**Thanks for your patience. I will be recapping the past 2 weeks. Time is really flying by in Kindergarten!! We are getting closer and closer to becoming First Graders!! The students are doing more independent work like a First Grader. My mantra--"Let's act like First Graders and........" So far......so good.
**The ABC Countdown continues! King and Queen Day were lots of fun! The King's Decree---extra recess, extra choice time, extra reading time and feed the fish. Queen's Decree---feed the fish, extra recess, water the plants.
**Next weeks Countdown activities are in your child's homework folder
**The Poetry Slam was the bomb! Our "Lil Slammers" Lilah, Alec, Camille, Jeanette and Lily, Zoey, Nyah and guest little sister, Nora did such a good job! So proud!!! They represented our class well. Start planning for next year!
**I was not able to make the Dance Party, but heard all who attended had a blast!
**Pacers Walking/Running Club will have its final run/walk on Friday, June 2nd. The students will bring home their feet necklace that they have been working on.
**Our walking trip to Maze Library was awesome! We had a beautiful afternoon walk. Maze librarian, Ms. Sarah had a special reading/movement session and provided a tour of the library. The students then got to read, work a puzzle, build and color in the Children's Section. Several students got their LIBRARY CARDS. They are in a white envelope in their backpacks. Our hope is that they will be using them from now on to take out books. There is a SUMMER READING CHALLENGE at all Oak Park Libraries that starts when school is out. We will have an assembly on June 1st at Irving and Ms. Sarah will come to explain the challenge. Thanks to K. James, Judea's Grandpa, J. Flannery, M. Maldonado, RD Danley and S. Raphael for their help.
**Olympic Day was so fun! Team Gullo showed great teamwork and sportsmanship during all activities. Hula Hoops, Basketball Shoot, Nerf Ball Battle, Yoga, 50 Yard Dash, Scooter Relay, Team Skiing and Parachute were just some of our activities. The students watch a video on why Olympic Day is important produced by 3 students from the Julian Middle School--2 are former Irving students from my class. The boys helped out during our parachute activity.
**Our siblings are the coolest! A BIG SHOUT OUT to Rylee, Emmett, Bobby, Jasmyn, Sophie, AJ and Cora who joined our class and had a ball!
**Information and permission slip for Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic went home last week. The cost is $4.00 which includes pizza and a drink. There is a Sign Up Genius online that I sent last week for sign up to provide veggies and fruit along with set up, clean up, blankets, card tables, vans for transport, napkins, plates and cups. I have 2 large thermos containers for water and fruit punch. You can drop off all items at the patio door that morning or send them with your child. If your child does not want pizza or cannot have pizza, please send a lunch. We have a permit for 9:30-noon on Wednesday, May 31st at Rehm Park. Come join us! I will resend the the Sign Up Genius.
**Permission slip and info on our last WALKING FIELD TRIP to the OAK PARK CONSERVATORY is in your child's backpack. We will need 3 volunteers.
**Students will continue to bring home portfolios of work from Writer's Workshop and their Science Notebooks. WOW! It's amazing!
**Homework has ended but.......keep reading every night!
**ALL LIBRARY BOOKS ARE NOW DUE TO MS. NOONAN!
**ALL BUSY READERS ARE DUE TO MS. GULLO!
**The students said goodbye to Mrs. D and Reading Grandma Mary. We are so grateful for their help. Volunteers are so very important! We love our GRANDMAS!!!!
**Please continue to send your child's backpack. Writing portfolios, calendar books, science notebooks and math journals will be coming home.
**Our Final Second Step lesson is next Tuesday, We will be inviting Ms. Grogan's class to help us demonstrate Fair Play/Sharing/Positive Interactions by sharing our choice time with them so they can have dramatic play with us in our design challenge structures.
**Friendship Club has concluded for the year.
**Mr Packer will have his final Thinking Skills session next Tuesday.
**NO SCHOOL--May 29th--Memorial Day observance.
**The LAST DAY of SCHOOL is Wednesday, June 7th. We will have a regular morning session. In the afternoon, we will have our gym class and then beginning at 1:00 pm families can join us for autograph signing, light refreshments, report cards and summer packets to wrap up this awesome year.
