Weekly News Feb 27-Mar 3

Winter is back!  I hope everyone enjoyed the little taste of spring last week!  Just a reminder that students will need boots and snowpants this week for recess.  They were spoiled last week with only having to wear light jackets. 

Important Dates and Reminders:

February 27: Family Night 5:30-7:00
March 2: Dr. Suess Character Dress Up Day
March 7: Paper Discovery Field Trip
March 10: Author's Breakfast 7:15-7:45 am
March 28 and 30: Parent Teacher Conferences

Here is a peek at our week:

Reading: As readers this week we will be using ALL parts of our books to really understand what the author is teaching us.  We will look at what and how the information is taught on each page and will work to see how the pages go together to help us learn part by part about a topic.  We will also use what we read and see in pictures to help us have powerful conversations with our partners.

Writing: This week in writing will be all about revision!  We will be adding introductions and conclusions to our all about books to make sure we draw our reader in and then "close it down" by restating important information or giving our opinion in a conclusion.  We will also be rereading our writing and making changes we need to make sure we are using lower case letters, spelling sight words correctly and including punctuation. 

Math: This week in math we will focus on creating and solving story problems.  We will be using pictures to help us tell story problems and will the process: Think, say, draw, write the equation and solve it to work through these problems.  We will also do some comparing of groups of objects and will use the terms greater and less than to describe groups of objects when we compare them.  We will also be introduced to 3D shapes and will learn about 'math mountains' as a way to show partners of 10.

Science: We will continue exploring paper this week.  We will investigate how paper reacts with water and look for similarities and differences between paper and wood.  We will also learn more about recycling paper, which will turn into making paper mache at the end of the week.

Word Work: Our new words this week will be:  on, up, this are, an.  Check out how we practiced sight words this week...we wrote words with white crayon and then switched papers with a friends and used markers to 'uncover' the sight words and read them quickly!

Weekly News Feb 20-24

We had a visitor Friday to help us learn about ANOTHER important thing going on in February...Dental Health month!  Maysen's mom came to talk to us about her job as a dental hygienist and what we can do to keep our teeth and gums healthy!

Important Dates and Reminders:
February 22:Career Dress up Day
February 23:  1/2 day 11:30 Dismissal
February 24: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Family Night 5:30-7:00
March 2: Dr. Suess Character Dress Up Day
March 7: Paper Discovery Field Trip

Here is a peek at our week:

Reading: This week as a readers we will be teaching our partner about the expert (vocabulary) words that are important to our books. We will also learn a strategy to figure out the meaning of new words that we come across as we read and will work to put together the expert words, pictures and facts from our books to tell about it.  We will also learn how non-fiction readers can act out books to help us deepen our understanding of them.

Writing:  As writers we will continue to add more to our all about books by adding diagrams and definitions and will also begin to make sure we not only give information on each page, but say WHY that information is important.  We will also learn that adding our opinion on a topic is another way to say more!

Math: We will begin unit 4 this week.  The big ideas of this unit are:  continued work with story problems. decomposing numbers to find partners of 10 and naming and classifying three-dimensional shapes.  This week we will focus on: solving story problems by using what we know about partners of a number, using new tools to show ten groups in teens and looking for patterns as we discover the partners of 10.

Science:  This week in science we will take a closer look at paper.   We will explore different types of paper and notice how the react when we write on them with different writing utensils.  We have been using a this chart to help us ask and answer questions about our science topics.

Word Work:We will continue to practice the sight words: jump, funny, go, find, not.  One easy way to practice spelling sight words is to have your child write them small, medium, and large.  First they write the word as teeny as possible, then write it again normal, and then a third time jumbo!  This would also be great spelling practicing for any CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words using a variety of vowels

100 Day FUN!

Check out some action photos from our day of celebration!!

Counting and sorting snack!!

Stringing Froot Loops by groups of 10!

How many blocks can you stack in 100 seconds?

How many times can you write your name in 100 seconds?

How many sight words can you read in 100 seconds?

It was a BUSY and FUN day! 

Weekly News Feb 13-17

Well, tomorrow after school you will be welcoming home your kiddos who is 100 days smarter!  The class is so excited to celebrate 100 day (even though we tweeked it by a day to not over shadow Valentine's Day).  What a week this will be!

Please remember to send 100 snack pieces tomorrow for our 100 day snack mix!  We will use this mix to do some sorting, estimating and comparing as we eat it!

