The temperature is dropping and the snow is falling! The students had a spectacular week culminating in our 18th Annual Gingerbread cookie baking! What a success for students and parent volunteers! The smell of gingerbread filled the school. The cookies themselves were really works of art. The students worked together, created and shared some of their cookies with each other. Tis the season! A HUGE THANKS to our great parent volunteers--Ms. Wojcik, Mr. Smyth, Ms. Barnett, Mr. Bernacchi, Ms. Quinones and our beloved Ms. Jack for their help. Hope you enjoyed the cookies too.
**Report cards will go home on Monday, December 9th. Please read the information included to better understand the grading system. Lexia reports are also included as well as any goal updates by specialists your child may be seeing in the area of the speech and language or Tier 3 Intervention for Reading Readiness. If you have any questions please contact me. The common core standards and grading system is a big change for all of us (me included!) It continues to be a work in progress. The main idea to remember is that this is growth model of progress toward an end of the year goal.
**If you didn't get a chance to hear our class version of the Brown Bear story--check it out at the end of this blog post. Totally cute!
**Our WINTER CONCERT is fast approaching. Please join us for the Kindergarten/Grade 1 concert on Friday, December 20th. The students will perform twice--8:15 am and again at 9:45 am in the Irving Auditorium. We will have a family reception after both concerts in our classroom. Come see your child perform and join us for some treats and community!
**The Irving Cookie Crumble and craft Fair is Saturday, December 14th from 9-12 pm in the lunchroom and hallways. There are really great things to buy for every age. I went last year and bought cool stocking stuffers.....and COOKIES!!!!
**The Geography Challenge #3 is on for a few more days.
**School is closed--December 21st-January 5th-WiNTER BREAK! School reopens on Monday, January 6th.
**We have begun our cross curricular unit on Celebrations and Traditions. Our first guest speaker was Julia's mom. Ms. Heisler spoke about her native country of Ukraine. We located it on our world map. She read a story in Russian which Julia helped translate into English! Cool! Julia came dressed in a beautiful skirt and shirt with cool blue needle work. Ms. Heisler spoke about particular holiday traditions and the students made Ukrainian flags and paper dolls dressed like Julia and boys dressed dressed in native clothing found in one of the story books. Thanks so much, Ms. Heisler and Julia! If have a particular holiday or winter tradition you would like to share with the class---email me and we can set up a time for you to come in. Kindergarten students LOVE to have their parents come to the classroom!!
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey worked with the students on asking and answering questions using an activity where students try to guess an animal that Ms. Bell Bey is thinking about by asking questions as clues.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer continued his activity on dots and letters--visual imagery and perception.
This week:
It was all about celebrations, traditions and gingerbread. The students talked about what a tradition was--activities that are done routinely at the same time every year and are passed down thru generations. I spoke about my family traditions at holiday time and my school tradition of making gingerbread with my students at this time of year. The students made connections in their own lives and related activities that they do every year at this time. We did a little research on how the activity of gingerbread making began and why it is so popular this time of year. Ginger was a valuable spice a long time ago traced back to the Greeks and Romans. A cake like treat was made of ginger. As time went on, Europeans began using flour, ginger and other spices to create cookies, cakes and houses. The students began listening to some stories about various gingerbread characters. We will continue our story listening and compare and contrast the characters and plots in the coming weeks.
Reading/Social Studies: The students are working to complete Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students built background knowledge about the different ways wheels are used to move people and things around. They worked on their listening comprehension while listening to David Shannon's story, "Duck on a Bike," read both in English and in Spanish. Students identified the characters and the plot (what is happening in the story.) They took a closer look at the way the story is organized (a beginning, a middle and an ending), and responded to the story by discussing the connections that can be made from the story to their daily lives. (I can ride a bike.) (I see kids riding bikes in my neighborhood.) The students reviewed target sounds Tt and Short i and used their elkonin boxes and cubes to segment and blend 4 letter words. Lots of discussion on nouns and action words. The students worked with partners to create noun/verb sentences using picture cards. The students were introduced to Consonant Blends and Digraphs. Do you know the difference? Ask your child! Our Robust Vocabulary for this week included ADVENTURE, WHEELS, ATTACH, HAUL, MASSIVE. The students read their pre decodable story "I See a Truck Go" and made predictions about story content. The students listened to the thinking story, "Timimoto" and discussed the storytellers message. Workstation activities this week included recording their reading using the app iTalk and playing it back to hear themselves (beginning fluency checks,) leveled reading comprehension, creating sentences using the target words Go and See, read it and add to it activity, sound match, air, land and water vehicles graph/comparison, asking and answering questions about a trip you might like to take.
Math: The students continued work on rote counting to 75. The students continue to work in their calendar books on recording numbers, sequencing numbers, counting on from a random number and recording ways to say a number (number combinations.) The students are also using tally marks to show how many. They are using pattern blocks to count quantities and also using them for patterning. This week, the students learned how to play "Roll a Gingerbread Man." They will play at home for homework.
Writing: The students completed work on forming their "Magic C" capitals--C, O, Q, G, S. They applied what they learned in their orange practice book. Ms. Chinn is continuing to work with the student in Writer's Workshop. This weeks focus was on an exercise called "Stars" and "Wishes." Each student shared a piece of writing/illustrating from their folder. The class critiqued the sample. What did they like? What was your favorite detail? They also made suggestions to enhance the piece. I wanted to hear more about...... What about a picture of...... The students were gracious and offered up many compliments and suggestions. Students helping each other become better writers!
Technology: In the area of reading small group and individual work the students used the apps Magnetic Letters to complete writing assignments relating to their leveled reading, Sound Sort for initial sound/picture practice and Montessori Crossword for blending and segmenting sounds. One group of students used the app iTalk to record their reading for fluency and clarity. It is very fun to hear what you sound like! In math, small group and individual work centered around the apps Number Find, Monster Squeeze, Math Bug and the introduction of Starfall Gingerbread for patterning, identifying and describing shapes.
Literature: "Ginger Bear," "The Gingerbread Man," ""Duck on a Bike," "Gingerbread Man," Poetry--"My Bike, ""Riding the Subway Train," "Celebrations Around the World," "Hibernation," "Animals in Winter," "The Story of Hannukah," "The Gingerbread Boy."
Monday, December 9, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Sunday, November 24, 2013
UPDATES for 11/18-11/22 2013
**It was a week of reflection for the students and myself. We all thought about what we are thankful for. The students and I are thankful for a number of things, the most important is family. I am thankful for this class of students for their dedication to their education. Our class is thankful for our volunteer, Ms. D., who volunteers her time to work with individual students and small groups. Our class is thankful for each other and all the great budding friendships between students and their families. I am very thankful for the great support and help from my kindergarten families. You truly make a difference! Please enjoy your family time together as I will.
**No School--November 27-29-Thanksgiving Observance.
**PBIS All School BINGO GAME on Monday, November 25th from 2-2:55 pm. Our Book Buddies will be along to help us.
**The students will be making BEAR PAW SNACKS on Monday as part of their culminating activity. We will have regular and gluten free dough. We will also be making butter.
**Our students will be researching a question they developed as a result of their study of BEARS. Our Book Buddies helped them write their question. The research project with explanation and guide lines will be sent home on Tuesday. The students have been working on research vocabulary. Their special words are also in their homework folder for review.
**TEDDY BEAR DAY on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26th. Please have your child bring in their teddy bear or other favorite stuffed animal. We will do a special writing activity with our pals.
