UPDATES for 12/16-12/20 2013

**The week was filled with compliment cards, friendship chains and song.  Our Winter Concert was fabulous!  Thanks to Ms. Hiolski and Ms. Freisen for their guidance.  Our after the concerts get togethers were chock full of great treats and crafts.  A huge thanks to our room parents--L. Wojcik, J. Flannery, E. Rodriguez-Collier and B. Barnett for all their organization and set up.  The students were very delighted to see parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters at the concert.
**Our BOOK BUDDY get together was awesome!  I read 2 stories about Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and used it as a spring board to discussion about taking pride in your accomplishments, believing in yourself and taking pride in others.  Sometimes, it just takes one person or one event to help us see our own worth.  After our stories and discussion,  our book buddies help  us make a Rudolph out of construction paper.  We had treats and raised our juice cups to salute our achievements of 2013 and  welcome in 2014!  A big thanks to Ms. Balicki's room parent, Ms. Koch for her help.
**Senorita Zaragoza talked to the students about the festival of Las Posadas.  She shared a story and music about the  procession in the streets re-enacting Mary and Joseph's search for an inn and the stable that became their room.  I presented the origin of Kwanzaa which began in 1966.  Students pointed out the use of the special candle holder called a kinara.   Lots of discussion centered around stars and babies.  I shared some traditional stories--"The Night Before Christmas," "The Nutcracker," and "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
**Please take a look a the information about BRAIN POP that is in your child's folder.t  I am in the process of learning about it myself.  The funding for it was provided by PTO.  Feel free to experiment with it.  I will have more info on its use in kindergarten after break.
**A special shout out to Ms. D. our Tuesday helper!
**Reading Grandma Mary will return for her 7th year of hearing budding readers.  She will begin coming in January. We can't wait to see her!
**Mid Year DIBELS testing will take place the first 2 weeks of January and Route to Reading Rotation 4 will resume January 7th.
**Vision Screening for students will take place on Tuesday, January 14th.
**Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held Monday, January 27th, Tuesday, January 28th and Wednesday, January 29th.  You will receive notification of your specific day and time when we return from break.
**Classes resume on Monday, January 6th.
**Start saving those GIANT BOXES (the kind you can climb in) and other cool stuff for our space station construction in APRIL during our SPACE THEME.  I cannot store anything now.  I will have you start bringing things in after spring break.
LOOKING AHEAD in 2014---We will begin our next cross curricular theme--WINTER and finish up Unit 4 FOOD in our Treasures Reading series.  We will also begin out first Science Unit--Investigating the Properties of Water.   In reading, the students will continue to focus on sound foundation, sound blending and segmenting/adding/deleting phonemes in 4-5- and even 6 phoneme words.  We will also work on oral and written comprehension, asking and answering questions about a text, comparing texts, reading fluency, vocabulary building, identifying story elements and identifying the authors message.  Our Busy Reader Club will begin.  In the area of writing, the students will finish uppercase letter formation and will begin lowercase formation.  They will continue sentence structure, inventive spelling, grammar and punctuation and expanding sentence length to include adjectives.  In the area of math, the students will continue to work on rote counting to 100 and beyond by 1's and 10's, write their numbers, demonstrate knowledge of numbers that are greater than and less than, name pattern block and geometric solid shapes, represent addition with objects, fingers and mental images and drawing,  solve addition story  problems using drawings and work on teen numbers and ways to say a number from 1-5 using 2 numbers added together.   Socially, the students will work on becoming more responsible and independent learners and thinkers and continue to develop positive relationships with their peers and teachers.  Technologically, The students will continue to use the iPad and internet resources to enhance all areas of their curriculum.  WOW!  We will be really busy!
Reading/Social Studies:      The students continue to work on Unit 4 Food in our Treasures Reading series.  The discussion this week this week centered around types of food you would have for dinner and if you have ever helped make dinner.  The students accessed prior knowledge about meals they have helped prepare and special meals coming up for the holidays that they will be a part of.  The students listened to the story, "The Special Sweet Potato Pie."  They separated fact from fiction--sweet potatoes are real but--they do not get bigger as they roll down the hill and you CAN make a sweet potato pie.  They used the retelling cards to retell the story in their own words.  They orally asked and answered questions about the story.  They reviewed the sight word--have and "walked their words" with a partner.  We also reviewed all sight words learned thus far by playing  "Hands Up, Hands Down."  The students reviewed target sounds Cc and Nn.  they continue to work on using verbs in their daily speech and in their journals.  Our Robust Vocabulary this week included APPETITE, FEAST, PREFER, FLAVOR, SPECIAL.  The students used the story sequence cards to summarize events and make inferences about what would happen in the Sweet Potato story.  They continue to use their elkonin boxes to segment 3-4 phoneme words.  We are adding more blends and digraphs to our sound blending.  The students read the decodable story, "We Can."  They shared their story with a partner during read aloud time.
Math:    The students reviewed number formation rhymes for numbers 0-5 and practice writing them in their Number Books.  The students continue to work on rote counting to 100 and beyond, counting quantities, oral number stories and ways to say a number.  We also continue to work on the concepts of greater than and less than, sequencing numbers that come before or after a random number and number bonding or ways to say a number---ways to say 5--2 and 3......4 and 1.....5 and 0 etc.  The students used their following direction skills as well as sequencing order in cutting out and putting together Rudolph.  They also continued to work on their Gingerbread Pattern project using the Starfall Gingerbread app.
Writing:     In Ms. Chinn's Writer's Workshop this week, the students took a look at WORD CHOICE when creating their stories.  Students looked at expanding their sentences and adding more detail to their work.  The students worked on a Gingerbread Writing project.  They created their gingerbread person and used the word bank to  write 2-3 descriptive sentences about their  person.  Sentence structure and spacing were stressed.   They also worked on their placement of letters of a given line.
Technology:     In reading the apps Montessori Crossword and Magic Reading 3 were used in students small groups to strengthen segmenting and blending skills.  They also used the apps Spelling Bug, Rocket Speller and Dolch Words with a partner.  In math,  the apps Starfall Gingerbread, Monster Squeeze, Number Find, Domino Match and Sam Phibian were used with individuals and small groups.  Students are also working with the app iTalk to record their reading and work on developing fluency.
Literature:    "Rudolph," "Rudolph Shines Again," "A Kwanzaa Counting Book,"  "Kwanzaa," "Las Posadas," "Too Many Tamales," "The Gingerbread Bear," "K is for Kwanzaa," "This is the Star," "A Child is Born," "The Night Before Christmas," "The Nutcracker," "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

UPDATES for 12/9-12/13 2013

**The students spent a busy week practicing their songs for the Winter Concert and learning about the traditions and celebrations of others.  It is really beginning to feel like winter.  We were unable to go out to recess at lunchtime due to the cold conditions.  For our last week at school before break, I am asking students to bring snow pants and wear boots everyday next week.  There are suppose to be rising temperatures next week which will make for a very soggy and slushy playground.  Our playground and field do not get plowed and so for the students to remain as dry as possible snow pants and boots are the best.  I do have 3 extra pair of snow pants for students to borrow.  Also, don't forget to send shoes each day. 
**Come One, Come All to the Kindergarten/Grade One Winter Concert on Friday, December 20th in the Irving Auditorium.  The concert will be held 2 times--First performance is at 8:15 am----the second performance is at 9:45 am.  I would go early to get a good seat especially if you are attending the 8:15 concert.  Please come back into the room after each performance for a refreshment reception and crafts to share .  It will be great time to get together with other families to share conversation and community.   Our wonderful room parents have been working on the arrangements for our reception.  Our afternoon will be spent with station day activities with our 5th grade Book Buddies.
**Let me know is your child is traveling for the winter break.  I will prepare a travel journal for them.
**School is closed--December 21st-January 5th.  School reopens on Monday, January 6, 2014!
**Route to Reading Rotation 3 will conclude next week.  You will receive notification on your child's skill development.  Route to Reading Rotation 4 will begin in late January.  This will give us time at the beginning of January to do midyear DIBELS assessments.
**In Friendship Club, Ms. Bell Bey continued her lesson on asking and answering questions in a cool guessing game.
**In Mr. Packer's Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer continued his lesson on dots and letters--visual imagery and perception. 
This week:
It continues to be about gingerbread, celebrations and traditions.  The students listened to a number of gingerbread stories.  They examined characters, setting and main events in the stories.  They compared and contrasted the characters and plot.  How did it end? (eaten..not eaten) Who were the characters? (boy, baby, girl, man, cowboy, fox, wolf, coyote)  What happened in the story?  They had loads of fun.   The students read about the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah with all its tradition and symbols.  They learned to play the dreidel game.  The students also read about Advent and the story of Christmas with all of its traditions and symbols.  Students are beginning to understanding the unifying theme of the use of lights in celebrations--candles, strands of lights on trees, the light of the North Star.  Station day activities included creating a candle with glitter and jewels, color by code a menorah, working in our number formation book with number forms 0-5 and making a "geome-tree" using rectangle and triangles to form a Christmas tree.
Reading/Social Studies:    The students began Unit 4 Food in their Treasures Reading series.  The unit began with a question about where our food comes from.  The students accessed prior knowledge stores, farms, markets and orchards as places where food is found.  Some students offered that they had gardens in their back yards in the summer.  The students listened to the big book story, "Apple Farmer Annie."  They listened and discussed where Annie lived and her daily activities as an apple farmer.  Students made connections on their fall theme about apples and types of apples and what you can make with apples.  Other students talked about the time they went to a farmer's market and bought apples and apple cider.  Our target words are to and have.   We have added these words to our growing list of sight words.  Our target letter and sound is Nn.  The students also reviewed the use of action words or verbs.  They used the retelling cards to retell the Annie story in their own words.  Our Robust Vocabulary this week included FARMER, MARKET, INGREDIENTS, COMBINE, NUTRITIOUS.  The students used their elkonin boxes to segment and blend 3 and 4 letter words.  The students continued their work on consonant blends and digraphs.  The students read their pre decodable story, "Can Nan?"  They made predictions about story content.  Students answered questions about the story and then practiced reading the story to a partner for fluency development.  The students listened to the selection, "Pizza Please."  They had lots of fun activating their own prior knowledge about making their own homemade pizza, comparing and contrasting the ways and ingredients families use to make pizza and that some students had never made their own but ordered it from a pizza place.  The students listened to the informational text, "From Strawberry Field to Strawberry  Salad."  They reviewed what a diagram was and how to follow a recipe.  Workstations this week included creating a pretend meal in house corner, taking a photo of it and then writing  about your favorite meal and where it came from, using the sentence starter, "I like.... and writing about a food you like, reader's response--reading and discussing the story with your group and writing about what you liked or did not like about the story, leveled reading working on story elements and comprehension and short vowel word sort and continued recording of reading aloud using iTalk for fluency checks.
Math:     The students continue to work on rote counting to 75.  This week they worked on number formation rhymes using numbers 0-5.  The students are creating a number formation book for practice and counting using their ten frames.  Students worked in math centers writing numbers to 50, counting quantities and recording their answer, discussing and recording the numbers that complete their number bond (ways to say a number--10 can be 5 plus 5, 2 plus 8 etc,) reinforcing recognition  of pattern block shapes, playing "Make 5 Bingo.  The students continue to work on the app Starfall Gingerbread--following and continuing a pattern.
Writing:    The students are working on the Starting Center Capitals A, T, J, I.  They applied what they had learned in their orange book.  Ms. Chinn continues to work with the students in Writer's Workshop.  This weeks lesson focused on the "organization" of writing.  Ms. Chinn used the example of a train--it has an engine (beginning) box cars (middle) and a caboose (ending).  She also used the words FIRST....NEXT......LAST as words to use when organizing sentences.   Students worked on a piece of writing and then a few students volunteered to share their writing with the group again with the "stars" and "wishes" peer critiquing.  The students are prepping for a writing project on a gingerbread person.  Part one of this project was to create the gingerbread person of their choice given a template.  Next week the students will write about their creation.
Technology:    In the area of reading, small group and individual students used the apps, Montessori Crossword, Spelling Bug and Rocket Speller to listen to and record letter sounds to create words (3-4-5 phonemes.)  Another group of students used the app iTalk to record their reading for fluency and clarity.  The app Sound Sort continues to assist individual students with sound/symbol connections.  In the area of math,  small group and individual students used the apps Number Find, Math Bug and Domino Match to reinforce the concepts of counting quantities, adding quantities and finding a number using base ten strategies.  Students partnered up to use the app Monster Squeeze using numbers from 1-30.  All students continue to work on their patterning project using the app Starfall Gingerbread.
Literature:    "The Gingerbread Doll," "The Gingerbread Girl," ""Gingerbread Jimmy," "The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School," "The Gingerbread Baby," "Gingerbread Fred," "Hanukkah," "Counting the Days to Hanukkah," "The Story of Hanukkah," "The Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell," "Celebrate the Holiday," ""The Story of Christmas."