The past two weeks:
The students continue to observe our goldfish and guppies. They also are monitoring what is growing in our inside box gardens. The zucchini and milkweed along with pumpkins, cucumbers and carrots are growing. We will be planting these items in our outdoor garden bed next week. The students are examining their work portfolios from this trimester and really realizing how much they have learned. Next week, they will look at their writing portfolio and draw a current picture of themselves and compare it with their drawing from the first day of school. Amazing!!! The students began work on an iMovie about the Best Part of Kindergarten. They chose a subject and wrote a script and I began filming. We will finish edit it and post it before school ends.
Reading/Language Arts: Students continue to work on skills and literature from Treasures Units 9 and 10. Sight words for this week are with and my. Target sounds are Jj and Qu along with long vowels. The students reviewed all their Kindergarten sight words and some First Grade words!
Students continue to review all skills on the Phonemic Awareness Continuum as per our route to Reading format. They used their dry erase boards to practice blending and segmenting 3-4-5 and even some 6 sound words. We are using many words from the First Grade list. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Fish Faces." They were so interested in the world of fish and sea creatures. They elbow chatted about what their favorite fish was in the book and why it was their favorite. The students worked on a summative blueprint about comparing illustrations in a text and writing a summative narrative about what kind of garden they would grow. Robust Vocabulary included CONFUSED, DESCRIBE, INSIST, TEXTURE, UNDERSTAND. Workstations this week included leveled reader self read, partner read and elbow chatting about story elements, comparing and contrasting stories, vocabulary and word choices, drawing a picture of your favorite sea creature and telling why you like it, sorting fish pictures and explaining in writing how you sorted them and using 5 of your sight words--write a sentence using each word. In week two----the students chose their own reading material from an approved list and came up with their own activities to do to connect their reading and writing. They also chose an iPad activity that best enhanced what they were studying in their workstation. I loved hearing group, partner and individual reading as I made my way from small group to small group. The great discussions and elbow chats the students had with one another were great! There was also time set up for literacy bag reading. They worked together with partners to create sentences using their sight words and pictures. Another focus was on punctuation marks used at the end of their sentences. Workstations included level reader group discussions and collaboration on story elements and completing an story elements butterfly, discussing and writing about fantasy vs reality in a particular subject, working on blends and digraphs, discussing the author's purpose in writing particular story and creating ccvc and cvcc words.
Math: The students work to complete the study of teen numbers in Module 5 of the Eureka Math series. They had some practice using their own rekenrek moving the beads to indicate one group of tens and some more to create the teen numbers called out. The students also worked on counting on and writing on from a random number. They continue to work on reading a story problem, deciding on the process, illustrating, writing the equation and showing it in a number bond. Workstations for the past two weeks included working independently in their mini math journal, finding the missing addend, counting on from a random number, playing "Pop for Numbers" and "Addition and Subtraction Sort."
Writing: The students continue to work on punctuation, spacing and use of adjectives in their sentences. We are currently writing "Thank You " notes to our grandmas.
Science: Thanks to Petco and Ms. Trudell, we have goldfish and a heater for our guppies! The students are fascinated by these creatures and spend time observing their movements. They delight in helping to feed them. I set both tanks under my iPad and we had live feed in order to really observe the behaviors. Focus questions included: What are the parts of goldfish and guppies? What do goldfish and guppies need to live? What do gold fish and guppies do? The students learned many facts about goldfish like they can't close their eyes because they have no lids so they rest with their eyes open. In the wild, goldfish eat small crustaceans, insect and plants. They also learned some guppy facts like guppies are named after the man who discovered them. (Robert Guppy!) Guppies are sometimes called million fish because of how quickly they can have babies and sometime they are called rainbow fish because they come in so many colors. Guppies are omnivores. The students drew diagrams and labeled parts in their science notebooks. They also wrote a fact and wrote about what they observed. Target words included GOLDFISH, GUPPY, POND, FRESH WATER, SALT WATER, AQUARIUM, GILLS, EYES, SCALES, MOUTH. Next week--comparing goldfish and guppies--How are they alike? How are they different?
Technology: New iMovie in the works. Small groups in Reading used the apps Rocketspeller, Montessori Crosswords, Oz Phonics and the Blends Train to enhance their word study. In Math small groups used the apps Subitize Tree, Number Find, Ten Frame Game, Number Rack and Animal Math to enhance their study of addition and subtraction, teen numbers, number order, visualizing number, finding the missing addends and solving story problems.
