**Greetings everyone! January has been one crazy month!! We have had snow, cold, more snow, more cold, cancelled classes and being stuck inside of our classrooms because it is again--too cold to go outside. The students have been real troopers!! We have watched some great stories courtesy of Scholastic Books during our lunch hour and used our choice time wisely experimenting at the water table, creating with marble works, reading, writing drawing and challenging our brains the with app TenZen Lite! It has been a busy two weeks for me and my energetic class. I so enjoyed my "home visit" conferences during the frigid weather. Thanks for your participation at Parent Teacher Conferences. It was great to chat with all of you and share your child's progress. If you did not have a chance to reschedule your conference, I will email you this weekend to set a date and time.
**I will back track a little to cover the past 2 weeks of events. We did go on our field trip to see "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day." The students had a great time and really enjoyed themselves. Singing, dancing and acting!
**Our 100th Day/Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Thanks to B. Ahring, B. Barnett, Ms. Cummings (Reid's Grandma) G. Shelton, L. Wojcik, H. Lim, T. Smyth and Ms. Jack who have volunteered to help us out on this special day. Anyone else????!! We would love to have you. Just email me. Our special day is Friday, February 7th from 1:00-2:55 pm. 100th Day Heart projects are due on Tuesday, February 4th. Don't forget.....we are also having an early Valentine's Day that day. Students need to bring a valentine for each child in the class---we have 18 students! Students may bring a treasure or treat for the class that will be placed in their treat bags. All food items we will be using for our food grid and necklaces will be nut free and gluten free. Oh yes.......don't forget your picture of a 100 year old person and 100 day old baby for our presentation board.
**Route to Reading Rotation 4 has concluded. You should have received notification of your child's mastery level. Route to Reading Rotation 5 will begin on Tuesday, February 4th. At that time you will receive notification of the skill your child will be working on.
**The good news---I explained how the BUSY READER CLUB works to the students. The bad news---We ran out of time today to choose books. So........we will start book check out on Monday!! All the information on the program is in your child's homework folder.
**Our kindergarten class will participate in a program on Dental Health presented by students of the UIC Nursing program. This will take place on Friday morning, February 21st.
**The FUN FAIR IS COMING!!!!!The FUN FAIR IS COMING!!! Play a game with me on Saturday, February 22nd from 11-3 pm. at Irving School. There will be games, prizes, dancing for desserts, silent auction and a "special" presentation. It is a great way to spend the day and help raise money for our school!! Each class will donate a gift basket. Our class basket theme is cooking and baking. Donations and items can be dropped off at school or given directly to J. Flannery. (Colin's mom) The students are decorating 2 kids chef aprons and 1 adult chef apron. Come on....join in the fun!!!!
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey continued her unit on the Zones of Regulation. Check out the copy in your child's homework folder. Great discussions by all.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment, Mr. Packer finished his activity on attributes with small groups. Ms. Gullo introduced TanZen Lite app to small groups.
**NO SCHOOL--February 14th-Teacher's Institute Day and February 17th-President's Day.
**Keep saving those GIANT boxes and COOL STUFF for our space station projects that the students will construct in April. You can send the stuff in after spring break.
This week:
Where do I begin......It was about so many things.......Water, Sink/Float, Bubbles, Ice, counting to 100, counting by 10's, Chinese New Year (hail...year of the horse,) Punxsutawney Phil....Will he see his shadow?????? The students created a sign in chart. The majority think YES, he will see his shadow......Listen on February 2nd for the results!!! Can we take 6 more weeks of winter???!!!Station day activities included word search and word writing, color the code snowflake, blizzard bubble paintings, snowman sequencing, graphing and analyzing winter clothing and water table activities.
