**It's been very busy around Ms. Gullo's Kindergarten! I will back track to 11/23. The students heard last minute details about their trip to Brookfield Zoo. We read informational texts about other types of bears. We also began to chat about our upcoming research projects. Students worked in their journals and their writing focused on the Bear of their choice.
**11/24--Our field Trip to Brookfield Zoo was great! We a had a spectacular day of fun and learning. A big thanks to Ms. Pillacela, Mr. Bell, Mr. Daniel, Mr Harris and Ms. Massett for all of their help as volunteers. The students enjoyed the Hamill Play Zoo for face painting and projects. Students got to see a corn snake up close! We had an indoor lunch and then on to the Great Bear Wilderness for our class. Our docents, Jim and Mary were the best! The students examined black bear fur, polar bear and grizzly bear paws and participated in activities in measuring how many students it took to equal the height of a polar bear and grizzly bear. The students also explored a pattern of a polar bear foot. How many students feet equal one polar bear foot??? We saw a hibernating grizzly bear and a snoozing polar bear. What a great day!
**We were thankful for many things! Thankful for our wonderful grandma helper, Ms. D., thankful for our great Irving school family and for each other. I was so thankful for the great support and help from my kindergarten families. You truly make a difference!
**Check your child's homework folder for their RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT. Each student came up with a question they want to find out more about. They worked on special vocabulary. On the left side of this blog are links to Encyclopedia Britannica and PowerkidsLife Science if you need additional resources. The project is due December 17th but you can hand it in sooner if you wish.
**Hibernation Day was awesome! We were cozy in our jammies with our special stuffed animals. We read about how different animals hibernate. The students made Bear Paw Snacks using biscuit dough, We also did a little science of the liquid to solid kind when the students made butter from whipping cream. There was a lot of shaking going on!! They can tell you about it. The students observed curds and whey being formed. Cool! It was perfect to spread on their golden brown Bear Paws. Yum! The students enjoyed a kindergarten Teddy Bear picnic with their peers in the kindergarten hallway. Our culminating activity in the afternoon was for the students to create a bear hibernation spot somewhere in the classroom with whatever was in the classroom. Lots of thinking going on and maybe some snoring too!
**I am still holding out hope that we can get a few more volunteers for Room 110's Annual Gingerbread Baking on Friday, December 11th from 1:15 until dismissal. We have Ms. Meier, Ms. Metz, Ms. Constantinescu and Ms. Polan so far. It is very fun and no experience is needed! Email me if you can help! The recipe is in your child's homework folder for review.
**Trimester 1 REPORT CARDS go home on Friday, December 11th. Please read the information included to better understand the grading system. Lexia reports will also be included as well as any goal updates by specialists your child may be seeing in the area of speech and language or Tier 3 intervention for reading readiness. The main idea to remember for our report card system is that it is a growth model of progress toward an end of the year goal. If you have any question after reviewing it, please email me.
**Our WINTER CONCERT is fast approaching!! Please join us on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17th in the Irving Auditorium. There will be 2 performances. The first one is at 8:15 am and it will be repeated again at 9:45 am. We will have a reception in our room after both concerts. All are invited! Come join us!
**The Irving Cookie Crumble and Handmade Craft Fair is Saturday, December 12th from 9-1 pm in the lunchroom and hallways. It is a great place to stock up on those holiday treasures.
**Route to Reading Rotation 3 will conclude on December 9th. Route to Reading Rotation 4 will begin in January.
**We have begun our cross curricular theme on Celebrations and Traditions. If you have a particular holiday tradition you would like to share with the class--email me and we can set it up. Kindergarten students love to have parents come to the classroom!
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms Bell Bey continued chatting with the students about fostering great behavior everywhere they go. She worked individually with each child on the first part of a special project. Stay tuned.
**No Mr. Packer this week.
**In Mr. Degman Math/Tech, the students finished up their project on teen counting.
**School is closed for Winter Break--December20-January 3rd. If you are traveling over the break, let me know and I will send a travel journal.
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 they might find a source to help them 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 continue to work on their talking book project. They practiced reading their story page and will record it on the iPad. Our station day activities this week included creating a sparkly candle, roll/add and color sums to 10, Hanukkah candles color by code, nonstandard measurement with unifix cubes and build a hibernation space in the classroom.
Reading/Language Arts: The students completed Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students built back ground knowledge about the different ways wheels are used to move people and things around. We revisited the text, "Duck on a Bike." Students identified the characters, setting and the events in the story. They took a closer look at the way the story was organized. (It had a beginning, middle and end) The students reviewed target sounds Tt and short i and used their elkonin boxes to segment and blend 3 and 4 sound words. The students worked with partners to create noun/action word sentences using words and picture cards. Now that students are reading simple texts, they are working on how they read. Is it choppy or smooth?? The students were introduced to the Reader's Checklist so that they can begin to monitor their own reading fluency. A Checklist is enclosed in your child's homework folder. Robust Vocabulary for this week included ADVENTURE, WHEELS, ATTACH, HAUL, MASSIVE. The students read their predecodable story, "I See the Truck Go" to a partner. They elbow chatted about story content. They also critiqued each other's reading using the Reader's Checklist. Peers listening to each other! Workstations for this week included leveled readers with focus on fluency and main ideas, main events quilt, Reader's Checklist, story elements butterfly, CVC beginning and ending sheet, Magnetic Letters HD sentence building using sight words, writing-where would you take a trip to? What would you bring?
Math: The students began work on their December Calendar Book with some new activities. They recorded numbers, sequenced numbers, counting on from a random number, used tally marks to say how many, added dominoes and dice and the idea of number bonding--ways to say a certain number---ie-- 2 and 2 is a way to 4 and so is 4 and 0, 0 and 4, 3 and 1, 1 and 3. The students continue to work on rote counting to 85, nonstandard measurement using items to measure how long or how high something is and the idea of place value--how many groups of tens to make 33--how many left over. Students selected their own workstations this week. They included Subitize Challenge, measuring around the room. writing teen numbers, working with teen numbers and ten frames and counting bears.
Writing: The students are now working on Magic "C" capitals. The letters C, Q and O were introduced. The students practiced on their mini boards with chalk and then applied their knowledge in their orange practice books. The students continue to work in their new journals thinking about sentence structure, beginning with a capital letter, spacing between words in a sentence, where to put upper and lowercase letters and reading over what they have written.
Technology: Students participated in whole group work using the app Oz Phonics to strengthen their ability to blend CVC words and used the app Sound Sort to strengthen automaticity of sound to letter symbol. Student small groups used the app iTalk to record and listen to their reading for fluency and clarity. Students continue to work on recording their talking book using the app Sonic Pics. Mr. Degman continued his project with the students using the app Chatterpix.
Literature: "Curious George-A Winter's Nap," "Hibernation Station," "Hibernation," "Time to Sleep," "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" "Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?" "What is Hanukkah?" "The Book of Winter Celebrations," (highlighting St, Nicholas Day and Hanukkah) "Adding With Animals."
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