UPDATES for 12/2/-12/9 2013

The temperature is dropping and the snow is falling!   The students had a spectacular week culminating in our 18th Annual Gingerbread cookie baking!  What a success for students and parent volunteers!  The smell of gingerbread filled the school.  The cookies themselves were really works of art.  The students worked together, created and shared some of their cookies with each other.  Tis the season!  A HUGE THANKS to our great parent volunteers--Ms. Wojcik, Mr. Smyth, Ms. Barnett, Mr. Bernacchi, Ms. Quinones and our beloved Ms. Jack for their help.  Hope you enjoyed the cookies too.
**Report cards will go home on Monday, December 9th.  Please read the information included to better understand the grading system.  Lexia reports are also included as well as any goal updates by specialists your child may be seeing in the area of the speech and language or Tier 3 Intervention for Reading Readiness.  If you have any questions please contact me.  The common core standards and grading system is a big change for all of us (me included!)  It continues to be a work in progress.  The main idea to remember is that this is growth model of progress toward an end of the year goal.
**If you didn't get a chance to hear our class version of the Brown Bear story--check it out at the end of this blog post.  Totally cute!
**Our WINTER CONCERT is fast approaching.  Please join us for the Kindergarten/Grade 1 concert on Friday, December 20th.  The students will perform twice--8:15 am and again at 9:45 am in the Irving Auditorium.  We will have a family reception after both concerts in our classroom.  Come see your child perform and join us for some treats and community!
**The Irving Cookie Crumble and craft Fair is Saturday, December 14th from 9-12 pm in the lunchroom and hallways.  There are really great things to buy for every age.  I went last year and bought cool stocking stuffers.....and COOKIES!!!!
**The Geography Challenge #3 is on for a few more days. 
**School is closed--December 21st-January 5th-WiNTER BREAK!  School reopens on Monday, January 6th.
**We have begun our cross curricular unit on Celebrations and Traditions.  Our first guest speaker was Julia's mom.  Ms. Heisler spoke about her native country of Ukraine.  We located it on our world map.  She read a story in Russian which Julia helped translate into English!  Cool!  Julia came dressed in a beautiful skirt and shirt with cool blue needle work.   Ms. Heisler spoke about particular holiday traditions and the students made Ukrainian flags and paper dolls dressed like Julia and boys dressed dressed in native clothing found in one of the story books.  Thanks so much, Ms. Heisler and Julia!  If have a particular holiday or winter tradition you would like to share with the class---email me and we can set up a time for you to come in.  Kindergarten students LOVE to have their parents come to the classroom!!
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey worked with the students on asking and answering questions using an activity where  students try to guess an animal that Ms. Bell Bey is thinking about by asking questions as clues.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer continued his activity on dots and letters--visual imagery and perception.
This week:
It was all about celebrations, traditions and gingerbread.  The students talked about what a tradition was--activities that are done routinely at the same time  every year and are passed down thru  generations.  I spoke about my family traditions at holiday time and my school tradition of making gingerbread with my students at this time of year.  The students made connections in their own lives and related activities that they do every year at this time.  We did a little research on how the activity of gingerbread making began and why it is so popular this time of year.  Ginger was a valuable spice a long time ago traced back to the Greeks and Romans.  A cake like treat was made of ginger.  As time went on, Europeans began using flour, ginger and other spices to create cookies, cakes and houses.   The students began listening to some stories about various gingerbread characters.  We will continue our story listening and compare and contrast the characters and plots in the coming weeks.
Reading/Social Studies:    The students are working to complete Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series.  The students built background knowledge about the different ways wheels are used to move people and things around.   They worked on their listening comprehension while listening to David Shannon's story, "Duck on a Bike," read both in English and in Spanish.  Students identified the characters and the plot (what is happening in the story.)  They took a closer look at the way the story is organized (a beginning, a middle and an ending), and responded to the story by discussing the connections that can be made from the story to their daily lives.  (I can ride a bike.) (I see kids riding bikes in my neighborhood.)   The students reviewed target sounds Tt and Short i and used their elkonin boxes and cubes to segment and blend 4 letter words.  Lots of discussion on nouns and action words.  The students worked with partners to create noun/verb sentences using picture cards.  The students were introduced to Consonant Blends and Digraphs.  Do you know the difference?  Ask your child!  Our Robust Vocabulary for this week included ADVENTURE, WHEELS, ATTACH, HAUL, MASSIVE.  The students read their pre decodable story "I See a Truck Go" and made predictions about story content.  The students listened to the thinking story, "Timimoto" and discussed the storytellers message.  Workstation activities this week included  recording their reading using the app iTalk and playing it back to hear themselves (beginning fluency checks,) leveled reading comprehension, creating sentences using the target words Go and See, read it and add to it activity, sound match, air, land and water vehicles graph/comparison, asking and answering questions about a trip you might like to take.
Math:   The students continued work on  rote counting to 75.  The students continue to work in their calendar books on recording numbers, sequencing numbers, counting on from a random number and recording ways to  say a number (number combinations.)  The students are also using tally marks to show how many.  They are using pattern blocks to count quantities and also using them for patterning.  This week, the students learned how to play "Roll a Gingerbread Man."  They will play at home for homework.
Writing:   The students completed work on forming their "Magic C" capitals--C, O, Q, G, S.  They applied what they learned in their orange practice book.  Ms. Chinn is continuing to work with the student in Writer's Workshop.  This weeks focus was on an exercise called "Stars" and "Wishes."  Each student shared a piece of writing/illustrating from their folder.  The class critiqued the sample.  What did they like?  What was your favorite detail?  They also made suggestions to enhance the piece.  I wanted to hear more about......  What about a picture of......  The students were gracious and offered up many compliments and suggestions.  Students helping each other become better writers!
Technology:    In the area of reading small group and individual work the students used the apps Magnetic Letters to complete writing assignments relating to their leveled reading,  Sound Sort for initial sound/picture practice and Montessori Crossword  for blending and segmenting sounds.  One group of students used the app iTalk to record their reading for fluency and clarity.  It is very fun to hear what you sound like!  In math,  small group and individual work centered around the apps Number Find, Monster Squeeze, Math Bug and the introduction of Starfall Gingerbread for patterning, identifying and describing shapes.
Literature:   "Ginger Bear," "The Gingerbread Man," ""Duck on a Bike," "Gingerbread Man," Poetry--"My Bike, ""Riding the Subway Train," "Celebrations Around the World," "Hibernation," "Animals in Winter," "The Story of Hannukah," "The Gingerbread Boy."

Happy Thanksgiving! Check our Brown Bear story!