Important Dates and Reminders:
February 13: 100th day of school
February 14: Red, white and pink day and classroom Valentine exchange
February 23: 1/2 day 11:30 dismissal
February 24: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Melodies and Masterpieces Family Night (info coming soon)
March 7: Field Trip to Paper Discovery Center (permission slip coming home soon)

Here is a peek at our week:

Reading: Reading non-fiction books each day is helping us to become experts on many things!  This week a major focus on of our reading workshop will be on retelling our the information learned in our books by using the words main topic and key details.  We will work to give partners and group members lessons on our book topics by using these important words and also showing evidence of the words and pictures that taught us the information.  This is an important shift for us as we are now working on not just learning to read, but reading to learn.  At home after your child finishes a book, you may prompt them to retell what they book was teaching and ask them to show the exact place they learned that info.

Writing: The boys and girls are ROCKING this new All About unit so far!  This week we will focus on elaboration: ways to add more to our writing.  We will have a writing challenge where we will push ourselves to work hard to finish one book a day and then go back and revise it.  We will be using text features like diagrams, bold words and definitions, comparisons and examples like we have seen authors try in the books we have read.  We will also use a partner who will ask questions about our book and push us to find a way to add the answer to our writing. 

Math:  After having a great meeting with our math developer, Ryan, we have decided to extend Unit 3 for one more week and to really work to solidify the concepts we have been addressing before we take our test on Friday.  We will be reviewing partners of numbers, teen numbers and using 5 groups.  The students will also have a chance to engage in activities we have already done to really apply their knowledge and deepen their understanding. 

Science:  Our wood and paper unit is up and running and the boys and girls couldn't be more enthusiastic about it! They are loving the hands on experiments we have been doing and we have also been using the scientific method to question, hypothesize, experiment and share what we discovered.  Check out these photos of scientists hard at work on Friday!

This week we will explore changing the shape of wood by sanding it and will use sawdust and wood shavings to create our own particle board and plywood. 

Word Work: We have really been focusing on short vowel word families (an, en, ig, un, ug...) to help us read and write words.  At home you can support this work by asking your child to spell simple three letter words and urging them to listen closely for the vowel sound in the middle. Or have your child write words that rhyme with a word and notice how they all look and sound the same. 

Our new sight words this week will be: jump, funny, go, find, not.

Weekly News Feb 6-10

We celebrated our reading super powers with a mini graduation on Thursday!  The boys and girls loved walking up to receive their reading diplomas while Pomp and Circumstance played in the background.  Here they are proudly showing off their Super Power diplomas!!

February 7: 1/2 day 11:30 dismissal
February 13: 100th day of school
February 14: Red, white and pink day and classroom Valentine exchange
February 23: 1/2 day 11:30 dismissal
February 24: NO SCHOOL

Here is a peek at our week:

Reading:  This week we kick off a new reading unit called Growing Expertise in Little Books.  This unit has a focus on non-fiction reading and really reading to gain understanding and learn from the books we read.  This week we will sort our classroom library to get all of our informational books organized so they are easier for us to shop for.  We will learn that as we read about a topic we become experts on it and learn to share that information with others by telling the main topic of a book and giving key details learned in the book.

Writing: Our writing unit will be greatly supported by our reading work as we will begin a new unit called All About Books.  The goal of this unit will be able to write across one topic for several pages including key ideas and details.  Students will be able to show off their knowledge of personal interest and will take such ownership over being topic experts.  This week we will create tiny topic notebooks to store our writing ideas and will be reading many All About books to help us understand the many ways we can show all we know about a topic.

Math: We are  approaching the end of Unit 3 in math.  We will work this week to solidify the major concepts in this unit: teen numbers, story problems and shape composition.  We will work hard to see and write the partners of a number as look at arrangements of math tools and pictures.  Our math centers this week will be:

• playing teen number Go Fish
• working with a friend to find the missing partner of a given number
• coloring and classifying by shape on a workbook page
• making arrangements of teen numbers with real objects   

Science: This week we will begin an new science unit that focuses on comparing and contrasting properties of wood and paper.  This will be a fun and hands on unit for the kids!  Stay tuned for more information in upcoming field trip to the Paper Discovery center in Appleton. 

Word Work:  As you work on sight words at home, one thing you can do to reinforce recognition and automaticity is to study the shape of the word and notice how many tall, short and "downstairs" letters a word has and to talk about other words that might look like that word.  We have been working on this in class and the kids have really become interested in it!

Weekly News Jan 30-Feb 3

Yikes!  How is it almost February already?!  February brings some exciting events in Kindergarten!  We will celebrate Valentine's Day and the 100th day of school.  We will exchange valentine cards with the class!  Here is a list of student names if you'd like to get started early!  I'll be sending a hard copy of this list home soon as well!   Be on the look out for 100 day information to come home soon too!

