacky Week book and retold the Wish Washy story with the animal characters.  We read the story Where the Wild Things Are and practiced our retelling skills.  Whales were our non fiction animal this week.  We created wonderful fact pages and decorated them with different kinds of whales.  they are hanging on our bulletin board.  The students are showing great writing skills!

Our citizenship cool tool for the week is "be honest!"  We read stories and discussed how showing honesty is showing respect for yourself and others. 

We have been practicing counting by 2's.  We are focusing on what makes a number even or odd.  One activity had the kids count out an even number of counters and divide them equally on a paper.  We ended with writing a number sentence.  We learned the game Top It!  This games helps the kids identify numbers...especially tricky teens... and recognize greater or lesser numbers.  Another activity had the kids comparing counters side by side to see which amount was greater or lesser.  We also created number stories to manipulate the counters.  Our week ended with some extended response practice.

Remember that next week there is no school on Tuesday, March 20.  There IS school on Friday but it is a half day ending at 12:05.  Don't forget to stop by the Fun Fair and Book Fair tomorrow at 11:00!  Have a great week!

March 5 - 9

We did a lot of writing this week in kindergarten!   We are inspired by our classmates to make creative books in Writer's Workshop!  We have so many great products, we haven't been able to share them all!  We also responded to various books for "O" week.  We focused on TTQA, which means turn that question around.  We are recycling words found in the question to use in our answer.  This helps us write a complete thought.  We are focusing on conventions like using a capital letter at the beginning with the remainder in lower case, spacing, neatness, and punctuation.  The fiction books we read were Do Not Open and Otto is Different.  We learned about octopuses by reading a few non fiction books and watching video clips.

We read about and explored the dime.  We learned about different three dimensional shapes.  We also read about and discussed the different ways to measure time: by using clocks, noticing where the sun or moon is in the sky, realizing what step we are in with a series of sequential events, and discussing what time of day certain events usually take place. 

Thank you to Mrs. Boiciuc, Mrs. Antti, and Mrs. Marron for running this week's Literacy Centers.  Be sure to check out the Book Fair next week and during the Fun Fair which is Saturday, March 17th.  One of the events is a raffle for activities with teachers.  My donation is Pizza with Mrs. Peterson- a pizza lunch with the winner and two friends during kindergarten lunch.  Maybe YOU will win!

Have a great weekend!

Feb. 27-Mar. 2

We went batty in kindergarten! Bats were the animals we read and wrote about this week in honor of B week.  We also listened to the fictional story called Stellaluna.  Adjectives and adverbs were the focus of our pattern poem we wrote about bugs.  We also enjoyed a funny poem by Shel Silverstein called "Band-aids."  We made a neat class book!  I am truly excited about the effort the students are making in their writing.  We are concentrating on using upper case letters properly, remembering to use punctuation, spelling sight words correctly, and using spacing between our words.  We completed the kindergarten sight word list this week with the word "for."  We will begin to introduce first grade sight words shortly.

In math we practiced probability with colored bears.  Addition was reinforced with dice and a bug board.  It was fun to experience the new data projector in our classroom.  We will use it a lot!  We sequenced daily events using ordinal numbers to label the steps.  A caterpillar coin game helped us to recognize the different coins.

"In like a lion, out like a lamb!"  That's how the saying goes.  We read a story that explains the saying, predicted how our March will end (15 said lamb, 4 said lion,) and made fun lions and lambs for our bulletin board.  We will track the lion and lamb weather throughout March!

Our cool tool this week was:  Do your personal best.  We discussed the importance of putting forth your best effort in all that you do.  We also talked about appreciating who you are and your own abilities.

Please notice the new link under author studies.  Mo Willems has a sight called Pigeon Presents.  Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Antti, Mrs. Husseini, and Mrs. Narayanappa for leading Literacy Centers.  Thank you to Mr. Nicklavose for popping the popcorn for popcorn day!

Have a great long weekend!

Feb 13-17

I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day!  thank you to Mrs. McHale and Mrs. Kain for organizing and running the party!  Thanks to Mrs. Hernandez for coming in as guest reader.

