Sunday, November 23, 2014

UPDATES for 11/17-11/21 2014

**We were super busy this week!  There were final assessments and summatives to mark the end of our first trimester of learning.  Our cross curricular theme-Bears is winding down.  We chatted about our upcoming field trip.  We also formulated our question for our research projects.  It was also a week of reflection for the students and myself.  We all thought about what we were thankful for.  The students and I are thankful for a number of things, the most important being family.  I am particularly thankful for my student's dedication to their learning.  Our class is thankful for our volunteer, Ms. D., who works tirelessly with individual students and small groups.  Our class is thankful for each other and the great and meaningful interactions we have together.  I am also 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 26th-28th--Thanksgiving Holiday.
**Our Brookfield Zoo FIELD TRIP is TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25th.  Please read the note that went home in your child's homework folder.  BAG LUNCH and DRESS for the WEATHER.  It looks like a pretty chilly forecast.  We may shorten the duration of our stay at the zoo and find an inside space to eat lunch.   We will have fun!!!!
**"Hibernation Day" was awesome!!  We were cozy in our jammies with our blankeys and stuffed animals.  We read about how different animals hibernate.  The students helped me create a Venn diagram that compared Brown/Black Bears with Polar Bears.  We also read about other kinds of bears.  The students enjoyed a great picnic with their kindergarten friends in the kindergarten hallway.  They enjoyed making butter from cream in our liquids to solids impromptu science lesson and created "Bear Paw" snacks that looked and tasted yummy with the butter.
**The "Turkey Trot" was fun!  We made signs to cheer our Book Buddies on.  The weather was frosty, but the students were dressed warmly and had extra blankets as they watched the race and cheered.
**Check your child's homework folder for their RESEARCH ASSESSMENT.  Each student came up with a question they want to find out more about.  They worked on special research vocabulary.  Suggestions and guidelines are also enclosed.  The project is due Thursday, December 11th.
**Route to Reading Rotation 3 will conclude December 4th.
**The 5th Grade is sponsoring "Frosty Fun Friday Dance" on Friday, December 5th.  More info is coming soon!
**Kindergarten-Grade 1 WINTER CONCERT is DECEMBER 17th in the Irving Auditorium.  It will be performed twice--First Time at 8:15 am and repeated again at 9:45 am.  There will be some kind of reception for family and friends.  I will be speaking with room parents.  Stay tuned for more details.
**REPORT CARDS go home on Friday, December 12th.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!!!! Room 110's Annual Gingerbread Cookie Baking and Sharing is Thursday, December 11th beginning at 1:00 pm until dismissal.  So far, I have no one volunteering to help, but I am hopeful!!  It is really very fun!  No experience needed.  You bring the cookie sheets, rolling pins and man/woman power.....I will bring the dough, sprinkles and aprons.  I need at least 3-4 volunteers. 
**Come to the Irving Annual Handmade Craft Fair on Saturday, December 13th from 9-1pm in the mini gym and hallways.  Stock up on those handmade holiday gifts. 
 **We will begin our next cross curricular theme--Celebrations and Traditions after Thanksgiving.  Please think about coming to speak about your family celebration or tradition at holiday time.  Students love to help in the planning and presentation.  We recently had Tate and his Dad, Joel speak and share about their tradition of nature hikes and bird watching.  Totally cool!!!
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey continued her unit on friendship using the art of conversation and how to really listen to someone and respond.
**In Mr. Packer Problem Solving this week, the students finished up a project using visual imagery and perception to create a picture using Alphabet letters and dots.
**School is closed December 22nd -January 2nd for Winter Break.
This week:    It was all about research basics for little ones!!  Ms. Noonan worked with the students on the question--What is research?  The students worked on thinking about a question about something they wanted to find out more about and then discussed how you might find a source to help you answer the question.  The major topic is:  BEARS.  The students worked in class on special research vocabulary and examples.  I can't wait to see the results.  The students also continued work on their talking book project.  They practiced reading their story page and then recorded it onto the iPad.  We have had some absences but hope to have the story posted for you soon.  It is pretty cute!!  We are almost at the end of our Bear Unit.  It has provided lots of activities and opportunities for growth in math, reading, writing and science.  Our station day activities this week included think, create, count and record pattern block activity,  building pattern block turkeys, color by code (number/color word) turkey, liquid to solid cream to butter and counting to form the toes on our bear paw snack.
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 answered questions about the types of vehicles used in other countries.  In their comprehension study, the students compared and categorized the types of travel and vehicles.  The sight words go and see were reviewed.  The students worked on their target sounds Tt and short i.  They continued 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 phoneme words.  They read their pre decodable story, "Go, Go, Go."  They reviewed what a comma was and how it is used.  They made predictions about story content and elbow chatted about characters, setting and main events.  During an interactive writing exercise, the students made pop up signs using the word "Go" to help cheer on their Book Buddies in the Turkey Trot.  The students listened to two poems about transportation--"The Bike," and "Riding the Subway."  They noticed the rhyming pattern in both and tracked the words as I read them.  They made connections in their own lives about riding their bikes and traveling on a subway.  The students also worked on a common core assessment comparing two characters from two different stories.  This week the students worked to complete the workstation rotation from last week.
Math:    The students continue to work on rote counting to 75 and beyond.  The students are really getting the hang of ten frame use and counting by tens.  They worked with partners on counting and cardinality activities representing a group of objects with a written number.  Students also continued to work with pattern block shapes building, counting and recording number.   The students combined counting and recognizing color words during color by code exercises.  Workstations this week included sorting and classifying by common attributes, writing numbers from 0-20, working with teen numbers using tally marks and ten frames (how many complete ten frames....how on the new ten frame) and counting on from a given number. 
Writing:    The students are working on formation of Starting Corner Capital letters H, K, L, U, V.  They used their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange books.  The students wrote1-3 sentences about what they knew about Brown/Black and Polar Bears. from their study of bears.   The students are working hard to begin with a capital letter,  name and tell and space between words in a sentence and have an ending mark.  Some students are beginning to add more details to their sentences.  I love when I hear them reading back their own writing as they begin work on self editing.  This week, one of the occupational therapist, Ms. Ilis came to observe student grasp and control of their pencil and markers, writing posture and proper tripod grasp.  She gave support and reinforcement to individual students.
Technology:    In reading, student small groups and individuals used the apps Dolch Words, ABC Magic 5 and Magnetic ABC's HD to practice sight words and short i words.  Students continued to use iTalk to record reading fluency.  In math whole and small groups, students used the apps Subitize Tree, Monster Squeeze, Easy Match and Number Find to assist in strengthening the concepts more/less/equal to, visual counting, number representation, 1 and 2 digit number recognition.  Students continue to use Sonic Pics to record their sentences for our talking book.  Students are beginning another project on shapes using Doodle Buddy.
Literature:    "Desert Homes," "Hibernation Station," "Hibernation," "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You See?" "Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?" "Squirrels," "Tree Homes," "Underground Homes," "Who Lives Here?" "Eyes on Nature:  Bears," "Follow the Polar Bears," "Polar Bears and Penguins," "Little Polar Bear," "Polar Bears."



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