**The Opera for the Young was awesome! The students really enjoyed their production of "Elixir of Love." The students got the opportunity to chat with some of the actors after the show and ask questions about the performance, staging and singing. Cool!
**Eagle Extras and World Language Classes are in full swing now. The students appear to really enjoy them.
**Keep sending your confirmation for Parent/Teacher Conferences. They are Monday, February, 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Please note--Thursday and Friday, February 16th and 17th school will be in session in the MORNING ONLY. Dismissal is at 11:00 am. Hephzibah, Magical Minds, ABC Toon Town and RFCC will pick up at 11:00 am.
**The DENTAL CLINIC will be open at Irving School next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for free dental cleanings. Please send back the sign up information if you are interested.
**Reading Grandma Mary joined us on Tuesday. She was so impressed with student's reading and comprehension. She will be with us every Tuesday afternoon until the end of the year! We love her!
**In reference to Route to Reading---The skill groupings will not continue but IN CLASS work will! I will continue to present skills and test in both Kindergarten and First Grade Continuums. Ms. Chinn will continue to assist with testing. With all the new curriculum and less personnel to help out, the skill groupings became difficult to manage. Never the less--I will continue what I believe to be valuable work in phonemic and phonic skills acquisition.
**The 100 Item Heart Projects were sent home on Tuesday. Please read the info accompanying the project. It is due Thursday, February 2nd. Don't forget to send a picture of 100 day old and a 100 year old person for our comparison board. Our 100th Day Celebration is Monday, February 6th from 9-11 am. We could still use more volunteers!! No experience necessary! Email me if interested.
**We will have a Valentine Sharing Party on February 14th. I will be sending information about this next Friday and chatting with our Room Parents.
**JAPANESE EXCHANGE STUDENTS will be visiting Irving School and will be coming to chat and do activities with our students on Tuesday, January 31st at 2:15 pm.
**The FUN FAIR is COMING! The FUN FAIR is COMING! Our Room Parents will be deciding on a theme for our class basket and you will be asked to contribute items. Each class will have basket that will be auctioned off with other items. The Fun Fair is Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm all over Irving School. Come play a game with me!! Sign up for my special auction items!! There will be a Bouncy House, Dancing for Desserts, Raffles, Games, Prizes, Silent Auction and much more!!!!
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued lessons of self regulating your own behavior using the Superflex and Rock Brain.
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer continued work on a project surrounding positional concepts that relate to our Common Core Standards.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin work with the students on the concept of SUMMETRY. I will be creating a showcase gallery of their symmetry butterflies.
This week:
The students are having a great time exploring types of wood investigating sinking and floating and creating a raft out of the different woods using paper clips as the passengers! More in the science section! Mr. Franklin did a folded paper project and spoke about creating symmetry. The students folded paper turned into lovely symmetrical butterflies!
Reading/Language Arts: The students completed Unit 4 Food and began Unit 5 Animals in our Treasures Reading series. They accessed background knowledge by discussing where animals might live. House, zoo, outside, forest, jungle, trees, caves were just some of their thoughtful answers. We took a look at our Showshoe Hare from the Field Museum to check out where this animal lives. We discussed the word-habitat. A habitat is a home. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Mama Cat and Her Three Kittens." They made predictions about story content. The students elbow chatted about about the actions the kittens were performing. We reviewed the verb-a word that shows action. The students took turns retelling the story in their own words. We took a look at sentence structure--subject/action. We did a group story elements Butterfly which included characters, setting, time of day, plot/what is happening. The students are doing a good job of volunteering to write. Our new sight words for the week are is and in . Our target sounds are short o and long o. Our robust Vocabulary included ACTION, GENTILE, COMPARE, POUNCE, The students continued work on sequencing events in the story using the words--first, next, then and last. The students continue work on segmenting and blending 3-4-5 sound words using their elkonin boxes and the app OZ Phonics projected on the screen. They also continue to strengthen auditory skills and verbal responses using the Haggerty Blue Book exercises to add, delete and substitute sounds in words. We are also continuing to work on exercises to see how fast students can sound out and read a nonsense word. Workstations this week included leveled readers with concentration on sequencing events, finding the main topic and reading fluency, 2 and 3 part blend activities, working with word family on and in words, sort and say real and nonsense words, work with vowel teams, digraph match and search, sort, spell and write short vowel words.
Math: The students completed Module 3 and will take their assessment next week. The students reviewed one to one matching, one more and one less, looking at 2 rows of objects and completing the sentence--___is more than___ and ___is less than ___. The students also began work using a number line to add and work with horizontal and vertical addition problems to 6. Workstations this week included writing numbers to 100, using a ten frame or ten tower to work on teens numbers, finding the hidden partners for sums to 10 and listening to a story problem to see if you add or subtract.
Writing: The students continue practice work on lowercase letters. In Writer's Workshop, students continue to work on their "how to" books. They also worked on the idea that writers become readers, asking, "Can I follow this?" Writer's worked with their partners having their partners read their story so far. Can they follow it? Is there something you can add? Are your steps in order? The teaching point becomes--writer's reread to check to see if their writing makes sense. The students are really working hard especially on the writing goal that they have chosen.