UPDATES for 11/18-11/22 2013

**It was a week of reflection for the students and myself.  We all thought about what we are thankful for.  The students and I are thankful for a number of things, the most important is family.  I am thankful for this class of students for their dedication to their education.  Our class is thankful for our volunteer, Ms. D., who volunteers her time to work with individual students and small groups.  Our class is thankful for each other and all the great budding friendships between students and their families.  I am very thankful for the great support and help from my kindergarten families.  You truly make a difference!  Please enjoy your family time together as I will.
**No School--November 27-29-Thanksgiving Observance.
**PBIS All School BINGO GAME on Monday, November 25th from 2-2:55 pm.  Our Book Buddies will be along to help us.
**The students will be making BEAR PAW SNACKS on Monday as part of their culminating activity.  We will have regular and gluten free dough.  We will also be making butter. 
**Our students will be researching a question they developed as a result of their study of BEARS.  Our Book Buddies helped them write their question.  The research project with explanation and guide lines will be sent home on Tuesday.  The students have been working on research vocabulary.  Their special words are also in their homework folder for review. 
**TEDDY BEAR DAY on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26th.  Please have your child bring in their teddy bear or other favorite stuffed animal.  We will do a special writing activity with our pals.
**Route to Reading Rotation 3 will begin on Tuesday, December 3rd.  At that time, you will receive information on the skill your child will be working on. 
**The students were treated to a spectacular program by the African Drummers from Senegal.  These talented men played 2 types of drums, danced and shared with the students some facts about Africa and the country of Senegal.  A shout out to Anayla and Ethan who were chosen as student dancers!
**The students made signs and cheered on friends and family during the TURKEY TROT last Thursday.  It was great fun!
**Hope you had fun at the "JAMMIE JAM" last Friday.   Some very smooth moves were observed on the dance floor!  I had a great time.  My nieces were a little shy at the beginning, but they warmed up to the music by our own, Mr. Williams.  I hear Student Council raised more than $1000 dollars!
**New Eagle Extras brochure is in your child's homework folder.  Some very cool classes are being offered.  There is a brand new Lego class and soccer class.
**The 14th Annual Cookie Crumble and Craft Fair is Saturday, December 14th from 9-12 pm in the lunchroom.  See the info sheet in your child's homework folder.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!!  We have one volunteer (Thanks, Ms. Wojcik) but need at least 3-4 more for our annual GINGERBREAD COOKIE BAKING on Friday, December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm.  I will provide the dough (regular and gluten free) and all the fixings.  Volunteers will provide baking sheets, spatulas and oven mitts.  No experience needed.  We will roll, cut, decorate, bake and even eat some!  The rest will be packed up for home.  Please email if you can help!
**REPORT CARDS go home on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6th.
**SAVE THE DATE!!  The Kindergarten/Grade One Winter Concert is Friday, December 20th.  The students will be performing twice--First concert is at 8:15 am--the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am.  There will be some kind of reception for family and friends planned.  Stay tuned for more details.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey worked with the students on staying safe at school strategies.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer worked on visual /spatial thinking  and creativity using dots and the story, "Ten Black Dots" by Donald Crews.
This week:
It was all about research basics for little ones!  Ms. Noonan worked with the students on beginning with a question or something you want to find out and then how you find a source to help answer your question.  The students will finish up the tutorial next week and begin their project at home.  The students photographed their illustration and practiced reading their words for their talking book.  It should be ready soon!  What fun!  We are almost at the end of our Bear Unit.  This cross curricular theme provided lots of activities for reading, writing, math and science.  Our station day activities included creating bear caves using recyclable materials, think, create, count and record pattern block activity, count, build and record with unifix cubes and creating words with a word family tree.
Reading/Social Studies:    The students continue to work in Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series.  The students built background knowledge on their travels near and far.  They listened to the Big Book story,"On The Go."  They observed how people travel from one place to another and the vehicles they used.  We looked up each country on our world map.  The students asked and answer questions about the types vehicles used in other countries.  In their comprehension study, the students compared, contrasted and categorized the types of travel and vehicles.    The sight words go and see were reviewed.   The students worked on their target sound short i.  The students continue to review the use of action words in texts.  Our Robust Vocabulary this week included TRAVEL, JOURNEY, PREPARE, RELAX, FAMILIAR.  The students used their elkonin boxes to segment and blend 3 letter words.  The students read their pre decodable story, "Go, Go, Go."  They made predictions about story content and sound blended words unknown.  During  an interactive writing exercise,  the students made pop up signs using the word Go to help cheer on kids they knew in the Turkey Trot.  We read two poems on transportation--"The Bike," and "Riding the Subway."  The students noticed the rhyming in both and track the words as I read them.  The students worked with partners to create sentence with their words and pictures.   The students also worked on a common core assessment using a Venn diagram to compare two characters in two different stories.  Our workstations included creating sentences using Go and See, using post its to graph how they travel to school, reader's response about a story and drawing and labeling illustrations, rainbow writing with target words, change a letter activity to create a new word, leveled reader comprehension and fluency check and fill in the word to complete the sentence with a partner.
Math:    The students continue to work on rote counting to 100 and beyond.  Our focus counting this week was up to 60.  Students are really beginning to see the relationship between using their ten frames and counting by 10's.  They worked on activities with partners on counting quantities to 20 using different object.   Math workshop activities included pattern block recognition and exploring design, counting on from a random number, naming what comes before a certain number and after it,
working with teen numbers--how many complete ten frames?  how many left over? 
Writing:    The students have finished work on Starting Corner Capital letters-HKLUVWXYZ.  They applied what they learned in their orange practice book.  They continue to work in their yellow journals.  They are beginning to be more aware of where they write their upper and lowercase letters.  We had a discussion about tall lowercase letters and lowercase letters that fall below the line.  Good questions!  Many students are beginning their sentence with an uppercase letter.  They continue to work on spacing between words in a sentence and using an ending mark. 
Technology:    In reading, student small groups and individuals used the apps Sight Words, iWrite Words, ABC Magic 5 and Magnetic Board to practice their sight words.  In math, student small groups and individuals used the apps Dot-to-Dot Lite, Animal Count, Easy Match, Monster Squeeze and Number Find in their studies.  The students continue to work with the app Sonic Pics to take a picture of their work and record their sentences for our talking book.
Literature:    "Hugless Douglas," "On The Go," Chrysanthemum," Wemberly Worried," "Leaf Man," "Bear," "Polar Bear," Hibernation Station," "Bears All Around," "Blueberries for Sal."

UPDATES for 11/12-11/15 2013

**Chilly temperatures were felt by all.  The trees are beginning to look very bare.  The students collected their leaves for our class leaf sort.  The students categorized leaves by their color, shape and texture.  We had leaves that were colorful, spotted, purple, tan, yellow, red, orange, brown, green, white and pointy.  Random students were chosen to write a label for each grouping.  Smile for the group photo!  We will use the leaves for other projects this week. 
**Our Field Trip to Brookfield Zoo was awesome!  We had a beautiful day to walk around and see the world of animals.  The students spent their free time exploring the world of big cars, monkeys, rhinos, kangaroos, penguins, bison, snakes, gorillas and gorilla babies to name a few and participated in various activities at the Hamill  Family Play Zoo.   At the Great Bear Wilderness Exhibit, the students enjoyed a classroom experience.  The instructor guided us through an introduction on bears of all kinds, looking at artifacts and providing activities where the students could compare themselves to the height of each type of bear.  The students saw a black bear skull, touched black bear and polar bear fur and experimented with a grizzly paw print and compared it to their own hand.  The students then went out on a guided tour of the bear grotto.  How exciting it was for the students to view a grizzly bear right up against the glass staring right at us!!  The students also saw some sleeping bears and a large polar bear.    The students enjoyed a picnic lunch and some play time at the play lot.  Ben's dad took lots of photos.  I will post some of them soon.  A HUGE shout out to our volunteers B. Barnett B. Ahring, H. Lim, T. Smyth, L. Pierre,  S. Jun,  E. Rodriguez and Ms. Cummings (Reid's grandma.) 
**This Friday is the "JAMMIE JAM" from 6:30-8:00 pm.  sponsored by Student Council.  Come in your pajamas and dance the night away for a good cause.  Student Council is raising money to purchase pajamas for children who have prolonged hospital stays.  The cost is $5.00.  Hope to see you there!
**The PTO will sponsor an African Drumming Concert on Wednesday, November 20th at 1:00 pm. in the gym.  This is an all school event.
**The 3rd thru 5th Grade Turkey Trot will be held on Thursday, November 1st at 2:00 pm.  Who will win the turkey???  Our students will be make signs and posters and cheer them on.  Some of the runners are our Book Buddies!!
**Trimester 1 has ended.  Follow up assessments are going on now.  Our new standards based report cards will go out on Friday, December 6th. 
**Our school wide PBIS Celebration will feature a school wide BINGO game on Monday, November 25th from 2-3 pm.  Our Book Buddies will join us.
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 has concluded.  There will be a one week break to complete all assessments for our report card.  Route to Reading Rotation 3 will begin on Tuesday, December 3rd.
**NO SCHOOL Wednesday-Friday, November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance.  
**CALLING ALL COOKS!!!  I have 1 volunteer but need about 4 more for our annual GINGERBREAD COOKIE BAKING on Friday,  December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm.  I will provide all dough (regular and gluten free) and sprinkles.  Volunteers will provide baking sheets, spatulas, oven mitts.  No experience needed!!  We will roll, cut, decorate, bake and even eat one!  Email me if interested!
**SAVE the DATE!!  The Kindergarten/Grade One Winter Concert is Friday,  December 20th.  Because of the size of our auditorium,  our concert will be held twice--first performance is at 8:15 am--the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am.  There will be some kind of a reception for family. Our room parents will be planning it!
This week:
It was all about preparation for our zoo trip.  The students continued their research and fact finding.  They reviewed facts about black and brown bears. The students worked on a group Venn diagram comparing black and brown bears.   They also gathered facts about polar bear characteristics, habitat and food.  The students continue work on their talking storybook project--their version of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"  With illustrations completed, the students are practicing their reading  and recoding their words on the app Sonic Pics.  It will be ready for publishing soon.  Stay tuned!
Reading/Social Studies:    The students have begun work on Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series.  The students discussed what is meant by transportation--a way to move people and things from one place to another.  They brainstormed ways they get around and discussed forms of transportation that move fast and slow.  They listened tot he Big Book story, "A Bus for Us."  They made predictions about story content.  After the story was read, the students asked and answered questions about key details in the story.    The students took turns using the retelling cards to retell the story in small groups.  The students made connections in their own lives about various vehicles showcased in the story.  The sight words go and see were introduced.  Our target sounds for the week are Tt and short i.  Students worked on activities surrounding the sound of Tt at the beginning and ending of words and listening for short i in the middle of targeted words.  The students worked on sound blending 3 letter words and used their elkonin boxes to segment each sound.  Robust Vocabulary this week included TRANSPORTATION, VEHICLE, RAPIDLY, GLIDE, CONTINUE.  The students worked with partners on their fluency reading aloud their pre decodable story, "I See Sam."  The students worked on common core standard activities using the text, "Little Bear."  Workstations this week included writing a sentence using go and see, CVC segment-sort, readers response--read and discuss, initial consonant review, "how do you go to school?"--graph and compare, rainbow word write, leveled readers--comprehension and fluency check.
Math:   The students worked on rote counting to 50, sequencing numbers, finding the missing number and choosing the number that comes before and after a given number.  They continue to work on  teen numbers in their ten frames,  reviewing basic and pattern block shapes and counting quantities to 20. 
Writing:    Students were busy this week writing their sentence to their "Brown Bear" story.  They also continue to work on their journal prompts.  The students are really working on where to put their upper and lowercase letters and starting with a capital letter and ending with a period.  They  continue to use their inventive spelling.
Technology:    Students are using the app Sonic Pics to record their sentence for the talking book.  No new apps were introduced this week. 
Literature:    "Leaf Man," "time to Sleep," "Bears," "Polar Bear," "Hibernation Station," "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" "Sleep Big Bear, Sleep," "Follow the Polar Bears," "Don't Wake Up the Bear," "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?"