Reading/Social Studies: The students worked to complete Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading series. The students discussed animal babies and animal habitats. They accessed prior knowledge about animal homes they knew of. The students listened to the story,"The Mole and the Baby Bird." They looked at the cover and made predictions about story content. The students discussed the characters and the plot of the story. They made connections in their own lives of having a pet and the care involved. The students reviewed the sight words is and play. We played Sight Word Bingo and students partnered up to create sentences using their sight words and pictures. The students reviewed the target sounds of Ff and Oo. We took the time to do a quick review of all of our consonant and vowel sounds as well as consonant blends and digraphs. Our Robust Vocabulary included HABITAT, RESPONSIBILITY, BENEATH, RAISE, ENTER. The story was reread and the students took turns using the retelling cards to tell the story in their own words. Students practiced segmenting 3-4 phoneme words using their elkonin boxes. Students read the decodable story, "Tap, Tap, Tap." They used a graphic organizer to talk about and record the setting, (where) characters (who) time (when) the plot (what happened) Students came up to the board to record in writing. I read a selection on the oral vocabulary cards called "Hidden Homes." The students discussed the what kind of animals might live in habitats they might not see. Are some homes beneath the ground? The students also listened the informational text, "At Home in the Rain Forest." We had a an interesting discussion on Wild vs. Domestic animals and how some animals could be both depending upon their situation. The students also worked on sound spelling CVC words on their dry erase boards. Workstation activities for the past 2 weeks included working in their activity books, leveled reading about animal homes--drawing pictures and writing about a habitat, buddy reading and discussion about a story and writing and answering questions, using the sentence starter We can and They can to create and illustrate what humans and animals can do and reader's checklist where students read to each other--teacher records their reading and the group listens to the playback to critique.
Math: The students are counting to 100 together. They worked with partners to set up their ten frames to reflect a certain number. How many ten frames do we meed for the number 45? The students work with number bonding for ways to say the number 5. They showed their work using cubes, blocks, markers, pencils, bears. We took pictures of their work using the iPad. Math workstations for these 2 weeks included number writing 0-20, pattern block match, count and record, numbers that come before a random number, number bingo and experimenting with the app TenZen Lite--shape formations, visual perception, thinking skills.
Writing: The students continue to work in their journals with sentence formation. I wrote a sentence on the board from one the journals and the students commented and made suggestions about it. How does the sentence look? Can you read it? Does it have spaces between each word? Does it have an ending mark? Students made suggestions and corrections. We begun work on the "Magic C" lowercase letters.
Science: The students made some great discoveries the past 2 weeks about Water. In their sink or float experiment, the students made their guess and then took turns dropping the particular item into the water. They then recorded what actually happened. I used some big words--displacement (pushing away) and density (measure of mass.) Some groups had different pencils--erasers or no eraser.....Why did one sink and the other float? Why did the cork keep floating even after someone pushed it down? Why did the washer go straight to the bottom. Lots of discussion. Their science reflection journals had lots of sketches and thoughts. The students explored BUBBLES. What makes a bubble? The students learned that a bubble is a thin layer of liquid (soapy water) that is surrounded by air (gas.) The outside layer is like a skin. The students examined various bubble wands. Some were circular, square, heart shaped and oval. The question posed to them was, "What shape will the bubbles be when blown out each wand? With our wands and soapy water, we ventured outside. It was bubbles mania!!! The students used the wands and blew bubbles. They noticed that all the bubbles were round no matter what the shape of the wand. While it was cold, the bubbles did not freeze but were slowed down. They kind of "hung " in the air. I turned the bubble machine on and the students had fun chasing the slow bubbles. Back in the classroom, the students recorded their adventure. What made the bubbles pop???? Philippe said, "The water around the bubble evaporates!" WOW! Pop! Lastly, the student created ice by each table setting out a bottle of water with a foil lid. Today--we had ice and a little dome of water on the top of the bottle. "The water got out of the bottle," said Julia. We talked about the word-- expand. Cool!
Technology: In reading small groups the apps iTalk, Rocket Speller, Sight Words, I Write Words, Magic Reading 3 and Montessori Crossword were use to enhance segmenting/blending and word practice and beginning fluency. In math small group and individual work the apps Number Find, 100's Board, Math Bug were used to enhance place value, adding, number order. The students are loving their exploration of TanZen Lite using tangrams to work on critical thinking skills, problem solving and visual/spatial relationships as well as shape recognition. There is great site on Ground Hog Day that we looked at. The students enjoyed looking at measurements of precipitation (water) that is on the ground now courtesy of Weatherunderground.
Literature: "A Drop of Water--Bubbles," "Have you Filled Your Bucket Today," "Go to Sleep Ground Hog," "50 Degrees Below Zero," "Celebrating the Chinese New Year," "Bringing in the New Year," "Some Things Float," "Why Does It Sink?" "The Reason for Seasons," "Curious George's Snowy Day."
