**There is a touch of spring in the air. The students are beginning to feel it! As always, keep monitoring the weather and dressing your child appropriately. We will be trying to get to the playground before dismissal as the weather warms. The students really enjoy playing and demonstrating their skills when they have the playground to themselves!
**The FUN FAIR was spectacular! I hope you all had as much fun as I did. I loved running the new spinning game! Our JUNIOR CHEF"S BASKET was awesome! Thanks to all of you who donated your time or an item. I was thrilled to see former students who are in high school, college or now with families of their own enjoying our fun fair. The teacher acts were very funny. Congratulations to the BLUE TEAM! They got the pie in the face. If you are the recipient of one of my auction items, I will be contacting you in the next few weeks. Once again, this event represents our Irving school community at its best. I am so proud to be a part of it. Go Irving!
**Lynn Allen, director of the Multicultural Center did a fabulous presentation on African American history with very cool artifacts. She spoke about slavery, struggles and the rich culture of Africa. The students experimented with instruments, masks, cloth and looked at pictures and maps. The students really enjoyed it! Thanks, Lynn.
**Route to Reading Rotation 6 will begin on Monday, February 29th. At that time you will receive notification of the skill your child will be working on.
**Our new Student Council reps, Hattie and Lauren had their first meeting. They are already full of ideas for a new fundraiser to help someone in need. Stay tuned!
**The Kindergarten Team has planned a FIELD TRIP to the FIELD MUSEUM on Thursday, March 24th from 9:30-1:30 pm. The cost is $5.00. ALL students will need a BAG LUNCH with their name on it. Permission slip and info is in your child's homework folder. I will need 5 volunteers to help out on this trip. We will be working on a research and shared writing project that will be connected with this trip. Students will ride the bus. Parent volunteers will carpool. I will provide money for parking.
**The OPERA is coming! The OPERA is coming! This years OPERA for the YOUNG will be a production of "The Magic Flute." It will be Friday, March 4th from 9-10 am in the gym. It is an interactive opera where the students will be singing along in certain parts. Ms. Hiolski has been working on this. Should be great fun!
**If you are interested in purchasing books from author, Jonah Winter, the green sheet is in your child's homework folder. He will be sharing the magic of biography writing with students on Friday, March 11th from 1-1:45 pm.
**Spring Pictures will be taken Monday, March 14th in the morning.
**In a salute to all things Irish, bagpiper, Patrick Lynch will come to Irving on Wednesday, March 16th, from 12:45-2:15 pm. He will give a presentation to the kindergarten classes on the instrument and play some tunes for everyone to enjoy on the blacktop at dismissal.
**In keeping with the theme, we will have SUPER TUBER DAY on Thursday, March 17th from 10:30-11:30 am. It's about all things POTATO. Students need to bring a POTATO (not cooked) It can be any kind. I have E. Meier and G. Lowell signed up to help. Another volunteer would be great. Email me if you can help.
**Please welcome another grandma helper, Ms. Cummings to our class. She will be working with students on Wednesday mornings during our literacy workstation time. She is a former 8th grade teacher and administrator. We love our Grandmas!!!!
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey continued her work on conflict resolution with the class. She asked the questions--Is it safe?? Should I do this???
**In Mr. Packer Problem Solving this week, Mr. Packer worked with the students on a project called "thinking in shapes." The students were given 5 shapes. Mr. Packer ave them some rules to follow. He told them how many shapes to use and then said a sentence containing the picture he wanted them to make. Check it out in the pics. "I turned on the LAMP in my room." What does your lamp look like?
**No Mr. Degman Math/Tech this week.
**March 11th-- end of Trimester Two. Report cards home on Thursday, March 24th.
**NO SCHOOL--Tuesday, March 15th-Teacher's Institute Day.
**NO SCHOOL--3/25-4/3--Spring Break. Classes resume on Monday, April 4th. Let me know if your child is traveling and I will send a travel journal.