Science: The investigated types of wood. They looked at cedar, pine, basswood, particleboard and plywood. They worked on the focus questions--How can you sink wood? How many passengers can a wood raft hold? Each table was supplied with the types of wood pieces, paper clips and rubber bands. The students worked with their tablemates to construct rafts and practiced dropping them in the water. Lots of conversation around the concepts of above, below, compare, sink, float, test. Which piece of wood took more paperclips to sink? Each table made a bar graph of their findings. Next week-How can you change the shape of wood?
Technology: The students continue to use the same apps as last week. Their work with the Lexia Core 5 program has been a real plus in reinforcing skills.
Literature: "Martin's Big Words," "The Snowy Day," "Animals in Winter," "the Mitten Tree," "The Snowman."
.
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Sunday, January 22, 2017
UPDATES for 1/17-1/20 2017
**It's been another busy week in our Kindergarten. Our artist in residence, Mr. Franklin continued working with the students, this time on a landscape design project. Dental professional, Ms. Novotny, presented a program on good dental hygiene. Children's author, Rachel Ruiz read from her recent book, "When Penny Met POTUS" and took questions from the students about "how to" make a book. The students are also getting ready for the Opera for the Young's presentation of "Elixir of Love." Ms. Hiolski is working with the students on the audience participation part.
**As the weather turns chilly next week.......please have your child dressed for the weather.
**The rest of the World Language and Eagle Extra classes begin next week. I have been receiving the roster on the day the class begins. Many of you have already responded to me if your child is participating in classes. Feel free to email me if your child is in a class. Thanks!
**Mid Year assessments are continuing next week. I will be sharing all information with you at parent/teacher conferences.
**Notification letter for Mid Year Parent/Teacher Conferences is in your child's homework folder. Please return bottom confirmation portion ASAP. Conferences are scheduled for Monday, February 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Thursday, February 15th. Please note that on Thursday and Friday, February 16th and 17th, school will be in session in the MORNING ONLY. Dismissal will be at 11:00 am. Hephzibah, Magical Minds, ABC Toon Town and RFCC will also pick up at 11:00 am.
**Opera for the Young's presentation of "The Elixir of Love," is Wednesday,January 25th at 12:45 pm in the gym. It is an all school event.
**Reading Grandma was a bit under the weather this week. She will be with us next Tuesday.
**Our 100th Day of School Celebration is Monday, February 6th from 9-11 am. I currently have 3 volunteers but could use 5 more! It is very fun! Lots of activities surrounding the number 100! Email me if you can help.
**100 Item Heart Project will be sent home on Monday, January 23rd. Explanation and suggestion sheet will be attached. The project is due Friday, February 3rd.
**NO SCHOOL on Friday, January 27th--Teacher's Institute Day.
**The FUN FAIR is COMING! The FUN FAIR is COMING! It's Saturday, February 25th from 11-3pm all over the school. Games, food, prizes, cake walk, silent auction. Fun! Fun! Fun! Come and play a game with me!
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued her lessons on self regulation by reviewing the super hero, Superflex and introducing Rock Brain who tries to undermined Superflex.
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer began a project surrounding positional concepts that relate to our Common Core Standards.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin posed the question....."What is landscape?" He showed the students how to use different types of lines in creating mountains/hills, river and trees and provided markers and cray pas oil crayons for students to use to experiment drawing a landscape. Check out our gallery on the right!
This week:
The students have a furry friend visiting our classroom courtesy of the Field Museum. The Snowshoe Hare will be in our classroom to help us begin our next unit in our Treasures Reading series Animals. Our Nature Table is full of all things Winter! The students are checking out snowflake patterns and crystals. Ms. Novotny from the Children's Clinic provided an excellent presentation on how to brush your teeth and how good food helps build strong teeth. Station day activities this included pattern block build and count, exploring scale balance and capacity, writing project with sentence starter...."In the winter...." and make 10 with snowman addition to 10.
Reading/Language Arts: The students worked to complete Unit 4 Food in our Treasures Reading series. They worked in small groups to review nouns and verbs by writing a recipe for a food that showed what they needed (nouns) and what they do (verbs) to complete the recipe. They reviewed all sight words learned thus far as well as digraphs and short vowel words. The students used their elkonin boxes to blend and segment 2 and 3 part consonant blend words. They also worked on sound substitution to create new words. The students began a Blueprint to study sequencing of main events in a story. The text, "The Snowy Day" was used. During the first reading, the students listened to the story and visualized the adventures of Peter and thought about the order of the events using the words first, next, then last. After the second reading, the students retold the story using pictures and their own words. Several students had the opportunity to act out the main event of their choice using props and dialogue. In our "we do" Blueprint, the students illustrated and wrote down their ideas on the projected screen Blueprint. The students will do a "you do" Blueprint independently next week. Workstations this week included leveled readers with focus on fluency and event sequencing, reading for meaning, creating a recipe.....a "how to" steps, story elements butterfly small group work, word substitution and work on blends and digraphs, vowel teams and writing about your favorite food and why you like it.
