Weekly News Mar 13-17

There is so much going on at school in the coming weeks!  What a way to cure spring fever!
 Check out all of the announcements and ways to help below!  If you have questions on any of these things, please feel free to contact me!

There are so many exciting offerings for summer school this year. Have you seen them? If not, here is the course description packet. Registration opens on Sunday, March 19th at 2:00 pm. There are a few New Directions Teachers teaching summer school this year. Check out this list to see what classes are being taught by New Directions teachers. I am sure you will agree that there are many great options for enrichment this year!

If you can help at either of the following, here are the sign-ups:

Book Fair 

http://signup.com/go/zkKGHy

Conference Meals

http://signup.com/go/bEgipo

Knowledge-A-Thon

http://signup.com/go/TNwaqh

If you child is participating in the FANG Reading program. Please have them turn in their slips weekly. They will receive prizes as they go. If you child starts now, and meets the requirements, you can sent them all in at once! :) 

Check out this months newsletter to learn more about birthday boxes and the other important happenings in our school! 

HOORAY! Our 3D printer was fully funded! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

As you begin your spring cleaning, please look for magnets, old electronics, toy cars, Knex, and legos. We will also take household items like measuring cups, paper products and utensils. Basic office supplies would also be helpful when building our makerspace. As always, you can send monetary donations with your child to contribute toward makerspace supplies. 

Important Dates and Reminders:

March 15: NO SCHOOL 

March 17: Wear Green

March 29: Wacky Hair or Hat day

March 28 & 30: Parent Teacher Conferences

April 3: Sports Day

April 7: Knowledge-a-thon in the the AM

             PAC field  trip in the PM

Here is a peek at our week:

Reading: This week we will begin a new unit called Avid Readers.  This unit will focus on building habits that will keep us reading and learning from our reading for life!  During this unit we will read fiction, non-fiction and poetry.  The first part of this unit will focus on behaviors of avid readers we see at both home and school.  We will also work on ways readers interact with fiction books as they read by thinking about character feelings and sharing important parts and strong feelings with our reading partner. 

Writing:  We will also be kicking off a new writing unit.  It is called Persuasive Writing of All Kinds.  This will be a new type of writing for us in which the boys and girls will use writing to voice their opinion as well as help to solve problems they see in the world (at school or in the community).  This week we will practice sharing our opinions (on a variety of topics) verbally and giving reasons for why we feel that way as a way to get ready to write.  We will also study persuasive writing of other authors to see the types of language they use to really convince their readers.  One book we will study will be:

Math: In math this week we will work on solving bare number equations (5+2=___) by telling story problems about the parts in order to arrive at the total.  We will also work to become more automatic in recognizing partners of 10 as we arrange them in ten frames and work to visualize how many boxes and filled and how many are empty and know they work together to make 10.   
For example: 7 are filled, 3 are empty; 7 and 3 are partners of 10. 
Additionally, we will be reviewing positional words (over, under, beside, below..).

Social Studies:  We were sad to see our wood and paper unit come to an end in science, but I am so proud of the learning and inquiring students did throughout the unit.  This week we will switch gears and begin a 'self study' in social studies.  We will be reading books and listening to a song and poem to help us to begin thinking about what makes us unique and special.  This is such a fun time of year to do this unit because students are really coming into their own and are so self aware. 

Word Work:  Our new words this week are: red, yellow, blue, then, was. 

Weekly News Mar 6-10

Hello and welcome to another week of crazy weather!  Will it really hit 50 this week?!

Tuesday will be our Paper Discovery field trip!  The boys and girls are excited to have some hands on science learning take place outside the classroom.  Also, as we near the end of our wood and paper unit we are in need of some wood and paper scraps to do some "constructing."
 If you have any wood and/or paper scraps that you are able to donate, please send them to school with your child.  The only stipulation for these donations is that they are a size the students will be able to carry independently.  Paper scraps might include boxes, cardboard, paper towel/toilet paper rolls, etc.  Thanks in advance!

Student Council sent out a letter introducing their next project: a Makerspace. You can see that letter here. 

In addition to supplies, they are hoping to add a 3D printer to the Makerspace. Please go here to donate. If you donate before March 10th, Donors Choose will match your donation if you use the code LIFTOFF.

Important Dates and Reminders:
March 7: Paper Discovery Field Trip
March 10: Author's Breakfast 7:15-7:45am in classrooms
March 15: NO SCHOOL
March 28 & 30: Conferences
March 29:  Crazy Hair/Hat Day

Here is a peek at our week:

Reading:  This week we will wrap up our non-fiction reading unit by really working hard to compare and contrast informational texts and understand what they have taught us.  We will be working in small groups to examine different text features (glossary, headings, table of contents, definitions, bold words) and to discuss why the author may or may not have chosen to use them.  At the of end of the week we will each pick a book on a favorite topic and create a poster that includes a drawing of the cover as well as a sentence that tells the main topic of the book and a sentence that tells key details.  We will display this work around the school for everyone to see!

Writing: We will excitedly be preparing for the author's breakfast this week in writing.  We will work to include as much information as we can in our All About books and will also work to edit our books so they are easy for others to read.  We will use a checklist to remind ourselves of what is expected of Kindergarten writers and will work to create a cover for our books as well. 
We are excited to showcase our writing on Friday!  We hope you can join us!

Math: This week in math we will continue to focus on partners of 10 and ways to remember them in in a snap.  We will work on finding different ways to visualize a group of ten to help us see the different partners that work together to make 10.  We will also work on matching teen numbers to the equations that correspond with them and will recognize them in more than one way (Ex. 18=10+8 or 10+8= 18).  We will also revisit concepts of comparing groups of numbers and numerals as well as naming and classifying 3D shapes. 

Science: This week we will create and paint paper bowls and will begin to make plans for the "construction" portion of this unit. 

Word Work: Please continue practicing both reading and writing sight words to help reinforce transfer of this knowledge at school!  Let me know if you'd like a copy of our sight word list for the year to practice with at home!

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!