**A letter about PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES will be in your child's folder on Monday. Some of you have already signed up and will get a confirmation letter. If you haven't signed up I have given you a day and time. If you cannot make that time, please write in some options and we will make it work. Conferences are scheduled for Monday, October 7th, Tuesday, October 8th and Wednesday, October 9th. I am available before school, after school and in the evening. Reminder--On Thursday, October 10th and Friday, October 11th--dismissal for all students is 11:00 am. There is NO afternoon session and NO lunch. District Bus service, River Forest Community Center and Hephzibah pick up are at 11:00 am.
**NO SCHOOL October 14th in observance of Columbus Day.
**Irving PACERS Running/ Walking club began last Friday. Our class will begin THIS coming Friday. Students can use their lunch recess to run/walk around the school grounds 3 times (1 mile) and receive a special chain with a little foot on it. PACERS will meet on September 27th, October 4th, 18th, 25th and November 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd for this year and will resume in the spring. Each week, the students will have the opportunity to earn another foot. Our whole class will be participating!! Most students run and walk. Students are most welcome to walk with me. The students will decorate an envelope to keep their growing foot necklace in and keep it in class. Let's say YES to exercise!!!
**D.E.A.R. Program--Born to Read at Irving School. At the end of September, the whole class school will participate in uninterrupted reading D.E.A.R. (drop everything and read) for 8 minutes. Each month, the number of minutes will increase by 8. The goal to increase the amount of reading so that by the end of May, each students can read uninterrupted for 64 minutes. Be on the look out for the monthly exercises. Look for a flyer in your child's folder.
**Picture Day is Tuesday, October 1st. I will try and book an early morning time slot for our class. Thanks to J. Merritt for volunteering to help. Should take about 20 minutes.
**International Walk to School Day is Wednesday, October 9th. Stay tuned for more info.
**Irving School has a GREEN TEAM!! Each class has 2 reps that meet every other Tuesday lunch recess with Green Team Leaders, Ms. Parkinson and Mr. Packer. They plan projects, discuss how to create a "greener" environment for our school and will relay information to our class. We need 2 reps for our class. I will be having a discussion with them on Monday to see if anyone is interested. Discuss it at home. Email me if your child's is interested. It is a commitment for the entire school year and we will talk about what that means.
**Irving School Book Fair is October 7-10.
**Irving School Trivia Night info will be in your child's folder.
**Please sign and send back the permission slip for ARTSONIA on line student art work museum.
**All DIBELS and PHONIC SCREENER assessment are now completed. I will be sharing all the information with you at conference time. Route to Reading will begin soon. At that time you will receive information on the skill your child will be working on as well as the teacher. The rotations are 3 weeks long.
**Don't forget to fill out the HELPFUL PARENTS SIGN UP sheet. If you are interested in helping out for STATION DAY on FRIDAY afternoons--check it off! I will be compiling a rotating list of volunteers. If you have a specific Friday in mind--jot it down on the sheet. There are usually 2-3 parents each Friday. Grandmas and Grandpas are most welcome. Our start date is Friday, October 4th.
This week:
It was all about letters and numbers. The students found letters around our classroom and school. They also located numbers in our classroom and school. What is the difference between a number and letter? The students began a conversation about consonants (letters that have 1 or 2 sounds) and vowels (letters that have many different sounds.) The students found the consonants and vowels in their name. They compared their name to a friends name. We are counting everything in sight--markers, crayons, chairs, books, feet, fingers, noses.......Station Day activities included creating patterns with teddy bears, exploring pattern block shapes, working on ten frame number books and reading their paper stories to a partner.
Reading/Social Studies: The students have completed the intro to our Treasurer Reading series called Smart Start and spent this week reviewing letter recognition A-Z, beginning consonant sounds, matching upper and lowercase letters and sequencing letters A-Z. The students brainstormed lists of words that named animals and words that names actions. We are beginning work on nouns and verbs and how to use them when we speak and write. They are working on using complete sentences subject/action when speaking. During our read aloud time, students read the story, "I Can." We continue to work on our Common Core skills-- locating the title, finding the characters and setting and chatting about the events that occur in the story. The students are now locating the page number, where the sentence begins (left side) and what ends a sentence (period, question mark, exclamation mark.) They continue to examine the contents of each page. What do you see in the big picture? Let's finger point and read each word and little picture (rebus reading.) Do you recall your sight words? Before we turn the page--what do you think might happen? (predicting) How many words are in the sentence? Can you find an action word? Can you ask and answer a question about the story? Wow! Lots going on! Students are sharing their story reading with a partner. The partner is observing finger pointing and voice quality. (Can I hear what my partner is reading?) Workstations this week included "Rhyme Time Toss," "Sound Toy Bag," letter cards for sequencing, Can you write the sound down activity and iPad activities ABC Touch, Alphatots, Dolch Words, Write Words, ABC lite and ABC matching and Fun Rhyming. Students are working on the Haggerty Blue Book exercises. They are becoming focused as a group on letter recognition, rhyming distinction, syllable counting, segmenting and substituting sounds and adding and deleting sounds. We will begin Unit 1 Families next week.
Math: The students continue to work on rote counting to 20 and one to one correspondence to 10. They are becoming more familiar with using the ten frames and bead ropes. The students began work on their ten frame counting books. They did some review work with creating patterns using teddy bears. The students also explored pattern blocks and created designs and learned the names of each block. We all learned to play "Spin a Number" with our pencil and paper clip spinners. We are counting back from 10 and counting forward beginning at a random number from 0-20. Students worked with partners to sequence number 0-5, 0-10 and 0-20. They also used the unifix cubes to build number towers.