**Route to Reading Rotation 3 will begin on Tuesday, December 3rd. At that time, you will receive information on the skill your child will be working on.
**The students were treated to a spectacular program by the African Drummers from Senegal. These talented men played 2 types of drums, danced and shared with the students some facts about Africa and the country of Senegal. A shout out to Anayla and Ethan who were chosen as student dancers!
**The students made signs and cheered on friends and family during the TURKEY TROT last Thursday. It was great fun!
**Hope you had fun at the "JAMMIE JAM" last Friday. Some very smooth moves were observed on the dance floor! I had a great time. My nieces were a little shy at the beginning, but they warmed up to the music by our own, Mr. Williams. I hear Student Council raised more than $1000 dollars!
**New Eagle Extras brochure is in your child's homework folder. Some very cool classes are being offered. There is a brand new Lego class and soccer class.
**The 14th Annual Cookie Crumble and Craft Fair is Saturday, December 14th from 9-12 pm in the lunchroom. See the info sheet in your child's homework folder.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!! We have one volunteer (Thanks, Ms. Wojcik) but need at least 3-4 more for our annual GINGERBREAD COOKIE BAKING on Friday, December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm. I will provide the dough (regular and gluten free) and all the fixings. Volunteers will provide baking sheets, spatulas and oven mitts. No experience needed. We will roll, cut, decorate, bake and even eat some! The rest will be packed up for home. Please email if you can help!
**REPORT CARDS go home on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6th.
**SAVE THE DATE!! The Kindergarten/Grade One Winter Concert is Friday, December 20th. The students will be performing twice--First concert is at 8:15 am--the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am. There will be some kind of reception for family and friends planned. Stay tuned for more details.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey worked with the students on staying safe at school strategies.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer worked on visual /spatial thinking and creativity using dots and the story, "Ten Black Dots" by Donald Crews.
This week:
It was all about research basics for little ones! Ms. Noonan worked with the students on beginning with a question or something you want to find out and then how you find a source to help answer your question. The students will finish up the tutorial next week and begin their project at home. The students photographed their illustration and practiced reading their words for their talking book. It should be ready soon! What fun! We are almost at the end of our Bear Unit. This cross curricular theme provided lots of activities for reading, writing, math and science. Our station day activities included creating bear caves using recyclable materials, think, create, count and record pattern block activity, count, build and record with unifix cubes and creating words with a word family tree.
Reading/Social Studies: The students continue to work in Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students built background knowledge on their travels near and far. They listened to the Big Book story,"On The Go." They observed how people travel from one place to another and the vehicles they used. We looked up each country on our world map. The students asked and answer questions about the types vehicles used in other countries. In their comprehension study, the students compared, contrasted and categorized the types of travel and vehicles. The sight words go and see were reviewed. The students worked on their target sound short i. The students continue to review the use of action words in texts. Our Robust Vocabulary this week included TRAVEL, JOURNEY, PREPARE, RELAX, FAMILIAR. The students used their elkonin boxes to segment and blend 3 letter words. The students read their pre decodable story, "Go, Go, Go." They made predictions about story content and sound blended words unknown. During an interactive writing exercise, the students made pop up signs using the word Go to help cheer on kids they knew in the Turkey Trot. We read two poems on transportation--"The Bike," and "Riding the Subway." The students noticed the rhyming in both and track the words as I read them. The students worked with partners to create sentence with their words and pictures. The students also worked on a common core assessment using a Venn diagram to compare two characters in two different stories. Our workstations included creating sentences using Go and See, using post its to graph how they travel to school, reader's response about a story and drawing and labeling illustrations, rainbow writing with target words, change a letter activity to create a new word, leveled reader comprehension and fluency check and fill in the word to complete the sentence with a partner.
Math: The students continue to work on rote counting to 100 and beyond. Our focus counting this week was up to 60. Students are really beginning to see the relationship between using their ten frames and counting by 10's. They worked on activities with partners on counting quantities to 20 using different object. Math workshop activities included pattern block recognition and exploring design, counting on from a random number, naming what comes before a certain number and after it,
working with teen numbers--how many complete ten frames? how many left over?
Writing: The students have finished work on Starting Corner Capital letters-HKLUVWXYZ. They applied what they learned in their orange practice book. They continue to work in their yellow journals. They are beginning to be more aware of where they write their upper and lowercase letters. We had a discussion about tall lowercase letters and lowercase letters that fall below the line. Good questions! Many students are beginning their sentence with an uppercase letter. They continue to work on spacing between words in a sentence and using an ending mark.
Technology: In reading, student small groups and individuals used the apps Sight Words, iWrite Words, ABC Magic 5 and Magnetic Board to practice their sight words. In math, student small groups and individuals used the apps Dot-to-Dot Lite, Animal Count, Easy Match, Monster Squeeze and Number Find in their studies. The students continue to work with the app Sonic Pics to take a picture of their work and record their sentences for our talking book.
Literature: "Hugless Douglas," "On The Go," Chrysanthemum," Wemberly Worried," "Leaf Man," "Bear," "Polar Bear," Hibernation Station," "Bears All Around," "Blueberries for Sal."
**No School--November 27-29-Thanksgiving Observance.
**PBIS All School BINGO GAME on Monday, November 25th from 2-2:55 pm. Our Book Buddies will be along to help us.
**The students will be making BEAR PAW SNACKS on Monday as part of their culminating activity. We will have regular and gluten free dough. We will also be making butter.
**Our students will be researching a question they developed as a result of their study of BEARS. Our Book Buddies helped them write their question. The research project with explanation and guide lines will be sent home on Tuesday. The students have been working on research vocabulary. Their special words are also in their homework folder for review.
**TEDDY BEAR DAY on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26th. Please have your child bring in their teddy bear or other favorite stuffed animal. We will do a special writing activity with our pals.
**Route to Reading Rotation 3 will begin on Tuesday, December 3rd. At that time, you will receive information on the skill your child will be working on.
**The students were treated to a spectacular program by the African Drummers from Senegal. These talented men played 2 types of drums, danced and shared with the students some facts about Africa and the country of Senegal. A shout out to Anayla and Ethan who were chosen as student dancers!
**The students made signs and cheered on friends and family during the TURKEY TROT last Thursday. It was great fun!
**Hope you had fun at the "JAMMIE JAM" last Friday. Some very smooth moves were observed on the dance floor! I had a great time. My nieces were a little shy at the beginning, but they warmed up to the music by our own, Mr. Williams. I hear Student Council raised more than $1000 dollars!
**New Eagle Extras brochure is in your child's homework folder. Some very cool classes are being offered. There is a brand new Lego class and soccer class.
**The 14th Annual Cookie Crumble and Craft Fair is Saturday, December 14th from 9-12 pm in the lunchroom. See the info sheet in your child's homework folder.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!! We have one volunteer (Thanks, Ms. Wojcik) but need at least 3-4 more for our annual GINGERBREAD COOKIE BAKING on Friday, December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm. I will provide the dough (regular and gluten free) and all the fixings. Volunteers will provide baking sheets, spatulas and oven mitts. No experience needed. We will roll, cut, decorate, bake and even eat some! The rest will be packed up for home. Please email if you can help!
**REPORT CARDS go home on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6th.
**SAVE THE DATE!! The Kindergarten/Grade One Winter Concert is Friday, December 20th. The students will be performing twice--First concert is at 8:15 am--the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am. There will be some kind of reception for family and friends planned. Stay tuned for more details.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey worked with the students on staying safe at school strategies.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer worked on visual /spatial thinking and creativity using dots and the story, "Ten Black Dots" by Donald Crews.