**Future Field Trip--(walking) Maze Branch Library--Thursday, April 28th
**Future Field Trip--Adler Planetarium--Tuesday, May 3rd.
**We are getting closer!!! Keep saving those boxes and cool things!!
This week:
The students continued with our author study on Mo Willems. The students completed summative assessments using his texts. We will finish our author study next week. They were also doing their last experiments on investigating water. Will will be completing our science unit also next week. The students are beginning prep work for our next Treasures Unit Weather and will also begin prep work for our next science unit, Sunshine, Shadows, the Moon and Space. We continued exploring the accomplishments of African Americans. Our favorite story and discussion was on "The Story of Ruby Bridges." The students were so proud to know that even a young child can effect change in our country. Lots of thoughtful insights by students. Station day activities this week included pattern block kite building, reading and illustrating a story problem, writing about a sequence of events, and exploring new choice time activities.
Reading/Language Arts: The students used this week to work on a variety of formative and summative assessments using texts from our author study of Mo Willems. The students responded verbally, thru illustration and thru writing. They worked to answer a variety of questions. Who are the characters is the story? How are they alike? Different? What is the problem? What does the character do to solve the problem? What effect does a repeating phrase have on a text? How does the illustration help you understand the setting? What important job does the author or illustrator have in telling the story? The students did some marvelous group work on problem/solution using the text, "That is not a Good Idea." Using the text "Knuffle Bunny," the students worked with partners to sequence events in the story. Lots of great drawings were done during our "we do" of story elements in the text, "Knuffle Bunny." In the text, "Edwina, the Dinosaur that Didn't Know She Was Extinct," students participated in a word study to best describe the main character. Students are forming OPINIONS about what Mo story they like the best and why. Workstations this week included leveled readers, comprehension check and fluency building, sight word review, sequencing events, word family sort, nonsense/real word activity, CVC puzzles and simple sentences, digraph review, color by word family and working on consonant blends and Silent E.
Math: The students continue to work on rote counting to 130. Focus this week was on subtraction or taking away from the whole (biggest number) or counting down. They began using the number line to assist in the counting down process. Some students are using manipulatives and fingers and even visualizing the answer! Students reviewed their geometric solid identification. They also continue to experiment with incline and plane surfaces and 3 dimensional structures. Math workstations this week included addition cross out, domino number bonds, snowman subtraction and domino number sentences.
Writing: The students continue work on forming lowercase letters. This week the letters k and e were introduced. The students practiced on their mini boards and then applied what they had learned in their orange practice books. They continue to develop their writing stamina by writing on topics in their green journals. We continue to stress beginning with a big letter, spacing between words in a sentence, using an ending mark and placement of letters on a given line. Read it back. Does it make sense? Did you name and tell? Did you use some words to describe what you are writing about? We also took some time to write and draw get well wishes to our classmate, Juliet who has been out sick for a while. Get well soon, Juliet!! We love and miss you!
Science: The students have experimented with water as a liquid and solid and this week experimented with water as a gas in the form of steam. We discussed the freezing temperature of water (32 degrees) and boiling temperature of water (212 degrees.) The students observed "smoke"or steam coming from the water that had been boiled. Where is that gas going? We talked about the word--evaporation. After releasing some steam, I covered the container with plastic wrap. We left the container and went to class. Upon returning, the students noticed water droplets on the top of the plastic wrap inside of the container. How did it get there? Abe remarked, "The water gas cannot evaporate because it is trapped by the plastic and can't get out into the air." The water droplets got bigger and bigger until they dropped back into the container. Mmmm......precipitation! It is raining inside of the container. The students reflected in their science journal. We reviewed our BrainPop video on the water cycle and the idea of evaporation, condensation, precipitation. Cool!
Technology: Whole group learners in Math worked on a new app called Animal Math. It is a paid app but very cool and contains counting, sequences and patterns, basic shapes, classification, addition to 5, addition to 10, subtraction to 5 and 10, greater, less and equal to, even/odd, place value and challenges! Students in small group math work on the app Doodle Buddy to create and illustrate their own story problem, Students are really beginning to look for the pattern when solving the number on the app Number Find. In small group reading, students worked on skill building with the app Build a Sentence. It is great for word order and finding the noun, verb and adjectives. We watched videos via BrainPop about the lives of Harriet Tubman, George Washington Carver and author Eloise Greenfield and took the quizzes.
Literature: "Edwina the Dinosaur That Didn't Know She Was Extinct," "Night on Neighborhood Street," "The Story of Ruby Bridges," "Knuffle Bunny," "Harriet Tubman," "Trains Can Float,' "George Washington Carver," "Five Brave Explorers--Great Black Heroes," "A Drop of Water," "Evaporation/Condensation."
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