Math: The students continued work in Module 3 comparing sets using the terms more, less and fewer and identifying and creating a set that has the same number of objects and identifying the set that has one more. They continued work on nonstandard measure with cube sticks and measuring weight and capacity. Students also are continuing work on finding hidden partners (number bonds) using numbers 0-10 and reading information in a story problem to determine if you add or subtract. Workstations this week included writing 2 digit numbers, exploring teen numbers and the idea of ten plus more and working with hidden partners to10.
Writing: The students continue work on lowercase letter formation. The letters t, a, d were introduced. The students practiced on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange practice books. In Writer's Workshop, the students are writing their "how to" books. They are learning the process of numbering the pages or steps in their process, sequencing events in their "how to" book, illustrating and labeling each page and working with their partner to support each other. We wrote a group how to story about how to build a snowman. The class helped me write the text and read it back, illustrate and label and use all the tools they learned in their previous units--spaces between words, beginning with a capital letter, be able to read back what you wrote and using their writing tools in their writing folder. (sight words, checklist, vowel support) It is getting exciting!
Science: The students began their first investigation in Unit 2 Materials and Motion. We began with the focus questions--Where does wood come from? What is made of wood? We discussed what a natural resource is and how the properties of materials determine their use. The students looked for examples of wood in our classroom and school. From our previous unit, they learned that trees are the source of wood and that trees are a natural resource. Next week, the students will be testing wood products including sinking and floating, changing the shape and comparing and contrasting wood products.
Technology: In reading small groups, the apps Rocket Speller and Spelling Bug were used to sequence sounds in a word, Montessori Crosswords was used to reinforce cvc and ccvc, cvcc word sound blending. The app Magic Reading 2 was used to reinforce short vowels, vowel teams and consonant blends in words. In math whole group, the apps Subitize Tree and Animal Math were used to enhance visual number and number patterns and addition facts to 10.
Literature: "The Snowy Day," "I am Snow," "A Perfect Day," "Let's Make a Cake."
**As the weather turns chilly next week.......please have your child dressed for the weather.
**The rest of the World Language and Eagle Extra classes begin next week. I have been receiving the roster on the day the class begins. Many of you have already responded to me if your child is participating in classes. Feel free to email me if your child is in a class. Thanks!
**Mid Year assessments are continuing next week. I will be sharing all information with you at parent/teacher conferences.
**Notification letter for Mid Year Parent/Teacher Conferences is in your child's homework folder. Please return bottom confirmation portion ASAP. Conferences are scheduled for Monday, February 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Thursday, February 15th. Please note that on Thursday and Friday, February 16th and 17th, school will be in session in the MORNING ONLY. Dismissal will be at 11:00 am. Hephzibah, Magical Minds, ABC Toon Town and RFCC will also pick up at 11:00 am.
**Opera for the Young's presentation of "The Elixir of Love," is Wednesday,January 25th at 12:45 pm in the gym. It is an all school event.
**Reading Grandma was a bit under the weather this week. She will be with us next Tuesday.
**Our 100th Day of School Celebration is Monday, February 6th from 9-11 am. I currently have 3 volunteers but could use 5 more! It is very fun! Lots of activities surrounding the number 100! Email me if you can help.
**100 Item Heart Project will be sent home on Monday, January 23rd. Explanation and suggestion sheet will be attached. The project is due Friday, February 3rd.
**NO SCHOOL on Friday, January 27th--Teacher's Institute Day.
**The FUN FAIR is COMING! The FUN FAIR is COMING! It's Saturday, February 25th from 11-3pm all over the school. Games, food, prizes, cake walk, silent auction. Fun! Fun! Fun! Come and play a game with me!
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey continued her lessons on self regulation by reviewing the super hero, Superflex and introducing Rock Brain who tries to undermined Superflex.
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer began a project surrounding positional concepts that relate to our Common Core Standards.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin posed the question....."What is landscape?" He showed the students how to use different types of lines in creating mountains/hills, river and trees and provided markers and cray pas oil crayons for students to use to experiment drawing a landscape. Check out our gallery on the right!
This week:
The students have a furry friend visiting our classroom courtesy of the Field Museum. The Snowshoe Hare will be in our classroom to help us begin our next unit in our Treasures Reading series Animals. Our Nature Table is full of all things Winter! The students are checking out snowflake patterns and crystals. Ms. Novotny from the Children's Clinic provided an excellent presentation on how to brush your teeth and how good food helps build strong teeth. Station day activities this included pattern block build and count, exploring scale balance and capacity, writing project with sentence starter...."In the winter...." and make 10 with snowman addition to 10.
