**The students have been pretty prepared for the weather. Please keep sending snow pants and boots. When we are in for the cold temperatures, the students will rotate from seeing a story in the auditorium, going up to the gym or to the library for games.
**Come One, Come All to the Kindergarten/First Grade Winter Concert on Wednesday, December 21st in the Irving Auditorium. There will be 2 performances due to the size of our auditorium--the first being at 8:15 and the second at 9:30. There will be a reception after both performances---Please join us for refreshments and conversation. Julianna's mom will be sending some crafts for the students to do in between performances. Thanks much!
**Our Book Buddies will be with us on Friday afternoon. They are going to do an iMovie getting to know you movie trailer. We will also ring in the New Year with them.
**Bear research projects are due Friday, December 22nd.
**Let me know if your child is traveling for the winter break. I will send a travel journal with them.
**Student Council reps, Julianna and Alec will have their final meeting for their term on Tuesday. Their last project is helping to sponsor the Secret Snowflake week which begins next week. Our class was matched up with another class....shhhhhh! It's a secret! The student have planned some cute things to do for them! In January, Student Council will be looking for 2 new reps. Thanks Julianna and Alec for all of your great ideas and service.
**School is closed for Winter Break--December 24th-January 8th. Classes resume on Monday, January 9th.
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the students discussed what to do if something happens by accident---how to let the person know? How would you check to see if they are okay?
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey worked with the students on asking questions in order to seek answers around a certain subject.
** In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer continued work on listening and using shapes to describe a sentence.
This week:
The students worked on rehearsing for the Winter Concert. They got their positions on the stage and part for each song. They are working hard and they sound great! The students continued their study of winter holidays. They are beginning to see the unifying theme of the use of lights in these celebrations. Candles, strands of lights, light of the North Star, lantern lights. Jeanette and Lilly's mom spoke to the students about Hanukkah. She brought lots of menorahs and dreidels and read a cool story to the class. Each student got gelt and a dreidel. Next week, Naomi D."s mom will speak about Kwanzaa. The students continue to listen to and compare and contrast Gingerbread stories. They examined the characters, setting and main events in the stories. How did it end? (eaten...not eaten) Who were the characters? (boy, girl, baby, man, cowboy, wolf, fox, coyote) What happened in the stories? They had loads of fun elbow chatting about and sharing their observations. We did a group Venn diagram comparing Gingerbread Man and Gingerbread Girl stories. In writing, they designed their own gingerbread figure and then wrote a description about their creation.
Reading/Language Arts: The students completed Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series and began Unit 4 Food. The unit began with a question about where food comes from. The students accessed prior knowledge about stores, farms, markets, gardens and orchards as places where food is found. Some students offered that they had gardens in their backyard in the summer. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Apple Farmer Annie." They discussed where Annie lives and her daily activities as an apple farmer. Students made connections from their fall theme about apples, types of apples and what you can make with apples. Other students talked about a time when they went to a farmers market and bought apples and apple cider. Our target words are to and have. Our target letter and sound is Nn. The students reviewed the function of nouns and action words or verbs. They are also chatting about 2 consonants at the beginning or end or even in the middle of a word known as a consonant blend because you hear both sounds. The students used their elkonin boxes to blend and segment 4 sound words using consonant blends and 3 sound words using consonant digraphs or words that have 2 consonants together that make only 1 sound. They also worked with white board and markers adding, deleting and substituting sounds in words. Our Robust Vocabulary for this included FARMER, MARKET, INGREDIENTS, COMBINE, NUTRITIOUS. They continue to practice their reading fluency during our group read aloud time. Workstations this week included leveled readers with focus on fluency, story elements and sequencing events, word family activity, word work with substitution and reading CVC, CCVC and CVCC words.
Math: The students completed Module 2-The Study of Shapes and took their end of unit module assessment. They began Unit 3-Comparing Length, Capacity and Numbers to 10. The students began by exploring length--longer/shorter using a variety of nonstandard measures including cubes, string, bears. Students also continued work on vocabulary pertinent to the unit--long/short, enough/not enough, longer than/shorter than and the same as. Workstations included 2 digit number writing, counting quantities to 20, measuring objects using nonstandard measuring tools and finding the hidden partners using numbers 1-10.
