Jan. 22-25

Let It Snow!!!

Our letter of the week was "I". Our sight word was "will."  Students will be introduced to poetry when we read the poem "If I was One Inch Tall" by Shel Silverstein. All week we read poems and enjoyed their rhythmic flow. We also worked on the "turn that question around" strategy when answering writing prompts. Practicing this at home when reading/writing/speaking will help your child grasp this concept. For example.....if I ask my students-would you like to be a giant? They should reply...I would want to be a giant because....we want them to learn to recycle the words in the question.  We also enjoyed stories about snowman and  created writing and projects to decorate our room and halls for Open House.

In math we worked cooperatively to solve a problem about snowmen. Real life problem solving is a big part of common core. Most students are becoming fluent with the basic addition facts of 5 and 10 so we are beginning to build our understanding of subtraction. Remember our goal is get the answer correct but we also want them to truly understand the concept. When solving problems it is important to be able to explain what you did and why you did it.

100's Day is right around the corner (Tuesday, Feb. 5th). I will need 5-6 parents to come in and help with 100 day centers. These centers will have simple activities that celebrate the number 100. At this time I am not 100% sure of the time I will need volunteers, but I will send out an email next week with the information.

The following letter is from Mr. LeCrone in regards to Valentine's Day.

Dear Parents,

Valentine’s Day is not far off and prior to your shopping for this day, I am taking this opportunity to remind you of the guidelines in our Parent Handbook regarding Valentine’s and treats:

 “Please do not attach any treats on Valentine’s cards (i.e. candy bars, etc.), due to the possibility of a child with a deadly peanut/nut/food allergy receiving the items.  Valentine’s with candy attached will not be permitted in any classroom.”   We want this day to be special for all students by keeping everyone safe and we do not want to disappoint any child who may bring items to school to give out and then is not permitted to do so.

 The PTA will be providing the students with cupcakes and a Capri Sun during the party.  The cupcakes are from * Whole Foods Market in Naperville.  The ingredients are as follows for the cupcakes:    

 CAKE: SUGAR, FLOUR, CANOLA OIL, BAKING POWDER, TAPIOCA FOOD STARCH, DEXTROSE, SALT, SOY FLOUR, XANTHUM GUM, CELLULOSE GUM, BETA CAROTENE, VANILA EXTRACT, EGGS, CANOLA OIL, WATER, FROSTING: POWDERED SUGAR, BUTTER, PALM OIL, SALT, COLOR (BEET JUICE, MALTODEXTRIN, SUNFLOWER OIL). (CONTAINS: WHEAT, EGGS, SOY, MILK).  The pink buttercream frosting consists of powdered sugar, palm oil shortening, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, sea salt and annatto (natural plant based food color).    Please be aware the cupcakes may be made in an area where tree nuts are available. 

 If your child is unable to have the treat provided because of allergies, you should have already notified the school nurse of this situation.  You are asked to provide your child with a treat that he/she can have if they have allergies to the cupcakes being served. 

 Finally, alternative activities will be planned for children whose families choose not to participate in this event beginning at 2:30 p.m.  Please contact Mr. LeCrone through email in order that appropriate activities can be arranged.  His email is: brian_lecrone@ipsd.org.

 If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

 Sincerely,

Brian LeCrone

In addition to the above information, it would be helpful for you to know that on the day of the Valentine party we will have 27 students in the class.  Please have your child either leave the envelope blank your simply write "To My Friend."  That will make passing out cards run more smoothly.

I look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday, January 30th at Open House.  You are encouraged to come during the suggested times:  A-L 6:30-7:30, M-Z 7:30-8:30.  You do not need to stay the entire time.  Enjoy the classroom and school and come and go as you please.  See you then!

Have a great weekend!

 

 

We had a GGGGGREAT week in kindergarten!

Our letter of the week for this week was letter G. Our sight words were "for" and "are".  We read books by Julia Donaldson (our new author study-check out the link on the right) and did some prediciting, and recalling of details. Students also worked on retelling a story with a beginning, middle, and end. They will brought home the characters from the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Your child should retell the story to you using the stick puppets. It is important for them to be able to tell the story in order, but not important to tell you EVERYTHING that happened. They should focus on the main ideas and mention the characters, setting, problem and solution. Being able to tell a story orally will help them to transition to writing stories with a beginning, middle, and end during Writer's Workshop.

In math we continued our first addition/subtraction unit. Students are working on understanding the underlying concepts of these skills. We do want students to solve problems accurately....but we want then to know WHY that is the answer and be able to explain WHAT they did. To accomplish this we do a lot of hands on activities and games as well as a lot of talking about what we are doing.

We read a story about Martin Luther King.  We discussed the importance of accepting and celebrating differences in all people and how all people deserve equal rights.

Just a reminder about winter recess. We are now no longer going outside during lunch recess. We will go out every day that it is above 5 for recess at the end of the day. Students need to dress for the weather. It is helpful if you label your children's hats and gloves. Everyday I have a HUGE pile of unclaimed items on my classroom floor! Most of the children can get dressed by themselves and that saves me a lot of time so thank you for working on that at home.

Today your child brought home their first report card. There is lots of information inside that gives you a glimpse of your child's performance at school and some handouts to read-including a new optional at home spelling/writing program that we encourage you to have your child participate in. Over the last few weeks, your child has been given several assessments which have been combined with my knowledge of your child, to form a snapshot of how your child is doing in Kindergarten. Please remember that all children develop at different rates and that success comes in small steps as well as in big leaps! Celebrate your child's accomplishments! I am proud of all my students and the progress they are making. It will be exciting to watch them continue to grow as learners during the coming months. Please sign and return the report card ENVELOPE only! Thanks! Conferences are in February. This round of conferences is usually reserved for students that I have concerns about. If you need to ask me questions about your child's report card or their progress at this time, please feel free to email or call me.

 

Have a wonderful long weekend!

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 their new desk and rug spots.  We welcome a new friend, Lucas, to our classroom!

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. We read non-fiction books and articles about frogs and wrote wonderful fact pages about what we learned and discussed. We will begin making books in writer's workshop.  It will be exciting! 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 we talked about New Year's resolutions and read a story about a squirrel who could decide what resolution to make...only to discover that he was being a helpful friend to everyone he saw.  THAT is a great resolution for all of our friends in our class! 

We practiced math concepts with the math wall, math stations, and math games.

If you are interested in placing an order for Scholastic go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. Our class activation code is HVN79.  If you would like me to send a flyer home to you please let me know.  I will place orders by Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Please notice the January calendar to the right.  We have no school this or next Monday.  Our Open House is scheduled for Wednesday January 30th.  I will give you times as I receive them.  This night is for parents AND students.

When or IF snow arrives, 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!