Friday, January 31, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
UPDATES for 1/13-1/17 2014
**The students are getting back into the swing of things! We played a bit of catch up on skill review, reading and science and are working on midyear assessments. The students prepared for their upcoming field trip to see the production of "Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." We read the story aloud and sequenced the parts of the story verbally. The students reflected on a time when they had a bad day and what happened to them. The students reflected in writing in their journal about their experiences.
**The temperatures will be dipping again this week. I am asking that you send snow pants and boots along with hats and mittens with your child each day. Students will be able to enter the classroom instead of waiting outside. Please do not come any earlier than 7:50 am. Thanks!
**I still need a couple of permission slips and money for our Field Trip. Please get those to me on Tuesday. FIELD TRIP REMINDER: Students need to bring a bag lunch to school on Thursday, January 23rd for our field trip. We will be eating lunch back at school but are not sure if we will be back in time for school lunch services. We will be taking one parent volunteer with us (thanks to Samantha's mom!) Please send your child at the regular school time (8:00 am.) The bus will leave promptly at 9:00 am. We will return to school around noon. We will have a regular afternoon session.
**Please send in your confirmation for Mid year Parent/Teacher Conferences. Conferences will be held on Monday, January 27th, Tuesday, January 28th and Wednesday, January 29th. At that time, I will be sharing with you midyear assessments and behavior, DIBELS and DARRELL MORRIS scores and other student work.
**Please note that THURSDAY and FRIDAY, January 30th and 31st, school will be in session ONLY in the MORNING. Dismissal will be at 11:00 am. Hephzibah and District School Bus pick up will be a t 11:00 am.
**In your child's home work folder are directions for set up for at home XTRMATH and BRAINPOP activities. These activities, like the other online activities listed on the blog are optional. I am still experimenting myself with all the activities on BRAINPOP. XTRAMATH is a drill and practice math addition and subtraction program. Try them if you like!
**Friendship Club resumes this Friday.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer did a hands on activity about attributes using pattern blocks.
** Our 100th Day/Valentine's Day Celebration is Friday, February 7th from 1:00-2:55 pm.
We need LOTS of volunteers! We have 4 so far, but could use 5 more. Parent volunteers will help facilitate learning stations surrounding the number 100, counting by 10's to 100, grouping by 10's, rote counting and writing numbers to 100 and art activities illustrating the numbers 100. Email me if you can help.
**The students have a 100th Day-100 Item project that will be sent home on Friday, January 24th. It will be due on February 4th. Instructions on what to do and more information on our special day will be included.
**Reading Grandma Mary began hearing young readers last week! She will be here every Monday from 9-11:15 am. We are so happy to have her!
**The FUN FAIR is COMING!! The FUN FAIR is COMING!! The Irving School Fun Fair is Saturday, February 22nd from 11-3 pm. throughout the school. There will be games, prizes, food, silent auction, dancing for deserts and more. Each classroom is donating a special basket of their choice. Our class is donating a basket of "baking items." Look for an email from our room parents with the details. You can send in your donation with your child to me at school or directly to the room parents. Donations have already started coming. Come on......join in the fun!!!!
**No School--February 14th--Teacher's Institute Day.
**Hearing Screening for all students is Tuesday, February 25th.
This week:
It was all about doing something nice for others, Martin Luther King and water. The students turned our "Complimen-tree" into a mitten tree after reading and discussing the inspirational story, "The Mitten Tree, " by Candace Christiansen. The students began inquiries into the properties of water. Who knew a water droplet could be so interesting! We read several stories on Martin Luther King Jr. and used our map skills to trace the path of the March on Washington. The students were so thankful of his accomplishments and his use of non violence to promote change. There were some very reflective moments during our discussions where students could not believe that there was a time when they would not have had the opportunity to go to school together. We love our classmates! Station Day activities included, creating "climbing water" snowflakes, creating conversations in a speech balloon to go with our painted snowman, working with number quantities 1-20 (cut and paste) and working with sight word vocabulary--word search and word shapes. Students are exploring pattern block created designs and using the "Marble Works" to experiment with hills and inclines during choice time.