This week:
It was all about research basics for little ones! Ms. Noonan worked with the students on beginning with a question or something you want to find out and then how you find a source to help answer your question. The students will finish up the tutorial next week and begin their project at home. The students photographed their illustration and practiced reading their words for their talking book. It should be ready soon! What fun! We are almost at the end of our Bear Unit. This cross curricular theme provided lots of activities for reading, writing, math and science. Our station day activities included creating bear caves using recyclable materials, think, create, count and record pattern block activity, count, build and record with unifix cubes and creating words with a word family tree.
Reading/Social Studies: The students continue to work in Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students built background knowledge on their travels near and far. They listened to the Big Book story,"On The Go." They observed how people travel from one place to another and the vehicles they used. We looked up each country on our world map. The students asked and answer questions about the types vehicles used in other countries. In their comprehension study, the students compared, contrasted and categorized the types of travel and vehicles. The sight words go and see were reviewed. The students worked on their target sound short i. The students continue to review the use of action words in texts. Our Robust Vocabulary this week included TRAVEL, JOURNEY, PREPARE, RELAX, FAMILIAR. The students used their elkonin boxes to segment and blend 3 letter words. The students read their pre decodable story, "Go, Go, Go." They made predictions about story content and sound blended words unknown. During an interactive writing exercise, the students made pop up signs using the word Go to help cheer on kids they knew in the Turkey Trot. We read two poems on transportation--"The Bike," and "Riding the Subway." The students noticed the rhyming in both and track the words as I read them. The students worked with partners to create sentence with their words and pictures. The students also worked on a common core assessment using a Venn diagram to compare two characters in two different stories. Our workstations included creating sentences using Go and See, using post its to graph how they travel to school, reader's response about a story and drawing and labeling illustrations, rainbow writing with target words, change a letter activity to create a new word, leveled reader comprehension and fluency check and fill in the word to complete the sentence with a partner.
Math: The students continue to work on rote counting to 100 and beyond. Our focus counting this week was up to 60. Students are really beginning to see the relationship between using their ten frames and counting by 10's. They worked on activities with partners on counting quantities to 20 using different object. Math workshop activities included pattern block recognition and exploring design, counting on from a random number, naming what comes before a certain number and after it,
working with teen numbers--how many complete ten frames? how many left over?
Writing: The students have finished work on Starting Corner Capital letters-HKLUVWXYZ. They applied what they learned in their orange practice book. They continue to work in their yellow journals. They are beginning to be more aware of where they write their upper and lowercase letters. We had a discussion about tall lowercase letters and lowercase letters that fall below the line. Good questions! Many students are beginning their sentence with an uppercase letter. They continue to work on spacing between words in a sentence and using an ending mark.
Technology: In reading, student small groups and individuals used the apps Sight Words, iWrite Words, ABC Magic 5 and Magnetic Board to practice their sight words. In math, student small groups and individuals used the apps Dot-to-Dot Lite, Animal Count, Easy Match, Monster Squeeze and Number Find in their studies. The students continue to work with the app Sonic Pics to take a picture of their work and record their sentences for our talking book.
Literature: "Hugless Douglas," "On The Go," Chrysanthemum," Wemberly Worried," "Leaf Man," "Bear," "Polar Bear," Hibernation Station," "Bears All Around," "Blueberries for Sal."
Sunday, November 17, 2013
UPDATES for 11/12-11/15 2013
**Chilly temperatures were felt by all. The trees are beginning to look very bare. The students collected their leaves for our class leaf sort. The students categorized leaves by their color, shape and texture. We had leaves that were colorful, spotted, purple, tan, yellow, red, orange, brown, green, white and pointy. Random students were chosen to write a label for each grouping. Smile for the group photo! We will use the leaves for other projects this week.
**Our Field Trip to Brookfield Zoo was awesome! We had a beautiful day to walk around and see the world of animals. The students spent their free time exploring the world of big cars, monkeys, rhinos, kangaroos, penguins, bison, snakes, gorillas and gorilla babies to name a few and participated in various activities at the Hamill Family Play Zoo. At the Great Bear Wilderness Exhibit, the students enjoyed a classroom experience. The instructor guided us through an introduction on bears of all kinds, looking at artifacts and providing activities where the students could compare themselves to the height of each type of bear. The students saw a black bear skull, touched black bear and polar bear fur and experimented with a grizzly paw print and compared it to their own hand. The students then went out on a guided tour of the bear grotto. How exciting it was for the students to view a grizzly bear right up against the glass staring right at us!! The students also saw some sleeping bears and a large polar bear. The students enjoyed a picnic lunch and some play time at the play lot. Ben's dad took lots of photos. I will post some of them soon. A HUGE shout out to our volunteers B. Barnett B. Ahring, H. Lim, T. Smyth, L. Pierre, S. Jun, E. Rodriguez and Ms. Cummings (Reid's grandma.)
**This Friday is the "JAMMIE JAM" from 6:30-8:00 pm. sponsored by Student Council. Come in your pajamas and dance the night away for a good cause. Student Council is raising money to purchase pajamas for children who have prolonged hospital stays. The cost is $5.00. Hope to see you there!
**The PTO will sponsor an African Drumming Concert on Wednesday, November 20th at 1:00 pm. in the gym. This is an all school event.
**The 3rd thru 5th Grade Turkey Trot will be held on Thursday, November 1st at 2:00 pm. Who will win the turkey??? Our students will be make signs and posters and cheer them on. Some of the runners are our Book Buddies!!
**Trimester 1 has ended. Follow up assessments are going on now. Our new standards based report cards will go out on Friday, December 6th.
**Our school wide PBIS Celebration will feature a school wide BINGO game on Monday, November 25th from 2-3 pm. Our Book Buddies will join us.
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 has concluded. There will be a one week break to complete all assessments for our report card. Route to Reading Rotation 3 will begin on Tuesday, December 3rd.
**NO SCHOOL Wednesday-Friday, November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!!! I have 1 volunteer but need about 4 more for our annual GINGERBREAD COOKIE BAKING on Friday, December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm. I will provide all dough (regular and gluten free) and sprinkles. Volunteers will provide baking sheets, spatulas, oven mitts. No experience needed!! We will roll, cut, decorate, bake and even eat one! Email me if interested!
**SAVE the DATE!! The Kindergarten/Grade One Winter Concert is Friday, December 20th. Because of the size of our auditorium, our concert will be held twice--first performance is at 8:15 am--the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am. There will be some kind of a reception for family. Our room parents will be planning it!
This week:
It was all about preparation for our zoo trip. The students continued their research and fact finding. They reviewed facts about black and brown bears. The students worked on a group Venn diagram comparing black and brown bears. They also gathered facts about polar bear characteristics, habitat and food. The students continue work on their talking storybook project--their version of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" With illustrations completed, the students are practicing their reading and recoding their words on the app Sonic Pics. It will be ready for publishing soon. Stay tuned!