UPDATES for 11/4-11/8 2013

**Our 50th day in school was fun.  Bobby socks, ponytails, fancy skirts and dresses, blue jeans, slick back hair and tees----cool man!   The students compared and contrasted the 1950's and the present via a Venn diagram.  They enjoyed pudding floats and danced to the music of the 50's.  Hey, these kids have some moves!!!  They worked on math and literacy learning stations surrounding the number 50.   The countdown continues.  Only 50 more days to go until our 100th day celebration!
**Our BROOKFIELD ZOO FIELD TRIP is Friday, November 15th.  Please send in all money and permission slips ASAP!  Please read the yellow sheet that was sent home.  Dress for the weather--bag lunch with name on it.   Students and teachers ride the school bus.  All volunteers will carpool.  Thanks to T. Smyth, B. Ahring, Ms. Cummings (Reid's Grandma) B. Barnett, L. Pierre, S. Jun, H. Lim, and E. Rodriguez for volunteering their time to come on the trip.   We will be leaving at 9:00 am and returning to school at 2:00 pm.  Our trip includes a classroom experience and tour of the Bear Grotto, picnic lunch and time on your own to see other exhibits.
**Come to the "JAMMIE JAM" sponsored by Student Council.  It will be held on Friday, November 22nd from 6:30-8:00 pm. in the gym.   The admission of  $5.00 will go toward purchasing pajamas for children with prolonged hospital stays.  Don't forget to fill out the confirmation sheet and send it back to school.  I'll be there--might have to get a new pair of jammies for the occasion.  Come join in the fun and dance the night away for a good cause. 
**The Geography Challenge has sure been fun!  Congratulations to our own Jayden and Ethan for having their answers picked this week.  Students have already begun taking the next challenge.  Thanks, Gina for the map of the Great Lakes--hint, hint!!!
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 will conclude on Thursday.  At that time, you will receive information on your child's skill mastery.  
**Beginning this week and continuing for the next 5 weeks, our class will take part in Ms. Chinn's Writer's Workshop that will  provide tips and strategies for our budding kindergarten writers.   Language Arts Specialist, Ms. Chinn, will guide the students through a series of lessons to boost their thinking and writing potential. 
**No Friendship Club this week. Ms. Bell Bey had a meeting.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer continued his interactive activities on the concepts greater than and less than. 
**No School Wednesday, Thursday, Friday--November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance.  Let me know if your child needs a travel journal.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!!  We will need several volunteers for our annual gingerbread cookie baking on Friday, December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm.  No experience necessary.  Create, decorate, bake and share.  Email if interested.  This activity is part of our cross curricular unit on Celebrations and Traditions.   I will provide the dough---regular and gluten free and sprinkles!
**SAVE the DATE!  Our WINTER CONCERT featuring Kindergarten and First Grade is Friday, December 20th.  Due to the size of our auditorium, our concert will be held twice---first performance is at 8:15 am---the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am.   The students are already practicing!!!!
This week:
It was all about our beginning BEAR inquiry.  The students listed what they knew about bears.  The students gathered information from books and the internet about characteristics that all bears share.  The students were excited to learn that humans share something in common with bears--they are both mammals.  The students found out that the black bear is the most common bear in North America.  They read about where they are found, their habitats, characteristics and food.   Our nature table has a black bear skull and jaw bone, black bear fur and claw and some other interesting artifacts courtesy of the Field Museum.  The students also noticed some differences between black bears and brown bears (smaller paws and claws.)  Stay tuned--more brown bear and polar bear inquiries next week.  The students will also work on a talking book project--their version of Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jrs--"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"  Station day activities included sponge painted brown bears, build a bear with pattern blocks, black bear growth sequence and sight word activity.
Reading/Social Studies:     The students have completed Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series.  This weeks lessons centered around friends who solve problems together.  The students listened to the story, "Simon and Molly plus Hester."  They asked and answered questions and responded to the literature by making connections in their own lives.   The students talked about the problem and the solution in the story.   The students reviewed all their sight vocabulary thus far.  They practiced writing them and using selected words in oral and written sentences.  The students reviewed target sounds Pp and Ss and used their sound boxes to mark where they heard the target sound--at the beginning or at the end of the word.  The students took turns retelling our story using the retelling cards.  In phonemic awareness activities, the students categorized and blended 3 phonemes (individual sounds) to create words.  The students read the pre decodable story, "I Like, We Like."  They made predictions about story content and practiced reading to a partner.  We used our oral vocabulary cards to develop our Robust Vocabulary in the tale from Haiti called, "The Turtle and the Sheep."  Our Robust Vocabulary included PROBLEM, SOLVE, GRATEFUL, THOUGHTFUL  and INCLUDE.   The students thought about what the author's message could be in this tale.  Was there a lesson in this story?  Some very insightful thoughts from 5 and 6 year olds!  In our read aloud folk tale, "The Little Red Hen," the students listened to fluent reading and reoccurring phrases.  They worked to sequence event in the story..  Workstations this week included creating sentences 2 friends might say to each other and putting it in a speech bubble or balloon, expressing your feelings, by drawing a picture of yourself happy and sad and writing about what makes you happy or sad, leveled reading and discussion of stories,  using the app iWrite to practice writing sight words.
Math:    It was all about the number 50!  Students worked on a variety of learning station using numbers 1-50.  Learning stations included tracing/writing the numbers 1-50,  ten frame activities,  greater than and less than using random numbers,  Top It using numbers 1-50,  Monster Squeeze using numbers 1-50 and Race to 50 Game.  The students are also working in their Daily Calendar books that contain activities on counting on, sequencing numbers, number combinations, ways to say a number and working with number families.
Writing:    Students are working on their Starting Corner Capital letters H, K, L, W and V.  They used their wooden pieces to assist in their learning along with their mini chalkboards and sponges.  The students have finished the writing and illustrating portion of their fact book on pumpkins and are now in the process of orally recording their sentences.  The students are beginning to use more lowercase letters in their writing and are beginning to be more consistent in placement of upper and lowercase letters on lined paper.  Students continue to use their inventive spelling and their sight vocabulary to create sentences. 
Technology:     In reading, students continue to use the apps mentioned last week in small groups and individually.  Students have begun recording their sentence from our pumpkin fact book using Story Kit.  In math, students continue to use the apps mentioned last week in small groups and individually.  Students also used google to look up information on BEARS.
Literature:      "Going on a Bear Hunt," "Amazing Bears," "Bears," "Day in the Life of Baby Bear,"  "Bears in the Forest," "Please Don't Wake the Bear," "Sleep Big Bear, Sleep."