Writing: The students continued practicing their uppercase letter formation. We quickly reviewed all uppercase letter forms. The students have been encouraged to practice writing both their first and last name. They each created a gingerbread person complete with as many details as they wanted. Then they wrote about their gingerbread person describing what they look like and what they can do. During Writer's Workshop this week, students continued work on revising old stories and writing new ones. The teaching point focused on writing partners listing to a story written by their partner and using the Writer's Checklist to listen for certain things as your partner reads their story. Listen for--I told, drew and wrote a story. I had a page that showed what happened first. My story told who was there, what they did and how the characters felt
Science: This week, the students took a look at the final topic--Weather. (How timely!) We used our calendar book where the students have been tracking the weather for the month of December. The students compared temperature, precipitation and the amount of sun, snow, clouds.
Technology: No New apps introduced this week.
Literature: "The Book of Celebrations" (highlighting Advent and Christmas), "Countdown to Hanukkah," "The Gingerbread Cowboy, " "Ninjabread Boy," "The Gingerbread Girl," "The Gingerbread Baby," "Gingerbread Friends."
Monday, December 19, 2016
Sunday, December 11, 2016
UPDATES for 12/5-12/9 2016
**Our Annual Gingerbread Making, Baking and Sharing was a smash! We could not have done it with out the last minute effort by Lily and Jeanette's mom to secure volunteers! A HUGE SHOUT OUT to her! Thanks to J. Flannery, C. Horwitz and Jackson's aunt for their super needed help! The students were charged with enthusiasm and creativity. Some students spent lots of time on details. Others, the more sprinkles....the better. Such works of art. We bagged some of our own and shared some with our table friends. Yum! Yum!
**If you have a family tradition or celebration you would like to speak about--email me to set up a day and time. We have speakers for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
**Come One, Come All to the Kindergarten/First Grade Winter Concert on Wednesday, December 21st in the Irving Auditorium. Because of the size of our auditorium, there will be 2 performances--the first being at 8:15 am---the second at 9:30 am. There will be a reception in our classroom after each performance. Stop by our classroom for refreshments and conversation.
**Report Cards for the Trimester One are in your child's homework folder. Please email me with any questions you may have. The students portfolios from Mr. Packer's class are also included.
**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 vocabulary. (It is also at the back of the assignment.) Parents can assist with source info and evidence finding but the STUDENTS will write and illustrate. Parents an assist with helping to sound out words too! The project is due December 22nd.
**The Cookie Crumble and Craft Fair was great! There were many items made and sold by students and lots of great buys!
**Please let me know if your child is traveling during winter break. I will prepare a travel journal for your child to write and draw about their experiences.
**We will be getting together with our Book Buddies on Friday, December 23rd. The 5th graders have planned a project with our kinders! They will be making a getting to know you movie trailer. Stay tuned. We will also be celebrating the beginning of 2017.
**Our Student Council reps, Alec and Julianna reported on their next project--Secret Snowflakes! Each class will get a class to do some special things for during our last week of school before break. Stay tuned!!
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the students continued to focus on feelings.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bey Bey conducted a voting session to see what the students wanted to do for their last Friday class before break. Outside recess won!!!
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, the students continued work on using shapes in different ways.
**No School-Winter Break-December 24th-January 8th. School resumes on Monday, January 9th.
This week:
The students ended their study of bears by forming their question for their research project and making and baking Bear Paw Snacks with home made butter. What a treat! The students discussed all things gingerbread. We will be reading a number of gingerbread stories in the next two weeks and examining/comparing/contrasting the characters, setting and main events in the stories. There will be a writing project connected to our gingerbread study. The students also shared a family tradition at holiday time with each other. I recorded their words. Our celebration table is now set up with many artifacts and information on the winter celebrations around the world.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue work on Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students built background knowledge about the different ways wheels are used to move people and things around. We revisited the test,"Duck on a Bike" and the companion book, "Duck on a Tractor." Students identified characters, setting and main events in both stories. They took a closer look at story organization--beginning, middle and end. The students reviewed target sound of short Ii and used their elkonin boxes to blend and segment 3-4 sound words. The students worked with partners to create noun/verb sentences using words and pictures. Now that the 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 they can begin to monitor their own reading fluency. Robust Vocabulary for this week included ADVENTURE, WHEELS, ATTACH, HAUL, MASSIVE. The students continue word work on CVC, consonant blends and digraphs in words and short vowel words. Workstations this week included work on leveled readers on fluency and main ideas, working on a story elements butterfly, creating retelling cards, word work on substituting sounds, CVC beginning and ending sheet, sentence building, using go and see in a sentence with an illustration and writing a sentence about the vehicle of your choice.