Our letter this week was H.  Our sight words were "look" and "little."    We read A House For a Hermit Crab and designed our own shells.  We wrote about beginning, middle, and end after hearing the story Hector the Hermit Crab.  We read The Magic Hat and created a class book in response.   After reading The Valentine Surprise, we went on a hear hunt and, using adjectives, wrote about where we found them.  We learned a little bit about our first president George Washington and made fun portraits of him.

In math, we graphed the kinds of pet we have, discussed what we learned, and recorded it in our workbooks.  We practiced patterning with shapes and colors.  We played a game using attributes.  We continued our math responses showing our knowledge of ordinal numbers.

Our cool tools this week are friendship, manners, and acts of kindness.  We are trying to "catch" our classmates as they show kindness and fairness.  We will write about our classmate and share at the end of the day! 

Next week there is no school on Monday or Tuesday, Feb 20th and 21st.  Our letter next week will be K.  We will read and write about King Midas and King Bidgood in the Bathtub.  We will meet a new author for our author study and begin enjoying those books.    Math will focus on recognizing numbers 1-100.

Have a fun long weekend!

Feb. 6-10

We did not introduce a letter this week.  We spent that time focusing on winter, Abraham Lincoln, our magnet unit, and 100 Day!  Our sight words were "are" and "here."

We read Animals in Winter and learned about animals who migrate, hibernate, gather and hunt.  We played a fun sorting game to recall what each animal from our story did in the winter.  We read Jan Brett's The Mitten and, as a whole class, summarized the story into three parts:  beginning, middle, and end.  This can be tricky!  Summarizing involves finding the main idea and letting the details fall away.  It can also be a challenge to decide how to break the story up into three parts.  We practiced again with Jan Brett's version of Goldilocks and the Tree Bears called The Three Snow Bears.  We discussed and recorded the beginning, middle, and ending of the story.   Jan Brett has been our author study this month.  Check out her website to the left to learn more about her and her books!  We read Abe Lincoln's Hat.  We made a fun art project and wrote what WE would like to keep under a large, black hat if we had one!  We read a few 100 Day books, and wrote about 100 things we would like to have and 100 things we are glad we don't have.  We are really taking off in writer's workshop!  We had a share day to celebrate writing and inspire the other authors in our room.  We can learn from each other.  I am sending HALF the pile of writer's workshop creations home today and saving the other half for another share day.

In science, we conducted a few experiments.  The first was to see if magnets can attract to each other through a variety of objects.  As we discussed our results, we found that our answers varied depending on the strength of our magnets.  We also read a magnet book about the north and south poles.  We had a blast discovering what happens when two north poles or two south poles are put together.  do they magically move?  NO!  They repel!

Math involved measuring objects with our own feet and our partners feet (non standard measuring tools) and a tape measure set to one foot (standard measuring tool.)  We continue addition and subtraction stories using dice, manipulatives, and dry erase boards.  We counted to 100 MANY times this week!  We counted by tens, created and repeated patterns, counted backwards, and estimated.  During math extended response time we learned about ordinal numbers by finding and circling the second ice cream cone and the fourth ladybug.

Our cool tool this week completed the anti bully series.  We will focus on friendship, manners, and acts of kindness...how appropriate for Valentine's Day!

Please send you child with valentines for 23 students in a bag labeled with your child's name.  Make sure they are signed and ready for passing out.
Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Hallissey, Mrs. Robin, and Mrs. Kain for running the 100 Day Celebration centers.  This kids had a great time!
Please check your child's backpack for a white letter addressing conferences.

Have a great weekend!

Jan. 30-Feb. 3

It was great to see everyone at Open House!  Thank you for sharing that special time with your child.  We had a busy week in kindergarten and there is a lot of news to share!

First, our week:

Monday was spent getting ready for Open House by decorating our brochures and invitations and writing what we LOVE about kindergarten.  The letter of the week was L and the sight words were "come" and "have."  We read This is the Jacket I Wear in the Snow and used describing words, adjectives, to describe our snow gear.  We visited a website about lions to learn facts and watch video clips about lions.  We made long lions by writing sentences about facts that we learned.