UPDATES for 10/29-11/1 2013

**Our Halloween was soggy and very wet!  That did not prevent us from having great fun!   Our students were transformed into butterflies, bats, zombie princes, princesses, ninjas and more!  Was  that a mummy for  a teacher??!!   The all school parade traveled up and down our school hallways and in the auditorium.  Back in the classroom,  we feasted on eye balls and bones (thanks to Blaine's mom!) as well as more traditional fruits and veggies.  Thanks to everyone who came out to help.  A special shout out to our wonderful room parents!
**Wednesday, November 6th is our 50th Day of School!  We will be half way to 100!  The students have been doing some comparing and contrasting of the 1950's and the present.  This Wednesday, we will mark the day by dressing up like the 50's,  having a sock hop and working on math learning stations surrounding the number 50.    We will even create a special 50's treat.  It will be nut free and gluten free.    The students can dress up  like the 50's on Wednesday.  It can be as simple as a white t shirt and jeans, slicked back hair, a poodle skirt and ponytail.  
**Monday, November 4th--Picture retake day. 
**The students will participate in a BUS EVACUATION DRILL on Tuesday, November 5th. 
**No School Monday, November 11th--Veteran's Day observance.
**Don't forget to send in your permission slip and money for our Field Trip to BROOKFIELD ZOO.  Trip is  Friday, November 15h.  I have one chaperone, but could use 2-3 more.   Students and teachers will ride the school bus.  Parent chaperones will carpool.  We will pay for your parking. The time frame is 8:30 am-2:00 pm.  Come join us!
 **Students have been taking the "Geography Challenge."  Our next challenge question will be revealed on Tuesday.  Go Green team!
**On Monday, we will begin our next cross curricular theme--BEARS.  We will become Bear Experts.  Our field trip will have a special classroom experience!  We will turn our nature table into a bear artifacts table.  We will be linking our study of bears to common core standards.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey did activities relating to listening and following directions.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr Packer did interactive activity on the concepts Greater Than and Less Than.
**No School Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance.
This week:
This week it was all about bats!  We took the fright out of these amazing creatures.  The students listened to informational texts as well as fiction texts on bats.  They viewed bat skeletons both on line and in picture diagram form.  The students learned about bat habitats, bat physiology and bat diets.  The students learned that bats and humans have something in common--we are mammals.  Ask your child what a mammal is.  Students sought information about bat types, bat characteristics (super long fingers and a thumb and baby bats (They are pink and called pups.)  The students also read about and viewed a skeleton.  Who have more bones--a bay or a 5-6 year old????  the students have been having great fun putting together to the skeleton puzzle and "bone" pieces.  Our station day activities for this week included web of words activity, bats and balls counting activity, greater than and less than treat sort, cut and glue categorization and creating bat origami. (Many thanks to Colin's grandma!)
Reading/Social Studies:    The students continue work in Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series.  They built background knowledge about how friends in other parts of the world share activities.  The students listened to the Big Book story, "Friends Around Us."  They made connections looking and listening to the activities and places in the world where friends lived.  We located the countries on the map so students could get an idea of where the friends lived.  The word a was added to our sight word list.  The reviewed isolated sounds of M, S, A, P.  Our Robust Vocabulary words included WORLD, GAMES, PLEASANT, ASSIST and HONEST.  The students worked on asking questions about the Big Book story.  They also used the retelling cards to review the order of events in the story.  Our puppet,  Mr. Happy assisted the students in practicing the blending of letter sounds to create 3 letter words.  The students used their sound boxes to isolate where they heard the Pp sound--at the beginning or end of the word.  We read our pre decodable story, "I Am a Doctor."  The students tracking skills are continuing to develop.   They also read their pre decodable paper story, "I Am."  The students practiced reading to a partner for fluency development and discussed the characters and setting of the story.  The students continued work on their common core project creating a  sentence web surrounding the facts about pumpkins that they will use in their writing and illustrating.  Workstations this week included read it and add to it, leveled readers comprehension and fluency, creating a friend puppet and reading their story to the puppet and writing about it, sentence starter....We like.....to tell about what you and friend like to do and Magic Reading 1  app--3 letter words--tap the box record the sound-tap the picture box--did you make the word?
Math:    The students worked on the counting sequence 1-50.  They played--"What comes before--What comes after."  They also continued to work on the concepts greater than and less than using a variety of activities with partners and in small group math stations.  The students continue work on recognizing pattern block shapes and using the shapes to create a design depending upon the number of blocks.  (ie--can you create a design with 7 shapes? 9 shapes?)  The students were excited to begin work in their new calendar books for the month of November.  They are now counting the number of ten frames on our calendar and beginning to see the relationship between ten frames and counting by 10's!
Writing:    The students continue to work on their Starting Corner Capitals.  They used the wooden pieces to form the letters L, K, H.  They then used their mini boards with chalk and sponges to practice formation.  The students are working on their informational book about pumpkins where they will write a fact and illustrate.  We will be creating a talking book for you to listen to!. 
Technology:    In reading this week, the students used the apps Word Wizard and Magic Reading 1 in small groups and individually to work on CVC word formation and sound blending.  In math, students continue to work with the apps Monster Squeeze, Sam Phibian,  Geoboard and Dot to Dot Lite for counting, number sequencing and greater than and less than concepts.
Literature:    "Cinderhazel," "Day of the Dead," "Skeletons," "Skeleton Meets Mummy," "Fantastic Bats," "Skeleton Hiccups," "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat," "Even Monsters Need Haircuts," "Bats Big Game," "Amazing Bats," "Extremely Weird Bats," "Pumpkin Soup." "Pumpkins, "Your Skeleton."

UPDATES for 10/21-10/25 2013

**The FUN RUN was great!  Our class had great participation.  Thanks to all who came out to cheer us on!  Remember to turn in your pledge money this week!
**Our Field Trip to the MAZE LIBRARY was wonderful.  We had a lovely sunny, but cool morning for our walk.  Ms. Lori and Ms. Jessica were super great in showing us around the library and reading great stories.  The students even got to move and dance.   Students who filled out the application received their library cards.  Look for them in your child's backpack.   Thanks to Mr. Bernacchi, Mr. Jun and Ms. Barnett for volunteering.
**The students had their first visit with their 5th grade Book Buddies from Ms. Balicki's class.  Each student was matched up with a buddy.   With their buddy they took a picture using the iPad and then interviewed their book buddy and recorded the information in their take home book.  They then shared some Halloween stories.  A great time was had by all! 
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 will begin on Tuesday.  At that time you will receive information on the skill your child will be working on and the teacher teaching it.
**INFORMATION on HALLOWEEN--On Thursday, October 31st,  students can bring their costumes in a bag.  We will have regular morning activities and lunch.  At 1:00 pm,  they will change into their costumes.  We do need volunteers to help with changing and details.  The Parade begins at 1:30 pm.  The parade route will be outside around the school grounds.  Our classroom celebration and activities will begin immediately following the parade.  Our room parents are taking care of the details.  In keeping with our nonviolent atmosphere, please do not send toy guns, swords, hooks, knives, light sabers, poles, brooms or handcuffs.  Students may bring a treat for the class if they wish. (candy or non-candy) that will go home in the treat bags we are making.   Room parents will have a healthy snack for all on hand.  Parents and sibs are invited to attend both events.
**Our next D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) in Tuesday, October 29th from 9:30-9:50 am.
**Wednesday, November 6th is our 50th Day of School!  We will be half way to 100!  That week, the student will learn a little about what it was like to live in the 1950's.  On Wednesday, the students can dress up like the 50's.  It can be as simple as white tee shirt and jeans--slick back hair for the boys and pony tails for the girls.  If you should have a poodle skirt on hand --WOW!  We will have a morning SOCK HOP and math and literacy activities surrounding the number 50. 
**Student Council meetings have begun.  Our reps Blaine and Samuel attended their first meeting where everyone was introduced and Mr. Gray and Ms. Pelling talked about what Student Council is.   Stay tuned for more!!!
**Green Team reps, Reid and Gina talked to our class about the "Geography Challenge"  Each week will have a new question to be answered.  Check out the one in your child's homework folder.  Parents can help!  Students can write down the answer and put it in a collection envelope.  Green Team will choose a response.  If it is the correct one,  prizes and incentives will be given.  Get out your maps, computers, globes, books!!!!  Take the challenge!!
**Our Helping Grandma, Mrs. D. is back from her travels.  She showed the students on our map where she traveled to in her car--from Chicago all the way to California and up the coast.  She related some of her adventures.  She will be working with students every Tuesday morning.
**In Friendship Club this week,  Ms. Bell Bey did a great activity on "being in the zone."  She talked about the importance of being in the zone to get work finished, to listen to directions, interact with friends and to be a good citizen.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week,  Mr. Packer did a cool activity on "visual counting."  He projected dots on the screen and asked how many.  The time for viewing the dots became less and less.  What did you see?  How many do you remember?  What was your strategy for getting the correct number?  Fun! Fun!
**The permission slip for our  November 15th Field Trip to BROOKFIELD ZOO is in your child's homework folder.
This week:
It was all about pumpkins and spiders!  We have a Banana Spider visiting us!  Our Nature Table is filled with spider info, pictures, toys and diagrams.  The spider is not so spooky.  It is really very helpful to our earth.  The students learned the difference between spiders and insects and viewed some spider specimens.  The students learned the term--arachnid.  The students learned that spiders live almost everywhere on earth and hatch from eggs.  Baby spiders are called spiderlings.  Spiders can be very colorful!  Students listened to nonfiction and fiction stories about spiders.  We accessed information on the internet on spiders of interest like the tarantulas and black widows.  Many spiders eat pesty bugs and insects that bother humans and plants.  The students took a look inside a pumpkin.  They closely examined the skin, flesh, pulp and seeds.   The students viewed the growing sequence and counted the seeds.  They listened to stories both nonfiction and fiction about the pumpkin.  The topic--pumpkin was used for our common core summative sequencing prompt.   Our station day activities included marble painted spider webs, colorful spiders, turning their pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns using basic shapes, spooky spider pattern color and count the dominoes on the spider legs and glue in the correct number. 
Reading/Social Studies:     The students began work on Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series.  They built background knowledge about what a friend is and what types of activities you can do with a friend.  They listened to the song "The More We Get Together."  Many students remembered this song from their time in preschool.  The students listened to the Big Book story, "What Do You Like?"  They responded and made connections about activities they do with friends.  The students found the title page and discussed the main characters (girl and boy) and the setting of the story.  The students created a whole group Venn Diagram where they compared what each child in the story liked and what they both liked.  (ie--they both liked fruit, but the boy like watermelon and the girl liked apples.)  The sight word LIKE was introduced.  The students reviewed their previous words and played, "Hands Up, Hands Down."  Our target sound in isolation was Ss.  The students brainstormed words that began with the sound.  They used chants and rhymes to reinforce the sound. 
The students reviewed what a noun was and sighted several examples throughout the Big Book story. 
We added the Robust Vocabulary words FAVORITE, FRIENDS, PARTNER, HOBBY and COMPLETE to our list.  The students listened to the story, "From Seed to Pumpkin," and retold key events in sequence using numbers and pictures.    The story was read again and the students wrote key details they remembered from the story.  The students worked on their sound blending--using 3 sounds (phonemes)  They read their pre decodable story, "We Like," and discussed what a speech bubble or balloon was.  Workstation activities included working on a mural depicting friendship and writing about it using the sentence starter--We can...., picture sort with letters A, S, M, P, using a stuffed animal as their Book Buddy to read and write an important event form the story, leveled reading for comprehension and beginning fluency and creating 3 letter words using the app Reading Magic Two.
Math:    The students continue to work on counting quantities and one to one correspondence.  They are doing a great job of completing their Calendar Books daily.  They are working on the concepts before and after, greater than and less than and number families.  The students did a variety of activities using their ten frames.  They counted pumpkin seeds, shapes spiders and bats.  The students completed their number globes.  They are posted in our hallway.  The students worked on the apps Monster Squeeze and Sam Phibian with partners.
Writing:    The students reviewed all Frog Jump Capitals and are beginning to work on their Starting Corner Capitals.  They really enjoy working with the wooden pieces and their mini boards with chalk and sponges.  The students continue to work on labeling pictures in their journal and beginning sentence structure.  We began practice on where to write letters on a given line.  Where do you write lowercase...uppercase...tall lowercase.....what about the lowercase that goes below the line?  So much to think about.  The students practiced on sentence strips and wrote about their trees.  Check it out!  They are posted in the hallway.
Technology:     The students continue to use the iPad as a tool to enhance skills taught.  They had lots of fun using the camera to take a picture of their Book Buddy.  In reading the students used the apps Dolch Words, Magic Reading 2, Letter/Sound Match, Word Wizard and Magnetic Letters to practice their sight words.  In math, the students used Sam Phibian, Monster Squeeze, Geoboard and Animal Count.  Small groups of students also worked on Lexia Core 5.
Literature:      "From Seed to Pumpkin," "Picking Apples and Pumpkins," "Pumpkins,""The Pumpkin Book," "Spiders," "Super Spiders," "Spiderlings and their Families," "Diary of a Spider," "Perfect Pumpkins."