Math: The students continue work on Module 2-The Study of Shapes in our Eureka Math series. They classified and compared 2D and 3D shapes and explored creating 2D and 3D shapes using magnetos, straws and pipe cleaners, blocks, string and connexts. The students created a "Shape Museum" to display some of their structures. We continue work in our calendar books including--counting by 10's, hidden partners to 10, counting on from a target number, number writing, work on weather, temperature and comparing numbers. Math workstations this week included reckenrek activities (composing and decomposing numbers) skip counting, addition and subtraction processes and writing 2 digit numbers.
Writing: The students completed work on uppercase letter formation. They practice on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange practice books. We will begin lowercase formation study next week. In Writer's Workshop this week, the lessons focused on how to make a story better. They can revise their story adding more details--using their question words--adding more to their drawings etc. Each students chose a story they had worked on and looked at it again. We worked on the idea of using scrolls or flaps to add more. The students chatted with their writing partner about their revision ideas. We also had a discussion about the job of a writing partner--making suggestions, helping with sounding out but not writing or spelling it for their partner. Being a writing partner can make both student and their partner better writers.
Science: We have put our last investigation on hold until next week.
Technology: In reading whole group this week, the students worked on the app Oz Phonics to reinforce word order, blends and digraphs and blending and segmenting 3-4 wounds words. In math whole group, students worked on the app Geoboard to work on shape construction.
Literature: "The Book of Celebrations," "The Gingerbread Boy," "The Gingerbread Man," "The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School," "The Gingerbread Man," "Time to Sleep," "Hibernation Station," "Zero Is the Number of Leaves on the Tree."
**If you have a family tradition or celebration you would like to speak about--email me to set up a day and time. We have speakers for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
**Come One, Come All to the Kindergarten/First Grade Winter Concert on Wednesday, December 21st in the Irving Auditorium. Because of the size of our auditorium, there will be 2 performances--the first being at 8:15 am---the second at 9:30 am. There will be a reception in our classroom after each performance. Stop by our classroom for refreshments and conversation.
**Report Cards for the Trimester One are in your child's homework folder. Please email me with any questions you may have. The students portfolios from Mr. Packer's class are also included.
**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 vocabulary. (It is also at the back of the assignment.) Parents can assist with source info and evidence finding but the STUDENTS will write and illustrate. Parents an assist with helping to sound out words too! The project is due December 22nd.
**The Cookie Crumble and Craft Fair was great! There were many items made and sold by students and lots of great buys!
**Please let me know if your child is traveling during winter break. I will prepare a travel journal for your child to write and draw about their experiences.
**We will be getting together with our Book Buddies on Friday, December 23rd. The 5th graders have planned a project with our kinders! They will be making a getting to know you movie trailer. Stay tuned. We will also be celebrating the beginning of 2017.
**Our Student Council reps, Alec and Julianna reported on their next project--Secret Snowflakes! Each class will get a class to do some special things for during our last week of school before break. Stay tuned!!
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the students continued to focus on feelings.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bey Bey conducted a voting session to see what the students wanted to do for their last Friday class before break. Outside recess won!!!
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, the students continued work on using shapes in different ways.
**No School-Winter Break-December 24th-January 8th. School resumes on Monday, January 9th.
This week:
The students ended their study of bears by forming their question for their research project and making and baking Bear Paw Snacks with home made butter. What a treat! The students discussed all things gingerbread. We will be reading a number of gingerbread stories in the next two weeks and examining/comparing/contrasting the characters, setting and main events in the stories. There will be a writing project connected to our gingerbread study. The students also shared a family tradition at holiday time with each other. I recorded their words. Our celebration table is now set up with many artifacts and information on the winter celebrations around the world.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue work on Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students built background knowledge about the different ways wheels are used to move people and things around. We revisited the test,"Duck on a Bike" and the companion book, "Duck on a Tractor." Students identified characters, setting and main events in both stories. They took a closer look at story organization--beginning, middle and end. The students reviewed target sound of short Ii and used their elkonin boxes to blend and segment 3-4 sound words. The students worked with partners to create noun/verb sentences using words and pictures. Now that the 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 they can begin to monitor their own reading fluency. Robust Vocabulary for this week included ADVENTURE, WHEELS, ATTACH, HAUL, MASSIVE. The students continue word work on CVC, consonant blends and digraphs in words and short vowel words. Workstations this week included work on leveled readers on fluency and main ideas, working on a story elements butterfly, creating retelling cards, word work on substituting sounds, CVC beginning and ending sheet, sentence building, using go and see in a sentence with an illustration and writing a sentence about the vehicle of your choice.