Literature: "Memories of a Goldfish," "Out in the Ocean," "Coral Reefs," "Rainbow Fish Lost at Sea," "Tropical Fish," "Swimmy," "World's Weirdest Sea Creatures," "Sea Shapes,""There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell," "Fishy Faces," "Exploring the Beach."
Friday, May 26, 2017
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
UPDATES for 5/8-5/12 2017
**The students are having a great time with the ABC Countdown! The students enjoyed their visit to First Grade. They met the teachers and toured the classrooms. In Ms. Solomon's First Grade, the students asked thoughtful questions about types of classwork, snack, homework, choice time and Eagle Essentials expectations. First Grade students happily answered their questions. First Grade is becoming very real!!!
**The students will start bringing home their work portfolios from Trimesters 1 and 2 next week. They will have a chance to look back and see how far they have come!
**Public Service Announcement---With the warm weather approaching, many students will want to wear sandals. I am asking that all students wear gym shoes or closed toe shoes. Sandals are okay for the classroom but when we are outside on the playground......let's protect our feet!!!!
**The ABC COUNTDOWN continues!! Next week: Monday-Joke Day-bring in your favorite joke to share, Tuesday-King Day-boys rule and will set the tone of the day. Wednesday-Lunch Outside Day-instead of the lunchroom, we will eat outside on our picnic blankets, Thursday-Music Day-students can bring in CD's with appropriate music to listen to while they work. Students suggested Kidz Bop, Italian music, opera and music from a movie. Friday-Name Day-Write your name in bubble letters and decorate it. There is a hard copy in your child's homework folder.
**The students will do their last "traveling" for the Traveling Poets project on Wednesday, May 17th. They have done such a great job! We are also enjoying the students who travel to our classroom.
**Next week will be the last LAST LIBRARY BOOK CHECK OUT. All student books will be due on Friday, May 26th.
**The ART FEST/POETRY SLAM is this THURSDAY, May 18th from 6-8 pm all around the school. COME ON OUT to see student art work, a play, the Irving chorus, play Spanish games and hear and see the POETRY SLAM. We now have 6 "little slammers!" Our own Mr. Williams will be the "MC." There is still time to sign up. It is great fun!
**DANCE PARTY sponsored by the 5th Grade is Friday, May 18th from 5-7 pm in the gym. The cost is $1.00. The money raised will help fund their send off and future outdoor ed scholarships.
**I am continuing with final assessments for the last report card. They will be completed in the next few weeks.
**Keep sending in FIELD TRIP slips and LIBRARY CARD APPLICATIONS for our Maze Library Walking Field Trip on Thursday, May 25th leaving at 12:40 and returning to school at 2:15. I need to turn in all applications to the library by Thursday, May 18th so they can be processed. We have lots of volunteers! Let's hope for great weather!
**OLYMPIC DAY is Friday, May 26th from 8:30-11:00 am. Come on out and see Team Gullo demonstrate strength, endurance and teamwork. This year, we will be joined by two former Irving students who are now 8th graders. They will be helping out as part of their service project.
**Look for information and permission slip for PIZZA and PLAY End of the Year Family Picnic at Rehm Park next week. I will be sending you a link to a Sign Up Genius for supplies, fruits and veggies.
**Future Field Trip-Oak Park Conservatory on Tuesday, June 6th-9:30-10:30 am.
**No School-May 29th-Memorial Day Observance.
**Our Reading Grandma Mary and Ms. D will finish out their year with us next week. What valuable volunteers they have been! We love our grandmas!!
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the focus continued to be on ways to play fair and problem solving.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey began wrap up for the year reviewing the behavior "Thinkables" and "Unthinkables."
**In Mr. Packer's thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer continued work on looking for details and visualization.