Reading/ Social Studies: The students began Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading Series. The students accessed background knowledge by discussing animals they know as pets and animals they might know from seeing in the zoo. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Mama Cat has Three Kittens." They made predictions about story content and talked about the actions the cat or kitten might perform. Those students who had cats as pets shared information about the kinds of actions their pets perform and compared it to the story. Our sight words for this week are is and in. We added them to our current list. Our target sound is short and long Oo. The students worked on associating the sound using picture cards. The students listened to the rhyme, "The
Ostrich is Talking." They were able to pick out the rhyming words as well as the short Oo words. They continued their study of action words (verbs) by creating a list of action words that kittens can do. Our Robust vocabulary for this week included ACTION, GENTLE, COMPARE, CONTENT, POUNCES. The students worked with sequencing story events in the Big Book story. They worked with their elkonin boxes to blend sounds using short Oo to make words. The students worked on asking and answering questions about a text after listening to the folk tale, "Mama Mouse and El Gato." They also used the Venn Diagram model to record similarities and differences between mice and cats. They also worked on retelling key events in the folk tale using the format--first---next--then--last. In our work on sound foundation, the students did an exercise there they placed a marker where they heard the target sound--beginning ---middle ---end. Our workstations this week included word maker---where the students choose a picture and find the letters to spell it (3-4 phonemes,) sight word spell and sentence practice using the app Magnetic Letters, " I can," "they can" people and animals sentences and illustrations and leveled reading and comprehension activities and fluency practice.
Math: The students continue to work on rote counting to 100 and beyond with 70 being the approaching proficiency benchmark. Small group workstations included writing numbers to 0-20, using pattern blocks to sort by common attributes, using ten frames to illustrate teen numbers, writing 2 digit numbers and using digits 1-4 to record ways to say the number 5. Students continue to work on recognizing even and odd numbers and representing the idea of addition with objects, drawings, fingers and images.
Writing: The students continued work on their Snowman writing projects. Ms. Chinn has completed our Writer's Workshop lessons and we will take it from here. She ended her activities with "Stars" and "Wishes" student to student critique of each others writing. We will be continuing the format of journaling via labeling, sentences, diagramming stressing sentence structure....naming and telling....expanding sentence length...using punctuation and sharing our writing with our peers as well as the teacher during the individual journal conference. Lowercase letter formation will begin next week.
Science: The students began with a discussion/dictation on what they know about water. They were introduced to the word property and what it means. A property is a type of behavior. Each student was given an experiment book as well as a science reflection journal to record their experiments as well as their own thoughts, questions, comments and drawings and sketches. In Experiment 1, the students explored water using a variety of tools--spoon, straws, sticks, cups. Using these tools, they described how water feels, smells, sounds and looks. In Experiment 2, the students discovered water droplets have their own shape and have the ability to "stick" to one another. Using a pipet, the students practiced sucking up water into it and releasing the water back into their cup. It was fun to watch the students carefully trying to capture one droplet of water and placing it on their wax paper. The students delighted in pushing one water droplet into another to form a bigger droplet. We talked about the scientific word--cohesion-- to describe the sticking together process. The students could not separate the droplets back into two. In Experiment 3, the students experimented with paper towels, paper, sponges and kleenex in wiping up water. What makes paper towels and sponges best at doing this? The students talked with their tablemates about the answer. Some tables said the water is sucked up into the paper towel and sponges....but how? As the students used their magnifying glasses to take a closer look, some notice holes or spaces in the sponge and paper towel. The students then suspended a paper towel on a dowel rod into a cup and I pour in red water. What happened???? The water climbed up into the spaces or holes in the towel and made its way up the towel. Cool! The next day, the students observed the red water in their cup was gone. What have we leaned so far about water? Ask your child! Friday, the students did the same experiment using celery instead of paper towel. They made some predictions. Philippe mentioned a root system....Colin mentioned veins in the stem......Stay tuned for the result on Tuesday!
Technology: In reading, student small groups and individual used the app Magnetic Letters to practice spelling sight words and creating sentences, the apps Rocket Speller, Montessori Crossword and Reading Magic 3 were used for reinforcing segmenting and blending sounds and creating words. The app iTalk was used by leveled reading groups to record and play back reading for fluency. In math, student small groups and individuals used the apps Number Find, 100's Board and Monster Squeeze for enrichment.