UPDATES for 10/15-10/18 2013

**There is beginning to be a chill in the air.  The students are commenting on the the change in temperature, pants and long sleeves, the leaves beginning to fall from the trees and and the anticipation of Halloween and costumes!
**REMINDER--Our Walking Field Trip to the MAZE LIBRARY is this WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23rd.  We will depart from school at 8:30 am.--walk to the library--tour and activities from 9:00-10:45 and return to school by 10:15 am.  If you completed a library card application for your child, the card will be in your child's folder. We will be walking with Ms. Ricchio's class.  Mr. Jun, Mr. Bernacchi and Ms. Barnett will join us as chaperones. 
** Our All School FUN RUN FUNDRAISER is this Friday, October 25th.  Kindergarten will be running at 8:15 am.  Stop by to cheer us on!!  Go to the Irving website to submit a pledge amount.
**Route to Reading Rotation 1 will conclude on Wednesday, October 23rd.  At that time, you will receive information on your child's skill assessment.
**Our Seasonal Babies Project is awesome!  Stop by and see our adorable baby pictures!  It will be up the for the rest of the year.
**Pajama Day was lots of fun.  Lots of cute pajamas, fuzzy slippers, bath robes, and stuff animals and blankeys.  
**Congratulations to our Student Council reps, BLAINE and SAMUEL!  They will attend their first meeting of Student Council on Tuesday under the direction of Mr. Gray and Ms. Pelling.
**Green Team reps, Reid and Gina will attend their second meeting on Tuesday.
**Our class will be observing Digital Citizenship Week.  The students will have a short lesson each day on staying safe online.  The lessons will be geared toward their age level. 
**General information on our Halloween Festivities was sent home on Friday.  Students can bring their costumes and accessories in a bag to school.  The students will have regular morning activities and lunch.  At 1:00 pm, they will change into their costumes.  I will need some volunteers to help with costume changing.  Parade begins at 1:30 pm.  The parade route will be outside around the school grounds.  Our classroom activities will be immediately following.  Our room parents are taking care of the details.  In keeping with our non violent classroom atmosphere,  please do not send toy guns, swords, hooks, light sabers,  poles, knives, brooms or handcuffs.  Students may bring a treat if they wish. (candy or non-candy) that will go in the treat bags we are making to be sent home.  Room parents will have a healthy snack on hand.  Parents and sibs are invited to attend both events.
** In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey continued her lesson on feelings and personal safety.
** In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment, Mr. Packer did a cool activity on positional words beside, above, below and on with shapes.
**Future FIELD TRIP to BROOKFIELD ZOO--Friday, November 15th from 9:00 -2:30 pm.  More information to come.
This week:
It was all about the culmination of apple mania.  The students discussed the sequence of events surrounding the making of apple sauce.  They key words--recipe and ingredients.  They observed the apple peeling machine work its magic.   They discussed the cooking process.  The students sorted the apple stars, bottoms with the left over flower or blossom and the skin that came off like a ribbon.  With all the ingredients in the the pot,  the apple sauce cooked for 20 minutes.  The students put the finishing touches on it by smashing it with a potato masher to make it smoother.  Lots of language and conversation.  The students sampled the finish product as part of snack time.  They read both fiction nonfiction stories about apples.  Our station day activities included apple print trees, pattern block build, count and record, writing prompt/illustration.....In the fall i like to..... and apple star prints.
Reading/Social Studies:    The students completed Unit 1 Families in the Treasures Reading series.  They used a variety of partner and small group games to review upper and lowercase letter recognition, sound/symbol relationships at the beginning and ending of words, syllable counting,  (1-5 syllables) sight vocabulary and work with sound blending strategies and word families.  Workstations this week centered around practicing spelling sight word vocabulary on the ipad app Magnetic Board and composing  short sentence using their words, drawing and writing--a picture of themselves as a baby and now as a 5-6 year old making a comparison about how they have changed in writing, leveled reading and discussion of story elements and using question words, reader's response where the group reads and discusses a story and states a response of whether they liked the story or not and illustrate a part of the story including labeling parts.  We will begin Unit 2 Friends next week.
Math:    The students continue work on counting quantities to 15, one to one correspondence to 15 and recognition of numbers 0-15.  They used their number cards in a variety of games including the partner game Top It, where each partner draws a number and the partner with the greater number gets the cards, Got It--number recognition where you roll the dice and color in that number on your recording sheet, Heads or Tails, where you flip a penny and use tally marks to keep your score, number puzzles-matching written number to the number of seeds on the apple and sequencing number cards from smallest number to largest and from largest to smallest.  The students also reinforced positional concepts and basic shape and pattern block recognition.  The concept of "greater than" and "less than" were explored.
Writing:     The students completed their practice of Frog Jump Capitals.  They continue to work on starting at the top of the page when forming a letter.   The students worked in their orange practice books.  They are working on their writing posture--sitting up straight, one hand holding the pencil and the other holding down the paper.  Beginning sentence structure is being worked on--begin each sentence with a capital letter, space between words in a sentence and have some kind of ending mark.  Sentences should name (noun) and tell (action word.)  Students are beginning to use more inventive spelling and their illustrations are slowly containing more details.  Next week, the students will transition into their next writing journal with lines for upper and lowercase letters.
Technology:    The students continue to use the iPad as a tool to enhance their learning.  No new apps were introduced this week.  The students continued to work on apps that explore letter/sound association, letter matching, word practice, segmenting and blending, number matching, number recognition, counting and creativity.
Literature:    "The Pumpkin Patch," "The Bumpy Little Pumpkin," "The Four Seasons," "Autumn days," "Picking Apples," "Colorful Leaves," "Mixed Up Fall."