Reading/Language Arts: The students worked to complete Unit 4 Food in our Treasures Reading series. They worked in small groups to review nouns and verbs by writing a recipe for a food that showed what they needed (nouns) and what they do (verbs) to complete the recipe. They reviewed all sight words learned thus far as well as digraphs and short vowel words. The students used their elkonin boxes to blend and segment 2 and 3 part consonant blend words. They also worked on sound substitution to create new words. The students began a Blueprint to study sequencing of main events in a story. The text, "The Snowy Day" was used. During the first reading, the students listened to the story and visualized the adventures of Peter and thought about the order of the events using the words first, next, then last. After the second reading, the students retold the story using pictures and their own words. Several students had the opportunity to act out the main event of their choice using props and dialogue. In our "we do" Blueprint, the students illustrated and wrote down their ideas on the projected screen Blueprint. The students will do a "you do" Blueprint independently next week. Workstations this week included leveled readers with focus on fluency and event sequencing, reading for meaning, creating a recipe.....a "how to" steps, story elements butterfly small group work, word substitution and work on blends and digraphs, vowel teams and writing about your favorite food and why you like it.
Math: The students continued work in Module 3 comparing sets using the terms more, less and fewer and identifying and creating a set that has the same number of objects and identifying the set that has one more. They continued work on nonstandard measure with cube sticks and measuring weight and capacity. Students also are continuing work on finding hidden partners (number bonds) using numbers 0-10 and reading information in a story problem to determine if you add or subtract. Workstations this week included writing 2 digit numbers, exploring teen numbers and the idea of ten plus more and working with hidden partners to10.
Writing: The students continue work on lowercase letter formation. The letters t, a, d were introduced. The students practiced on their mini boards and applied what they learned in their orange practice books. In Writer's Workshop, the students are writing their "how to" books. They are learning the process of numbering the pages or steps in their process, sequencing events in their "how to" book, illustrating and labeling each page and working with their partner to support each other. We wrote a group how to story about how to build a snowman. The class helped me write the text and read it back, illustrate and label and use all the tools they learned in their previous units--spaces between words, beginning with a capital letter, be able to read back what you wrote and using their writing tools in their writing folder. (sight words, checklist, vowel support) It is getting exciting!
Science: The students began their first investigation in Unit 2 Materials and Motion. We began with the focus questions--Where does wood come from? What is made of wood? We discussed what a natural resource is and how the properties of materials determine their use. The students looked for examples of wood in our classroom and school. From our previous unit, they learned that trees are the source of wood and that trees are a natural resource. Next week, the students will be testing wood products including sinking and floating, changing the shape and comparing and contrasting wood products.
Technology: In reading small groups, the apps Rocket Speller and Spelling Bug were used to sequence sounds in a word, Montessori Crosswords was used to reinforce cvc and ccvc, cvcc word sound blending. The app Magic Reading 2 was used to reinforce short vowels, vowel teams and consonant blends in words. In math whole group, the apps Subitize Tree and Animal Math were used to enhance visual number and number patterns and addition facts to 10.
Literature: "The Snowy Day," "I am Snow," "A Perfect Day," "Let's Make a Cake."
Monday, January 16, 2017
UPDATES for 1/9-1/13 2017
**Happy New Year and welcome back! The students appeared well rested and excited to be back to our routine. A word about CHAPSTICK! It is very dry in our classroom. The students may bring chapstick or lip balm to school and keep it in their backpacks. Also, water bottles can be brought in daily. Don't forget gym shoes on gym days (Mondays and Wednesdays) if your child is wearing boots.
**Eagle Extra and World Language Classes begin next week. I will be getting a list of participants from our class. Feel free to drop me an email if your child is part of these classes.
**Mid Year DIBELS and AIMSWEB Math assessments will begin on Tuesday along with Darrell Morris Sound Foundation assessments. I will be sharing all of these with you along with Common Core Blueprint assessments at our Mid Year Parent Conference in February.
**You will receive notification about Mid Year Parent/Teacher Conferences this coming Friday. They will be held on Monday, February 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Please note that on Thursday and Friday, February 16th and 17th. School will be in session in the MORNING ONLY. Dismissal will be at 11:00 am. Hephzibah, Magical Minds, ABC Toon Town and RFCC will also pick up at 11:00 am.
**Reading Grandma Mary will begin her 10th year of volunteering on Tuesday afternoon.
**Art Start Artist, Jonathan Franklin began working with the class this past Thursday. His first lesson was about: What is a fractal and how to use fractals in the arts. Great lesson! Check out our Gallery Wall to the right!!
**I will also be sending home info for students wishing to be a Student Council rep on Friday.
**Our 100th Day of School Celebration is Monday, February 6th from 9-11 am. Looking at my classroom sign up sheet, I have B. Zort and M. Ahring signed up so far. Please let me know if this has changed. I would love to have at least 6 more volunteers to help with all the activities. Please email me if you can help. The students will also be working on a special 100 item project. This will be sent home on January 25th.