Literature: "Water," "A Drop of Water," "Investigating Water--Chapter 1," "Water is Everywhere," "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," "A Picture Book of Martin Luther King," "Martin's BIG Words," "Martin's Dreams," "Dreams"--Quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King.
**The temperatures will be dipping again this week. I am asking that you send snow pants and boots along with hats and mittens with your child each day. Students will be able to enter the classroom instead of waiting outside. Please do not come any earlier than 7:50 am. Thanks!
**I still need a couple of permission slips and money for our Field Trip. Please get those to me on Tuesday. FIELD TRIP REMINDER: Students need to bring a bag lunch to school on Thursday, January 23rd for our field trip. We will be eating lunch back at school but are not sure if we will be back in time for school lunch services. We will be taking one parent volunteer with us (thanks to Samantha's mom!) Please send your child at the regular school time (8:00 am.) The bus will leave promptly at 9:00 am. We will return to school around noon. We will have a regular afternoon session.
**Please send in your confirmation for Mid year Parent/Teacher Conferences. Conferences will be held on Monday, January 27th, Tuesday, January 28th and Wednesday, January 29th. At that time, I will be sharing with you midyear assessments and behavior, DIBELS and DARRELL MORRIS scores and other student work.
**Please note that THURSDAY and FRIDAY, January 30th and 31st, school will be in session ONLY in the MORNING. Dismissal will be at 11:00 am. Hephzibah and District School Bus pick up will be a t 11:00 am.
**In your child's home work folder are directions for set up for at home XTRMATH and BRAINPOP activities. These activities, like the other online activities listed on the blog are optional. I am still experimenting myself with all the activities on BRAINPOP. XTRAMATH is a drill and practice math addition and subtraction program. Try them if you like!
**Friendship Club resumes this Friday.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer did a hands on activity about attributes using pattern blocks.
** Our 100th Day/Valentine's Day Celebration is Friday, February 7th from 1:00-2:55 pm.
We need LOTS of volunteers! We have 4 so far, but could use 5 more. Parent volunteers will help facilitate learning stations surrounding the number 100, counting by 10's to 100, grouping by 10's, rote counting and writing numbers to 100 and art activities illustrating the numbers 100. Email me if you can help.
**The students have a 100th Day-100 Item project that will be sent home on Friday, January 24th. It will be due on February 4th. Instructions on what to do and more information on our special day will be included.
**Reading Grandma Mary began hearing young readers last week! She will be here every Monday from 9-11:15 am. We are so happy to have her!
**The FUN FAIR is COMING!! The FUN FAIR is COMING!! The Irving School Fun Fair is Saturday, February 22nd from 11-3 pm. throughout the school. There will be games, prizes, food, silent auction, dancing for deserts and more. Each classroom is donating a special basket of their choice. Our class is donating a basket of "baking items." Look for an email from our room parents with the details. You can send in your donation with your child to me at school or directly to the room parents. Donations have already started coming. Come on......join in the fun!!!!
**No School--February 14th--Teacher's Institute Day.
**Hearing Screening for all students is Tuesday, February 25th.
This week:
It was all about doing something nice for others, Martin Luther King and water. The students turned our "Complimen-tree" into a mitten tree after reading and discussing the inspirational story, "The Mitten Tree, " by Candace Christiansen. The students began inquiries into the properties of water. Who knew a water droplet could be so interesting! We read several stories on Martin Luther King Jr. and used our map skills to trace the path of the March on Washington. The students were so thankful of his accomplishments and his use of non violence to promote change. There were some very reflective moments during our discussions where students could not believe that there was a time when they would not have had the opportunity to go to school together. We love our classmates! Station Day activities included, creating "climbing water" snowflakes, creating conversations in a speech balloon to go with our painted snowman, working with number quantities 1-20 (cut and paste) and working with sight word vocabulary--word search and word shapes. Students are exploring pattern block created designs and using the "Marble Works" to experiment with hills and inclines during choice time.