This week:
The students finished helping me edit their iMovie of the Design Challenge. Hope you enjoy it! The students are sensing that the end of kindergarten is near. There is excitement in the air and perhaps for some.... a little anxiety. We will be working through it in our classroom chats. Students are asking questions about new teachers, new friendships and expectations. They are also thinking about friends who may be moving away or going to another school next year. Turning into a First Grader is BIG!! Station day activities this week included creating a pattern block fish, sight word search, simple sentence--read it and draw it, seed sequence and ladybug addition/equation writing.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue work on skills and literature from Treasures Unit 9 Amazing Creatures and Unit 10 We Know A Lot. Students took a look a the world of bugs and continued work on What is an insect? Can you name the similarities and difference between an insect and a spider? Sight words for this week were has and look. Target sounds were Jj and Yy. Students spent time with a partner using their word cards, pictures and punctuation creating sentences. Students continued to work on using and recognizing nouns, verbs, pronouns and adjectives. Each day this week, the students worked on group substitution activities to strengthen sound recognition and automatic recording of sounds to create words. We are on the last few exercises in our Haggerty Blue Book. Students are also continuing to work on formative and summative blueprints on word choice and how illustrations are important to the text. Robust Vocabulary for this week included GULP, FANTASY, INCREDIBLE, REALITY. Workstations for this week included leveled reader self read, partner read and elbow chat about story elements, comparing and contrasting stories, working with vocabulary and word choice, responding in writing to what insect do you like and why do you like it?--opinion writing, writing 4 facts about insects, word work on short and long e, writing sentences using your sight words, choosing an illustration from the text and telling in writing what information the picture gives you and why it is important and working with word families ut, et, and en.
Math: The students continue to study teen numbers in Module 5 of the their Eureka Math series. Lessons this week focused on counting on from a random teen number and showing, counting and writing the answer to a "how many" question in linear and array configurations. Students are working with counting different configurations of teen numbers and pulling them forward to group them by tens and some more. The students are also working on lessons that focus on counting up and down by tens to 100 with Say and Find Groups of ten. Workstations this week included finding the number that comes next, before or after the targeted number, playing make 5 Bingo, writing numbers 1-150, reading and solving a story problem by illustrating, writing the equation and number bond and building new shapes using existing pattern blocks.
Writing: The students do continue to review upper and lowercase letter number formation. You should receive a letter in the mail sometime this week with your students persuasive writing. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students wrote about topics that mean a lot to them---keeping the Earth clean, helping others, following the Eagle Essentials, being a good friend, preparing for First grade were some of the topics. The students are really working on using their writer's checklist to proof read, use punctuation and capital letter at the beginning and have their sentences have meaning and details.
Science: No goldfish or guppies in sight. Ms. Gullo will be going to the Pet Store this weekend to get some goldfish and guppies!! In the meantime, we began our prep on what is a fish? On the plant front----our baby plants are ready to go home! Happy Mother's Day! Please read the information sheet in your child's homework folder. We took a look at the root systems of our flower seedlings. The students also planted milkweed and zucchini seeds in our classroom garden. We will put these in our Irving Garden bed. Alice's giant sweet potato has MANY roots and big leaves!! The potatoes will also go into the Irving Garden. Stay tuned!!!
Technology: Our iMovie has been edited and is ready to be viewed! The students are really excited and proud to show you all the work that went into their Design Challenge! They want to do another movie!!!
Literature: "The Tiny Seed," "Eating the Alphabet," "Planting a Rainbow," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "What is a Fish?" "Swimmy," "A Fish is a Fish," "Under the Water," "Sea Life," "Oceans," "Fishes."
**The students will start bringing home their work portfolios from Trimesters 1 and 2 next week. They will have a chance to look back and see how far they have come!
**Public Service Announcement---With the warm weather approaching, many students will want to wear sandals. I am asking that all students wear gym shoes or closed toe shoes. Sandals are okay for the classroom but when we are outside on the playground......let's protect our feet!!!!
**The ABC COUNTDOWN continues!! Next week: Monday-Joke Day-bring in your favorite joke to share, Tuesday-King Day-boys rule and will set the tone of the day. Wednesday-Lunch Outside Day-instead of the lunchroom, we will eat outside on our picnic blankets, Thursday-Music Day-students can bring in CD's with appropriate music to listen to while they work. Students suggested Kidz Bop, Italian music, opera and music from a movie. Friday-Name Day-Write your name in bubble letters and decorate it. There is a hard copy in your child's homework folder.
**The students will do their last "traveling" for the Traveling Poets project on Wednesday, May 17th. They have done such a great job! We are also enjoying the students who travel to our classroom.
