Saturday, September 19, 2015

UPDATES for 9/14-9/18 2015

**Come One, Come All to Irving School's OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24th beginning at 6:30 pm.  The schedule is as follows:  I will have a PARENT ONLY curriculum overview from 6:30-7:00 pm in our classroom.  You can drop your child off in the auditorium for a supervised special feature.  I will be speaking about our daily routine. all subject areas, testing that is done in Kindergarten,  behavior management, Route to Reading skill specific groupings and special area classes.   I will also have handouts with other information on our year.  There will be SIGN UP SHEETS for PARENT CONFERENCES, ROOM PARENTS,  and for other COOL EVENTS.   Please pick up your child after my presentation and they will become your TOUR GUIDES as they bring you to meet the teachers who will be working with them.  I will give you a list of teachers and room numbers as an assist.  Hope to see everyone!
**We had our first BOOK BUDDY meeting on Friday!!  This year our Book Buddies are Ms. Balicki's 5th grade class.   Each one of our students were matched up with one and sometimes two book buddies.  The buddies completed a getting to know me book. Each kindergarten student has one to take home and share.   After, the kindergarten buddy chose a story that the 5th grade buddy read to them.  We will be meeting every month and sharing stories, writing, projects.  So fun!!
**Sign up for FAMILY MATH NIGHT!  It is Thursday, October 1st from 6:00-7:30 pm.  The theme this year is "There's No Place Like Math Night--A Wizard of Oz Adventure."  I will be there on the yellow brick road!!  Email me if you need another sign up flyer.
**Class and Individual Pictures will be taken on Tuesday, September 29th.t  I usually try for an early morning time.
**Our Tech Advisor, Mr. Degman, will be in on Monday, September 21st to speak with students on proper and safe use of our classroom student iPads.  I am also in the process of securing a time each week where Mr. Degman will be part of our math workstations with an iPad activity. Fun! Fun!
**Mr. Packer"s Problem Solving Session will begin in two weeks every Friday, from 10:30-11:00 am.  Mr. Packer will use small group and whole group activities and projects to encourage thinking outside of the box.  All lessons will be taught on multi levels to support and to challenge all learners. 
**I will be speaking to the students about STUDENT COUNCIL representation for our class.  Each classroom will have 2 reps.  I will be sending home a flyer on the merits of being on Student Council.  If your child is interested in being a rep, they can fill out the flyer. 
**We have a GREEN TEAM!  Each class will send 2 reps to the meetings that meet every other Tuesday.  The Green Team plans projects, discusses ways to create a "greener" school environment and will relay information to our class.  I will also send more info home next week about rep responsibilities.
**Calling all girls!!!!  Be a Daisy Girl Scout!!!  Quinn's mom is one of the leaders!!!  Meetings are every THIRD THURSDAY from 3:00-4:15.  There is a $15 registration fee.  There will also be a $30 fee that will cover Daisy vest, badges and some supplies.  Any questions--you can contact Quinn's mom at nicole.h.daniel@gmail.com.
**There was a flyer in your child's homework packet on Irving School's Annual Egg Drop and Academic Fair to be held on Wednesday, October 14th.    I will be giving students more info about participating in this super fun event.  Ms. Creehan will also be chatting with the students and showing examples of  projects and vehicles.  Stay tuned!
**EAGLE EXTRA CLASSES begin on Monday, September 21st.  I will be getting a listing of all  students participating.  An Eagle Extra supervisor will pick up your child in our classroom at dismissal.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey reviewed with the students what whole body learning is and began the conversation about the ZONES of REGULATION.  I have enclosed some information on this in your child's homework folder.  
**Future Field Trip to Brookfield Zoo on Tuesday, November 23rd from 9:00-2:00 pm.  More info to follow.  I will need 4-5 volunteers.
This week:
It was all about letters and numbers.  The students have found letters and numbers throughout our classroom and the school.  What is the difference between letters and numbers?  The students began the conversation about consonants (letters that have 1-2 sounds) and vowels (letters that can have many different sounds.)  The students found the consonants and vowels in their name.  They then compared that number to the number of consonants and vowels in a friends name.  We are counting everything in sight--crayons, markers, chairs, books, fingers, shoes.  The students worked on their number formation rhymes 0-5.  Station day activities included pattern block build, count and record, build a dog out of pattern blocks and hand prints!