UPDATES for 9/30-10/4 and 10/7-10/11 2013

**These two weeks have flown by so quickly.  It's hard to believe that we are in the middle of October.  The students continue to learn to work together and independently.  They continue to work hard on our daily curriculum.  We all are learning a lot from each other.  It was great to chat with all of you and share your child's progress at conferences.   As we work together during the transition to Common Core Standards and the standards based report card,  please know that these standards are indicators of growth.  As I have shared with you at conferences, that growth is happening!!!
**SEASONAL BABIES PROJECT--Please send in a baby of your child.  The picture will be used in a project and will remain on our wall for the remainder of the year.  I have mine!  We will do our project on October 16th.
** The class has chosen to have a PAJAMA DAY on Wednesday, October 16th as a result of a CLASS EAGLE WING being pulled at our weekly drawing.  Students can wear their pajamas, bring fluffy slippers and a favorite blankey or stuffed animal.  Our writing prompt that day will be based on a a storybook CD.  Don't forget to send regular shoes.  We will be going outside for recess.
**Continue to send in permission slips for our WALKING FIELD TRIP TO MAZE LIBRARY.  Please note that the correct date in WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23rd from 8:30-10:30 am.    The Tuesday, conferences goers received the wrong date!  We would like all students to have a library card.  Email me if you need an application.
**Irving School students will participate in a FUN RUN FUNDRAISER that will be held on Friday, October 25th.  Kindergarten will be running at 8:15.  Stop by and show your support!  Information on how to submit a pledge amount can be found on the Irving School website. 
**The students had picture perfect smiles on Picture Day.  We had our class photo taken outside on our lovely new playground equipment!
**All students participated in WALK TO SCHOOL DAY this past Wednesday.  Students who did not have a chance to walk to school, walked around the playground with me.  All students got their hand stamped and colored a gym shoe.  Mr. Hancock and Mr. Wyza  will decorate the gym with all the gym shoes.
**GREEN TEAM reps, Reid and Gina participated in their first Green Team Meeting last week.
They got to know other Green Team members from all grade levels and talk about what the focus of the year is going to be with their leaders, Ms. Parkinson and Mr. Packer.
**Route to Reading Rotation 1 continues for another week before assessment of the skill begins.
**The students began work in the computer lab on LEXIA CORE 5 a phonics based program that supports all levels of reading and reading readiness.  The students will work 2 times a week for 30 minutes.   In another 2 weeks or so,  I will send an information sheet for access at home for practice.
**The Book Fair this week had many good books and activities for all students.  Hope you got a chance to visit it. 
**Scholastic Book order for October is due the 16th.  You can access it on line by clicking on the book on the left side of the blog. 
**STUDENT COUNCIL REPS.....Next week I will talking to the students about the function of Student Council at Irving School.  Students Council is starting up and Mr. Gray needs 2 reps form each classroom to attend bi monthly meetings.  I will send home an inquiry sheet next week for those who are interested.  The first meeting is October 22nd.
**Future Field Trip --Brookfield Zoo--Friday, November 15th--9:00-2:30 pm.
The past two weeks:
It's been APPLE MANIA!  It is our first cross curricular theme.  The students participated in an inquiry to determine what they knew about apples.  They had a fun using their magnifiers and microscope to observe the flower, seeds, flesh, skin and core.  They learned what a blossom was.  Some apples were cut on their sides to reveal the star!  We read informational (non fiction) books on the subject and used the internet search to find out names the apples have.  The students explored some of the many types of apples and observed their similarities and differences.  The students learned how to create a diagram and created a diagram of the apple and labeled their parts.  They looked at a Red Delicious skin and a seed under the microscope.  What is growing out of that seed???  Way cool!  The students participated in a taste test and graphed their favorite apple.  It was Granny Smith with Honey Crisp not far behind.  Station Day activities included apple art mixed media,  apple ten frame counting book, unifix cube build, count and record, create a word wheel for target word see and read it, "pinky painting" the given numbers of seeds on the apples,  create an apple fact book, count the apples and record (1-10) and  writing prompt--describe an apple.  Next--simple cooking with apples.
Reading/Social Studies:     The students continue working on Unit 1 Families in our Treasures Reading series.  The phonics portion keyed in on target sounds short a and Mm.  The students completed their lists of people, places, things, animals and learned that they are called nouns.
They continue to work on listening comprehension using the Big Book stories"Picnic at Apple Park," "Night Animal," and "Family Fun."   They identified the characters and the setting and made predictions about story content.  The students responded and retold events in a story sequence.  We discussed how the story structure can provide evidence for our predictions.  The students worked on the concepts, same and different.   The students began the process of phoneme blending...or putting together sounds to create words.  We used AM and AT word families to create new words by adding a consonant to the beginning.  Robust Vocabulary for the past 2 weeks included ACTIVITY, COOPERATE, EXCITING, EXHAUSTED, GATHER,  CELEBRATE, CHANGE, EAGER,  OCCASION and RELATIVE.  Our thinking story was "The Squeaky Old Bed" which reflected the culture of  Puerto Rico.   The students reviewed all their sight vocabulary paying special attention to our target words the and see.  The non fiction story,  "Panda Kindergarten," helped the students work on the common core standard of asking and answering questions from a given text.  After reading and discussing the story,  we took out our question posters and students came up with who, what, where, when and why questions for the story.  They went back to their seats and drew pictures of their questions.    Workstations included interview a friend about their family and what they like to do--draw your family and write a sentence about what they like to do, ABC upper/lowercase match, leveled reading practice,  using word sight words and pictures, create 4 sentences and record them on paper and read them to a friend,  draw it and add to it--read a story, talk about it in your group and add another page of what you think might happen,
Math:     We are  "feeling the numbers" written on our backs, made with clay and touched on sand paper.  Students worked with partners and to sequence their apple counting cards to twenty.  Other pairs of students created apple puzzles matching the number with amount of seeds on the apple.  The students worked on their apple ten frame books--saying the numbers and drawing circles on the frame to match the written number.  The students worked on positional concepts before, between, beneath, behind.  We worked with physicality by having the students demonstrate the concept. The students began a formal calendar book for October.  No only  are they reviewing days of the week and calendar numbers, but also counting,  patterning, adding, sequencing,  reviewing concepts before and after and writing numbers.  We will have a new calendar book each month.
Writing:    The students continue to work on adding more details to their drawings and having their drawings reflect the words they are using to describe them.   Some students are labeling items in their pictures, writing a beginning sound, ending sound, short sentence.  All students are learning that a sentence names (subject) and tells (action.)  They are working on using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and an ending mark--period, question mark, exclamation mark.  The students continue to work on their Frog Jump letters--F, E, D, B, R, P.
Technology:     The students continue to work on a counting project using Doodle Buddy.  
The  iPad continues to be a valuable tool to enhance our learning.  In reading and writing, the apps Intro to Letters, Alphatots,  Magic Reading-picture to picture match and letter to picture match,  ABC touch and Magnetic Board for writing sight  vocabulary and in differentiated  workstations the app Reading 1 was used for blending and segmenting 3-4 phoneme words.  In math,  the apps Doodle Buddy, Intro to Numbers,  Number Find and Numbers to assist in recognition and patterning.
Literature:     "How Do Apples Grow," "I Am Growing," "Night Animals," "Picnic at Apple Park,"
"Apples, Apples, Apples," "The Big Apple Mystery," "What if you Had Animal Teeth?"(Thanks Colin!) "The Mixed Up Alphabet," "Let's Go Apple Picking,""The Four Seasons," "The Apple Countdown."

UPDATES for 9/23-9/27 2013

**The students had a productive week!  They continue to respond to our Eagle Essential Guidelines and our in class behavior tips and are beginning to be very much a part of shaping their own behavior.  The students continue to work on fostering positive peer relationships both in and out of our classroom.
** PICTURE DAY is TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1st.  We will have our picture taken at 8:30 am.  It is a gym day so don't forget to send gym shoes.  If you are ordering pictures---order online or use the envelope sent in the Tuesday packet.  We will have a class picture taken as well as each child's individual picture.  Ms. Merritt has volunteered to help make sure we all look our best!
**Congratulations to GINA and REID--our GREEN TEAM reps for this year.  They will attend bi monthly meetings and keep our class up to date with ideas and projects that make our school GREEN!  Their first meeting will be Tuesday during lunch recess.
**Reminder--Don't forget to send in your confirmation for Parent/Teacher Conferences.  Don't forget that on Thursday and Friday--October 10th and 11th, school is only in session in the morning.  There is no afternoon session.
**ROUTE  to READING SKILL GROUPS will begin on Wednesday, October 2nd.  Your child will be bringing home information on the skill they will be working on and the teacher who is teaching  it.  Route to Reading Skill Groups meet 3 times a week for 40 minutes.  The skill will be taught for 3 weeks and then assessed for mastery. 
**Final Call for parent volunteers for Friday Station Day!  Sign up if you can.  I will post it on the blog as well as send a hard copy.
**NO SCHOOL on Monday, October 14th in observance of Columbus Day.
**We all did well on our first Friday in the PACERS Running/Walking Club.  3 laps around the school equals 1 mile.  6 students earned their first FOOT for their bracelet.  Many students did 2 laps.  Can't wait for next week!
**Our first D. E. A. R. (drop everything and read) was a hit.  The whole school read for 8 minutes.  Next month, we will increase by 8 more minutes.
**SEASONAL BABIES PROJECT--Please send in a baby picture of your child to school for our project.  The photo will be displayed all year and will be returned to you at the end of the school year.  The project will begin October 15th.
**Irving School Book Fair is October 7-10.
**Irving School Trivia Night Fundraiser info is on the Irving School website.
**Don't forget to sign and return the permission slip for ARTSONIA online students art work museum.
**In Friendship Club, Ms. Bell Bey taught a lesson on physical proximity and comfort level in daily student interaction.  
** In Mr. Packer Math this week--Mr. Packer played getting to know you memory activity where he asked the students to think of word that starts with the same letter as their name and they had to help him remember every ones word.  Pretty hysterical!!
This week:
It was all about a rather large bean that Gina brought from her garden.  The students said it was the longest bean in Oak Park!  Check it out on the side the blog.  The students are beginning to notice small changes that signal the season of autumn.  Some students noted that they had to wear jackets and long pants.  Some are observing leaves on the ground and leaves changing color.  They are also noticing less bugs around.   Our Station Day activities included pattern block build and count, stamp your sight words, create your word wheels and read and decorate your PACER bracelet envelope.   Next week--Apple Mania!
Reading/Social Studies:    We have begun UNIT 1 FAMILIES in our Treasures Reading Series.  The students built background knowledge on the types of families they knew about.  They discussed animal families and human families.   We all shared experiences about our families and the number of family members we have.  The students listened to the Big Book story, "Whose Baby Is It?" The students made predictions about story content and noticed patterns in the text.  They examined the cover, title page, front and back parts of the book and located where the page number was.  They reviewed their previous sight words  and added the new target words WE and THE.  They spelled and wrote them and used them in their journals.  Our target sound in isolation this week is Mm.  The students worked with the sound toy box and sound cards and created a list of words that began with Mm.  They also listened for Mm at the end of words.  The students worked on additional vocabulary while listening to the fable, "The Lioness and the Ostrich."  This vocabulary is referred to as ROBUST VOCABULARY.  Ask your child about the words ANIMAL, PROTECT, TOGETHER and RESEMBLE.  We defined each word and gave an example sentence.  We used them frequently in our discussion.   The students used the retelling cards to retell the story to a partner.   The students worked on story words JOEY, PUP and CUB in the baby animal world.  We read aloud our pre decodable story, "I Can, We Can."  The students continue to work on tracking words and pictures in a sentence using their pointing finger.   They also read the story, "We Can" to a partner.  The students continue to work on Common Core Skills--recognizing FICTION and NONFICTION stories and examining the similarities and differences between a story and a poem.  The students continue to work on parts of speech.  They brainstormed of lists words that named people, animals and places (NOUNS) and looked for action words (VERBS) in their predecodable stories. 
The students enjoyed their workstations this week.  While I worked with small groups, the students also worked in rotating small groups creating an Mm mural, playing an upper and lowercase match game,  creating a family sizes graph using paper dolls and sharing a story with a partner and retelling it.  Our table managers are beginning to take more responsibility setting up, controlling noise level and helping to resolve any conflicts in the table group.  The students continue to work in the Haggerty Blue Book.
Math:   The students reviewed simple shape recognition.  We also talked about how many corners and sides a shape has.  The students also continued the exploration of pattern block shapes.  We talked about hexagon, trapezoid, rhombus and skinny rhombus and the amount of sides and corners they have.  The students worked on a variety counting activities using their 10 frames as well as counting objects, cubes, bears, blocks and matching one to one.  We reviewed positional concepts over, under, between, next, in front of, above and below using movement activities.  The students worked with their number cards with partners matching and sequencing numbers---0-5, 0-10, 0-15, 0-20.  They also worked on activities surrounding the concept of greater then, less then.
Writing:    The students continue to work on FROG JUMP CAPITALS---F-E-D-P-B-R.  They are using their mini chalk boards, chalk and sponges.  The small chalk and sponge pieces help to reinforce the tripod grasp.  They apply what they have learned in their orange practice book.  The students continue working with their journal prompts.   I am recoding some the words about their pictures.  Students are recoding the first sound they hear in a word.  Some students are labeling a picture or two.   Some students are working on sentence structure--naming and telling (noun-verb) (subject-action)  Inventive or phonetic spelling is great.  Spacing of words in a sentence is also being modeled and talked about. 
Technology:    The students used a variety of activities on the iPad to reinforce their curriculum.  In reading small group, students used the apps ABC Touch, ABC Magic 3-sound matching (letter to picture and picture to picture), Fun Rhyming and Word Wizard to practice their sight vocabulary.  In math small groups and with partners, students used the apps Intro to Math and Numbers to assist in number recognition, counting and patterns.  We are currently working on a math project using the app Doodle Buddy. 
Literature:   "Whose Baby Am I?" "The Alphabet Adventure," "What Will the Fat Cat Sit On?" "Boom Chicka Rock," "The Colors of us," "The Pout Pout Fish in the Big Big Dark," "How Rocket Learned to Read," "Where in the Wild," "The Playground Problem," "How Do We Learn?" Poems--"Everybody Says," "Andre."