**The students will see a special presentation on Dental Hygiene on Thursday, January 19th at 8:30.
**Vision Screening for Kindergarten will be held on Friday, January 20th in the morning.
**NO SCHOOL on Friday, January 27th--Teacher's Institute Day.
**The FUN FAIR is COMING! It is Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. Stay tuned for more info.
**Start saving those GIANT BOXES (ones you can climb in) and other cool stuff for our engineering project in APRIL. I cannot store anything now. Please keep at home until after spring break.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey began a unit on self regulation introducing the super hero, Superflex who helps a citizen be a flexible thinker which allows the person to control his or her brain and change how he or she thinks. He helps a citizen think about how to act and behave to keep others and themselves feeling good and be a good problem solver.
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, students finished up their project on thinking in shapes and using shapes in relation to surface area.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin introduced himself and outlined the lessons to be covered in his artist in residency stay. He posed the statement--Artists are always asking questions and always thinking! He started this weeks activity by drawing a Y on the board asking the students what they thought it looked like. From there he spoke to them about repeating patterns in nature and in math. Students then took their paper, drew a Y and kept on repeating y's and keeping it connected to the first Y. The students thought--"That's looking like a tree with big branches and small branches. " So cool! He explained what a fractal was which was what they were creating. The students continued creating and adding details to their drawings. Stop in and view the Gullo Gallery on the wall in the hallway.
This week:
The students ere definitely getting back into the swing of things with all things related to learning. They shared their winter break stories of travel, presents and family fun. The students worked on a mini unit on the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. The text, "Martin's Big Words" was used for our first Blueprint of the year on the use of illustrations to help us understand a story. The students watched a video of Martin Luther Kings life. They were very thankful for Dr. King's work to use nonviolence to promote change. We selected other texts to examine quotes, speeches and word choices. Thanks to Judea for bringing in the text, "Martin Luther King is a Hero." Station day activities included build and count pattern block ice cream cones, creating a snowman windsock, color by code and count the shapes on the snowflake, measure it using cube sticks and further experimentation with fractal designs.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue to work on Unit 4 Food in our Treasures Reading series. The discussions focused on the steps in growing food, what is your favorite food and why and steps in following a recipe. The students accessed prior knowledge about a meal they helped to prepare. They shared information about special foods they ate during the holidays. The students read their predecodable story, "Can Nan?" They made predictions about story content. They elbow chatted with a partner about the characters, setting and main idea. They also read to their partner to practice their fluency. Students reviewed sound blending 3-4 sound words using their elkonin boxes. They also reviewed 2 and 3 part consonant blends and short vowel sounds. Students used their white boards to work on substituting sounds to create new words some of which were nonsense words. Workstations this week included leveled readers with focus on fluency and reading for meaning, real and nonsense word read and sort, writing about how to make a fruit salad, roll and read a word family list, creating a food web, adding and deleting sounds to create words and walking their words.
Math: The students continue to work in Module 3. They continue to experiment with nonstandard measuring using cube sticks, using the balance scales to measure weight and working with different containers to measure capacity or how much a container holds. Lessons this week focused on making informal comparison of area and comparing to find if there are enough. Students continue to work on finding hidden partners or number bonds using numbers 0-10. Students also listened to a story problem and determined if they had to add or take away to arrive at an answer. Workstations this week included writing 2 digit numbers, determining how many 10 frames and how many ones were needed to create a number, working with teen numbers, adding numbers to 10 and continued exploration of nonstandard measurement using cube sticks, balance scales/weight and containers/capacity.
Writing: The students continued work on lowercase letter formation. Letters o, c, s, v, w were introduced. The students practiced on their mini boards with chalk and applied what they learned in their orange practice books. In Writer's Workshop, the students looked through their true stories and choose one to put a cover on for publishing. The students began a new unit on the writing of "how to"or procedural stories. The students will choose a topic and "teach" others to do it. The writing involves a series of sequencing steps from beginning to end. We took a look at some "how to" texts and students chatted with their writing partner about a topic they could teach others to do. Very exciting! Stay tuned.
Science: The students are gearing up to begin their next unit of study called "Materials and Motion." We will begin our first investigation next week.
Technology: In reading small groups, the apps Rocket Speller and Spelling Bug were used to work on letter sequencing in a word. The students also used Oz Phonics to work on consonant blends and digraphs in words as well as short vowel sounds. In math small group, students used the apps Subitize Tree and Butterfly Math to work on number visualization and vertical and horizontally presented addition facts to 10. Partners used BrainPop Jr to view a video on Winter and take the quiz.
Literature: "Martin's Big Words," "Martin Luther King is a Hero," "A Picture Book of Martin Luther King," "Dream." "Martin's Dream," "It's Winter," How To Books--"My First Soccer Game," "Food for a Day," "Let's Make Pancakes," "The Sand Castle."
**Eagle Extra and World Language Classes begin next week. I will be getting a list of participants from our class. Feel free to drop me an email if your child is part of these classes.
**Mid Year DIBELS and AIMSWEB Math assessments will begin on Tuesday along with Darrell Morris Sound Foundation assessments. I will be sharing all of these with you along with Common Core Blueprint assessments at our Mid Year Parent Conference in February.