**Next week will be the last LAST LIBRARY BOOK CHECK OUT. All student books will be due on Friday, May 26th.
**The ART FEST/POETRY SLAM is this THURSDAY, May 18th from 6-8 pm all around the school. COME ON OUT to see student art work, a play, the Irving chorus, play Spanish games and hear and see the POETRY SLAM. We now have 6 "little slammers!" Our own Mr. Williams will be the "MC." There is still time to sign up. It is great fun!
**DANCE PARTY sponsored by the 5th Grade is Friday, May 18th from 5-7 pm in the gym. The cost is $1.00. The money raised will help fund their send off and future outdoor ed scholarships.
**I am continuing with final assessments for the last report card. They will be completed in the next few weeks.
**Keep sending in FIELD TRIP slips and LIBRARY CARD APPLICATIONS for our Maze Library Walking Field Trip on Thursday, May 25th leaving at 12:40 and returning to school at 2:15. I need to turn in all applications to the library by Thursday, May 18th so they can be processed. We have lots of volunteers! Let's hope for great weather!
**OLYMPIC DAY is Friday, May 26th from 8:30-11:00 am. Come on out and see Team Gullo demonstrate strength, endurance and teamwork. This year, we will be joined by two former Irving students who are now 8th graders. They will be helping out as part of their service project.
**Look for information and permission slip for PIZZA and PLAY End of the Year Family Picnic at Rehm Park next week. I will be sending you a link to a Sign Up Genius for supplies, fruits and veggies.
**Future Field Trip-Oak Park Conservatory on Tuesday, June 6th-9:30-10:30 am.
**No School-May 29th-Memorial Day Observance.
**Our Reading Grandma Mary and Ms. D will finish out their year with us next week. What valuable volunteers they have been! We love our grandmas!!
**In our Second Step lesson this week, the focus continued to be on ways to play fair and problem solving.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr. Bell Bey began wrap up for the year reviewing the behavior "Thinkables" and "Unthinkables."
**In Mr. Packer's thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer continued work on looking for details and visualization.
This week:
The students finished helping me edit their iMovie of the Design Challenge. Hope you enjoy it! The students are sensing that the end of kindergarten is near. There is excitement in the air and perhaps for some.... a little anxiety. We will be working through it in our classroom chats. Students are asking questions about new teachers, new friendships and expectations. They are also thinking about friends who may be moving away or going to another school next year. Turning into a First Grader is BIG!! Station day activities this week included creating a pattern block fish, sight word search, simple sentence--read it and draw it, seed sequence and ladybug addition/equation writing.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue work on skills and literature from Treasures Unit 9 Amazing Creatures and Unit 10 We Know A Lot. Students took a look a the world of bugs and continued work on What is an insect? Can you name the similarities and difference between an insect and a spider? Sight words for this week were has and look. Target sounds were Jj and Yy. Students spent time with a partner using their word cards, pictures and punctuation creating sentences. Students continued to work on using and recognizing nouns, verbs, pronouns and adjectives. Each day this week, the students worked on group substitution activities to strengthen sound recognition and automatic recording of sounds to create words. We are on the last few exercises in our Haggerty Blue Book. Students are also continuing to work on formative and summative blueprints on word choice and how illustrations are important to the text. Robust Vocabulary for this week included GULP, FANTASY, INCREDIBLE, REALITY. Workstations for this week included leveled reader self read, partner read and elbow chat about story elements, comparing and contrasting stories, working with vocabulary and word choice, responding in writing to what insect do you like and why do you like it?--opinion writing, writing 4 facts about insects, word work on short and long e, writing sentences using your sight words, choosing an illustration from the text and telling in writing what information the picture gives you and why it is important and working with word families ut, et, and en.
Math: The students continue to study teen numbers in Module 5 of the their Eureka Math series. Lessons this week focused on counting on from a random teen number and showing, counting and writing the answer to a "how many" question in linear and array configurations. Students are working with counting different configurations of teen numbers and pulling them forward to group them by tens and some more. The students are also working on lessons that focus on counting up and down by tens to 100 with Say and Find Groups of ten. Workstations this week included finding the number that comes next, before or after the targeted number, playing make 5 Bingo, writing numbers 1-150, reading and solving a story problem by illustrating, writing the equation and number bond and building new shapes using existing pattern blocks.