UPDATES for 9/16-9/20 2013

**A letter about PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES will be in your child's folder on Monday.  Some of you have already signed up and will get a confirmation letter.  If you haven't signed up I have given you a day and time.  If you cannot make that time, please write in some options and we will make it work.  Conferences are scheduled for Monday, October 7th, Tuesday, October 8th and Wednesday, October 9th.   I am available before school, after school and in the evening.  Reminder--On Thursday, October 10th and Friday, October 11th--dismissal for all students is 11:00 am.  There is NO afternoon session and NO lunch.  District Bus service,  River Forest Community Center  and Hephzibah pick up are at 11:00 am.
**NO SCHOOL October 14th in observance of Columbus Day.
**Irving PACERS Running/ Walking club began last Friday.  Our class will begin THIS coming Friday.  Students can use their lunch recess to run/walk around the school grounds 3 times (1 mile) and receive a special chain with a little foot on it.  PACERS will meet on September 27th, October 4th, 18th, 25th and November 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd for this year and will resume in the spring. Each week, the students will have the opportunity to earn another foot.  Our whole class will be participating!!  Most students run and walk.  Students are most welcome to walk with me.  The students will decorate an envelope to keep their growing foot necklace in and keep it in class.  Let's say YES to exercise!!!
**D.E.A.R. Program--Born to Read at Irving School.  At the end of September, the whole class school will participate in uninterrupted reading D.E.A.R. (drop everything and read) for 8 minutes.  Each month, the number of minutes will increase by 8.  The goal to increase the amount of reading so that by the end of May, each students can read uninterrupted for 64 minutes.  Be on the look out for the monthly exercises.  Look for a flyer in your child's folder.
**Picture Day is  Tuesday, October 1st.  I will try and book an early morning time slot for our class.  Thanks to J. Merritt for volunteering to help.  Should take about 20 minutes.
**International Walk to School Day is Wednesday, October 9th.  Stay tuned for more info.
**Irving School has a GREEN TEAM!!  Each class has 2 reps that meet every other Tuesday lunch recess with Green Team Leaders, Ms. Parkinson and Mr. Packer.  They plan projects, discuss how to create a "greener" environment for our school and will relay information to our class.  We need 2 reps for our class.  I will be having a discussion with them on Monday to see if anyone is interested.  Discuss it at home.  Email me if your child's is interested.  It is a commitment for the entire school year and we will talk about what that means.
**Irving School Book Fair is October 7-10.
**Irving School Trivia Night info will be in your child's folder.
**Please sign and send back the permission slip for ARTSONIA on line student art work museum.
**All DIBELS and PHONIC SCREENER assessment are now completed.  I will be sharing all the information with you at conference time.  Route to Reading will begin soon.  At that time you will receive information on the skill your child will be working on as well as the teacher.  The rotations are 3 weeks long.
**Don't forget to fill out the HELPFUL PARENTS SIGN UP sheet.  If you are interested in helping out for STATION DAY on FRIDAY afternoons--check it off!  I will be compiling a rotating list of volunteers.  If you have a specific Friday in mind--jot it down on the sheet.  There are usually 2-3 parents each Friday.   Grandmas and Grandpas are most welcome.  Our start date is Friday, October 4th.
This week:
It was all about letters and numbers.  The students found letters around our classroom and school.  They also located numbers in our classroom and school.  What is the difference between a number and letter?  The students began a conversation about consonants (letters that have 1 or 2 sounds) and vowels (letters that have many different sounds.)  The students found the consonants and vowels in their name.  They compared their name to a friends name.  We are counting everything in sight--markers, crayons, chairs, books, feet, fingers, noses.......Station Day activities included creating patterns with teddy bears, exploring pattern block shapes, working on ten frame number books and reading their paper stories to a partner. 
Reading/Social Studies:   The students have completed the intro to our Treasurer Reading series called Smart Start and spent this week reviewing letter recognition A-Z, beginning consonant sounds, matching upper and lowercase letters and sequencing letters A-Z.  The students brainstormed lists of words that named animals and words that names actions.  We are beginning work on nouns and verbs and how to use them when we speak and write.  They are working on using complete sentences subject/action when speaking.  During our read aloud time,  students read the story, "I Can."  We continue to work on our Common Core skills-- locating the title, finding the characters and setting and chatting about the events that occur in the story.  The students are now locating the page number, where the sentence begins (left side) and what ends a sentence (period, question mark, exclamation mark.)  They continue to examine the contents of each page.  What do you see in the big picture?  Let's finger point and read each word and little picture (rebus reading.)   Do you recall your sight words?  Before we turn the page--what do you think might happen? (predicting)  How many words are in the sentence?  Can you find an action word? Can you ask and answer a question about the story?   Wow!  Lots going on!  Students are sharing their story reading with a partner.  The partner is observing finger pointing and voice quality. (Can I hear what my partner is reading?)  Workstations this week included  "Rhyme Time Toss," "Sound Toy Bag," letter cards for sequencing, Can you write the sound down activity and iPad activities ABC Touch, Alphatots,  Dolch Words, Write Words, ABC lite and ABC matching and Fun Rhyming.  Students are working on the Haggerty Blue Book exercises.  They are becoming focused as a group on letter recognition, rhyming distinction, syllable counting, segmenting and substituting sounds and adding and deleting sounds.  We will begin Unit 1 Families next week.
Math:    The students continue to work on rote counting to 20 and one to one correspondence to 10.  They are becoming more familiar with using the ten frames and bead ropes.  The students began work on their ten frame counting books.  They did some review work with creating patterns using teddy bears.  The students also explored pattern blocks and created designs and learned the names of each block.  We all learned to play "Spin a Number" with our pencil and paper clip spinners.  We are counting back from 10 and counting forward beginning at a random number from 0-20.  Students worked with partners to sequence number 0-5, 0-10 and 0-20.  They also used the unifix cubes to build number towers.
Writing:   The students continue to work on their FROG JUMP CAPITALS--F, E, and D.  They used their wooden pieces to create the letters.  The students worked in their orange books really thinking about the quality of their letter formation.  They continue to use activities from the hand/finger activity box to strengthen their tripod grasp.  Along with the Treasurers writing prompts, the students worked on a special writing prompt where they drew about a dream or a wish they had.  I encouraged them to label parts of their drawings or write some words about them.  Students were also encouraged to draw as many details as they could in their drawings.  When students were finished, each student shared their drawing and writing with the class.  The class could add suggestions.  It was great fun sharing and hearing what other had to say about their work. 
Technology:   The students used a variety of iPads apps in their small group and individual work.  All students used Doodle Buddy to explore and create a picture and added their name to it.   They became familiar with how to look for stamp pictures, create text and use the paint and chalk.   Next  week we will do a project in math using Doodle Buddy.  The apps used in reading have already been mentioned.  The students worked in small groups, with partners or individually on the apps Intro to Math and Numbers.  We all tracked the rain and storms using Weatherunderground.
Literature:   "How Kids Grow," "A Hippopotamus Ate the Teacher," "Mouse Loves School," "David Goes to School,"  "They Day the Teacher Went Bananas," "The Colors of Us," "Clifford's Best School Day," "Shades of Black," "Skippy John Jones Class Action."