Writing: The students continue to work on their FROG JUMP CAPITALS--F, E, and D. They used their wooden pieces to create the letters. The students worked in their orange books really thinking about the quality of their letter formation. They continue to use activities from the hand/finger activity box to strengthen their tripod grasp. Along with the Treasurers writing prompts, the students worked on a special writing prompt where they drew about a dream or a wish they had. I encouraged them to label parts of their drawings or write some words about them. Students were also encouraged to draw as many details as they could in their drawings. When students were finished, each student shared their drawing and writing with the class. The class could add suggestions. It was great fun sharing and hearing what other had to say about their work.
Technology: The students used a variety of iPads apps in their small group and individual work. All students used Doodle Buddy to explore and create a picture and added their name to it. They became familiar with how to look for stamp pictures, create text and use the paint and chalk. Next week we will do a project in math using Doodle Buddy. The apps used in reading have already been mentioned. The students worked in small groups, with partners or individually on the apps Intro to Math and Numbers. We all tracked the rain and storms using Weatherunderground.
Literature: "How Kids Grow," "A Hippopotamus Ate the Teacher," "Mouse Loves School," "David Goes to School," "They Day the Teacher Went Bananas," "The Colors of Us," "Clifford's Best School Day," "Shades of Black," "Skippy John Jones Class Action."
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
UPDATES for 9/9-9/12 2013
**OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT was very well attended. I know that there was a lot of material presented to you and we didn't even cover everything. Please read through your curriculum packet. If you have any questions or would like to meet me after school or early evening, please email me! The students seemed to be having a great time. I hope you got to meet all of your child's teachers. Many of you did sign up for a Parent Conference time. If you did not have a chance, I have it posted in my classroom. I will be sending a formal letter next week. Parent/Teacher Conferences for my class will be held Monday, October 7th, Tuesday, October 8th and Wednesday, October 9th in our classroom. At that time, I will be sharing my assessments, student progress in all academic areas, participation and social/emotional growth reflections. I will also share with you what our new standards based report card will look like.
**A letter with a review of your child's KRT score (Kindergarten Readiness Test that was given this summer) is in your child's homework folder. Any questions--please contact me.
**Picture Day is Tuesday, October 3rd. At that time, a class photo and individual picture of your child will be taken. I usually try to be one of the first classes signed up for early morning. I need one parent volunteer to help with this. (It will take about 20 minutes) Please email if you can help. Thanks!
**You now have a copy of our weekly specials schedule. Our computer lab time is yet to be scheduled. I will be working on it this next week. The students will be working in the lab on a program called Lexia Core5. It is a great companion piece to our Treasures Reading and Route to Reading Skills Based programs. Your child will be able to use this program at home too!
**I am currently working to complete assessment of students using the PHONIC SCREENERS. This will assist in your child's skill placement in Route to Reading.
**Don't forget--Library books can remain out for one week and must be brought back on Library Day (Tuesday) so your child can pick a new one or two!
**Mr. Packer Math Enrichment will begin this Friday from 9:30-10:00. He will be working on whole group and small group thinking and problem solving skills.
**If your child will be TRAVELING over any weekend or on a vacation, let me know.....I will send a Travel Journal with them. Our class will track our "travels" throughout the year on our state and world map. It can be anywhere---Chicago, Forest Park, Florida, Colorado, France....you name it--we will track it!
**Next week is the last week I will send a hard copy of the homework assignments. It will be posted under the "check here for assignments" line under my blogspot. If you feel you need a hard copy, please let me know and I will provide one.
This week:
It was all about getting ready for OPEN HOUSE. The students worked hard on projects that were displayed in our hallway. They thought about their future in their illustrations and writing of what they wanted to be when they grew up. They worked on retelling a story both verbally and with the help of their classmates recording letters and words. Their TACTILE NAMES project was sensational!! Very creative--very touchy feely! They are on display in our classroom. The students also shared information on who was in their family with each other. They drew a picture of all the family members in their household.....even their pets!! Totally adorable!!! The discussions on expectations, behavior, Eagle slips, direction following remain important topics.
Reading/Social Studies: The students finished Week 3 of our prep for Treasures Reading Series called Smart Start. The students worked on reinforcing the recognition of letter names A-Z and sounds A-P. They again used mirrors to observe where each sound came from...open/closed mouth?....puff of air.?....vibrations?....where is your tongue? The students continues work on sight word vocabulary. They learned to "Walk Your Words." It is in their homework packet. The students continue to work on sight words---red, blue, go, am, I, go, the, yes, no, can. I read the trade book, "Jazz Baby." The students made prediction about story content. They used retelling cards to orally retell the story. Some students volunteered to write words under the pictures. It was a group effort to help in the sounding out of words and the recording of letters to create the sentences. The students named the instruments used and described the sounds they made. The students brainstormed ways they used their 5 Senses and helped create a list. The students continued work on their Common Core Standards of comparing texts and asking and answering questions about a story read. The students compared the fiction story, "Jazz Baby," to the informational (nonfiction) story, "Made From Clay." They noted the real from make believe, photo vs. illustrations and what each story was about (making music vs. finding/using clay.) They also continued work on recognizing the CHARACTERS, SETTING and TITLE of a given story. The positional words under, on, in, and over were reviewed. During our oral read aloud time, the students read the paper story, "I Can." They concentrated on finger pointing each word and picture and noting that each sentence begins with a capital letter and has an ending mark. (period, question mark, exclamation mark) Students took turns reading aloud while the other students followed along with their finger. (tracking) Our workstations this week included "Froggy, Froggy Where's Your Home? (upper/lowercase match,) Sound Toy Bag Game (matching toy to its appropriate initial sound box,) "Walk Your Words," Sequencing your ABC's, "Go Fish for Letters," "Initial Sound Magnetic Board," and the iPad activity, Alphatots.
