**We have had another busy week! The weather did not cooperate for our EAGLE WING LUNCH to Barrie Park this past week. We are going to try again --WEDNESDAY, MAY 9th. We will use the same procedure. Anyone getting a school lunch will need to order a salad or sandwich. Milk orders will be as usual. C. Bravo, M. Meagher and M. Chlebek will walk with us. Hopefully, this will work!
**Thanks to K.Mikos and R. Leveridge for sharing their job descriptions during Parent Career Day. Ms. Mikos pitch about being able to facilitate change really resonated with some students after we read "Ron's Big Mission" which is the story about astronaut, Ron McNair. Born in a South Carolina town, a young Ron, as an African American, was not aloud to take out books from his neighborhood library. To facilitate change, Ron stood up on the table in the library and would not come down. He wanted to be able to take books out of the library instead of having to stay there to read them. He loved to read. Parents and police were called, but the librarian saw his determination and in the end that rule was changed.
**The students are really enjoying traveling to other classrooms to recite their poems. We have also enjoyed the poetry of others in the building. The traveling will continue until May 17th.
**Our compost center is going well with our "wormy" friends. Students can continue to bring veggies, fruit, newspaper to "feed" our compost. The students are getting a kick out of watching the worms move about.
**Reminder--Our Field Trip to the Maze Branch Library is Thursday, May 10th. I do not have everyone's permission slip. Please send it in ASAP. Thanks! The applications for student cards are being processed. We will begin our walk around 8:30 am. I have T. Dantzler, C. Bravo and R. Leveridge volunteering to walk will us. Thanks for volunteering!
** Please read the information about National Sports and Fitness Week enclosed in the homework packet. Monday is Ball and Jump Rope Day!
**Our Field Trip to the Oak Park Conservatory is Thursday, May 17th. I need all permission slips in ASAP. Thanks! I have G. Garcia, K. Mikos, I. Henry and Yaya's Grandma volunteering to help. Thanks to all of you who have offered your help. I believe I have scheduled all who volunteered to help to one of our 3 walking trips.
** We are continuing on with our ABC Countdown to the last day of Kindergarten. Monday is H--Hat Day! We have had favorite Colored clothes, Dress up day, Eagle colors, Flowers (real and created) and Green dress so far. The students came up with very creative ways to make flowers using the donated and recycled materials. Many students became the "teacher" to others. Wonderful sharing and helping!
**Come run with me at the District 97 FUN RUN on Saturday, May 12th at 8:00 am. at Lindberg Park. See me for the information sheet.
**The Different Together Potluck is Friday, May 11th from 6:30-8 pm. This newest PTO Committee is a social group offering community and support to LGBT Irving families, families with gender-diverse children and friends. Come share a meal and conversation.
**IRVING ART FEST is Thursday, May 17th from 6-8 pm. Sign up to be in the Poetry Slam! There will be lots of activities including the slam, art display, Chorus performance, Dance lessons, Shakespeare performed. WOW! This will be fun! Don't miss it!
**Taste of Irving is Friday, May 18th. Stay tuned for more info.
**FAMILY MATH NIGHT--"Messy Math" will be held on Thursday, May 24th from 6:30-8 pm. Stay tuned for more info.
**Future Field Trip--Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic at Rehm Park is Wednesday, May 30th from 10:30-12:30 pm. Information and permission slips for this event will be sent home this coming week.
This week:
It was all about seeds and planting! The students began their last unit in science--From Seed to Plant. They began their prep by learning about the composting process. Watching and "feeding" that process has been really cool. The students brainstormed what they knew about seeds. Much discussion centered around kinds of seeds and what they produce. Some students students recognized that we even eat some seeds and that not all seeds look alike. The students conducted some experiments (see science heading) and then learned about the particular seeds that they could choose to nurture into a plant. Each student chose a particular flower seed. Our choices were Nasturtium, Marigold, Morning Glory and Sunflower. Each seed has their own distinct shape, growing pattern and leaf structure. Each student is responsible for checking to see if their plant needs water every other day. We are keeping a class chart to see when growth begins and which flower is first to sprout! We are at DAY 4--no growth yet. What will happen over the weekend???? Stay tuned! Station Day activities included Ladybug Math, Flower Part Phoneme completion, Seed Sequence and accompanying story sentences.