Writing: The students do continue to review upper and lowercase letter number formation. You should receive a letter in the mail sometime this week with your students persuasive writing. In Writer's Workshop this week, the students wrote about topics that mean a lot to them---keeping the Earth clean, helping others, following the Eagle Essentials, being a good friend, preparing for First grade were some of the topics. The students are really working on using their writer's checklist to proof read, use punctuation and capital letter at the beginning and have their sentences have meaning and details.
Science: No goldfish or guppies in sight. Ms. Gullo will be going to the Pet Store this weekend to get some goldfish and guppies!! In the meantime, we began our prep on what is a fish? On the plant front----our baby plants are ready to go home! Happy Mother's Day! Please read the information sheet in your child's homework folder. We took a look at the root systems of our flower seedlings. The students also planted milkweed and zucchini seeds in our classroom garden. We will put these in our Irving Garden bed. Alice's giant sweet potato has MANY roots and big leaves!! The potatoes will also go into the Irving Garden. Stay tuned!!!
Technology: Our iMovie has been edited and is ready to be viewed! The students are really excited and proud to show you all the work that went into their Design Challenge! They want to do another movie!!!
Literature: "The Tiny Seed," "Eating the Alphabet," "Planting a Rainbow," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "What is a Fish?" "Swimmy," "A Fish is a Fish," "Under the Water," "Sea Life," "Oceans," "Fishes."
Monday, May 15, 2017
Sunday, May 7, 2017
UPDATES for 5/1-5/5 2017
**A very busy week in kindergarten! The students prepped for their next live animal study--guppies and goldfish. Our fish were supposed to arrive on Wednesday, but.......so far no fish. We used the time to continue seed exploration. Hopefully, we will have fish next week. The students are sensing change in the air! We will be visiting First Grade next week. First Grade students will speak about the world of First Grade and answer any questions our students have. We continue to edit our habitat iMovie. Should be ready soon!
**The students will begin "traveling" to recite their poems throughout the school on Wednesday, May 10th and again on May 17th. They sound really good!
**The students enjoyed their Fitness Week, especially the all school exercise time!
**The ABC COUNTDOWN continues! Check out this weeks activities chosen by the students. Please let me know if I need to get a dairy alternative ice cream for anyone.
**The ART FEST/POETRY SLAM is Thursday, May 18th from 6-8 pm al over the school. Come on out and see art on the walls from each Irving student, hear the chorus, see a play and play Spanish games with Senorita and take part or watch the Poetry Slam. We have 2 "little slammers" signed up so far. There is still time to get involved!! Share your creativity!! You can say any poem by yourself, with a sibling, a whole family or friends. You can sing, say, rap or write your own.
**DANCE PARTY sponsored by the 5th grade will be held on Friday, May 19th from 5-7 pm in the gym. The cost is $1.00. The money raised will help fund their send off and future outdoor ed scholarships.
**I have begun final assessments for the last report card period. Assessments for end of the year DIBELS, AIMSWEB Math, sight words, independent and instructional reading levels and social/emotional growth reflections will be done.
**Maze Library Field Trip permission slip and library card application is in your child's homework folder. Our walking field trip is Thursday, May 25th at 1:00 pm. I will need 2 volunteers.
**Get ready for Olympic Feats of strength, endurance and teamwork at Olympic Day on Friday, May 26th from 8:30-11:00 am.
**Future FIELD TRIP--Oak Park Conservatory on Tuesday, June 6th-9:30-10:30 am.
**Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic-Wednesday, May 31st-9:30-noon.
**In our Second Step lesson this week, we took the time to review fair ways to play.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr Bell Bey introduced the class to another behavior "thinkable" call "space inspector" who helps you pay attention and respect others personal space. The students viewed a webisode on the subject.
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer continued his lesson on being a good detective and looking for clues and details.
This week:
The students enjoyed the first week of the ABC Countdown. They had a great afternoon to blow bubbles and chase them from my bubble machine on Bubble Day. There were knights, wizards, jesters, kings, princess and queens on Castle Day. We read about puppies and dogs and made dog masks for Dog Stories Day. Our station day activities included making dog masks, teen number count it, glue it, write it and tulip origami.