Reading/Social Studies: The students have begun work on Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students discussed what is meant by transportation--a way to move people and things from one place to another. They brainstormed ways they get around and discussed forms of transportation that move fast and slow. They listened tot he Big Book story, "A Bus for Us." They made predictions about story content. After the story was read, the students asked and answered questions about key details in the story. The students took turns using the retelling cards to retell the story in small groups. The students made connections in their own lives about various vehicles showcased in the story. The sight words go and see were introduced. Our target sounds for the week are Tt and short i. Students worked on activities surrounding the sound of Tt at the beginning and ending of words and listening for short i in the middle of targeted words. The students worked on sound blending 3 letter words and used their elkonin boxes to segment each sound. Robust Vocabulary this week included TRANSPORTATION, VEHICLE, RAPIDLY, GLIDE, CONTINUE. The students worked with partners on their fluency reading aloud their pre decodable story, "I See Sam." The students worked on common core standard activities using the text, "Little Bear." Workstations this week included writing a sentence using go and see, CVC segment-sort, readers response--read and discuss, initial consonant review, "how do you go to school?"--graph and compare, rainbow word write, leveled readers--comprehension and fluency check.
Math: The students worked on rote counting to 50, sequencing numbers, finding the missing number and choosing the number that comes before and after a given number. They continue to work on teen numbers in their ten frames, reviewing basic and pattern block shapes and counting quantities to 20.
Writing: Students were busy this week writing their sentence to their "Brown Bear" story. They also continue to work on their journal prompts. The students are really working on where to put their upper and lowercase letters and starting with a capital letter and ending with a period. They continue to use their inventive spelling.
Technology: Students are using the app Sonic Pics to record their sentence for the talking book. No new apps were introduced this week.
Literature: "Leaf Man," "time to Sleep," "Bears," "Polar Bear," "Hibernation Station," "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" "Sleep Big Bear, Sleep," "Follow the Polar Bears," "Don't Wake Up the Bear," "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?"
**Our Field Trip to Brookfield Zoo was awesome! We had a beautiful day to walk around and see the world of animals. The students spent their free time exploring the world of big cars, monkeys, rhinos, kangaroos, penguins, bison, snakes, gorillas and gorilla babies to name a few and participated in various activities at the Hamill Family Play Zoo. At the Great Bear Wilderness Exhibit, the students enjoyed a classroom experience. The instructor guided us through an introduction on bears of all kinds, looking at artifacts and providing activities where the students could compare themselves to the height of each type of bear. The students saw a black bear skull, touched black bear and polar bear fur and experimented with a grizzly paw print and compared it to their own hand. The students then went out on a guided tour of the bear grotto. How exciting it was for the students to view a grizzly bear right up against the glass staring right at us!! The students also saw some sleeping bears and a large polar bear. The students enjoyed a picnic lunch and some play time at the play lot. Ben's dad took lots of photos. I will post some of them soon. A HUGE shout out to our volunteers B. Barnett B. Ahring, H. Lim, T. Smyth, L. Pierre, S. Jun, E. Rodriguez and Ms. Cummings (Reid's grandma.)
**This Friday is the "JAMMIE JAM" from 6:30-8:00 pm. sponsored by Student Council. Come in your pajamas and dance the night away for a good cause. Student Council is raising money to purchase pajamas for children who have prolonged hospital stays. The cost is $5.00. Hope to see you there!
**The PTO will sponsor an African Drumming Concert on Wednesday, November 20th at 1:00 pm. in the gym. This is an all school event.
**The 3rd thru 5th Grade Turkey Trot will be held on Thursday, November 1st at 2:00 pm. Who will win the turkey??? Our students will be make signs and posters and cheer them on. Some of the runners are our Book Buddies!!
**Trimester 1 has ended. Follow up assessments are going on now. Our new standards based report cards will go out on Friday, December 6th.
**Our school wide PBIS Celebration will feature a school wide BINGO game on Monday, November 25th from 2-3 pm. Our Book Buddies will join us.
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 has concluded. There will be a one week break to complete all assessments for our report card. Route to Reading Rotation 3 will begin on Tuesday, December 3rd.
**NO SCHOOL Wednesday-Friday, November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!!! I have 1 volunteer but need about 4 more for our annual GINGERBREAD COOKIE BAKING on Friday, December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm. I will provide all dough (regular and gluten free) and sprinkles. Volunteers will provide baking sheets, spatulas, oven mitts. No experience needed!! We will roll, cut, decorate, bake and even eat one! Email me if interested!
**SAVE the DATE!! The Kindergarten/Grade One Winter Concert is Friday, December 20th. Because of the size of our auditorium, our concert will be held twice--first performance is at 8:15 am--the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am. There will be some kind of a reception for family. Our room parents will be planning it!
This week:
It was all about preparation for our zoo trip. The students continued their research and fact finding. They reviewed facts about black and brown bears. The students worked on a group Venn diagram comparing black and brown bears. They also gathered facts about polar bear characteristics, habitat and food. The students continue work on their talking storybook project--their version of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" With illustrations completed, the students are practicing their reading and recoding their words on the app Sonic Pics. It will be ready for publishing soon. Stay tuned!
Reading/Social Studies: The students have begun work on Unit 3 Transportation in our Treasures Reading series. The students discussed what is meant by transportation--a way to move people and things from one place to another. They brainstormed ways they get around and discussed forms of transportation that move fast and slow. They listened tot he Big Book story, "A Bus for Us." They made predictions about story content. After the story was read, the students asked and answered questions about key details in the story. The students took turns using the retelling cards to retell the story in small groups. The students made connections in their own lives about various vehicles showcased in the story. The sight words go and see were introduced. Our target sounds for the week are Tt and short i. Students worked on activities surrounding the sound of Tt at the beginning and ending of words and listening for short i in the middle of targeted words. The students worked on sound blending 3 letter words and used their elkonin boxes to segment each sound. Robust Vocabulary this week included TRANSPORTATION, VEHICLE, RAPIDLY, GLIDE, CONTINUE. The students worked with partners on their fluency reading aloud their pre decodable story, "I See Sam." The students worked on common core standard activities using the text, "Little Bear." Workstations this week included writing a sentence using go and see, CVC segment-sort, readers response--read and discuss, initial consonant review, "how do you go to school?"--graph and compare, rainbow word write, leveled readers--comprehension and fluency check.
Math: The students worked on rote counting to 50, sequencing numbers, finding the missing number and choosing the number that comes before and after a given number. They continue to work on teen numbers in their ten frames, reviewing basic and pattern block shapes and counting quantities to 20.
Writing: Students were busy this week writing their sentence to their "Brown Bear" story. They also continue to work on their journal prompts. The students are really working on where to put their upper and lowercase letters and starting with a capital letter and ending with a period. They continue to use their inventive spelling.
Technology: Students are using the app Sonic Pics to record their sentence for the talking book. No new apps were introduced this week.
Literature: "Leaf Man," "time to Sleep," "Bears," "Polar Bear," "Hibernation Station," "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" "Sleep Big Bear, Sleep," "Follow the Polar Bears," "Don't Wake Up the Bear," "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?"
Monday, November 11, 2013
UPDATES for 11/4-11/8 2013
**Our 50th day in school was fun. Bobby socks, ponytails, fancy skirts and dresses, blue jeans, slick back hair and tees----cool man! The students compared and contrasted the 1950's and the present via a Venn diagram. They enjoyed pudding floats and danced to the music of the 50's. Hey, these kids have some moves!!! They worked on math and literacy learning stations surrounding the number 50. The countdown continues. Only 50 more days to go until our 100th day celebration!