The students continue to work on Haggerty Blue Books exercises which include, rhyming, letter naming, sound recognition, segmenting, substituting sounds, adding and deleting sounds and counting syllables.
Math: The students worked on Common Core Standards matching one to one on their number boards and building number. Students are working in groups--recognition 0-5 and 0-10. They also worked on sequencing numbers. They continue to use our calendar ten frames to count the number of days in school. Our workstations this week included Egg Carton Math, Number Boards, matching number with quantity, counting and writing to 5 or 10, Sorting and Classifying Activity, exploring pattern blocks. The students did the "Shape Rap" to review basic plane shapes--circle, square, triangle and rectangle. They also went on a shape hunt to find basic shapes in the classroom. We discussed the terms GREATER THAN, LESS THAN.
Writing: Now that the students are aware that different types of lines form our letters, we have begun to explore our writing series Handwriting Without Tears. The students used wooden pieces (straight lines, slant lines and curved lines) to construct their name on the floor. We talked about always starting at the top when producing a letter. We will begin this week with our FROG JUMP letters and using our orange workbook. The students were introduced to the our finger/hand strengthening box. It contains center activities built around strengthening our tripod grasp for writing and drawing. Our Occupational Therapist, Mrs. Nichols was in to observe development of tripod grasp. She has given me suggestions on students and we will continue to work with her. The students continue to work on their journal prompts. They are drawing and verbally sharing their what they have drawn. They are also in some cases, writing down the first sound they hear in one of their pictures, maybe writing one word using their inventive (phonetic) spelling, labeling one picture, or trying to write a sentence. (a group of words that NAMES and TELLS) All very exciting to observe!
Technology: The students have begun work on iPad etiquette. How to turn on, turn off, use the pad of their finger, control sound, add a headset and where to find activities. Our new data/tech coach, Mrs. Diehl will also help assisst in helping to foster greater independence in using the iPad. iPad use in our classroom is another tool the students can use to enhance and support what they are learning in the classroom. Stay tuned!
Literature: "When You Go To Kindergarten," "Tiptoe Into Kindergarten," "Pirates Go To School." "The Recess Queen," "ABC I Like Me," "Hands are Not for Hitting," "Two Eyes, A Nose, A Mouth," "Splat the Cat," "Hop on Pop," "The Cat in the Hat," "Cool Dog, School Dog," "Jazz Baby," "Made From Clay," "Don't Hit Me," "Where Do You Go To School?"
**A letter with a review of your child's KRT score (Kindergarten Readiness Test that was given this summer) is in your child's homework folder. Any questions--please contact me.
**Picture Day is Tuesday, October 3rd. At that time, a class photo and individual picture of your child will be taken. I usually try to be one of the first classes signed up for early morning. I need one parent volunteer to help with this. (It will take about 20 minutes) Please email if you can help. Thanks!
**You now have a copy of our weekly specials schedule. Our computer lab time is yet to be scheduled. I will be working on it this next week. The students will be working in the lab on a program called Lexia Core5. It is a great companion piece to our Treasures Reading and Route to Reading Skills Based programs. Your child will be able to use this program at home too!
**I am currently working to complete assessment of students using the PHONIC SCREENERS. This will assist in your child's skill placement in Route to Reading.
**Don't forget--Library books can remain out for one week and must be brought back on Library Day (Tuesday) so your child can pick a new one or two!
**Mr. Packer Math Enrichment will begin this Friday from 9:30-10:00. He will be working on whole group and small group thinking and problem solving skills.
**If your child will be TRAVELING over any weekend or on a vacation, let me know.....I will send a Travel Journal with them. Our class will track our "travels" throughout the year on our state and world map. It can be anywhere---Chicago, Forest Park, Florida, Colorado, France....you name it--we will track it!
**Next week is the last week I will send a hard copy of the homework assignments. It will be posted under the "check here for assignments" line under my blogspot. If you feel you need a hard copy, please let me know and I will provide one.
This week:
It was all about getting ready for OPEN HOUSE. The students worked hard on projects that were displayed in our hallway. They thought about their future in their illustrations and writing of what they wanted to be when they grew up. They worked on retelling a story both verbally and with the help of their classmates recording letters and words. Their TACTILE NAMES project was sensational!! Very creative--very touchy feely! They are on display in our classroom. The students also shared information on who was in their family with each other. They drew a picture of all the family members in their household.....even their pets!! Totally adorable!!! The discussions on expectations, behavior, Eagle slips, direction following remain important topics.
Reading/Social Studies: The students finished Week 3 of our prep for Treasures Reading Series called Smart Start. The students worked on reinforcing the recognition of letter names A-Z and sounds A-P. They again used mirrors to observe where each sound came from...open/closed mouth?....puff of air.?....vibrations?....where is your tongue? The students continues work on sight word vocabulary. They learned to "Walk Your Words." It is in their homework packet. The students continue to work on sight words---red, blue, go, am, I, go, the, yes, no, can. I read the trade book, "Jazz Baby." The students made prediction about story content. They used retelling cards to orally retell the story. Some students volunteered to write words under the pictures. It was a group effort to help in the sounding out of words and the recording of letters to create the sentences. The students named the instruments used and described the sounds they made. The students brainstormed ways they used their 5 Senses and helped create a list. The students continued work on their Common Core Standards of comparing texts and asking and answering questions about a story read. The students compared the fiction story, "Jazz Baby," to the informational (nonfiction) story, "Made From Clay." They noted the real from make believe, photo vs. illustrations and what each story was about (making music vs. finding/using clay.) They also continued work on recognizing the CHARACTERS, SETTING and TITLE of a given story. The positional words under, on, in, and over were reviewed. During our oral read aloud time, the students read the paper story, "I Can." They concentrated on finger pointing each word and picture and noting that each sentence begins with a capital letter and has an ending mark. (period, question mark, exclamation mark) Students took turns reading aloud while the other students followed along with their finger. (tracking) Our workstations this week included "Froggy, Froggy Where's Your Home? (upper/lowercase match,) Sound Toy Bag Game (matching toy to its appropriate initial sound box,) "Walk Your Words," Sequencing your ABC's, "Go Fish for Letters," "Initial Sound Magnetic Board," and the iPad activity, Alphatots.