**You will receive notification about Mid Year Parent/Teacher Conferences this coming Friday. They will be held on Monday, February 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Please note that on Thursday and Friday, February 16th and 17th. School will be in session in the MORNING ONLY. Dismissal will be at 11:00 am. Hephzibah, Magical Minds, ABC Toon Town and RFCC will also pick up at 11:00 am.
**Reading Grandma Mary will begin her 10th year of volunteering on Tuesday afternoon.
**Art Start Artist, Jonathan Franklin began working with the class this past Thursday. His first lesson was about: What is a fractal and how to use fractals in the arts. Great lesson! Check out our Gallery Wall to the right!!
**I will also be sending home info for students wishing to be a Student Council rep on Friday.
**Our 100th Day of School Celebration is Monday, February 6th from 9-11 am. Looking at my classroom sign up sheet, I have B. Zort and M. Ahring signed up so far. Please let me know if this has changed. I would love to have at least 6 more volunteers to help with all the activities. Please email me if you can help. The students will also be working on a special 100 item project. This will be sent home on January 25th.
**The students will see a special presentation on Dental Hygiene on Thursday, January 19th at 8:30.
**Vision Screening for Kindergarten will be held on Friday, January 20th in the morning.
**NO SCHOOL on Friday, January 27th--Teacher's Institute Day.
**The FUN FAIR is COMING! It is Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. Stay tuned for more info.
**Start saving those GIANT BOXES (ones you can climb in) and other cool stuff for our engineering project in APRIL. I cannot store anything now. Please keep at home until after spring break.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey began a unit on self regulation introducing the super hero, Superflex who helps a citizen be a flexible thinker which allows the person to control his or her brain and change how he or she thinks. He helps a citizen think about how to act and behave to keep others and themselves feeling good and be a good problem solver.
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, students finished up their project on thinking in shapes and using shapes in relation to surface area.
**In Art Start this week, Mr. Franklin introduced himself and outlined the lessons to be covered in his artist in residency stay. He posed the statement--Artists are always asking questions and always thinking! He started this weeks activity by drawing a Y on the board asking the students what they thought it looked like. From there he spoke to them about repeating patterns in nature and in math. Students then took their paper, drew a Y and kept on repeating y's and keeping it connected to the first Y. The students thought--"That's looking like a tree with big branches and small branches. " So cool! He explained what a fractal was which was what they were creating. The students continued creating and adding details to their drawings. Stop in and view the Gullo Gallery on the wall in the hallway.
This week:
The students ere definitely getting back into the swing of things with all things related to learning. They shared their winter break stories of travel, presents and family fun. The students worked on a mini unit on the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. The text, "Martin's Big Words" was used for our first Blueprint of the year on the use of illustrations to help us understand a story. The students watched a video of Martin Luther Kings life. They were very thankful for Dr. King's work to use nonviolence to promote change. We selected other texts to examine quotes, speeches and word choices. Thanks to Judea for bringing in the text, "Martin Luther King is a Hero." Station day activities included build and count pattern block ice cream cones, creating a snowman windsock, color by code and count the shapes on the snowflake, measure it using cube sticks and further experimentation with fractal designs.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue to work on Unit 4 Food in our Treasures Reading series. The discussions focused on the steps in growing food, what is your favorite food and why and steps in following a recipe. The students accessed prior knowledge about a meal they helped to prepare. They shared information about special foods they ate during the holidays. The students read their predecodable story, "Can Nan?" They made predictions about story content. They elbow chatted with a partner about the characters, setting and main idea. They also read to their partner to practice their fluency. Students reviewed sound blending 3-4 sound words using their elkonin boxes. They also reviewed 2 and 3 part consonant blends and short vowel sounds. Students used their white boards to work on substituting sounds to create new words some of which were nonsense words. Workstations this week included leveled readers with focus on fluency and reading for meaning, real and nonsense word read and sort, writing about how to make a fruit salad, roll and read a word family list, creating a food web, adding and deleting sounds to create words and walking their words.
Math: The students continue to work in Module 3. They continue to experiment with nonstandard measuring using cube sticks, using the balance scales to measure weight and working with different containers to measure capacity or how much a container holds. Lessons this week focused on making informal comparison of area and comparing to find if there are enough. Students continue to work on finding hidden partners or number bonds using numbers 0-10. Students also listened to a story problem and determined if they had to add or take away to arrive at an answer. Workstations this week included writing 2 digit numbers, determining how many 10 frames and how many ones were needed to create a number, working with teen numbers, adding numbers to 10 and continued exploration of nonstandard measurement using cube sticks, balance scales/weight and containers/capacity.
Writing: The students continued work on lowercase letter formation. Letters o, c, s, v, w were introduced. The students practiced on their mini boards with chalk and applied what they learned in their orange practice books. In Writer's Workshop, the students looked through their true stories and choose one to put a cover on for publishing. The students began a new unit on the writing of "how to"or procedural stories. The students will choose a topic and "teach" others to do it. The writing involves a series of sequencing steps from beginning to end. We took a look at some "how to" texts and students chatted with their writing partner about a topic they could teach others to do. Very exciting! Stay tuned.