Reading/ Social Studies: The students began Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading Series. The students accessed background knowledge by discussing animals they know as pets and animals they might know from seeing in the zoo. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Mama Cat has Three Kittens." They made predictions about story content and talked about the actions the cat or kitten might perform. Those students who had cats as pets shared information about the kinds of actions their pets perform and compared it to the story. Our sight words for this week are is and in. We added them to our current list. Our target sound is short and long Oo. The students worked on associating the sound using picture cards. The students listened to the rhyme, "The
Ostrich is Talking." They were able to pick out the rhyming words as well as the short Oo words. They continued their study of action words (verbs) by creating a list of action words that kittens can do. Our Robust vocabulary for this week included ACTION, GENTLE, COMPARE, CONTENT, POUNCES. The students worked with sequencing story events in the Big Book story. They worked with their elkonin boxes to blend sounds using short Oo to make words. The students worked on asking and answering questions about a text after listening to the folk tale, "Mama Mouse and El Gato." They also used the Venn Diagram model to record similarities and differences between mice and cats. They also worked on retelling key events in the folk tale using the format--first---next--then--last. In our work on sound foundation, the students did an exercise there they placed a marker where they heard the target sound--beginning ---middle ---end. Our workstations this week included word maker---where the students choose a picture and find the letters to spell it (3-4 phonemes,) sight word spell and sentence practice using the app Magnetic Letters, " I can," "they can" people and animals sentences and illustrations and leveled reading and comprehension activities and fluency practice.
Math: The students continue to work on rote counting to 100 and beyond with 70 being the approaching proficiency benchmark. Small group workstations included writing numbers to 0-20, using pattern blocks to sort by common attributes, using ten frames to illustrate teen numbers, writing 2 digit numbers and using digits 1-4 to record ways to say the number 5. Students continue to work on recognizing even and odd numbers and representing the idea of addition with objects, drawings, fingers and images.
Writing: The students continued work on their Snowman writing projects. Ms. Chinn has completed our Writer's Workshop lessons and we will take it from here. She ended her activities with "Stars" and "Wishes" student to student critique of each others writing. We will be continuing the format of journaling via labeling, sentences, diagramming stressing sentence structure....naming and telling....expanding sentence length...using punctuation and sharing our writing with our peers as well as the teacher during the individual journal conference. Lowercase letter formation will begin next week.
Science: The students began with a discussion/dictation on what they know about water. They were introduced to the word property and what it means. A property is a type of behavior. Each student was given an experiment book as well as a science reflection journal to record their experiments as well as their own thoughts, questions, comments and drawings and sketches. In Experiment 1, the students explored water using a variety of tools--spoon, straws, sticks, cups. Using these tools, they described how water feels, smells, sounds and looks. In Experiment 2, the students discovered water droplets have their own shape and have the ability to "stick" to one another. Using a pipet, the students practiced sucking up water into it and releasing the water back into their cup. It was fun to watch the students carefully trying to capture one droplet of water and placing it on their wax paper. The students delighted in pushing one water droplet into another to form a bigger droplet. We talked about the scientific word--cohesion-- to describe the sticking together process. The students could not separate the droplets back into two. In Experiment 3, the students experimented with paper towels, paper, sponges and kleenex in wiping up water. What makes paper towels and sponges best at doing this? The students talked with their tablemates about the answer. Some tables said the water is sucked up into the paper towel and sponges....but how? As the students used their magnifying glasses to take a closer look, some notice holes or spaces in the sponge and paper towel. The students then suspended a paper towel on a dowel rod into a cup and I pour in red water. What happened???? The water climbed up into the spaces or holes in the towel and made its way up the towel. Cool! The next day, the students observed the red water in their cup was gone. What have we leaned so far about water? Ask your child! Friday, the students did the same experiment using celery instead of paper towel. They made some predictions. Philippe mentioned a root system....Colin mentioned veins in the stem......Stay tuned for the result on Tuesday!
Technology: In reading, student small groups and individual used the app Magnetic Letters to practice spelling sight words and creating sentences, the apps Rocket Speller, Montessori Crossword and Reading Magic 3 were used for reinforcing segmenting and blending sounds and creating words. The app iTalk was used by leveled reading groups to record and play back reading for fluency. In math, student small groups and individuals used the apps Number Find, 100's Board and Monster Squeeze for enrichment.