We talked about the subtraction symbol...how it is also called minus and means take away.  We created take away problems using a minus sign stick and blocks.  We practiced the vocabulary including stating that the remaining number is what we have "left over."  We practiced addition and subtraction problems using the calculator and recording our number sentences on our white boards.  We measured things with our feet and will continue measuring next week.

Our cool tool this week was...be and upstander, not a bystander. If you observe a friend being disrespected, stand up for the victim. We learned about different ways we can help make the situation better.

Our science unit is magnets!  We began with exploring magnets in the classroom.  We concluded that magnets stick to certain kinds of metal and not wood, plastic and paper.  We predicted, experimented and recorded the data we collected to find out what objects stick to magnets.  We will continue our magnet unit next week.

Now, the news:
100 Day-  At the beginning of the week, I sent a 100 paper to be filled with items.  Please send these back tomorrow or Monday.  The students will share their papers on Monday.

Valentine's Day - Attached to the email reminder, you will find a letter informing you about the school's policies.  (For example, no food can be attached to the valentines.)In addition, the kindergarten teachers are asking you or your child to address the envelopes "My Friend."  I realize that this is less personal than a name, but it helps the passing out process go more smoothly.  Thank you for your understanding.  We will have 23 students participating at the Valentine' Day party.

CBM Benchmark - On Friday, the winter cbm's will be in your child's folder.  The tests this month included: quantity discrimination (which number is greater 0-10), letter sound fluency (say the letter's sound), nonsense word fluency (decoding, or sounding out made up words such as nop), and highly decodable text (reading a passage with decodable words and sight words in it.)

Conferences - The day designated for conferences will be Tuesday, February 21st.  Letters will be sent home shortly.  While November conferences are scheduled for every student, the February conferences are for students new to the school and students with academic or behavioral concerns.

Have a great weekend!


 

Jan. 23 - 27

Wow!  This week flew by!  This MONTH flew by ! 

Our letter for the week was "i" and our sight words were "what" and "will."  We read many stories about winter such as Snow, Stranger in the Woods, Snow Family, and Snow on Snow.  We read Snowballs and made cooperative snow creatures.  The books Tacky the Penguin and The Important Book  were the inspiration for some writing about how we are special and important and for the fun penguins we created for our hallway!  Artwork and writing will be displayed Open House Night!

This week was CBM testing.  Each student was pulled for a series of timed tests on sound recognition, blending nonsense words, reading, and number quantity discrimination.  In class we wrote a response to a writing prompt.  We have been practicing "Turn That Question Around" or TTQA which is recycling some of the words in the question to make a complete sentence answer.  The students are really doing a great job with this concept!

We continue to practice addition using dice, creating story problems, and recording our thinking using the addition symbol and equals sign.  We will be practicing subtraction next week!  Sequencing and order of events in a day were a focus this week too.

We are continuing our conversations about empathy, bullying, supporting friends, and noticing positive friendly behavior of others!  I am seeing a growth in our classroom!

We ended our week with a fun get together with our fifth grade buddies from Mrs. Bennick's class.  Today we had Game Day.  We split our classes between the two rooms to enjoy time playing board games and working puzzles!  It was a blast!

Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. McHale, Mrs. Ranjan, and Mrs. Hallissey for leading the Literacy Groups this week!

I hope to see EVERYONE on Tuesday, January 31st for Open House!

Have a great weekend!

Jan. 17-20

Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!

As I write this on this Friday winter morning we are anticipating 5-8 inches!  I hope everyone is safe today travelling to and from school and work!

We had a fun week in kindergarten.  Letter G was our letter of the week and we read great stories that allowed us to retell, visualize and predict...lots of higher level comprehension strategies!  We began morning math boxes again which focus on counting on to add, addition and subtraction, coin recognition and number recognition.  Addition was practiced this week as we used fun manipulatives and work spaces to create addition number stories.  During the math wall we searched a page full of tens frames to find those that showed the number five.  We realized that five (and all the other numbers) can be displayed in many different ways.  We continue to practice math extended responses by looking for the number and label in the question, drawing our problem to show our thinking and writing the answer in a complete sentence.  The kids are doing a great job with this!  Our Cool Tool for this week continues to be empathy.  We also talked about what to do and say when someone tells you "no" and how to respectfully say "no" to someone else.  Winter stories, projects, and writing complete the activities that we did this week and will continue through January. 