The students continue to work on Haggerty Blue Books exercises which include, rhyming, letter naming, sound recognition, segmenting, substituting sounds, adding and deleting sounds and counting syllables.
Math: The students worked on Common Core Standards matching one to one on their number boards and building number. Students are working in groups--recognition 0-5 and 0-10. They also worked on sequencing numbers. They continue to use our calendar ten frames to count the number of days in school. Our workstations this week included Egg Carton Math, Number Boards, matching number with quantity, counting and writing to 5 or 10, Sorting and Classifying Activity, exploring pattern blocks. The students did the "Shape Rap" to review basic plane shapes--circle, square, triangle and rectangle. They also went on a shape hunt to find basic shapes in the classroom. We discussed the terms GREATER THAN, LESS THAN.
Writing: Now that the students are aware that different types of lines form our letters, we have begun to explore our writing series Handwriting Without Tears. The students used wooden pieces (straight lines, slant lines and curved lines) to construct their name on the floor. We talked about always starting at the top when producing a letter. We will begin this week with our FROG JUMP letters and using our orange workbook. The students were introduced to the our finger/hand strengthening box. It contains center activities built around strengthening our tripod grasp for writing and drawing. Our Occupational Therapist, Mrs. Nichols was in to observe development of tripod grasp. She has given me suggestions on students and we will continue to work with her. The students continue to work on their journal prompts. They are drawing and verbally sharing their what they have drawn. They are also in some cases, writing down the first sound they hear in one of their pictures, maybe writing one word using their inventive (phonetic) spelling, labeling one picture, or trying to write a sentence. (a group of words that NAMES and TELLS) All very exciting to observe!
Technology: The students have begun work on iPad etiquette. How to turn on, turn off, use the pad of their finger, control sound, add a headset and where to find activities. Our new data/tech coach, Mrs. Diehl will also help assisst in helping to foster greater independence in using the iPad. iPad use in our classroom is another tool the students can use to enhance and support what they are learning in the classroom. Stay tuned!
Literature: "When You Go To Kindergarten," "Tiptoe Into Kindergarten," "Pirates Go To School." "The Recess Queen," "ABC I Like Me," "Hands are Not for Hitting," "Two Eyes, A Nose, A Mouth," "Splat the Cat," "Hop on Pop," "The Cat in the Hat," "Cool Dog, School Dog," "Jazz Baby," "Made From Clay," "Don't Hit Me," "Where Do You Go To School?"
Sunday, September 8, 2013
UPDATES for 9/3-9/6 2013
**The students are becoming more familiar with our daily routine and expectations of all their teachers and classes. Lunch time is going well! The students are learning to eat their main entre first, clean up and recycle their milk cartons and tray. A special shout out to our parent volunteers at lunch! You have helped make a big difference! We have one more week of parent helpers. If you would like to help, just meet us out on the playground at 11:45 am.
**No School on Friday, September 13th. It is a Teacher's Institute Day.
**COME ONE, COME ALL to Irving School's OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT on Thursday, September 12th. The schedule is as follows: PARENTS ONLY from 6:30-7:00 pm. You can drop off your child in the auditorium for a supervised special feature. I will be speaking about our daily routine, all subject areas and all curriculum will be displayed for you to look at. I will also have handouts with other information on our year. There will be a SIGN UP SHEET for PARENT CONFERENCES and OTHER FUN EVENTS. Please pick up your child at 7:00 pm in the auditorium and let them be your TOUR GUIDE as they bring you to meet the teachers who will be working with them this year. I will give you a list with the teacher's name, subject and room number as an assist. Don't forget--from 6:30-7:00 pm is PARENTS ONLY in my classroom. Hope to see everyone on Thursday.
**The students took out their first library book this week. The books can remain out for 7 days. At the next library time, your child can select a new book. Please keep the book in the back pack when not in use. Thanks!
**The students had their first Friendship Club meeting with Ms. Bell Bey, our social worker. She will be working with the class on a variety of lessons centering around fostering positive peer relationships, feelings, conflict resolution, sharing, bullying and other topics. She will use a variety of materials and approaches including stories, role playing, acting, games, videos, puppets to name a few.
**Our weekly schedule is near completion. I am working on securing a computer lab time and time with Mr. Packer, our Math Enrichment teacher. He will be coming into the class weekly to work on higher level thinking skills and problem solving with whole and small groups of students.
**DIBELS Testing is almost complete. Next week I will be giving a PHONICS SCREENER to each child. These assessments will help in determining each students placement in our skill specific ROUTE TO READING groups. You will hear much more about this at CURRICULUM NIGHT.
**If you are placing an order with SCHOLASTIC BOOKS.....the order is due September 12th.
**The students continue to learn about the process of earning indiviual EAGLE SLIPS and how a whole class can earn a class EAGLE SLIP. This is conjunction with our school wide PBIS behavior incentive. Many of the students have gotten them already. Mr. Hodge will put his hand in the big box each week and pull out 6 winners and one class winner. GUESS WHAT!!!!! Let's give a shout out to Philippe and Colin as one of the first EAGLE SLIP winners!! We were cheering so loud for Philippe that we did not hear Colin's named called too! I found out about it after school. So Colin......you will pick your prize on Monday. Let's keep up the good work!