Reading/Language Arts: I am combining phonics skills, vocabulary, comprehension, literacy and the rest of our common core standards of our final Treasures Reading series Unit 9-Amazing Creatures and Unit 10-I Know A Lot. Woven into the units will be poetry to close out the year. This week, the students read stories about different kinds of insects. Target words were he and she. Target sounds were Gg and Ww and students reviewed all short and long vowel sounds. We continue to work on formative and summative blueprints comparing and contrasting two texts, opinion writing, word choice and defining an unknown word and a review of story elements. Students began incorporating some First Grade words into their sentences. A group lesson focused on the definition of the word pronoun and the use of I, you, he , she, it, we and they. The students worked in small groups with leveled readers reading for meaning and fluency, discussing story elements, cause and effect and making inferences. Word work centered on using context clues to figure out the meaning of an unknown word. They also continued to work on reviewing the use of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Robust Vocabulary this week included AMAZING, DEEP, INVITE, OCEAN, REASON, ANNOY, INSECT. The students continue to review sound blending strategies as well as recognizing consonant blends and digraphs and work with silent e. Workstations this week included writing questions and answers pertaining to a particular text, word families un and ut, writing a sentence about a insect you have seen, picking two insects and writing about how they are alike and different, writing an opinion piece about what insect you like the best.
Math: The students are working in their new calendar books. Some new features include number puzzles, writing 2 and 3 digit numbers, dice subtraction, number find 1-200 and nonstandard measurement using unifix cubes. The student started a new morning math journal. They are reading a story problem, deciding whether to add or subtract, illustrating the problem, showing it on a number line and writing the equation. Our Eureka Math lesson focused on teen numbers and the idea of "hiding zero" when showing teen numbers on a number bond as ten plus more. Workstations this week included using the "hide zero" way to write teen numbers in a number bond, counting on from a random number, reading and solving story problems, playing make 5 Bingo, building new shapes using existing pattern blocks.
Writing; The students completed their orange books for upper and lowercase letter formation. They will bring their books home next week. We will continue to review letter and number writing. The students have completed their persuasive letter to a family member. We will be addressing and mailing them next week. Students will continue to work on persuasive writing and use a piece as a forum for speaking in front of the class, a mini presentation if you will. Stay tuned!
Science: While waiting for our guppies and goldfish, the students observed the growth of their seedling. Each student took a look at the inside of a pinto bean seed. Using a water logged pinto bean, the students split it open----there they observed the outside coat and the baby plant (embryo) in the inside corner. Cool! The rest of the inside of the seed is the food where the seed gets its nourishment. The students are so excited about their growing seedlings. Key vocabulary--germinate, sprout, shoot, root, leaf. They are taking care to water them daily and observe shoots and leaves developing. Next week---examining roots systems.
Technology: The students continue to edit their Habitat iMovie.
Literature: "How Do Seeds Grow?" "Beetles," "Insects," "The Tiny Seed," "Beautiful Bugs," "Spring Changes," "Dogzilla," "Puppies," "Clifford and His Family," "Space Dog, Jack," "Boomer goes To School," "Scooby Doo."
**The students will begin "traveling" to recite their poems throughout the school on Wednesday, May 10th and again on May 17th. They sound really good!
**The students enjoyed their Fitness Week, especially the all school exercise time!
**The ABC COUNTDOWN continues! Check out this weeks activities chosen by the students. Please let me know if I need to get a dairy alternative ice cream for anyone.
**The ART FEST/POETRY SLAM is Thursday, May 18th from 6-8 pm al over the school. Come on out and see art on the walls from each Irving student, hear the chorus, see a play and play Spanish games with Senorita and take part or watch the Poetry Slam. We have 2 "little slammers" signed up so far. There is still time to get involved!! Share your creativity!! You can say any poem by yourself, with a sibling, a whole family or friends. You can sing, say, rap or write your own.
**DANCE PARTY sponsored by the 5th grade will be held on Friday, May 19th from 5-7 pm in the gym. The cost is $1.00. The money raised will help fund their send off and future outdoor ed scholarships.
**I have begun final assessments for the last report card period. Assessments for end of the year DIBELS, AIMSWEB Math, sight words, independent and instructional reading levels and social/emotional growth reflections will be done.