Here are links to the homework calendar and lunch menu for February!

Important Dates and Reminders:

February 7: 1/2 day 11:30 dismissal
February 14: Red, white and pink day and possibly 100th day of school celebration
(weather pending)
February 23: 1/2 day 11:30 dismissal
February 24: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Family Night (more info to come)

Here is a peek at our week!  We are wrapping up both reading and writing units and will have lots to celebrate!

Reading: This week we will wrap up our unit on Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles by powering up our reread power to bring books to life and our book talk power to retell, share new information, and have powerful partner conversations.  We will also learn about how we can use sticky notes to jot our thinking down while reading.  We will celebrate all of our hard work in this unit as we wrap it up on Friday with a little graduation into new and trickier books

Writing:  This week we will move into our last week of writing procedural (how to) books.  We will add introductions and conclusions to our books.  We will also be working to make sure our books have all they need to teach readers and will choose a specific audience to gift one of or more of our books to.  We will also be choosing one of our best pieces to publish and will work together as a class to finish writing our How to Make Peanut Butter and Jelly book.  We will be using this book at the end of the week and will put our writing to the test as we REALLY follow the steps to make sandwiches for snack as a celebration!

Math:  This week we will continue to extend our understanding of teen numbers, sorting and story problems.  We will be introduced to new tools called centimeter cubes and ten sticks that will provide us with another way to show and see a group of ten in teen numbers.  We will also focus on finding partners of a given number by playing a game with a partner.  Our math centers this week will be:

• playing teen number and equation memory
• playing chip toss to see partners of a number
• playing a dice game to quickly see quantities and add them together
• following directions to build a teen number using unifix cubes and comparing what we have built

Social Studies: We will finish family centers and will revisit the definition of family through revising pictures we have previously drawn and labeled.  We will also be having some class discussion surrounding The Family Book that we have been using throughout this unit.

Word Work: We will learn new words this week: with, new, away, down, do
Looking to break up some winter boredom?  Play Sight Word Hide and Seek!  Have your child write their sight words on individual pieces of paper.  Then a parent or sibling can hide them around your home and your child can hunt for them!

Weekly News Jan 23-27

What a crazy week with scheduled (and surprise) days off!  Though we missed some of the fun of Celebrate New Directions week, we made the best of our time together.  We kicked our morning off with a school parade through classrooms which was a super way to acknowledge each of the classes and how special they are to our school!  Our class got to lead the parade, so I didn't get a video, but I believe there is one up on our Facebook page!!


Important Dates and Reminders:

February 7: 1/2 day 11:30 dismissal
February 14: Red, white and pink day and possibly 100th day of school celebration
(weather pending)   
February 23: 1/2 day 11:30 dismissal
February 24: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Family Night (more info to come)

Here is what our FULL week of learning will look like:

Reading:  We are certainly growing leaps and bounds as readers!  Your child should be coming home with new leveled (different colored dot books).  Also on Monday look in his/her book bag for new a Matching Books to Readers sheet that will detail the skills and expectations of these new levels.  Please let me know if you have questions or need ideas on supporting this new reading at home.  This week we will continue to use all we know about letters, pictures and word chunks to solve unknown words and really understand what is happening in a book to assist us.  We will be specifically looking at word endings and realizing we can use what we know about sight words to read words that may appear tricky to use (plays, played, playing).

Writing: As writers this week we will be adding tips and warnings to our how to books.  Adding these will help readers be able to follow the steps in our books.  We will also attempt to add comparisons in our writing to show more detail and will be recharging our 'idea banks' by challenging ourselves to write about things we do at school each day.  Of course we work daily as writers to use sight words, work on neat punctuation and be brave spellers.

Math:Math this week will focus on sorting shapes by attributes (size, color, number of sides), showing teen numbers in more than one way and looking at groups of objects and numerals and determining if they are equal or not equal to one another.  We will also take time to model and then write the steps we take to solve story problems.  This will be a great way to push the kids to think about their thinking as well as connect writing and math.  Our math centers this week will be:

• Playing "What's Missing" (a game with shapes)
• Organizing math tools in different arrangements to show teen numbers
• Using dominoes to tell and solve story problems
• Working on math work book pages to promote fluency in quantity representation and addition and subtraction within 5.

Social Studies: Students will get a chance to work in small groups to explore the centers we learned about last week.  They will take turns acting out different family scenarios from pictures, interviewing and reporting their findings about a classmate's family, listening to books about families on the ipads and writing their own books about their families

Word Work:  As you hunt for sight words in books, you may want to look for sight words that are 'disguised' with endings and help your child to read the part they know, think of what sounds the ending has and then read the whole word together.