Math: The students continue work on Module 2-The Study of Shapes in our Eureka Math series. They classified and compared 2D and 3D shapes and explored creating 2D and 3D shapes using magnetos, straws and pipe cleaners, blocks, string and connexts. The students created a "Shape Museum" to display some of their structures. We continue work in our calendar books including--counting by 10's, hidden partners to 10, counting on from a target number, number writing, work on weather, temperature and comparing numbers. Math workstations this week included reckenrek activities (composing and decomposing numbers) skip counting, addition and subtraction processes and writing 2 digit numbers.
Writing: The students completed work on uppercase letter formation. They practice on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange practice books. We will begin lowercase formation study next week. In Writer's Workshop this week, the lessons focused on how to make a story better. They can revise their story adding more details--using their question words--adding more to their drawings etc. Each students chose a story they had worked on and looked at it again. We worked on the idea of using scrolls or flaps to add more. The students chatted with their writing partner about their revision ideas. We also had a discussion about the job of a writing partner--making suggestions, helping with sounding out but not writing or spelling it for their partner. Being a writing partner can make both student and their partner better writers.
Science: We have put our last investigation on hold until next week.
Technology: In reading whole group this week, the students worked on the app Oz Phonics to reinforce word order, blends and digraphs and blending and segmenting 3-4 wounds words. In math whole group, students worked on the app Geoboard to work on shape construction.
Literature: "The Book of Celebrations," "The Gingerbread Boy," "The Gingerbread Man," "The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School," "The Gingerbread Man," "Time to Sleep," "Hibernation Station," "Zero Is the Number of Leaves on the Tree."
Sunday, December 4, 2016
UPDATEs for 11/21-22 and 11/28-12/2 2016
**It's been busy around Ms. Gullo's Kindergarten! I will back track to 11/21. The students learned last minute details about their field trip to Brookfield Zoo. We read informational texts about other types of bears. We also began to chat about an upcoming research project.
**11/22-Our field trip to Brookfield Zoo was great! We had a crisp and chilly but spectacular day of fun and learning. A big thanks to S. Raphael, E. LaFranco, D. Regan, L. Dantzler, T. Dixon, S. Flannery and Alice's Grandpa for all their help as volunteers. The students enjoyed Hamill Play Zoo for face painting and projects. Students got to pet a hen and a hamster up close! Students and volunteers also enjoyed seeing the animals of their choice. We enjoyed our lunch outside and had an entertaining visit from a peacock and guinea hen......mmmm....looking for some nice lunch! At the Great Bear Wilderness, our volunteer, Ms. H. was very knowledgable. The students examined black bear fur/paw and polar bear fur/paw. They participated in activities measuring how many students it took to equal the height of a grizzly bear and polar bear. On our outside tour, the students observed polar bears and a grizzly bear in their natural habitat.
**We were thankful for many things! Thanks for our wonderful grandma helper, Ms. D. and thankful for our Irving School family and for each other. I continue to be thankful for the great support and help from our kindergarten families. You all truly make the difference!
**The students enjoyed a visit from children's illustrator and author, Matthew Cordell. He spoke about his life and his love of drawing which began at age 3. He read 2 of his stories and showed the students how he draws a character and details. Very cool!
**First trimester REPORT CARDS will go home on Friday, December 9th. This will be in the form of standards based grading that I shared with you at conference time. 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 and math. Mr. Packer will also have ready your child's portfolio of projects/explanation that were done during his class time. The main idea to remember for our report card system in that it is a growth model of progress toward end of the year goals. If you have any questions after reviewing your child's report card, please email me.
**Room 110's Annual Gingerbread Baking is Friday, December 9th beginning at 1:15 until dismissal. Currently, I have just one volunteer (thanks, Ms. Raphael!) If anyone else is interested, please email me. I will revise our making and baking so that each child will make 2 cookies instead of cookies for their family. I will provide cookie dough and everything else. The cookie dough is nut free, dairy free and egg free.