**Our BROOKFIELD ZOO FIELD TRIP is Friday, November 15th. Please send in all money and permission slips ASAP! Please read the yellow sheet that was sent home. Dress for the weather--bag lunch with name on it. Students and teachers ride the school bus. All volunteers will carpool. Thanks to T. Smyth, B. Ahring, Ms. Cummings (Reid's Grandma) B. Barnett, L. Pierre, S. Jun, H. Lim, and E. Rodriguez for volunteering their time to come on the trip. We will be leaving at 9:00 am and returning to school at 2:00 pm. Our trip includes a classroom experience and tour of the Bear Grotto, picnic lunch and time on your own to see other exhibits.
**Come to the "JAMMIE JAM" sponsored by Student Council. It will be held on Friday, November 22nd from 6:30-8:00 pm. in the gym. The admission of $5.00 will go toward purchasing pajamas for children with prolonged hospital stays. Don't forget to fill out the confirmation sheet and send it back to school. I'll be there--might have to get a new pair of jammies for the occasion. Come join in the fun and dance the night away for a good cause.
**The Geography Challenge has sure been fun! Congratulations to our own Jayden and Ethan for having their answers picked this week. Students have already begun taking the next challenge. Thanks, Gina for the map of the Great Lakes--hint, hint!!!
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 will conclude on Thursday. At that time, you will receive information on your child's skill mastery.
**Beginning this week and continuing for the next 5 weeks, our class will take part in Ms. Chinn's Writer's Workshop that will provide tips and strategies for our budding kindergarten writers. Language Arts Specialist, Ms. Chinn, will guide the students through a series of lessons to boost their thinking and writing potential.
**No Friendship Club this week. Ms. Bell Bey had a meeting.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer continued his interactive activities on the concepts greater than and less than.
**No School Wednesday, Thursday, Friday--November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance. Let me know if your child needs a travel journal.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!! We will need several volunteers for our annual gingerbread cookie baking on Friday, December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm. No experience necessary. Create, decorate, bake and share. Email if interested. This activity is part of our cross curricular unit on Celebrations and Traditions. I will provide the dough---regular and gluten free and sprinkles!
**SAVE the DATE! Our WINTER CONCERT featuring Kindergarten and First Grade is Friday, December 20th. Due to the size of our auditorium, our concert will be held twice---first performance is at 8:15 am---the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am. The students are already practicing!!!!
This week:
It was all about our beginning BEAR inquiry. The students listed what they knew about bears. The students gathered information from books and the internet about characteristics that all bears share. The students were excited to learn that humans share something in common with bears--they are both mammals. The students found out that the black bear is the most common bear in North America. They read about where they are found, their habitats, characteristics and food. Our nature table has a black bear skull and jaw bone, black bear fur and claw and some other interesting artifacts courtesy of the Field Museum. The students also noticed some differences between black bears and brown bears (smaller paws and claws.) Stay tuned--more brown bear and polar bear inquiries next week. The students will also work on a talking book project--their version of Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jrs--"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" Station day activities included sponge painted brown bears, build a bear with pattern blocks, black bear growth sequence and sight word activity.
Reading/Social Studies: The students have completed Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series. This weeks lessons centered around friends who solve problems together. The students listened to the story, "Simon and Molly plus Hester." They asked and answered questions and responded to the literature by making connections in their own lives. The students talked about the problem and the solution in the story. The students reviewed all their sight vocabulary thus far. They practiced writing them and using selected words in oral and written sentences. The students reviewed target sounds Pp and Ss and used their sound boxes to mark where they heard the target sound--at the beginning or at the end of the word. The students took turns retelling our story using the retelling cards. In phonemic awareness activities, the students categorized and blended 3 phonemes (individual sounds) to create words. The students read the pre decodable story, "I Like, We Like." They made predictions about story content and practiced reading to a partner. We used our oral vocabulary cards to develop our Robust Vocabulary in the tale from Haiti called, "The Turtle and the Sheep." Our Robust Vocabulary included PROBLEM, SOLVE, GRATEFUL, THOUGHTFUL and INCLUDE. The students thought about what the author's message could be in this tale. Was there a lesson in this story? Some very insightful thoughts from 5 and 6 year olds! In our read aloud folk tale, "The Little Red Hen," the students listened to fluent reading and reoccurring phrases. They worked to sequence event in the story.. Workstations this week included creating sentences 2 friends might say to each other and putting it in a speech bubble or balloon, expressing your feelings, by drawing a picture of yourself happy and sad and writing about what makes you happy or sad, leveled reading and discussion of stories, using the app iWrite to practice writing sight words.
Math: It was all about the number 50! Students worked on a variety of learning station using numbers 1-50. Learning stations included tracing/writing the numbers 1-50, ten frame activities, greater than and less than using random numbers, Top It using numbers 1-50, Monster Squeeze using numbers 1-50 and Race to 50 Game. The students are also working in their Daily Calendar books that contain activities on counting on, sequencing numbers, number combinations, ways to say a number and working with number families.
Writing: Students are working on their Starting Corner Capital letters H, K, L, W and V. They used their wooden pieces to assist in their learning along with their mini chalkboards and sponges. The students have finished the writing and illustrating portion of their fact book on pumpkins and are now in the process of orally recording their sentences. The students are beginning to use more lowercase letters in their writing and are beginning to be more consistent in placement of upper and lowercase letters on lined paper. Students continue to use their inventive spelling and their sight vocabulary to create sentences.
Technology: In reading, students continue to use the apps mentioned last week in small groups and individually. Students have begun recording their sentence from our pumpkin fact book using Story Kit. In math, students continue to use the apps mentioned last week in small groups and individually. Students also used google to look up information on BEARS.
Literature: "Going on a Bear Hunt," "Amazing Bears," "Bears," "Day in the Life of Baby Bear," "Bears in the Forest," "Please Don't Wake the Bear," "Sleep Big Bear, Sleep."
**Our BROOKFIELD ZOO FIELD TRIP is Friday, November 15th. Please send in all money and permission slips ASAP! Please read the yellow sheet that was sent home. Dress for the weather--bag lunch with name on it. Students and teachers ride the school bus. All volunteers will carpool. Thanks to T. Smyth, B. Ahring, Ms. Cummings (Reid's Grandma) B. Barnett, L. Pierre, S. Jun, H. Lim, and E. Rodriguez for volunteering their time to come on the trip. We will be leaving at 9:00 am and returning to school at 2:00 pm. Our trip includes a classroom experience and tour of the Bear Grotto, picnic lunch and time on your own to see other exhibits.
**Come to the "JAMMIE JAM" sponsored by Student Council. It will be held on Friday, November 22nd from 6:30-8:00 pm. in the gym. The admission of $5.00 will go toward purchasing pajamas for children with prolonged hospital stays. Don't forget to fill out the confirmation sheet and send it back to school. I'll be there--might have to get a new pair of jammies for the occasion. Come join in the fun and dance the night away for a good cause.
**The Geography Challenge has sure been fun! Congratulations to our own Jayden and Ethan for having their answers picked this week. Students have already begun taking the next challenge. Thanks, Gina for the map of the Great Lakes--hint, hint!!!
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 will conclude on Thursday. At that time, you will receive information on your child's skill mastery.
**Beginning this week and continuing for the next 5 weeks, our class will take part in Ms. Chinn's Writer's Workshop that will provide tips and strategies for our budding kindergarten writers. Language Arts Specialist, Ms. Chinn, will guide the students through a series of lessons to boost their thinking and writing potential.
**No Friendship Club this week. Ms. Bell Bey had a meeting.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer continued his interactive activities on the concepts greater than and less than.