Literature: "Water," "A Drop of Water," "Investigating Water--Chapter 1," "Water is Everywhere," "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," "A Picture Book of Martin Luther King," "Martin's BIG Words," "Martin's Dreams," "Dreams"--Quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King.
Monday, January 13, 2014
UPDATES for 1/8-1/10 2014
**Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope you all had a restful break. The cold and snow led to a delay in beginning our new school year but the students returned excited and rested. Please welcome a new addition to our class, Samantha Shelton! Even thought the temperatures will rise next week, please continue to send snow pants and boots. It is going to be quite messy and wet and we want the students to remain as dry as possible. Thanks!
**Eagle Extras classes begin on Monday, January 13th. I have a listing for each day. The students will be picked up from our classroom at dismissal.
**Keep sending in permission slips and money for our Field Trip to see the play "Alexander and the No Good Horrible, Very Bad Day" at the Museum of Science and Industry. All slips and money need to be in by Wednesday, January 15th for our January 23rd trip.
**You will receive a notice on Tuesday about Midyear Parent/Teacher Conferences that will be held on Monday, January 27th, Tuesday, January 28th and Wednesday, January 29th. Please note that Thursday and Friday, January 30th and 31st school will be in session in the MORNING ONLY. Dismissal will be at 11:00 am. Hephzibah and bus pick up is at 11:00 am.
**I am beginning mid year assessments with students this week. DIBELS, DARRELL MORRIS, as well as midyear assessments in math, reading and writing will be shared with you at conference time.
**Students participated in a VISION SCREENING on Friday, January 10th.
**Route to Reading Rotation 4 began on Thursday, January 9th. All students received notification of the skill they will be working on.
**NO SCHOOL on MONDAY, JANUARY 20th in observance of ML King Day.
**There was no Friendship Club this week. It will resume next Friday.
** In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer completed his activity on yesterday and today.
**Our Reading Grandma Mary will begin her 8th year of listening to young readers. She will be here every Monday morning from 9-11:30 am. She is thrilled to be back and we are so happy to have her!
** Please note a new date for our 100th Day/ Valentine's Day Celebration. It is now FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7th from 1:00-2:55 pm. We need LOTS of volunteers to help with activities that focus on the number 100 and counting by 10's. Let me know if you can help.
This week: It was all about the snow and cold. There was much discussion about the temperature and and how you do not want to get frostbite! Most students came very prepared to battle the temps and mountains of snow on our playground. The students began work on a snowman project project which included drawing, writing, math and reading. It will be completed next week. The students began their inquiry into what they know about WATER. Our experiments begin next week. Station Day activities included creating a windsock snowman, counting and recoding the number of snowballs on a shovel, completing their number rhyme practice books and counting on with snowmen to solve addition problems.
Reading/Social Studies: The students used this short week as a review for all skills related to reading. They reviewed current sight vocabulary by playing "Hands Up, Hands Down," and practiced writing their words. The students used their words and pictures to create sentences with a partner. Students worked on leveled readers and comprehension strategies as well as asking and answering questions about what they had read. The students practiced reading to a partner and sharing comments with one another on fluency. Students worked on letter/sound foundation, segmenting and sound blending skills. They continue to use their elkonin boxes to record the order in which they hear sounds in a 3 and 4 letter word. Students reviewed the job of an author and illustrator, discussed what made a story fiction or nonfiction. The students used games to reinforce concepts of letter/sound correspondence, word families, and spelling.
Math: The students continue to on rote counting to 70 and beyond and writing single and double digit numbers. They began their new math calendar books for January. The skills worked on included writing numbers coming before or after a targeted number, recording ways to say a targeted number thru number bonds, strategies for recognizing even and odd numbers, patterns continuation, using ten frames to illustrate a given numbers and adding numbers using dominoes and dice.
Writing: The students reviewed letter formation strategies for all upper case letters and practiced in their orange books. We will begin letter formation practice for lowercase letters next week. Ms. Chinn continued her writer's workshop activities with a discussion of VOICE when writing. The students continued to work in their writing journals on letter formation, beginning sentences with a capital letter, spacing of words in a sentence, having some kind of ending mark, placement of words on a given line, rereading their sentences to see if they NAME and TELL. They continue to work on their snowman writing project.