**Our WINTER CONCERT is fast approaching! Please join us Wednesday, December 21st in the Irving Auditorium. There will be 2 performances. The first will begin at 8:15 am and it will be repeated again at 9:30 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 10th from 9-1 pm in the lunchroom and hallways. It is a great place to stock up on affordable holiday treasures.
**Just a note--Route to Reading has been suspended for the rest of this month. The students will keep working on their current skill level in the classroom and I will assess and move students as they master their skill. Thanks to Ms. Chinn who will be assisting with assessments.
**On Monday, we will begin our next cross curricular theme--TRADITIONS and CELEBRATIONS. If you have a particular family tradition or celebration that you would like to share with the class--please email me to set up a time.
**If your child is traveling over the winter break, let me know. I will provide a travel journal.
**Our Second Step lesson this week continued to focus on different feelings students have.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued chatting with the students about fostering good behavior wherever they go, including what a social detective is and using your social brain.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, the student began a project using shapes in different ways.
**No School--Winter Break--December 24th-January 8th. School reopens on Monday. January 9th.
This week:
It was all about research basics for little ones! What is RESEARCH? The students began thinking about something they wanted to know more about. They thought about it in the form of a question. We talked about how they might find a SOURCE to help them answer their question. The topic for their research is--BEARS. Next week, Ms. Noonan will continue the discussion and work on special research vocabulary and examples during their library time. The students will come up with a question they want to know more about and I will provide guidance and support. They will bring home their research question and format next Friday. Parent support is encouraged! It is exciting! Stay tuned! Station day activities this week included build and count pattern block designs, Leaf Man project, bear life cycle activity, bear read and label parts.
Reading/Language Arts: The students began work on Unit 3-Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students discussed what is meant by transportation--a way to move people and things from one place to another. They brainstormed ways to get around and discussed forms of transportation that go fast and slow We constructed a group transportation word web. They built background on their travels near and far. They listened to the Big Book story, "On the Go." The students observed how people travel from one place to another and the vehicles they used. We looked up each country on the the world map. The students asked and answered questions about the types of vehicles used in other countries. They also worked on words that show ACTION. (verbs) Our Big Book text became the basis for a summative Blueprint on naming key details and using text evidence. In their comprehension study, the students compared and categorized types of travel and vehicles. The sight words is and play were reviewed. The students worked on the target sound Short Ii. Our Robust Vocabulary this week included TRAVEL, RELAX, JOURNEY, PREPARE, FAMILIAR. They used their elkonin boxes to blend and segment 3 sound words. They also learned about commas and how they are used. The students read their pre decodable story, "Go, Go Go" and elbow chatted with their partner about characters, setting and events. The students listened to 2 poems about transportation, "The Bike," and "Riding the Subway." They noticed the rhyming pattern in both and tracked the words as I read them. Workstations for this week included leveled readers focusing on fluency, story elements including key details, graph and compare--How do you travel to school? sentence creating with sight words and pictures with partners, creating your own retelling cards, substituting activity to create new words, CVC word search, adding a letter to create a new word activity, shared reading with partners, writing about your favorite vehicle and continued work in the Haggerty Blue Book.
Math: The students began Module 2--The Study of Shapes in our Eureka Math series. The students revisited basic flat shapes and reviewed pattern block shapes. We discussed the idea of a FLAT shape with sides and corners (vertices) of each shape and the similarities and differences between the shapes. The students explored various materials to create shapes with--straws/pipe cleaners, Connects, mini Magnetos and regular Magnetos, string and blocks. These shapes are included in the group called 2 dimensional shapes. The students then explored the world of SOLID shapes. Cones, cubes, cylinders, spheres, rectangular prisms and pyramids. The students looked throughout the room to find evidence of these shapes. They compared them to flat shapes and discovered that they have depth and are not flat. The students also used the same materials to create solid shapes. Math workstations for this week included reckenrek activities surrounding simple counting fluency, skip counting, addition and subtraction processes, going on 2D shape hunt and recording what they see, writing numbers 1 and 2 digit, solving simple story problems and finding hidden partners (number bonds) using numbers to 10 and creating a number globe using the app Doodle Buddy to write their number and choose icon stickers to represent their number.