**No School Wednesday, Thursday, Friday--November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance. Let me know if your child needs a travel journal.
**CALLING ALL COOKS!! We will need several volunteers for our annual gingerbread cookie baking on Friday, December 6th from 12:30-2:55 pm. No experience necessary. Create, decorate, bake and share. Email if interested. This activity is part of our cross curricular unit on Celebrations and Traditions. I will provide the dough---regular and gluten free and sprinkles!
**SAVE the DATE! Our WINTER CONCERT featuring Kindergarten and First Grade is Friday, December 20th. Due to the size of our auditorium, our concert will be held twice---first performance is at 8:15 am---the second repeat performance is at 9:45 am. The students are already practicing!!!!
This week:
It was all about our beginning BEAR inquiry. The students listed what they knew about bears. The students gathered information from books and the internet about characteristics that all bears share. The students were excited to learn that humans share something in common with bears--they are both mammals. The students found out that the black bear is the most common bear in North America. They read about where they are found, their habitats, characteristics and food. Our nature table has a black bear skull and jaw bone, black bear fur and claw and some other interesting artifacts courtesy of the Field Museum. The students also noticed some differences between black bears and brown bears (smaller paws and claws.) Stay tuned--more brown bear and polar bear inquiries next week. The students will also work on a talking book project--their version of Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jrs--"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" Station day activities included sponge painted brown bears, build a bear with pattern blocks, black bear growth sequence and sight word activity.
Reading/Social Studies: The students have completed Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series. This weeks lessons centered around friends who solve problems together. The students listened to the story, "Simon and Molly plus Hester." They asked and answered questions and responded to the literature by making connections in their own lives. The students talked about the problem and the solution in the story. The students reviewed all their sight vocabulary thus far. They practiced writing them and using selected words in oral and written sentences. The students reviewed target sounds Pp and Ss and used their sound boxes to mark where they heard the target sound--at the beginning or at the end of the word. The students took turns retelling our story using the retelling cards. In phonemic awareness activities, the students categorized and blended 3 phonemes (individual sounds) to create words. The students read the pre decodable story, "I Like, We Like." They made predictions about story content and practiced reading to a partner. We used our oral vocabulary cards to develop our Robust Vocabulary in the tale from Haiti called, "The Turtle and the Sheep." Our Robust Vocabulary included PROBLEM, SOLVE, GRATEFUL, THOUGHTFUL and INCLUDE. The students thought about what the author's message could be in this tale. Was there a lesson in this story? Some very insightful thoughts from 5 and 6 year olds! In our read aloud folk tale, "The Little Red Hen," the students listened to fluent reading and reoccurring phrases. They worked to sequence event in the story.. Workstations this week included creating sentences 2 friends might say to each other and putting it in a speech bubble or balloon, expressing your feelings, by drawing a picture of yourself happy and sad and writing about what makes you happy or sad, leveled reading and discussion of stories, using the app iWrite to practice writing sight words.
Math: It was all about the number 50! Students worked on a variety of learning station using numbers 1-50. Learning stations included tracing/writing the numbers 1-50, ten frame activities, greater than and less than using random numbers, Top It using numbers 1-50, Monster Squeeze using numbers 1-50 and Race to 50 Game. The students are also working in their Daily Calendar books that contain activities on counting on, sequencing numbers, number combinations, ways to say a number and working with number families.
Writing: Students are working on their Starting Corner Capital letters H, K, L, W and V. They used their wooden pieces to assist in their learning along with their mini chalkboards and sponges. The students have finished the writing and illustrating portion of their fact book on pumpkins and are now in the process of orally recording their sentences. The students are beginning to use more lowercase letters in their writing and are beginning to be more consistent in placement of upper and lowercase letters on lined paper. Students continue to use their inventive spelling and their sight vocabulary to create sentences.
Technology: In reading, students continue to use the apps mentioned last week in small groups and individually. Students have begun recording their sentence from our pumpkin fact book using Story Kit. In math, students continue to use the apps mentioned last week in small groups and individually. Students also used google to look up information on BEARS.
Literature: "Going on a Bear Hunt," "Amazing Bears," "Bears," "Day in the Life of Baby Bear," "Bears in the Forest," "Please Don't Wake the Bear," "Sleep Big Bear, Sleep."
Monday, November 4, 2013
UPDATES for 10/29-11/1 2013
**Our Halloween was soggy and very wet! That did not prevent us from having great fun! Our students were transformed into butterflies, bats, zombie princes, princesses, ninjas and more! Was that a mummy for a teacher??!! The all school parade traveled up and down our school hallways and in the auditorium. Back in the classroom, we feasted on eye balls and bones (thanks to Blaine's mom!) as well as more traditional fruits and veggies. Thanks to everyone who came out to help. A special shout out to our wonderful room parents!
**Wednesday, November 6th is our 50th Day of School! We will be half way to 100! The students have been doing some comparing and contrasting of the 1950's and the present. This Wednesday, we will mark the day by dressing up like the 50's, having a sock hop and working on math learning stations surrounding the number 50. We will even create a special 50's treat. It will be nut free and gluten free. The students can dress up like the 50's on Wednesday. It can be as simple as a white t shirt and jeans, slicked back hair, a poodle skirt and ponytail.
**Monday, November 4th--Picture retake day.
**The students will participate in a BUS EVACUATION DRILL on Tuesday, November 5th.
**No School Monday, November 11th--Veteran's Day observance.
**Don't forget to send in your permission slip and money for our Field Trip to BROOKFIELD ZOO. Trip is Friday, November 15h. I have one chaperone, but could use 2-3 more. Students and teachers will ride the school bus. Parent chaperones will carpool. We will pay for your parking. The time frame is 8:30 am-2:00 pm. Come join us!
**Students have been taking the "Geography Challenge." Our next challenge question will be revealed on Tuesday. Go Green team!
**On Monday, we will begin our next cross curricular theme--BEARS. We will become Bear Experts. Our field trip will have a special classroom experience! We will turn our nature table into a bear artifacts table. We will be linking our study of bears to common core standards.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey did activities relating to listening and following directions.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr Packer did interactive activity on the concepts Greater Than and Less Than.
**No School Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance.
This week:
This week it was all about bats! We took the fright out of these amazing creatures. The students listened to informational texts as well as fiction texts on bats. They viewed bat skeletons both on line and in picture diagram form. The students learned about bat habitats, bat physiology and bat diets. The students learned that bats and humans have something in common--we are mammals. Ask your child what a mammal is. Students sought information about bat types, bat characteristics (super long fingers and a thumb and baby bats (They are pink and called pups.) The students also read about and viewed a skeleton. Who have more bones--a bay or a 5-6 year old???? the students have been having great fun putting together to the skeleton puzzle and "bone" pieces. Our station day activities for this week included web of words activity, bats and balls counting activity, greater than and less than treat sort, cut and glue categorization and creating bat origami. (Many thanks to Colin's grandma!)
