**Thanks for your participation at Parent/Teacher Conferences. It was great to meet with all of you and share your child's progress. So much social and cognitive development has taken place since the beginning of the year. As your child's first teachers, I applaud YOU in setting the foundation!
**Our 100th Day/Valentine's Day Celebration is Friday, February 10th from 1:00-2:55 pm. Volunteers have received written notification. Of course, the more, the merrier! Along with their "HEART" project, don't forget to send in a picture of a 100 day old baby and a picture of a 100 year old person. We are also having an early Valentine's Day, so a valentine is also needed for each student in the class. Please keep in mind our NO NUT/NUT PRODUCTS and DAIRY FREE restrictions when sending in a treat.
**Time got away from us this week and we did not choose our new reps for Student Council. We will choose them on Monday. The first meeting is February 21st.
**Next week will be an assessment week for Route to Reading Rotation 5.
**Please Note--NO SCHOOL on Monday, February 20th in observance of President's Day.
**The FUN FAIR is coming!! The FUN FAIR is coming!! Play a game with me on Saturday, February, 26th from 11-3 pm at Irving School. There will be games, fun, prizes, dancing for desserts, a silent auction, food. It's a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon and raise money for Irving School. Our classroom donated CUBS BASKET is really turning out to be something! Thanks to L. Waste for organizing it and thanks to all of you who have contributed. Oh----There will be something REALLY COOL going on for the Pie in the Face Contest. You will have to see it to believe it!!!!
This week:
It was all about Bubbles part 2 and groundhogs Punxsutawney Phil vs. Woodstock Willy--early spring or six more weeks of winter??? How about Bubbles part 2 to start. Bubbles were back by popular demand! We also had many students absent last week and I wanted everyone to experiment with the bubble solution. This time, the temperature outside was warmer so no frozen bubbles. The students observed what happens when bubbles bump into each other. Some students noted that the bubbles seemed to bounce away. Others noted that some of the bubbles stuck together. It was great fun to watch a bubble hit the concrete. It popped and a wet spot was left. Why? A question to ponder. Once again the bubble machine was in action. tons of bubbles and 19 kindergartners running in all directions trying to chase them down. Fun!
On Groundhog Day, the students listened to the tale of the groundhog story. It appeared that we would have 6 more weeks of winter if you saw Punxsutawney Phil on T. V. .....but wait....what about a groundhog closer to home (Woodstock, Illinois)---What did Woodstock Willy see...or not see? He did not see his shadow! Great discussion about the two different results. Why was it different? We looked on our map and found Illinois and Pennsylvania. Students volunteered to share what they were thinking. We took a look at the weather of the day in each state and .......cloudy in Illinois......sunny in Pennsylvania......What is the connection??? Many students noted that the weather is different in different parts of the country and sometimes even different parts of the state. We took a vote about which groundhog to support. Though we haven't had a bad winter (knock on wood,) the majority of students voted for an early spring. Let's see how it plays out!!!!
Reading/Social Studies: The students began Unit 6 Neighborhoods in our Treasures Reading Series. They accessed some prior knowledge about what a neighbor is and what a neighborhood is. The students made a group list of places and things that a neighborhood might have. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Russ and the Firehouse." We reviewed the word expository (information) text. The students were reminded to think about story elements as I read the story. Who is Russ? What is he doing at the firehouse? Why is he there?
Our new sight word is are. The students added it to their growing sight word list. The students read a Rhyme and Chyme about a hippo and one student placed a wickie circle on all the are words. Our target sound this week was Hh. The students used the photo cards to identify all the pictures with the Hh sound. We used the sound toys to sort by exclusion all the ones that started with our target sound. Our Robust Vocabulary this week included the words NEIGHBORHOOD, EQUIPMENT. In the second reading of our story, students told what they thought the main idea could be and recalled details about the work Russ did at the firehouse. The students summarized the events in the story using the retelling cards. Our puppet, Mr. Happy guided the students through a sound blending exercise. The students then used their elkonin sound boxes to isolate each individual sound in their practice words. The students read the decodable story, "Are Caps Hats?" They made predictions about story content. Each student had a chance to read a page. Some questions to ponder--Could the group hear you? Did you stop at each ending mark? Did you pause at a comma? Were you able to sound blend the phonemes to say the word? Did your reading sound choppy or smooth? The students chose a partner to reread the story to. They each recorded a page of their reading and played it back to hear how they sounded. They discussed with their partner the Reader's Checklist. They wrote down their responses. Workstation activities this week included Word Family Fun--where you chose from the word family cards--an, at, on, ot, in, it---added a single consonant, blend or digraph to create a word and write it on you paper--10 words to create and a sentence, Montessori Crossword skill groups working on sound blending words--long e, short i and ch, tool talk where students grouped tools 3 different ways and then drew a picture of someone using the tool and writing a sentence about it and writing about neighborhood places using the sentence starter--I go to....... and drawing a picture to go with it.
Writing: The students reviewed how to write a sentence. It names and tells. They wrote sentences in their journal about their Treasures story, "Russ and the Firehouse." The students also began to work on simple prepositions--for, on, at and in and include them in their journal entries. The students had great fun revisiting the use of speech bubbles in writing dialogue. They drew pictures in their journal and created speech bubbles to show what they said. The students continue to work on Magic "C" lowercase letters c, d, o, a, g, s.
Math: The students began lessons on nonstandard measurement and standard measurement. They listened to the story, "How Big is Big?" We took a look at how the term "feet" and its origin. The students made a foot 12 inches long. We also looked at a ruler. We discussed feet and inch as standard units of measure. The students experimented using the feet to "measure" the distance around a table. how long a classmate was, how tall a book was. The students created "beds" around their friend. We recorded our results on chart paper and the students began to think about marking off length, measuring from heel to toe in order to get a uniform count. The students also took a look at rulers and yardsticks. They are also working on counting by 10's to 100 and grouping items by 10"s and 1's and recoding the number. The students counted by 1's to 95. When looking at the numbers in order--do you notice any patterns?
Science: We continued our bubble experiments. The students partnered up as one student blew a bubble and other tried to catch it.....first with a dry hand and then with a hand that had sopay water on it. Is it easy or hard to catch a bubble with a dry hand? Students noted that the bubble popped pretty quickly. What about with a wet hand? Some students noted it was easier with a wet, soapy hand. Why? Students were on the money when explaining they know bubbles stuck to each other---perhaps because they were both wet........water sticks to water......Trying to catch bubbles with a dry hand means, the bubble might dry out quicker...pop! Lots to write and draw about in their science journal. Next week the students will explore water as ice.
Technology: In reading, the student small groups use the app Montessori Crossword to work on sound blending skills and word structure of silent e, short i and the digraph ch. The app ITALK was used to record partner reading for fluency and discussion. Students continue to use the app Magnetic Letters to create sentences using proper spacing, grammar and punctuation. In math, the app Labyrinth, Monster Squeeze and Math Bug were used by individual students, partners and small groups. Students continue to enjoy the challenge of TanZen.
Literature: "Water Can Change." How Big is Big?" "RRRalph." "E-mergency!" "How Big Am I?" "Press Here," "Little Penguins Tale," "Owl Moon."