Writing: The student worked on "Magic C" capitals C, S, G, O. They practiced on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange practice book. In Writer's Workshop this week, the student reviewed all the components of past lessons in order to make their writing readable and legible. On Friday, we celebrated the end of our current unit. The students sat in a comfortable place and emptied their writing folder. They re read their stories and chose their "best" written story. They created a cover for their story that included a title and cover illustration. They then shared it with their writing partner. Totally cool!
Science: This week we deviated from the regular investigation on leaf shapes and the students listened to the story, "Leaf Man," by Lois Elhert. While I read the story, the students observed the leaf shapes on each page and the animals and figures created. On Friday, during station day, the students used leaves from our study to create their own "Leaf Man" or "Leaf Animal."
Technology: In reading whole group this week students used the Montessori Crosswords to practice blending and segmenting 3-4 sound words with side work on consonant blends and digraphs and specific vowels i and e. In math small groups, students used the app Doodle Buddy to create a number globe showcasing a specific number and illustration. The students, with my assistance, worked on saving their work and emailing it to me.
Literature: "Leaf Man," "Tree Homes," "The Amazing Turkey Rescue," "Thanksgiving Mice," "Who Lives Here?" "How Do You Travel to School?"
**11/22-Our field trip to Brookfield Zoo was great! We had a crisp and chilly but spectacular day of fun and learning. A big thanks to S. Raphael, E. LaFranco, D. Regan, L. Dantzler, T. Dixon, S. Flannery and Alice's Grandpa for all their help as volunteers. The students enjoyed Hamill Play Zoo for face painting and projects. Students got to pet a hen and a hamster up close! Students and volunteers also enjoyed seeing the animals of their choice. We enjoyed our lunch outside and had an entertaining visit from a peacock and guinea hen......mmmm....looking for some nice lunch! At the Great Bear Wilderness, our volunteer, Ms. H. was very knowledgable. The students examined black bear fur/paw and polar bear fur/paw. They participated in activities measuring how many students it took to equal the height of a grizzly bear and polar bear. On our outside tour, the students observed polar bears and a grizzly bear in their natural habitat.
**We were thankful for many things! Thanks for our wonderful grandma helper, Ms. D. and thankful for our Irving School family and for each other. I continue to be thankful for the great support and help from our kindergarten families. You all truly make the difference!
**The students enjoyed a visit from children's illustrator and author, Matthew Cordell. He spoke about his life and his love of drawing which began at age 3. He read 2 of his stories and showed the students how he draws a character and details. Very cool!
**First trimester REPORT CARDS will go home on Friday, December 9th. This will be in the form of standards based grading that I shared with you at conference time. 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 and math. Mr. Packer will also have ready your child's portfolio of projects/explanation that were done during his class time. The main idea to remember for our report card system in that it is a growth model of progress toward end of the year goals. If you have any questions after reviewing your child's report card, please email me.
**Room 110's Annual Gingerbread Baking is Friday, December 9th beginning at 1:15 until dismissal. Currently, I have just one volunteer (thanks, Ms. Raphael!) If anyone else is interested, please email me. I will revise our making and baking so that each child will make 2 cookies instead of cookies for their family. I will provide cookie dough and everything else. The cookie dough is nut free, dairy free and egg free.
**Our WINTER CONCERT is fast approaching! Please join us Wednesday, December 21st in the Irving Auditorium. There will be 2 performances. The first will begin at 8:15 am and it will be repeated again at 9:30 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 10th from 9-1 pm in the lunchroom and hallways. It is a great place to stock up on affordable holiday treasures.
**Just a note--Route to Reading has been suspended for the rest of this month. The students will keep working on their current skill level in the classroom and I will assess and move students as they master their skill. Thanks to Ms. Chinn who will be assisting with assessments.
**On Monday, we will begin our next cross curricular theme--TRADITIONS and CELEBRATIONS. If you have a particular family tradition or celebration that you would like to share with the class--please email me to set up a time.
**If your child is traveling over the winter break, let me know. I will provide a travel journal.
**Our Second Step lesson this week continued to focus on different feelings students have.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued chatting with the students about fostering good behavior wherever they go, including what a social detective is and using your social brain.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking Skills this week, the student began a project using shapes in different ways.
