Week of Jan. 22-25th

It’s penguin time in Kindergarten and did you know a group of penguin chicks is called a kindergarten?  How fun is that?!  We will use penguins to incorporate reading, math, science, social studies, writing, art, you name it and we’ll do it!  We are enjoying lots of good expository books and putting that information on our schema chart.  We have also started an alphabox where we record words related to penguins so that then we can use them in our writing.

We added the new words chair, snake, cake, skate, ape, and train to the word wall.

In writing, we are starting to chart ideas to write about.  So far we’ve done people I know, places I go, things I have/know, and next week we will do things I do.  Then we will have lots of ideas to start writing with.

KS day is next week and each day we’ve been adding to our KS books.  One of the kids asked me how I knew KS was shaped like it is.  I pulled up a US map and we had a great 20 minute discussion all about the US and states and the flag…  I love those moments, yes it was off track, but we had a great learning moment!

In math, we’re working on ways to make 8, 9, and 10 and different ways to write number sentences to represent those numbers.  We will continue to work on decomposing numbers to 20 and include graphing as well.

100 day is Friday!!  A reminder note will come home on Monday.  Please return posters as they’re done, but would like to have all of them by Friday.  Kids need to bring 100 pieces of a peanut free snack and are welcome to dress like they’re 100.  It’s a fun day!  I could still use a couple of parents if you’re available.

Book orders are due Monday.  Please return Super Hero pics for the cafeteria if your child colored one.

Thursday is our Fathers, Football, and Facts night and 100% of our class said they are coming!!  And yes, I bragged about that to the other teachers!  So glad you are able to join us!  If the kids would like to wear their favorite team shirt/jersey/cheerleading outfit that day to school, they are welcome to!

Upcoming dates you might want to put on your calendar:

3/1 Kindergarten round-up–no K that day.

4/18 Kaleidoscope field trip–we will be limited with the number of adults we take

5/9 Mother’s Day tea–I don’t have a time yet, but in the afternoon probably

I just looked outside and the full moon is gorgeous.  It might also explain some behavior this week!  I spoke with two different kids on two different occasions about telling people at their table to shut up.  Then I told the whole class that parents have different ideas about what is okay to say, but in our room, it’s never okay to tell someone to shut up.  I wanted you to know what we’ve discussed at school.  Then at the assembly on Friday, we earned the golden heart for being so good at counselor time and being kind to each other!  Hopefully the heart will remind them that we need to continue to be kind to each other.

I will not be there on Monday as I have been called to jury duty.  I plan to tell them that I will NOT miss 100 day, so it would probably just be best to let me go!  We’ll see if they consider that a compelling reason.

I think I already asked, but we are about out of playdough.  If you’re out and could pick up a 4 pack, we’d appreciate it!

Homework for the weekend:  Mason Dixon, chapter 10

Plan to lay low for the rest of the week and try to get everyone in my house well!  Hope you enjoy your weekend and stay healthy!

 

Week of January 14-18th

Happy Friday!  We had a busy week this week.

In reading, we added the words, mouse, cheese, house, cow, clown, tie, and today we will do long a.  We also did the –it and –ig word families.  We continued with our snowman/winter theme this week and I’m sure you saw our How to Build a Snowman books.  We also read The Cold Lady who Swallowed Some Snow and sequenced the story.  They really like the “old lady” series of books.

We also worked a lot on writing this week.  We used the strategy to examine a picture and then write about it.  We looked at a picture of a fox in the snow chasing a mouse and then wrote all the details we could see.  Yesterday, we drew a detailed picture first and then wrote about it.  Some of these writing pieces won’t come home for awhile.  They are doing a really good job with their writing!

In math, we’re working on different ways to make numbers and different number sentences with the same answer.  We are also working on snowman word problems, and still playing hot seats.  I taught them the card game what comes next this week and we’ve had a chance to play it.  Directions will come home so that you can play to home too!

I hope you’re enjoying FRED!  The kids are enjoying the trivia questions each morning.  If they do the at home activity, I’ve encouraged them to bring it in to share!

We have a new incentive in place for specials.  For some reason, we haven’t gotten back into the groove of school as well as I’d like.  Everytime they earn a 4 at their specials, they will earn a letter to spell out pajama party and then we’ll get to have one.  I did tell them that it wouldn’t necessarily be the very next day.  I’ll be sure to give plenty of warning.

100 day is coming up!!  We will have it on Feb. 1st if we have no snow days.  The kids can dress like they’re 100 (and Yes!  we will be dressed up too!), we’ll have a 100 day snack, rotations etc.  I will need about 5-6 volunteers if you are available that day from 1:30-3, please let me know.  It’s always one of the kids’ favorite days!

Mark your calendar, Fathers, Football, Facts night for K-1 kids and their Dads is on Thurs. Jan. 31st.  (Great, all in the same week!)  A letter with info. is coming home today.  Please cut the bottom off and rsvp as soon as you can.  It’s going to be a fun night!