This week:
It was all about the students continued effort to feel comfortable with their daily routine and meet all of their teachers for the year. It was also about ABC's everywhere!! What do they look like? How do they sound? What does our mouth do when we say them? Many sounds? Only one or two sounds? Uppercase? Lowercase? What happens when we put letters together? The students experienced many activities surrounding the alphabet.
Reading/Social Studies: The students are continuing to work on their prep for our Treasures reading series using SMART START. The students are focusing on letter recognition and sounds for A-M. They are learning about imprinting sound and how our mouth looks when we make that sound. The students are using mirrors to really see what happens when a sound is produced. Is their mouth open or closed? Is their air coming out of their mouth? Is there a vibration in their throat? Lots to think about!! The students are learning to work with me to create word webs on suggested topics--What do we do in Kindergarten? What do hands do? How do we look? These exercises generate conversation and participation that stimulate oral vocabulary. The students continue to listen to rhyming patterns in words. They are learning to chant the ending. An example would be--bat, cat they both have at. Rhyming words have the same ending part. The students continue to work on their sight words. The words I, can, am, yes, no, go, red, blue have been introduced. The students played . "Hands Up, Hands Down." The students listened to the big book story, "Hands Can." They made predictions about story content. In working with our Common Core Standards, we discussed what an AUTHOR is and what he does. We also talked about the ILLUSTRATOR and their job. The students also worked on the story elements--CHARACTERS and SETTING. As I read the story, the students are watching as I model tracking each word from left to right as I read. The story was read a second time and the students made connections in their own lives about what their hands can do. The students read aloud their paper story, "I Can." They practiced finger pointing each word and picture from left to right. Together we worked on story structure and sequence. In our Haggerty Blue Book exercises, the students continue to work on letter naming, rhyming, blending, saying the beginning sound, segmenting and substituting sounds and counting how many words there are in a given sentence. Our workstations this week included playing "Go Fish for Letters," "Alphabet Bingo," Sound Sorting Board, sequencing uppercase letters, upper and lowercase match, "Hands Up, Hands Down" sight words, oral comprehension and story retelling and iPAd activity AlphaTots (letters and sounds.)
Math: The students worked on a variety of Common Core number recognition/counting activities including Egg Carton Math, Listen and Count building number boards, "Got It," Number Object Match and sorting and classifying in their workstations. We did a class activity called the "Name Train" where the students write their name, one letter in each box and place one cube in the box for each letter in their name. They connect the cubes to form a train and then they went around comparing--Is my name train longer or shorter then yours? Who has the longest name train? the shortest? the dame? The student took their name boxes and glue them on chart paper reflecting shortest to longest. We talked about the patterns we see around us. Students were able to point out a color and shape pattern on our calendar. The students continue to work on our calendar with number order and counting in our ten frame. On our AGE CHANGE CHART--Ethan and Ever have moved to the land of the six year olds!! The students reviewed basic flat shapes--Circle, Square, Rectangle and Triangle. We did the "SHAPE RAP." Cool! The students also worked on positional words--ABOVE, BELOW, BETWEEN, IN THE MIDDLE.
Writing: The students are learning about the types of lines we use to form letters--straight, curved, slanted. The students used these lines to form MAT MAN. We even learned a song about him. Students used the body image in MAT MAN to make their own "One thing you should know about me" portrait. They are up in the room. Too cute!!!! We are working on strengthening hands and fingers. We used clay to do this. Kneading, squishing, rolling are good ways to get those hands and fingers moving. We even made some letters with straight, slant and curved clay snakes! The students are using journal prompts from our Treasures series. During journal conferencing, I ask the student to tell about this drawing, maybe chose a picture and write the first sound they hear, maybe see if they can write all the sounds they hear in the word they use to describe their picture and just maybe they want to write a sentence (a group of words that names and tells) about their picture. Students will use "inventive spelling"--just what they hear--it could be just the beginning sound, ending sound. Many times the vowel is omitted. This is the beginning of the acquisition of sound foundation. Let them spell what they hear!
Technology: We are just at the beginning stages of iPAd use. I am using them with small groups of students. We are learning the use and care of the iPad. More on this next week!
Literature: "Schools Around the World." "Smile If Your Human." "Alphabet Mystery." "Little Blue, Little Yellow," "If You Take A Mouse To School," "How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?" "The Quiet Book," "When You Go To Kindergarten."
**No School on Friday, September 13th. It is a Teacher's Institute Day.
**COME ONE, COME ALL to Irving School's OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT on Thursday, September 12th. The schedule is as follows: PARENTS ONLY from 6:30-7:00 pm. You can drop off your child in the auditorium for a supervised special feature. I will be speaking about our daily routine, all subject areas and all curriculum will be displayed for you to look at. I will also have handouts with other information on our year. There will be a SIGN UP SHEET for PARENT CONFERENCES and OTHER FUN EVENTS. Please pick up your child at 7:00 pm in the auditorium and let them be your TOUR GUIDE as they bring you to meet the teachers who will be working with them this year. I will give you a list with the teacher's name, subject and room number as an assist. Don't forget--from 6:30-7:00 pm is PARENTS ONLY in my classroom. Hope to see everyone on Thursday.
**The students took out their first library book this week. The books can remain out for 7 days. At the next library time, your child can select a new book. Please keep the book in the back pack when not in use. Thanks!
**The students had their first Friendship Club meeting with Ms. Bell Bey, our social worker. She will be working with the class on a variety of lessons centering around fostering positive peer relationships, feelings, conflict resolution, sharing, bullying and other topics. She will use a variety of materials and approaches including stories, role playing, acting, games, videos, puppets to name a few.
**Our weekly schedule is near completion. I am working on securing a computer lab time and time with Mr. Packer, our Math Enrichment teacher. He will be coming into the class weekly to work on higher level thinking skills and problem solving with whole and small groups of students.