The following information is about Open House:

Dear Parents and Students:

You and your family are cordially invited to attend May Watts School’s Open House on Tuesday, January 31, 2012.   We are holding only one Open House this year.  To alleviate being overcrowded, we are asking families whose last name begins with “A thru L” attend from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.  Families whose last name begins with “M thru Z” are requested to attend from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  

This is an excellent opportunity for you and your family to see your children's work, meet your child's teacher and see your school.  All members of our support staff will also be available for you to visit.  Please be sure to stop by and visit with them. Due to the informal nature of the night, it will not be possible to conduct parent/teacher conferences.  Our next conference date is Tuesday, February 21^st,  or you can call the teacher anytime to schedule a meeting. 

There will not be a Book Fair during Open House this year.  We will be holding the Book Fair in March and more information will be forthcoming.

Please remember to check our "Lost & Found" which will be on display in the Office hallway during the evening.  Any items not claimed this evening will be donated to a charity.

We will open all outside building doors in order for you to enter the building so that you may park in the rear of the building.   Come on in.  We are looking forward to your visit.

Sincerely,

May Watts Staff

ATTENTION:

Report cards went home in your child's backpack today.  Please review and keep contents at home.  Sign the 2nd quarter line on the envelope and return the envelope only.

Our One Hundred Day Celebration will be Monday, February 6th.  There will be fun centers focusing on the number 100.  I need 4-5 parent volunteers from 9:30-10:40.  Please let me know if you are interested!  Thank you!!!!!

Have a wonderful winter weekend!

Jan. 9-12

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful winter break!  The two weeks off were filled with family, fun, and rest!  I was geared up to start the new year with my kindergarten friends!  We are off to a great start!  The children seem to return from break more mature and ready to take on the challenge of becoming prepared for first grade. The kids were excited to see the new arrangement of our classroom.  Each table is working hard to earn the most tallies so they can have beanie baby friends keep them company on their desks on Fridays! 

January brings BIG changes in Kindergarten.  During the first few weeks back we will spend a good amount of time assessing the children as we prepare for report cards and begin to change up our flex groups. Each child will be assessed for their 2nd quarter math skills as well as on our Kindergarten sight words. Students will also take our winter CBM tests. In order to do these assessments, the children may be doing more seat work or independent reading/writing for a few days. But once we get our new scores, it will be full speed ahead! When we pull all this information together, we will look at what your child's needs are. We will place them in a flex group that works on the skills they need to build upon or that provides them with enrichment. We will also begin to differentiate within the classroom more during centers and writers workshop. We strive to provide the very best education for each and every one of our May Watts kids.

This week we focused on the letter F and sight words "yes" and "play."  We read non-fiction books and articles about frogs and wrote wonderful fact pages about what we learned and discussed.  We began making books in writer's workshop.  Everyone was so excited!  We will share our books every once and a while in class.  The kids will get great ideas from each other!  After sharing the writer's workshop items will come home for you to celebrate your child's writing.

This week and next week we will talk about empathy.  Understanding how others feel helps us make better choices.  Empathy is a tricky concept for kindergartners, but if they think about how THEY would feel if a situation happened to them, it helps put things into perspective. 

Literacy Centers began this week.  A big thanks to Eden, Elsie, and Molly's mom and Kevin's dad for leading the small groups.  Each group will spend half the time playing a language arts skill game and the other half practicing a math concept.  Everyone had a fun time.  Please consider signing up.  It's easy to lead a group and the kids love having you in the classroom!

We practiced probability, counting by 10's, and counting backward this week.  We will continue the math wall next week reinforcing number sense concepts.

I sent home the Scholastic book order forms for January but feel free to order online for any month available.  Please have the orders in by January 27th.

Please open the attachment to my latest Blog update email.  It has the details for this year's Open House which is Tuesday January 31st.

Please make sure boots and snow pants are labeled and PLEASE have your child practice dressing independently!  What a big help that will be.  Thank you!

Have a great weekend!  Enjoy the snow!