**Maze Library Field Trip permission slip and library card application is in your child's homework folder. Our walking field trip is Thursday, May 25th at 1:00 pm. I will need 2 volunteers.
**Get ready for Olympic Feats of strength, endurance and teamwork at Olympic Day on Friday, May 26th from 8:30-11:00 am.
**Future FIELD TRIP--Oak Park Conservatory on Tuesday, June 6th-9:30-10:30 am.
**Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic-Wednesday, May 31st-9:30-noon.
**In our Second Step lesson this week, we took the time to review fair ways to play.
**In Friendship Club this week, Dr Bell Bey introduced the class to another behavior "thinkable" call "space inspector" who helps you pay attention and respect others personal space. The students viewed a webisode on the subject.
**In Mr. Packer's Thinking Skills this week, Mr. Packer continued his lesson on being a good detective and looking for clues and details.
This week:
The students enjoyed the first week of the ABC Countdown. They had a great afternoon to blow bubbles and chase them from my bubble machine on Bubble Day. There were knights, wizards, jesters, kings, princess and queens on Castle Day. We read about puppies and dogs and made dog masks for Dog Stories Day. Our station day activities included making dog masks, teen number count it, glue it, write it and tulip origami.
Reading/Language Arts: I am combining phonics skills, vocabulary, comprehension, literacy and the rest of our common core standards of our final Treasures Reading series Unit 9-Amazing Creatures and Unit 10-I Know A Lot. Woven into the units will be poetry to close out the year. This week, the students read stories about different kinds of insects. Target words were he and she. Target sounds were Gg and Ww and students reviewed all short and long vowel sounds. We continue to work on formative and summative blueprints comparing and contrasting two texts, opinion writing, word choice and defining an unknown word and a review of story elements. Students began incorporating some First Grade words into their sentences. A group lesson focused on the definition of the word pronoun and the use of I, you, he , she, it, we and they. The students worked in small groups with leveled readers reading for meaning and fluency, discussing story elements, cause and effect and making inferences. Word work centered on using context clues to figure out the meaning of an unknown word. They also continued to work on reviewing the use of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Robust Vocabulary this week included AMAZING, DEEP, INVITE, OCEAN, REASON, ANNOY, INSECT. The students continue to review sound blending strategies as well as recognizing consonant blends and digraphs and work with silent e. Workstations this week included writing questions and answers pertaining to a particular text, word families un and ut, writing a sentence about a insect you have seen, picking two insects and writing about how they are alike and different, writing an opinion piece about what insect you like the best.
Math: The students are working in their new calendar books. Some new features include number puzzles, writing 2 and 3 digit numbers, dice subtraction, number find 1-200 and nonstandard measurement using unifix cubes. The student started a new morning math journal. They are reading a story problem, deciding whether to add or subtract, illustrating the problem, showing it on a number line and writing the equation. Our Eureka Math lesson focused on teen numbers and the idea of "hiding zero" when showing teen numbers on a number bond as ten plus more. Workstations this week included using the "hide zero" way to write teen numbers in a number bond, counting on from a random number, reading and solving story problems, playing make 5 Bingo, building new shapes using existing pattern blocks.
Writing; The students completed their orange books for upper and lowercase letter formation. They will bring their books home next week. We will continue to review letter and number writing. The students have completed their persuasive letter to a family member. We will be addressing and mailing them next week. Students will continue to work on persuasive writing and use a piece as a forum for speaking in front of the class, a mini presentation if you will. Stay tuned!
Science: While waiting for our guppies and goldfish, the students observed the growth of their seedling. Each student took a look at the inside of a pinto bean seed. Using a water logged pinto bean, the students split it open----there they observed the outside coat and the baby plant (embryo) in the inside corner. Cool! The rest of the inside of the seed is the food where the seed gets its nourishment. The students are so excited about their growing seedlings. Key vocabulary--germinate, sprout, shoot, root, leaf. They are taking care to water them daily and observe shoots and leaves developing. Next week---examining roots systems.
Technology: The students continue to edit their Habitat iMovie.
Literature: "How Do Seeds Grow?" "Beetles," "Insects," "The Tiny Seed," "Beautiful Bugs," "Spring Changes," "Dogzilla," "Puppies," "Clifford and His Family," "Space Dog, Jack," "Boomer goes To School," "Scooby Doo."
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