**We have had a busy 2 weeks! The students are now used to the routines and expectations of the classroom. We are continuing to work on shaping our classroom behavior and getting to know our teachers and peers.
**Hope you enjoyed your Labor Day weekend. I was able to spend time with family in Arizona!
**Thanks for completing the Parent Information Form. It will be a great help to me.
**The students have gone to the LIBRARY and taken out a book. Students may keep their book for 7 days and then return it for a new one. Please keep books in a safe place (backpack) when not reading it. Ms. Noonan created a slide show about library routines and how to find books.
**This week the DIBELS test and PHONIC SCREENERS were given to each student. These assessments will help in determining each students placement in our skill specific Route to Reading Groups. You will hear much more about this at Kindergarten Curriculum Night on September 22nd.
**COME ONE COME ALL to the IRVING SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE--Thursday, September 15th from 6:30-7:30 pm. Come meet all of the teachers involved in your child's learning at Irving. Your child will be your tour guild!
**VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! I am looking for 2 parent volunteers to assist on a weekly basis in the computer lab for our LEXIA lessons. Our lab times are MONDAYS-12:15-12:45 and Tuesdays-12:15-12:45 pm. This would be a weekly commitment. Please email me if you are interested.
**Lunch time is going well. The composting and recycling process is continuing is becoming more routine. Thanks to all my parent volunteers. You made a big difference!!
**Salome has volunteered to be our GREEN TEAM room rep! Many students were interested in helping out and I have their names for future projects.
This week:
It was all about learning and sharing about ourselves, our lives and our families. The students shared something they would like everyone to know about them as they drew their own portrait.
We took a look in the mirror to see our hair, face, body and clothing. Portraits are up in the room. They are amazing! We also discussed who is in our family. The students drew their family portrait. Many students drew their pets. All agreed that pets are part of their family.
Students are earning EAGLE SLIPS and our whole class has earned EAGLE WINGS!
Yes, the students did try some cactus candy and looked at a scorpion in a lollipop!!!!
Reading: We are continuing to work on our prep to TREASURES call START SMART. The students are focusing on letter and sounds recognition for letters A-L. We are learning about imprinting sound and how our mouths look when we make the sound. The students had an interesting time using mirrors to really see what happens when they produce a sound. Is their mouth open or closed? Is there air coming out? Is there a vibration in the throat? We continued with our Daily Warm Up and Word Webs. You can view them at Open House. We continued to work with rhyming activities. The students worked on new vocabulary--can, yellow and green. We read our pre decodable books "I" and "I Can." The students are learning to track each word and picture and begin at the left. Listening Comprehension, Retelling, Responding and Reflecting were also part of their daily lesson. A variety of poetry, fables, rhymes and wordless stories were introduced. We are really moving along with the exercises in our Haggerty Blue Book.
Math: The students worked on a variety of of number recognition activities including Egg Carton Math, Listen and Count and Building Number Boards to reinforce concrete meaning of numbers. We learned the names and shapes of pattern blocks. Can you recognize a trapezoid??? We played the Counting Towers game and Simon Says. In workshop, the students experimented with making a pattern of blocks. We discussed what a pattern does---repeats or starts over again. We continue to work our calendar and weather observation routines and observed our newly made AGE CHANGE GRAPH. Next week, we will have 2 students changing ages!!! We worked to reinforce concept words--before, after, between, above below.
Writing: The students are learning about the types of lines we use to form letters--straight, curved, slanted. We sang our song about where to start our letters----AT THE TOP of the page.
We also learned about starting on the left side of the paper to write. We sang a song and built MAT MAN. The students used the writing prompts in our reading series to reflect and illustrate. Many students wrote the first letter or words to describe their pictures. We began to use the wooden pieces to create letters. The students began letter formation practice on their mini boards. We started with the FROG JUMP CAPITALS----straight line down---frog jump up.....We worked on letters F, E and D.
Literature: "Hands are Not for Hitting," "How to be a Happy Hippo," "The New Bear at School," "Sharing Time Troubles," "The Colors of Us," "The Pout Pout Fish," "I Like Myself," "The Recess Queen," "Two Eyes a Nose and Mouth," "Curious George's First Day at School,"
"The Day the Teacher went Bananas," "Silly Sally," "Alphabet Rescue," "Alphabet Mystery," "I Like School," "Splat the Cat," "If You Take a Mouse to School."