Reading/Language Arts:     The students have completed Week 3 of our prep for our Treasures Reading series called Start Smart.  The students worked on reinforcing letters names A-Z and sounds A-P.  They again used mirrors to observe where each sound came from--open/closed mouth?....puff of air?.....vibrations?.....where is your tongue?  The students continue to work on sight vocabulary.  The words A, THE and SEE were added.  They played "Hands Up, Hands Down" using their sight words.  The students used their sight words, pictures and ending marks for sentence building with a partner.  Each student had to build 2 sentences to read to their partner.  The partner had to do the same.  Planning, recall, and tracking were in play with this activity.  The students did their first formative Blueprint Workmat independently!  Again we used the formative text, "Chysanthemum."  The goal was for the students to draw and write about the characters, setting, main event and why the main event is important.  Quite a task!  In the beginning, pictures and talking about the key concepts is happening.  A few students did do some writing.  As we work throughout the year on this format, more writing will occur.    We will begin our next formative text, "Duck on a Bike" next week.   The students brainstormed words that name people and words that show action.  I read the trade book, "Jazz Baby."  Before reading, the students made predictions on story content.  They were able to point to the title, title page, spine and tell that the story was fiction.  During the reading, the students were able to tell me about words that showed action in the story.  (dance, sway, sing)   After a second reading, the students used the retelling cards to retell the story.  Some students volunteered to write some words about each picture.  It was a group effort to sound out words and record the letters to create the sentences.  Great Team Work!  During our group read aloud of the paper story, "I Can," the students were spot on at naming the action pictures and words.  We continue to work on tracking words in a sentence from left to right, noting that a sentence begins with an uppercase letter and has an ending mark.  Finger pointing during reading is essential!!!  We continued to work on foundational skills in the Haggerty Blue Book which included rhyming, letter naming, first sound and ending sound fluency, adding and deleting word parts and counting words in a sentence. 
Math:     The student work on calendar books is becoming more routine.  Focus this week was on basic and pattern block shapes.  The students went on a shape hunt around the room.  We looked for circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals, hexagon, trapezoids and rhombuses   They used their blocks to create really cool designs and counted how many blocks it took to make the design.  We will take our hunt for shapes around the school next week.  We continue to work on positional words using lots of movement activities.  Above, below, between, behind, in front of, next were covered,  Number rhymes for 0-5 have been practiced.  Workstations this week included egg carton math,  sorting and classifying activities, matching number with quantity, writing numbers 0-5, playing number bingo 0-20.
Writing:     The students are learning about what kinds of lines are used to make letters--straight, slant and curved.  The students used these lines to form MAT MAN.  We even sang a song about him.  Students drew their own Mat Man.  During Writer's Workshop,  We read a story called "I Can Write."  What do writers do?  Who is a writer?  Where do I find writers?  We worked together to complete a three column chart.  The students chose their own topics to write about this week.  I suggested some sentence starters for those wanting to try writing.  "I can...........  I see............  The students are also working on adding more details to their pictures. 
Technology:     The students continue to participate by using the interactive apps that are projected on the screen.  In reading, the students worked on creating a simple sentence with their sight words and pictures using the app Magnetic Letters HD.  They continue to delight in setting their sight words and name on "fire" using the app Fire Finger.  In math, I introduced the app Easy Match working on matching quantity to number and examining number patterns and continue work on Subitize Tree working on visual counting and number patterns.  Next week, Mr. Degman will work with the students on classroom iPad etiquette.
Literature:     "Curious George Goes to School," "Chysanthemum,""It's Okay to Make Mistakes," "Kindergarten Rules," "Jazz Baby," "Oh, David," "Hands Are Not For Hitting," "I Can," "At School," "We Go To School," thinking story--"You Are As Beautiful As You Are."


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