Reading/Social Studies: The students have completed week 3, Unit 9 Amazing Creatures in their Treasures Reading series. They will take their unit assessment on Monday. The students began by building background knowledge about animals then and now. The animals of the past were the dinosaurs. What do you know about dinosaurs? Are they real or make believe? Do you know any animals that were around when dinosaurs were alive and are still around today? The students knew that dinosaurs were real animals. Some students mentioned that turtles were also around in the time of dinosaurs and are still here today. I shared the trade book, "If Dinosaurs Came Back." In this fantasy story, if dinosaurs came back, they would perform many duties for humans--function like ladders, buses, cars, saws, lawn mowers etc. The students used the pictures and words to decide if the story was real or make believe. The students continue to review pronouns and adjectives. We used our trade book to locate pronouns and made a list. The students created a word web about what dinosaurs looked like and used adjectives to describe. The students continue to review their sight words-he, she, has, look. They worked with a partner to create sentences using word and picture cards and read them back to one another. The students used their elkonin boxes to work on addition, deletion and sound blending of phonemes. Students are becoming pretty quick at creating new words using this process. They continue with their weekly Word Play activities. Robust Vocabulary words this week included ENORMOUS, GULP, INCREDIBLE, FANTASY, REALITY. In our Vocabulary Story, "Powerful Plant-Eating Dinosaurs," the students learned facts about certain types of dinosaurs and compared and contrasted body parts, eating habits and habitats. The students read their decodable book, "Pat and the Vet" and made predictions about story content. They also discussed parts of the story that were real or make believe. The students reread their story to a partner and discussed and filled out the Reader's Checklist with each other. The students read their paper story, "Rex." Workstations for this week included a literature study-leveled readers with sequencing frames, informational picture and question and answer form, leveled readers, reading, story element discussion and completion of Literacy Activities using Doodle Buddy and Magnetic Letters with a partner, Dino Talk- where students write in the speech bubble what the 2 dinosaurs might say to each other and game station--Spot a Word, What's GNU? and Very Silly Sentences.
Math: The students continue their massive review which includes rote counting beyond 100, recognizing and writing 2-3digit numbers, telling time by the hour and half hour, recognizing coins and their values, using coins to add, listening to story problems and and illustrating the process in solving them using pictures and number sentences, counting by 2's, 5's and 10's to 100, dice addition, subtraction puzzles and working with dollar bills. The students continue to work on the function activity called "What's My Rule." End of the year assessments in math will begin next week. Whole group, small group and partner activities were part of this.
Writing: The students are working to complete their orange handwriting books. They continue to use the writing prompts from our Treasures series. I continue to stress to the students refining their upper and lowercase letter formation, spacing between words in a sentence, placement of letters on a given line, reading back anything they write to make sure it names and tells, using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. Many students are writing 2-6 sentences. Some are using pronouns and adjectives. This week, we discussed the use of contractions. WOW! Next week, we will begin prep for our final paragraph writing activity on the subject of worms!
Science: The students began with an inquiry question: What is a Seed? With magnifiers in hand, the students closely examined a variety of small objects--some were seeds and some were not. Each table conducted sorting activities and tried to decide which were in fact seeds and which were not. In the next experiment, each student selected a seed for planting and nurturing. The students really were struck by the shape differences in the Nasturtium, Marigold, Morning Glory and Sunflower seeds. Lots of descriptive words in their science journals! Students accessed information on the internet about growth patterns (horizontal vs. vertical), stems and root structures (tiny, thin, wide, large) and leaf shape (wagon wheel, long and pointed, small.) We made a class growth chart--which will be the first to sprout? The students discussed what was needed for the plants to grow--soil, sun, water. They continue to observe our potato plants (unbelievable!) and help provide a viable environment for our compost to mature. They are always questioning as good scientists should. It keeps me on my toes!!! Next week--seed dissection!
Technology: In reading, student partners used the apps Magnetic Letters and Doodle Buddy to illustrate and write to complete the literacy activities that accompanied their story, Montessori Crosswords app to continue work with segmenting and word families and the app Tic Tac Toe assist with phonemic awareness questions. Students continue to record their reading and play it back to assist in fluency development. In math, the students continue to use apps using addition, subtraction, number writing. In science, the students use the app Enchanted Learning to look up information on seeds and plants.
Literature: "Splat the Cat-Good Night, Sleep Tight," "Ron's Big Mission," "Aliens in Underpants Save the World," "Sara's Seed," "I am a Seed," "More Bears," "What am I--Look and See State of Illinois Book," "If You Were a Minus Sign," "The Curious Garden."
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