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!