**DIBELS Testing is almost complete. Next week I will be giving a PHONICS SCREENER to each child. These assessments will help in determining each students placement in our skill specific ROUTE TO READING groups. You will hear much more about this at CURRICULUM NIGHT.
**If you are placing an order with SCHOLASTIC BOOKS.....the order is due September 12th.
**The students continue to learn about the process of earning indiviual EAGLE SLIPS and how a whole class can earn a class EAGLE SLIP. This is conjunction with our school wide PBIS behavior incentive. Many of the students have gotten them already. Mr. Hodge will put his hand in the big box each week and pull out 6 winners and one class winner. GUESS WHAT!!!!! Let's give a shout out to Philippe and Colin as one of the first EAGLE SLIP winners!! We were cheering so loud for Philippe that we did not hear Colin's named called too! I found out about it after school. So Colin......you will pick your prize on Monday. Let's keep up the good work!
This week:
It was all about the students continued effort to feel comfortable with their daily routine and meet all of their teachers for the year. It was also about ABC's everywhere!! What do they look like? How do they sound? What does our mouth do when we say them? Many sounds? Only one or two sounds? Uppercase? Lowercase? What happens when we put letters together? The students experienced many activities surrounding the alphabet.
Reading/Social Studies: The students are continuing to work on their prep for our Treasures reading series using SMART START. The students are focusing on letter recognition and sounds for A-M. They are learning about imprinting sound and how our mouth looks when we make that sound. The students are using mirrors to really see what happens when a sound is produced. Is their mouth open or closed? Is their air coming out of their mouth? Is there a vibration in their throat? Lots to think about!! The students are learning to work with me to create word webs on suggested topics--What do we do in Kindergarten? What do hands do? How do we look? These exercises generate conversation and participation that stimulate oral vocabulary. The students continue to listen to rhyming patterns in words. They are learning to chant the ending. An example would be--bat, cat they both have at. Rhyming words have the same ending part. The students continue to work on their sight words. The words I, can, am, yes, no, go, red, blue have been introduced. The students played . "Hands Up, Hands Down." The students listened to the big book story, "Hands Can." They made predictions about story content. In working with our Common Core Standards, we discussed what an AUTHOR is and what he does. We also talked about the ILLUSTRATOR and their job. The students also worked on the story elements--CHARACTERS and SETTING. As I read the story, the students are watching as I model tracking each word from left to right as I read. The story was read a second time and the students made connections in their own lives about what their hands can do. The students read aloud their paper story, "I Can." They practiced finger pointing each word and picture from left to right. Together we worked on story structure and sequence. In our Haggerty Blue Book exercises, the students continue to work on letter naming, rhyming, blending, saying the beginning sound, segmenting and substituting sounds and counting how many words there are in a given sentence. Our workstations this week included playing "Go Fish for Letters," "Alphabet Bingo," Sound Sorting Board, sequencing uppercase letters, upper and lowercase match, "Hands Up, Hands Down" sight words, oral comprehension and story retelling and iPAd activity AlphaTots (letters and sounds.)
Math: The students worked on a variety of Common Core number recognition/counting activities including Egg Carton Math, Listen and Count building number boards, "Got It," Number Object Match and sorting and classifying in their workstations. We did a class activity called the "Name Train" where the students write their name, one letter in each box and place one cube in the box for each letter in their name. They connect the cubes to form a train and then they went around comparing--Is my name train longer or shorter then yours? Who has the longest name train? the shortest? the dame? The student took their name boxes and glue them on chart paper reflecting shortest to longest. We talked about the patterns we see around us. Students were able to point out a color and shape pattern on our calendar. The students continue to work on our calendar with number order and counting in our ten frame. On our AGE CHANGE CHART--Ethan and Ever have moved to the land of the six year olds!! The students reviewed basic flat shapes--Circle, Square, Rectangle and Triangle. We did the "SHAPE RAP." Cool! The students also worked on positional words--ABOVE, BELOW, BETWEEN, IN THE MIDDLE.
Writing: The students are learning about the types of lines we use to form letters--straight, curved, slanted. The students used these lines to form MAT MAN. We even learned a song about him. Students used the body image in MAT MAN to make their own "One thing you should know about me" portrait. They are up in the room. Too cute!!!! We are working on strengthening hands and fingers. We used clay to do this. Kneading, squishing, rolling are good ways to get those hands and fingers moving. We even made some letters with straight, slant and curved clay snakes! The students are using journal prompts from our Treasures series. During journal conferencing, I ask the student to tell about this drawing, maybe chose a picture and write the first sound they hear, maybe see if they can write all the sounds they hear in the word they use to describe their picture and just maybe they want to write a sentence (a group of words that names and tells) about their picture. Students will use "inventive spelling"--just what they hear--it could be just the beginning sound, ending sound. Many times the vowel is omitted. This is the beginning of the acquisition of sound foundation. Let them spell what they hear!
Technology: We are just at the beginning stages of iPAd use. I am using them with small groups of students. We are learning the use and care of the iPad. More on this next week!
Literature: "Schools Around the World." "Smile If Your Human." "Alphabet Mystery." "Little Blue, Little Yellow," "If You Take A Mouse To School," "How Do Dinosaurs Go To School?" "The Quiet Book," "When You Go To Kindergarten."
Friday, August 30, 2013
UPDATES for 8/26-8/30 2013
**WELCOME NEW KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS and FAMILIES!! I am so glad you are a part of our Irving School family. I was so happy to meet all of you. We are going to have a great year!