A few housekeeping items:  We are almost out of glue sticks.  I swear we don’t eat them for snack, but you’d sure think so as fast as we “chew” through them.  (Sorry, had to throw that in 🙂  If you could donate some more, I’d appreciate it.

Please send me the kids’ game schedules, especially now that basketball has started.  Jack is playing for the CT team, so his games are on Tues. and Thurs. right after school, which frees me up to come to see some K kids play on the weekend.

We have had a couple of issues with kids bringing snack items that contain peanut butter or nuts.  We have to be a PEANUT/NUT FREE classroom.  I do understand that if it’s not something you’re used to looking for that it’s easy to overlook.  However, it can be a life/death situation for those kids with allergies.  If the kids accidentally bring something, I will have them put it back in their backpack to bring home.  The few times it’s happened, the kids were very gracious about just taking it back home.  Thanks for checking labels to help keep everyone safe.  Snacks also need to be healthy.  Please keep that in mind as well.

I think that’s it for this week.  I hope you enjoy your extra day this weekend!

Week of Jan. 7-11, 2013

It’s back to school!  We had a great week…until Friday and then I’m not sure what happened!  All of a sudden everyone forgot how to walk in the halls quietly, work together, etc., etc….  Really the behavior I expected on Monday, appeared on Friday.  Even those kiddos who normally are on task where a little off.  Wonder if it was a full moon?  Anyway, we had a long talk about above the line behavior and we agreed that we would start over on Monday.  Please just remind them about school expectations and I’m sure we’ll have a better week!

We got a lot of new centers this week and took some time to learn all of them.  House is now Ladybug Cafe, blocks is now the Architect office, reading now includes a listening center and we added lots more at word work.  The rice bottles were a huge hit which is why I sent home directions.  (On Friday, we did have to talk about how they’re not maracas 🙂

This week we read lots of fun snowman/winter books and worked on some art projects, retelling of stories, comparing and contrasting stories, and made two new class books.  We did an interactive writing/art project where we wrote the steps to make a snowman, and then the kids made the huge snowman. (He’s out in the hall.)  The best part was that I divided them into groups, gave them a task, and they had to figure it out as a group.  It was really interesting to see who stepped up to be leaders and how they worked together.  I loved Gia’s comment. She walked up to me and Mrs. Brock with a HUGE grin on her face, threw her hands in the air, and said, “I can’t believe we’re doing this without any grownups!!”  They really did a great job and I will definitely be doing group work like this again.

We added the words light, pie, and fly (for long i), and the sounds for ou and ow.

We have started handwriting and will work on it daily.

In math, we learned a new subtraction game called subtraction slide.  We are also talking about different ways to make numbers, for example 5 can be 0+5, 1+4, 2+3.  We are also talking about money and learning the names of the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter.   We are learning their value as well.  I’d encourage you to practice this at home as well.  We also started Hot Seats this week.  At the beginning of each math time, I call out hot seat time and they look under their chair.  Two people in the room have some sort of math problem under their chair.  Everyone else works it out at their seat, and the hot seat people work it out and then explain how they got their answer to the class.  They’ve all been excited to play hot seats!

Coming up, we will do some more with winter/snowmen, we will talk about and make a book for KS day, and will start learning about penguins.  I LOVE the penguin unit because we can incorporate everything into it, reading, writing, math, social studies, science, and art and we read lots of really interesting non-fiction books.

Save the date:  Jan. 31st from 6:30-7:30 is going to be Fathers, Football, and Facts night.  It’s something new we’re doing for K-1 kids and their Dads.  It’s math fun with a football theme.  An invitation will go home next week, be watching for it as we’re asking for rsvp’s.

Scholastic book orders went home this week.  They are due Jan. 28th.  There was an old lady who swallowed a rose is a new one in the order.  We’ve read lots of these books and the kids really like them.  The Natl. Geographic penguin one is also really good and one they’d probably enjoy having after we learn all about them.  Remember that every order you place, you get a certificate for  $5 towards a book on the next order and we earn free books for our class.

We are starting new reading groups and you should’ve seen new books come home this week in their reading folders.  Please continue to read daily and work on sight words.  We continue to talk about how the only way to become a better reader is to READ!  They are also enjoying our read to self time.

Just a thought to share with you that my Mom shared with me.  (I’m sure it’s on pinterest somewhere…)  A parent bought the Dr. Seuss book, “Oh the Places You’ll Go”, and each year gave it to the child’s teacher and asked them to write a note to the child.  Then they gave them the book at graduation.  I thought that was such a neat idea and just wanted to share.

We did write new year’s resolutions on Monday which came home.  We talked about how there are always things we can get better at.  Many said they wanted to be better readers and I assured them that they can meet that goal.  Personally, I should say my resolution is to exercise, eat better, lose weight, clean out the basement…oh the list could go on.  I have chosen to try and find something every day to be grateful for and as a family, we’ve started to share each night at dinner.

Today, I want you to let you know that I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of your child’s life.  Your children bring such joy to my life and watching them learn and grow is so rewarding for me.  Yes, we have our days that I want to beat my head against the wall…but don’t we all?!  That’s just what makes it fun!

Have a great weekend!