Reading/Social Studies: The students continue work in Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series. They built background knowledge about how friends in other parts of the world share activities. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Friends Around Us." They made connections looking and listening to the activities and places in the world where friends lived. We located the countries on the map so students could get an idea of where the friends lived. The word a was added to our sight word list. The reviewed isolated sounds of M, S, A, P. Our Robust Vocabulary words included WORLD, GAMES, PLEASANT, ASSIST and HONEST. The students worked on asking questions about the Big Book story. They also used the retelling cards to review the order of events in the story. Our puppet, Mr. Happy assisted the students in practicing the blending of letter sounds to create 3 letter words. The students used their sound boxes to isolate where they heard the Pp sound--at the beginning or end of the word. We read our pre decodable story, "I Am a Doctor." The students tracking skills are continuing to develop. They also read their pre decodable paper story, "I Am." The students practiced reading to a partner for fluency development and discussed the characters and setting of the story. The students continued work on their common core project creating a sentence web surrounding the facts about pumpkins that they will use in their writing and illustrating. Workstations this week included read it and add to it, leveled readers comprehension and fluency, creating a friend puppet and reading their story to the puppet and writing about it, sentence starter....We like.....to tell about what you and friend like to do and Magic Reading 1 app--3 letter words--tap the box record the sound-tap the picture box--did you make the word?
Math: The students worked on the counting sequence 1-50. They played--"What comes before--What comes after." They also continued to work on the concepts greater than and less than using a variety of activities with partners and in small group math stations. The students continue work on recognizing pattern block shapes and using the shapes to create a design depending upon the number of blocks. (ie--can you create a design with 7 shapes? 9 shapes?) The students were excited to begin work in their new calendar books for the month of November. They are now counting the number of ten frames on our calendar and beginning to see the relationship between ten frames and counting by 10's!
Writing: The students continue to work on their Starting Corner Capitals. They used the wooden pieces to form the letters L, K, H. They then used their mini boards with chalk and sponges to practice formation. The students are working on their informational book about pumpkins where they will write a fact and illustrate. We will be creating a talking book for you to listen to!.
Technology: In reading this week, the students used the apps Word Wizard and Magic Reading 1 in small groups and individually to work on CVC word formation and sound blending. In math, students continue to work with the apps Monster Squeeze, Sam Phibian, Geoboard and Dot to Dot Lite for counting, number sequencing and greater than and less than concepts.
Literature: "Cinderhazel," "Day of the Dead," "Skeletons," "Skeleton Meets Mummy," "Fantastic Bats," "Skeleton Hiccups," "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat," "Even Monsters Need Haircuts," "Bats Big Game," "Amazing Bats," "Extremely Weird Bats," "Pumpkin Soup." "Pumpkins, "Your Skeleton."
**Wednesday, November 6th is our 50th Day of School! We will be half way to 100! The students have been doing some comparing and contrasting of the 1950's and the present. This Wednesday, we will mark the day by dressing up like the 50's, having a sock hop and working on math learning stations surrounding the number 50. We will even create a special 50's treat. It will be nut free and gluten free. The students can dress up like the 50's on Wednesday. It can be as simple as a white t shirt and jeans, slicked back hair, a poodle skirt and ponytail.
**Monday, November 4th--Picture retake day.
**The students will participate in a BUS EVACUATION DRILL on Tuesday, November 5th.
**No School Monday, November 11th--Veteran's Day observance.
**Don't forget to send in your permission slip and money for our Field Trip to BROOKFIELD ZOO. Trip is Friday, November 15h. I have one chaperone, but could use 2-3 more. Students and teachers will ride the school bus. Parent chaperones will carpool. We will pay for your parking. The time frame is 8:30 am-2:00 pm. Come join us!
**Students have been taking the "Geography Challenge." Our next challenge question will be revealed on Tuesday. Go Green team!
**On Monday, we will begin our next cross curricular theme--BEARS. We will become Bear Experts. Our field trip will have a special classroom experience! We will turn our nature table into a bear artifacts table. We will be linking our study of bears to common core standards.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey did activities relating to listening and following directions.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr Packer did interactive activity on the concepts Greater Than and Less Than.
**No School Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-November 27th-29th--Thanksgiving observance.
This week:
This week it was all about bats! We took the fright out of these amazing creatures. The students listened to informational texts as well as fiction texts on bats. They viewed bat skeletons both on line and in picture diagram form. The students learned about bat habitats, bat physiology and bat diets. The students learned that bats and humans have something in common--we are mammals. Ask your child what a mammal is. Students sought information about bat types, bat characteristics (super long fingers and a thumb and baby bats (They are pink and called pups.) The students also read about and viewed a skeleton. Who have more bones--a bay or a 5-6 year old???? the students have been having great fun putting together to the skeleton puzzle and "bone" pieces. Our station day activities for this week included web of words activity, bats and balls counting activity, greater than and less than treat sort, cut and glue categorization and creating bat origami. (Many thanks to Colin's grandma!)
Reading/Social Studies: The students continue work in Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series. They built background knowledge about how friends in other parts of the world share activities. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Friends Around Us." They made connections looking and listening to the activities and places in the world where friends lived. We located the countries on the map so students could get an idea of where the friends lived. The word a was added to our sight word list. The reviewed isolated sounds of M, S, A, P. Our Robust Vocabulary words included WORLD, GAMES, PLEASANT, ASSIST and HONEST. The students worked on asking questions about the Big Book story. They also used the retelling cards to review the order of events in the story. Our puppet, Mr. Happy assisted the students in practicing the blending of letter sounds to create 3 letter words. The students used their sound boxes to isolate where they heard the Pp sound--at the beginning or end of the word. We read our pre decodable story, "I Am a Doctor." The students tracking skills are continuing to develop. They also read their pre decodable paper story, "I Am." The students practiced reading to a partner for fluency development and discussed the characters and setting of the story. The students continued work on their common core project creating a sentence web surrounding the facts about pumpkins that they will use in their writing and illustrating. Workstations this week included read it and add to it, leveled readers comprehension and fluency, creating a friend puppet and reading their story to the puppet and writing about it, sentence starter....We like.....to tell about what you and friend like to do and Magic Reading 1 app--3 letter words--tap the box record the sound-tap the picture box--did you make the word?
Math: The students worked on the counting sequence 1-50. They played--"What comes before--What comes after." They also continued to work on the concepts greater than and less than using a variety of activities with partners and in small group math stations. The students continue work on recognizing pattern block shapes and using the shapes to create a design depending upon the number of blocks. (ie--can you create a design with 7 shapes? 9 shapes?) The students were excited to begin work in their new calendar books for the month of November. They are now counting the number of ten frames on our calendar and beginning to see the relationship between ten frames and counting by 10's!
Writing: The students continue to work on their Starting Corner Capitals. They used the wooden pieces to form the letters L, K, H. They then used their mini boards with chalk and sponges to practice formation. The students are working on their informational book about pumpkins where they will write a fact and illustrate. We will be creating a talking book for you to listen to!.
Technology: In reading this week, the students used the apps Word Wizard and Magic Reading 1 in small groups and individually to work on CVC word formation and sound blending. In math, students continue to work with the apps Monster Squeeze, Sam Phibian, Geoboard and Dot to Dot Lite for counting, number sequencing and greater than and less than concepts.
Literature: "Cinderhazel," "Day of the Dead," "Skeletons," "Skeleton Meets Mummy," "Fantastic Bats," "Skeleton Hiccups," "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat," "Even Monsters Need Haircuts," "Bats Big Game," "Amazing Bats," "Extremely Weird Bats," "Pumpkin Soup." "Pumpkins, "Your Skeleton."
Monday, October 28, 2013
UPDATES for 10/21-10/25 2013
**The FUN RUN was great! Our class had great participation. Thanks to all who came out to cheer us on! Remember to turn in your pledge money this week!