**Thanks to all of you who have signed up to assist at LUNCH for the next 3 weeks. The students are learning about the lunch routine and recycling milk cartons and paper trays. We are enjoying eating with our friends, Sophia and Jalin from Ms. Von Hagel's class. Please continue reinforcing--HOME LUNCH or SCHOOL LUNCH---MILK??---WHAT KIND?? Our parent volunteers and I are encouraging the students to eat their MAIN ENTRE first, whether it is sandwich, pizza, salad, yogurt, noodles etc. and then eating granola bars, pudding, chips etc. Thanks for sending good choices for lunch and snacks. I will always have either Veggie Straws or fruit on hand if your child forgets their snack. You can still help--just meet us on the playground at 11:45 am.
**The students have been using our awesome new schoolyard. They are learning about the how to safely use all the pieces of equipment. Our RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY on Wednesday morning was pretty cool. I was part of the original discussion over eight years ago to design a new playground. It is a great feeling to see it come to fruition.
**We had our first FIRE DRILL on Thursday. The students did well exiting from the building and following directions. The fire marshal was on hand to see how fast we were to exit the building.
**Please remember to send GYM SHOES and SOCKS everyday. Check your special schedule for Gym days.
**We were hot and sweaty, but we survived the heat and humidity this week. The students were real troopers!! Although the temperature and humidity will come down next week, you can continue to send a water bottle with your child.
** Don't forget to send a healthy snack each day.
**I am working on setting up our on line activities, SPELLING CITY, XTRAMATH, READING EGGS and some new activities. Currently, STARFALL.COM is up and running. Please stay tuned.
**Irving's Back to School Party/Movie is next Friday, September 6th from 5:30-9:00 pm. at Barrie Park.
**OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT is Thursday, September 12th from 6:30-8:30 pm. More info is forthcoming.
**NO SCHOOL on Monday, September 2nd--Labor Day.
This week:
It was all about routines, expectations and meeting new people. Yes, I talked a lot!! Our daily special area schedule is slowly talking shape. The students met with their special area teachers. They are getting to know each other and fostering new friendships. The students learned how to earn an individual and class EAGLE SLIP as part of our school wide PBIS Behavior Initiative. Our Eagle Essentials are....Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe, Be Peaceful Everywhere.....and have FUN!
Reading: In our first week of school, the students began a 3 week prep in our Treasures Reading Series called Smart Start. This year District 97 will be joining with other Illinois school districts as well as other states nationwide in adopting the Common Core Standards of Learning. I will share information on this during Curriculum Night. Our Kindergarten Team is using Treasures along with other materials to ensure that each standard is taught and assessed. Students used their language skills by responding to a daily warm up question. They worked on their listening comprehension skills and making predictions and connections by listening and responding to the Big Book story, "Animals in the Park-An ABC Book." The students worked on identifying the sequence of sounds in the rhyme, "Hey Diddle Diddle." The students identified letters Aa, Bb. Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg and Hh and worked on sound recognition. The students were introduced to the sight words, I, am, yes, no and go. They learned to play the Hands Up, Hands Down Game to help reinforce letter recognition. The students learned what a character is in a story. They also worked on telling about where the story happened. (setting) The students read their first paper story called, "I Run." They began learning about using their pointing finger to read the word and picture. Exciting!!!!!
The students are also using the Haggerty Blue Book to assist in letter and sound recognition, rhyming, upper and lowercase recognition and how many words are in a given sentence.
Math: The students were introduce to calendar activities. Using a ten frame, the students will count and place a dot on the frame for each day they are in school. When we get to 100--PARTY!!!
Our problem of the day was about positional words. The students worked in small group workstations on"egg carton math," "number /picture match." and one to one correspondence frames to 5. They also learned to play the counting and number recognition game, "Got It" with a partner. The students also explored geo boards, pattern blocks, unifix cubes and simple plain shapes.
Writing: The students discussed what a school journal was and how to use it and what to put in it. They also began work on strengthening pencil grasp. They practiced writing their names. Students worked in their journal drawing and even trying to write a word or two. Most students were able to talk about the picture they drew in their journal entry.
Literature: "You're Finally Here," "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books," "Kindergarten Rocks," "Who Will Be My Teacher This Year?" "Curious George--First Day of School," "School Days Around the World," "In My World," "Wemberly Worried," "How Will I Get to School This Year?" "Hungry for Numbers."
**Thanks to all of you who have signed up to assist at LUNCH for the next 3 weeks. The students are learning about the lunch routine and recycling milk cartons and paper trays. We are enjoying eating with our friends, Sophia and Jalin from Ms. Von Hagel's class. Please continue reinforcing--HOME LUNCH or SCHOOL LUNCH---MILK??---WHAT KIND?? Our parent volunteers and I are encouraging the students to eat their MAIN ENTRE first, whether it is sandwich, pizza, salad, yogurt, noodles etc. and then eating granola bars, pudding, chips etc. Thanks for sending good choices for lunch and snacks. I will always have either Veggie Straws or fruit on hand if your child forgets their snack. You can still help--just meet us on the playground at 11:45 am.
**The students have been using our awesome new schoolyard. They are learning about the how to safely use all the pieces of equipment. Our RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY on Wednesday morning was pretty cool. I was part of the original discussion over eight years ago to design a new playground. It is a great feeling to see it come to fruition.
**We had our first FIRE DRILL on Thursday. The students did well exiting from the building and following directions. The fire marshal was on hand to see how fast we were to exit the building.
**Please remember to send GYM SHOES and SOCKS everyday. Check your special schedule for Gym days.
**We were hot and sweaty, but we survived the heat and humidity this week. The students were real troopers!! Although the temperature and humidity will come down next week, you can continue to send a water bottle with your child.
** Don't forget to send a healthy snack each day.
**I am working on setting up our on line activities, SPELLING CITY, XTRAMATH, READING EGGS and some new activities. Currently, STARFALL.COM is up and running. Please stay tuned.