Science: The students are gearing up to begin their next unit of study called "Materials and Motion." We will begin our first investigation next week.
Technology: In reading small groups, the apps Rocket Speller and Spelling Bug were used to work on letter sequencing in a word. The students also used Oz Phonics to work on consonant blends and digraphs in words as well as short vowel sounds. In math small group, students used the apps Subitize Tree and Butterfly Math to work on number visualization and vertical and horizontally presented addition facts to 10. Partners used BrainPop Jr to view a video on Winter and take the quiz.
Literature: "Martin's Big Words," "Martin Luther King is a Hero," "A Picture Book of Martin Luther King," "Dream." "Martin's Dream," "It's Winter," How To Books--"My First Soccer Game," "Food for a Day," "Let's Make Pancakes," "The Sand Castle."
Friday, January 6, 2017
UPDATES for 12/19-12/23 2016
**Our Winter Concert was fabulous! Our get together afterwards gave the students a chance to chill, be with their families and enjoy some treats! The students were delighted to see parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and sibs at their concert! A SHOUT OUT to Julianna's family for sending all the cool crafts!
**Our End of the Year Book Buddy get together was awesome! The students shared treats and worked on a cool movie trailer featuring themselves using iMovie. I will eventually share them with you. I am still looking at them myself.
**Naomi D. and her mom did a presentation about Kwanzaa. Thanks so much!
**Stop in and see our COMPLIMEN-TREE. The students worked on writing a compliment to another student in the class. It was heart felt! We love and respect each other.
**Classes resume on Monday, January 9th. Please come dressed for the weather. Mr. Hodge makes the decision on going out each day.......so we want all students to be prepared!!
**Reading Grandma Mary will be returning for her 10th year of hearing our budding readers. She will join us on Tuesday afternoons and will work one on one with each student on fluency and comprehension.
**Our wonderful grandma, Ms. D. will be also be returning on Tuesday mornings to volunteer at literacy workstations.
**Ms. Gullo's Kindergarten class will take part in a special program called ART START funded through the Oak Park Art Foundation beginning on Thursday, January 12th and running for 5 consecutive Thursdays for one hour. We are so pleased to be working with local artist and illustrator, JONATHAN FRANKLIN. He lives in Oak Park and his children all went to Irving School. I was lucky enough to have 3 of his 4 children in my kindergarten! The focus of our sessions will be related to Modules 2 and 3 in our Eureka Math program. Jonathan will be working with the students on projects that use vertical and horizontal lines, shapes, negative space and concepts of taller/shorter, more than/less than, enough/not enough and length and height. I will be sending you an update each week. It is a great opportunity for creativity and expression as well as continued work on our core standards in math.
**Our Secret Snowflakes were the students for Ms. Sakamoto's class. The class enjoyed their little clues and goodies each day.
**Student Council will be looking for 2 NEW Reps for this trimester. I will be sending out info on this when we get back from break.
**Mid Year DIDELS screening for phonemic awareness and Mid Year screening for AIMSWEB math will begin the week of January 19th.
**Vision Screening for Kindergarten will be held on Friday, January 20th in the morning.
**NO SCHOOL on Monday, January 16th--ML King Day.
**NO SCHOOL on Friday, January 27th--Teacher's Institute Day.
**The 100th Day of School is FEBRUARY 6th. I need lots of parent help for the activities and festivities. Stay tuned.
**Mid Year Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held Monday, February 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Thursday and Friday (February 16th and 17th) dismissal will be at 11:00 am. There is no afternoon session.
**The FUN FAIR is COMING!!! It's Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. Stay tuned.
**Start saving those GIANT BOXES (the kind you can climb in) and other cool stuff for our space station engineering project that will be done in APRIL. I cannot keep anything in the room now. Please keep it at home until after spring break.
**We will begin our next cross/curricular theme-WINTER when we get back from break.
Coming Up in 2017--In reading/language arts/literacy--we will continue to focus on sound foundation, sound blending, deleting/adding/segmenting sounds in 3,4,5 sound words and even 6 sound words, long and short vowel sounds, some beginning phonics with silent e and vowel teams. We will continue to work on our Blueprint Workmats in the areas of written comprehension, sequencing events in a story, gathering supporting details in a text, stating an opinion with supporting reasons, naming the main topic and using text features like photos/illustrations to help understand the author's message. Our BUSY READER CLUB will continue and the students begin to read for meaning in a story. In writing--The students will continue work on lowercase letter formation, sentence structure, inventive spelling, grammar and punctuation and expanding sentence length. In Writer's Workshop the students will work on writing how to books to teach others. In math--the students will continue work on rote to 100 by 1's, 10's, 5's and 2's, writing 2 and 3 digit numbers, work on teen numbers, demonstrating knowledge of numbers greater and less than, representing addition and subtraction with objects and mental images, using number sentences, solving story problems using drawings and numbers work, finding hidden partners (number bonding) to 10, fluent addition and subtraction to 5, comparing length, weight and capacity and comparing 2 objects with a measurable attribute. In science--the students will begin their next module-Materials and Motion. They will working on investigations dealing with the study of natural resources and the properties of-wood, paper and fabric and the effects of pushes and pulls. Socially--the students will continue work on becoming more responsible and independent learners and thinkers, continue work on showing empathy, kindness and respect toward their peers and teachers and take a more active role in shaping their own behavior. In technology--the students will continue to use the iPad and internet resources to enhance areas of the curriculum. WOW! We will be very busy!