Science: The students began their inquiry and discussion on WATER. Their experiments will begin next week.
Technology: No new apps were presented this week.
Literature: "The Biggest Best Snowman," "The Snowman," "It's Winter," "Thomas' Snowsuit," "Snowman Magic," "Snow Day for Mouse," " There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow."
**Eagle Extras classes begin on Monday, January 13th. I have a listing for each day. The students will be picked up from our classroom at dismissal.
**Keep sending in permission slips and money for our Field Trip to see the play "Alexander and the No Good Horrible, Very Bad Day" at the Museum of Science and Industry. All slips and money need to be in by Wednesday, January 15th for our January 23rd trip.
**You will receive a notice on Tuesday about Midyear Parent/Teacher Conferences that will be held on Monday, January 27th, Tuesday, January 28th and Wednesday, January 29th. Please note that Thursday and Friday, January 30th and 31st school will be in session in the MORNING ONLY. Dismissal will be at 11:00 am. Hephzibah and bus pick up is at 11:00 am.
**I am beginning mid year assessments with students this week. DIBELS, DARRELL MORRIS, as well as midyear assessments in math, reading and writing will be shared with you at conference time.
**Students participated in a VISION SCREENING on Friday, January 10th.
**Route to Reading Rotation 4 began on Thursday, January 9th. All students received notification of the skill they will be working on.
**NO SCHOOL on MONDAY, JANUARY 20th in observance of ML King Day.
**There was no Friendship Club this week. It will resume next Friday.
** In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer completed his activity on yesterday and today.
**Our Reading Grandma Mary will begin her 8th year of listening to young readers. She will be here every Monday morning from 9-11:30 am. She is thrilled to be back and we are so happy to have her!
** Please note a new date for our 100th Day/ Valentine's Day Celebration. It is now FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7th from 1:00-2:55 pm. We need LOTS of volunteers to help with activities that focus on the number 100 and counting by 10's. Let me know if you can help.
This week: It was all about the snow and cold. There was much discussion about the temperature and and how you do not want to get frostbite! Most students came very prepared to battle the temps and mountains of snow on our playground. The students began work on a snowman project project which included drawing, writing, math and reading. It will be completed next week. The students began their inquiry into what they know about WATER. Our experiments begin next week. Station Day activities included creating a windsock snowman, counting and recoding the number of snowballs on a shovel, completing their number rhyme practice books and counting on with snowmen to solve addition problems.
Reading/Social Studies: The students used this short week as a review for all skills related to reading. They reviewed current sight vocabulary by playing "Hands Up, Hands Down," and practiced writing their words. The students used their words and pictures to create sentences with a partner. Students worked on leveled readers and comprehension strategies as well as asking and answering questions about what they had read. The students practiced reading to a partner and sharing comments with one another on fluency. Students worked on letter/sound foundation, segmenting and sound blending skills. They continue to use their elkonin boxes to record the order in which they hear sounds in a 3 and 4 letter word. Students reviewed the job of an author and illustrator, discussed what made a story fiction or nonfiction. The students used games to reinforce concepts of letter/sound correspondence, word families, and spelling.
Math: The students continue to on rote counting to 70 and beyond and writing single and double digit numbers. They began their new math calendar books for January. The skills worked on included writing numbers coming before or after a targeted number, recording ways to say a targeted number thru number bonds, strategies for recognizing even and odd numbers, patterns continuation, using ten frames to illustrate a given numbers and adding numbers using dominoes and dice.
Writing: The students reviewed letter formation strategies for all upper case letters and practiced in their orange books. We will begin letter formation practice for lowercase letters next week. Ms. Chinn continued her writer's workshop activities with a discussion of VOICE when writing. The students continued to work in their writing journals on letter formation, beginning sentences with a capital letter, spacing of words in a sentence, having some kind of ending mark, placement of words on a given line, rereading their sentences to see if they NAME and TELL. They continue to work on their snowman writing project.
Science: The students began their inquiry and discussion on WATER. Their experiments will begin next week.
Technology: No new apps were presented this week.
Literature: "The Biggest Best Snowman," "The Snowman," "It's Winter," "Thomas' Snowsuit," "Snowman Magic," "Snow Day for Mouse," " There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow."
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