**Irving's Back to School Party/Movie is next Friday, September 6th from 5:30-9:00 pm. at Barrie Park.
**OPEN HOUSE/CURRICULUM NIGHT is Thursday, September 12th from 6:30-8:30 pm. More info is forthcoming.
**NO SCHOOL on Monday, September 2nd--Labor Day.
This week:
It was all about routines, expectations and meeting new people. Yes, I talked a lot!! Our daily special area schedule is slowly talking shape. The students met with their special area teachers. They are getting to know each other and fostering new friendships. The students learned how to earn an individual and class EAGLE SLIP as part of our school wide PBIS Behavior Initiative. Our Eagle Essentials are....Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe, Be Peaceful Everywhere.....and have FUN!
Reading: In our first week of school, the students began a 3 week prep in our Treasures Reading Series called Smart Start. This year District 97 will be joining with other Illinois school districts as well as other states nationwide in adopting the Common Core Standards of Learning. I will share information on this during Curriculum Night. Our Kindergarten Team is using Treasures along with other materials to ensure that each standard is taught and assessed. Students used their language skills by responding to a daily warm up question. They worked on their listening comprehension skills and making predictions and connections by listening and responding to the Big Book story, "Animals in the Park-An ABC Book." The students worked on identifying the sequence of sounds in the rhyme, "Hey Diddle Diddle." The students identified letters Aa, Bb. Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg and Hh and worked on sound recognition. The students were introduced to the sight words, I, am, yes, no and go. They learned to play the Hands Up, Hands Down Game to help reinforce letter recognition. The students learned what a character is in a story. They also worked on telling about where the story happened. (setting) The students read their first paper story called, "I Run." They began learning about using their pointing finger to read the word and picture. Exciting!!!!!
The students are also using the Haggerty Blue Book to assist in letter and sound recognition, rhyming, upper and lowercase recognition and how many words are in a given sentence.
Math: The students were introduce to calendar activities. Using a ten frame, the students will count and place a dot on the frame for each day they are in school. When we get to 100--PARTY!!!
Our problem of the day was about positional words. The students worked in small group workstations on"egg carton math," "number /picture match." and one to one correspondence frames to 5. They also learned to play the counting and number recognition game, "Got It" with a partner. The students also explored geo boards, pattern blocks, unifix cubes and simple plain shapes.
Writing: The students discussed what a school journal was and how to use it and what to put in it. They also began work on strengthening pencil grasp. They practiced writing their names. Students worked in their journal drawing and even trying to write a word or two. Most students were able to talk about the picture they drew in their journal entry.
Literature: "You're Finally Here," "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books," "Kindergarten Rocks," "Who Will Be My Teacher This Year?" "Curious George--First Day of School," "School Days Around the World," "In My World," "Wemberly Worried," "How Will I Get to School This Year?" "Hungry for Numbers."
Thursday, July 11, 2013
SUMMER UPDATES July 2013
**Hope you all are continuing to enjoy your summer activities. Our playground is progressing! The markers are being set for our new equipment and some cement has been poured. The area for our new soccer field is being leveled. It is all very exciting. Lots of BIG trucks and equipment! It is really fun to watch all the action!
**Our garden plot continues to explode with cucumber blossoms. Our nasturtiums are blooming. Pick some and put them in your salad. Along with all the spices that are ready, you can come and pick baby celery, lots of green beans, swiss chard, kale, chives and lettuce. Go ahead and observe the squash blossoms, tiny baby green peppers, lots of baby green tomatoes and dill. I have been putting mint in my ice tea and made a great pesto salad with the basil. Enjoy!
** What you reading? How is "20,000 Reads Under the Sea" going? Are you "Splashing into Math?"
**Our garden plot continues to explode with cucumber blossoms. Our nasturtiums are blooming. Pick some and put them in your salad. Along with all the spices that are ready, you can come and pick baby celery, lots of green beans, swiss chard, kale, chives and lettuce. Go ahead and observe the squash blossoms, tiny baby green peppers, lots of baby green tomatoes and dill. I have been putting mint in my ice tea and made a great pesto salad with the basil. Enjoy!
** What you reading? How is "20,000 Reads Under the Sea" going? Are you "Splashing into Math?"
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
SUMMER UPDATES June 2013
**Greetings students and parents! I hope you are enjoying your summer so far. I have had the chance to see some of you. (Splash, splash!) Our playground is really progressing! It is amazing the amount of work that has been done in a short time. Stop by and have a look. Lots of big trucks and equipment. Our garden is really looking great! The cucumbers are branching out. The nasturtiums have many wagon wheel leaves. The carrots have been thinned. (Thanks, Gurgas/Chiens!) The basil can be picked! Make some pesto! There is also sage, mint and parsley. Get out and enjoy the weather. It is going to get hot! Now it will really be time for swimming! Stay tuned.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
CHEER, CHEER....IT'S BEEN AN AWESOME YEAR!!!
Check out our last project of the year. Click here to read the story.
**Our last week of Kindergarten was one of fun, reflection and love. The students were able to review all they know and think about what is to come next year. They are all ready to be First Graders! We had a great get together on Friday, a Million Minutes of reading our books, a ground breaking ceremony for our new playground and ........the end of the year teacher dance! I will be updating you on our growing garden throughout the summer and let you know when you can come to harvest the veggies and spices. Happy summer to all of you!!
**Our last week of Kindergarten was one of fun, reflection and love. The students were able to review all they know and think about what is to come next year. They are all ready to be First Graders! We had a great get together on Friday, a Million Minutes of reading our books, a ground breaking ceremony for our new playground and ........the end of the year teacher dance! I will be updating you on our growing garden throughout the summer and let you know when you can come to harvest the veggies and spices. Happy summer to all of you!!
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