**No School--Winter Break--December 24th-January 8th. School reopens on Monday. January 9th.
This week:
It was all about research basics for little ones! What is RESEARCH? The students began thinking about something they wanted to know more about. They thought about it in the form of a question. We talked about how they might find a SOURCE to help them answer their question. The topic for their research is--BEARS. Next week, Ms. Noonan will continue the discussion and work on special research vocabulary and examples during their library time. The students will come up with a question they want to know more about and I will provide guidance and support. They will bring home their research question and format next Friday. Parent support is encouraged! It is exciting! Stay tuned! Station day activities this week included build and count pattern block designs, Leaf Man project, bear life cycle activity, bear read and label parts.
Reading/Language Arts: The students began work on Unit 3-Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students discussed what is meant by transportation--a way to move people and things from one place to another. They brainstormed ways to get around and discussed forms of transportation that go fast and slow We constructed a group transportation word web. They built background on their travels near and far. They listened to the Big Book story, "On the Go." The students observed how people travel from one place to another and the vehicles they used. We looked up each country on the the world map. The students asked and answered questions about the types of vehicles used in other countries. They also worked on words that show ACTION. (verbs) Our Big Book text became the basis for a summative Blueprint on naming key details and using text evidence. In their comprehension study, the students compared and categorized types of travel and vehicles. The sight words is and play were reviewed. The students worked on the target sound Short Ii. Our Robust Vocabulary this week included TRAVEL, RELAX, JOURNEY, PREPARE, FAMILIAR. They used their elkonin boxes to blend and segment 3 sound words. They also learned about commas and how they are used. The students read their pre decodable story, "Go, Go Go" and elbow chatted with their partner about characters, setting and events. The students listened to 2 poems about transportation, "The Bike," and "Riding the Subway." They noticed the rhyming pattern in both and tracked the words as I read them. Workstations for this week included leveled readers focusing on fluency, story elements including key details, graph and compare--How do you travel to school? sentence creating with sight words and pictures with partners, creating your own retelling cards, substituting activity to create new words, CVC word search, adding a letter to create a new word activity, shared reading with partners, writing about your favorite vehicle and continued work in the Haggerty Blue Book.
Math: The students began Module 2--The Study of Shapes in our Eureka Math series. The students revisited basic flat shapes and reviewed pattern block shapes. We discussed the idea of a FLAT shape with sides and corners (vertices) of each shape and the similarities and differences between the shapes. The students explored various materials to create shapes with--straws/pipe cleaners, Connects, mini Magnetos and regular Magnetos, string and blocks. These shapes are included in the group called 2 dimensional shapes. The students then explored the world of SOLID shapes. Cones, cubes, cylinders, spheres, rectangular prisms and pyramids. The students looked throughout the room to find evidence of these shapes. They compared them to flat shapes and discovered that they have depth and are not flat. The students also used the same materials to create solid shapes. Math workstations for this week included reckenrek activities surrounding simple counting fluency, skip counting, addition and subtraction processes, going on 2D shape hunt and recording what they see, writing numbers 1 and 2 digit, solving simple story problems and finding hidden partners (number bonds) using numbers to 10 and creating a number globe using the app Doodle Buddy to write their number and choose icon stickers to represent their number.
Writing: The student worked on "Magic C" capitals C, S, G, O. They practiced on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange practice book. In Writer's Workshop this week, the student reviewed all the components of past lessons in order to make their writing readable and legible. On Friday, we celebrated the end of our current unit. The students sat in a comfortable place and emptied their writing folder. They re read their stories and chose their "best" written story. They created a cover for their story that included a title and cover illustration. They then shared it with their writing partner. Totally cool!
Science: This week we deviated from the regular investigation on leaf shapes and the students listened to the story, "Leaf Man," by Lois Elhert. While I read the story, the students observed the leaf shapes on each page and the animals and figures created. On Friday, during station day, the students used leaves from our study to create their own "Leaf Man" or "Leaf Animal."
Technology: In reading whole group this week students used the Montessori Crosswords to practice blending and segmenting 3-4 sound words with side work on consonant blends and digraphs and specific vowels i and e. In math small groups, students used the app Doodle Buddy to create a number globe showcasing a specific number and illustration. The students, with my assistance, worked on saving their work and emailing it to me.
Literature: "Leaf Man," "Tree Homes," "The Amazing Turkey Rescue," "Thanksgiving Mice," "Who Lives Here?" "How Do You Travel to School?"
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