**Our End of the Year Book Buddy get together was awesome! The students shared treats and worked on a cool movie trailer featuring themselves using iMovie. I will eventually share them with you. I am still looking at them myself.
**Naomi D. and her mom did a presentation about Kwanzaa. Thanks so much!
**Stop in and see our COMPLIMEN-TREE. The students worked on writing a compliment to another student in the class. It was heart felt! We love and respect each other.
**Classes resume on Monday, January 9th. Please come dressed for the weather. Mr. Hodge makes the decision on going out each day.......so we want all students to be prepared!!
**Reading Grandma Mary will be returning for her 10th year of hearing our budding readers. She will join us on Tuesday afternoons and will work one on one with each student on fluency and comprehension.
**Our wonderful grandma, Ms. D. will be also be returning on Tuesday mornings to volunteer at literacy workstations.
**Ms. Gullo's Kindergarten class will take part in a special program called ART START funded through the Oak Park Art Foundation beginning on Thursday, January 12th and running for 5 consecutive Thursdays for one hour. We are so pleased to be working with local artist and illustrator, JONATHAN FRANKLIN. He lives in Oak Park and his children all went to Irving School. I was lucky enough to have 3 of his 4 children in my kindergarten! The focus of our sessions will be related to Modules 2 and 3 in our Eureka Math program. Jonathan will be working with the students on projects that use vertical and horizontal lines, shapes, negative space and concepts of taller/shorter, more than/less than, enough/not enough and length and height. I will be sending you an update each week. It is a great opportunity for creativity and expression as well as continued work on our core standards in math.
**Our Secret Snowflakes were the students for Ms. Sakamoto's class. The class enjoyed their little clues and goodies each day.
**Student Council will be looking for 2 NEW Reps for this trimester. I will be sending out info on this when we get back from break.
**Mid Year DIDELS screening for phonemic awareness and Mid Year screening for AIMSWEB math will begin the week of January 19th.
**Vision Screening for Kindergarten will be held on Friday, January 20th in the morning.
**NO SCHOOL on Monday, January 16th--ML King Day.
**NO SCHOOL on Friday, January 27th--Teacher's Institute Day.
**The 100th Day of School is FEBRUARY 6th. I need lots of parent help for the activities and festivities. Stay tuned.
**Mid Year Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held Monday, February 13th, Tuesday, February 14th and Wednesday, February 15th. Thursday and Friday (February 16th and 17th) dismissal will be at 11:00 am. There is no afternoon session.
**The FUN FAIR is COMING!!! It's Saturday, February 25th from 11-3 pm. Stay tuned.
**Start saving those GIANT BOXES (the kind you can climb in) and other cool stuff for our space station engineering project that will be done in APRIL. I cannot keep anything in the room now. Please keep it at home until after spring break.
**We will begin our next cross/curricular theme-WINTER when we get back from break.
Coming Up in 2017--In reading/language arts/literacy--we will continue to focus on sound foundation, sound blending, deleting/adding/segmenting sounds in 3,4,5 sound words and even 6 sound words, long and short vowel sounds, some beginning phonics with silent e and vowel teams. We will continue to work on our Blueprint Workmats in the areas of written comprehension, sequencing events in a story, gathering supporting details in a text, stating an opinion with supporting reasons, naming the main topic and using text features like photos/illustrations to help understand the author's message. Our BUSY READER CLUB will continue and the students begin to read for meaning in a story. In writing--The students will continue work on lowercase letter formation, sentence structure, inventive spelling, grammar and punctuation and expanding sentence length. In Writer's Workshop the students will work on writing how to books to teach others. In math--the students will continue work on rote to 100 by 1's, 10's, 5's and 2's, writing 2 and 3 digit numbers, work on teen numbers, demonstrating knowledge of numbers greater and less than, representing addition and subtraction with objects and mental images, using number sentences, solving story problems using drawings and numbers work, finding hidden partners (number bonding) to 10, fluent addition and subtraction to 5, comparing length, weight and capacity and comparing 2 objects with a measurable attribute. In science--the students will begin their next module-Materials and Motion. They will working on investigations dealing with the study of natural resources and the properties of-wood, paper and fabric and the effects of pushes and pulls. Socially--the students will continue work on becoming more responsible and independent learners and thinkers, continue work on showing empathy, kindness and respect toward their peers and teachers and take a more active role in shaping their own behavior. In technology--the students will continue to use the iPad and internet resources to enhance areas of the curriculum. WOW! We will be very busy!
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