**Our Field Trip to the MAZE LIBRARY was wonderful. We had a lovely sunny, but cool morning for our walk. Ms. Lori and Ms. Jessica were super great in showing us around the library and reading great stories. The students even got to move and dance. Students who filled out the application received their library cards. Look for them in your child's backpack. Thanks to Mr. Bernacchi, Mr. Jun and Ms. Barnett for volunteering.
**The students had their first visit with their 5th grade Book Buddies from Ms. Balicki's class. Each student was matched up with a buddy. With their buddy they took a picture using the iPad and then interviewed their book buddy and recorded the information in their take home book. They then shared some Halloween stories. A great time was had by all!
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 will begin on Tuesday. At that time you will receive information on the skill your child will be working on and the teacher teaching it.
**INFORMATION on HALLOWEEN--On Thursday, October 31st, students can bring their costumes in a bag. We will have regular morning activities and lunch. At 1:00 pm, they will change into their costumes. We do need volunteers to help with changing and details. The Parade begins at 1:30 pm. The parade route will be outside around the school grounds. Our classroom celebration and activities will begin immediately following the parade. Our room parents are taking care of the details. In keeping with our nonviolent atmosphere, please do not send toy guns, swords, hooks, knives, light sabers, poles, brooms or handcuffs. Students may bring a treat for the class if they wish. (candy or non-candy) that will go home in the treat bags we are making. Room parents will have a healthy snack for all on hand. Parents and sibs are invited to attend both events.
**Our next D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) in Tuesday, October 29th from 9:30-9:50 am.
**Wednesday, November 6th is our 50th Day of School! We will be half way to 100! That week, the student will learn a little about what it was like to live in the 1950's. On Wednesday, the students can dress up like the 50's. It can be as simple as white tee shirt and jeans--slick back hair for the boys and pony tails for the girls. If you should have a poodle skirt on hand --WOW! We will have a morning SOCK HOP and math and literacy activities surrounding the number 50.
**Student Council meetings have begun. Our reps Blaine and Samuel attended their first meeting where everyone was introduced and Mr. Gray and Ms. Pelling talked about what Student Council is. Stay tuned for more!!!
**Green Team reps, Reid and Gina talked to our class about the "Geography Challenge" Each week will have a new question to be answered. Check out the one in your child's homework folder. Parents can help! Students can write down the answer and put it in a collection envelope. Green Team will choose a response. If it is the correct one, prizes and incentives will be given. Get out your maps, computers, globes, books!!!! Take the challenge!!
**Our Helping Grandma, Mrs. D. is back from her travels. She showed the students on our map where she traveled to in her car--from Chicago all the way to California and up the coast. She related some of her adventures. She will be working with students every Tuesday morning.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey did a great activity on "being in the zone." She talked about the importance of being in the zone to get work finished, to listen to directions, interact with friends and to be a good citizen.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer did a cool activity on "visual counting." He projected dots on the screen and asked how many. The time for viewing the dots became less and less. What did you see? How many do you remember? What was your strategy for getting the correct number? Fun! Fun!
**The permission slip for our November 15th Field Trip to BROOKFIELD ZOO is in your child's homework folder.
This week:
It was all about pumpkins and spiders! We have a Banana Spider visiting us! Our Nature Table is filled with spider info, pictures, toys and diagrams. The spider is not so spooky. It is really very helpful to our earth. The students learned the difference between spiders and insects and viewed some spider specimens. The students learned the term--arachnid. The students learned that spiders live almost everywhere on earth and hatch from eggs. Baby spiders are called spiderlings. Spiders can be very colorful! Students listened to nonfiction and fiction stories about spiders. We accessed information on the internet on spiders of interest like the tarantulas and black widows. Many spiders eat pesty bugs and insects that bother humans and plants. The students took a look inside a pumpkin. They closely examined the skin, flesh, pulp and seeds. The students viewed the growing sequence and counted the seeds. They listened to stories both nonfiction and fiction about the pumpkin. The topic--pumpkin was used for our common core summative sequencing prompt. Our station day activities included marble painted spider webs, colorful spiders, turning their pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns using basic shapes, spooky spider pattern color and count the dominoes on the spider legs and glue in the correct number.
Reading/Social Studies: The students began work on Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series. They built background knowledge about what a friend is and what types of activities you can do with a friend. They listened to the song "The More We Get Together." Many students remembered this song from their time in preschool. The students listened to the Big Book story, "What Do You Like?" They responded and made connections about activities they do with friends. The students found the title page and discussed the main characters (girl and boy) and the setting of the story. The students created a whole group Venn Diagram where they compared what each child in the story liked and what they both liked. (ie--they both liked fruit, but the boy like watermelon and the girl liked apples.) The sight word LIKE was introduced. The students reviewed their previous words and played, "Hands Up, Hands Down." Our target sound in isolation was Ss. The students brainstormed words that began with the sound. They used chants and rhymes to reinforce the sound.
The students reviewed what a noun was and sighted several examples throughout the Big Book story.
We added the Robust Vocabulary words FAVORITE, FRIENDS, PARTNER, HOBBY and COMPLETE to our list. The students listened to the story, "From Seed to Pumpkin," and retold key events in sequence using numbers and pictures. The story was read again and the students wrote key details they remembered from the story. The students worked on their sound blending--using 3 sounds (phonemes) They read their pre decodable story, "We Like," and discussed what a speech bubble or balloon was. Workstation activities included working on a mural depicting friendship and writing about it using the sentence starter--We can...., picture sort with letters A, S, M, P, using a stuffed animal as their Book Buddy to read and write an important event form the story, leveled reading for comprehension and beginning fluency and creating 3 letter words using the app Reading Magic Two.
Math: The students continue to work on counting quantities and one to one correspondence. They are doing a great job of completing their Calendar Books daily. They are working on the concepts before and after, greater than and less than and number families. The students did a variety of activities using their ten frames. They counted pumpkin seeds, shapes spiders and bats. The students completed their number globes. They are posted in our hallway. The students worked on the apps Monster Squeeze and Sam Phibian with partners.
Writing: The students reviewed all Frog Jump Capitals and are beginning to work on their Starting Corner Capitals. They really enjoy working with the wooden pieces and their mini boards with chalk and sponges. The students continue to work on labeling pictures in their journal and beginning sentence structure. We began practice on where to write letters on a given line. Where do you write lowercase...uppercase...tall lowercase.....what about the lowercase that goes below the line? So much to think about. The students practiced on sentence strips and wrote about their trees. Check it out! They are posted in the hallway.
Technology: The students continue to use the iPad as a tool to enhance skills taught. They had lots of fun using the camera to take a picture of their Book Buddy. In reading the students used the apps Dolch Words, Magic Reading 2, Letter/Sound Match, Word Wizard and Magnetic Letters to practice their sight words. In math, the students used Sam Phibian, Monster Squeeze, Geoboard and Animal Count. Small groups of students also worked on Lexia Core 5.
Literature: "From Seed to Pumpkin," "Picking Apples and Pumpkins," "Pumpkins,""The Pumpkin Book," "Spiders," "Super Spiders," "Spiderlings and their Families," "Diary of a Spider," "Perfect Pumpkins."
**Our Field Trip to the MAZE LIBRARY was wonderful. We had a lovely sunny, but cool morning for our walk. Ms. Lori and Ms. Jessica were super great in showing us around the library and reading great stories. The students even got to move and dance. Students who filled out the application received their library cards. Look for them in your child's backpack. Thanks to Mr. Bernacchi, Mr. Jun and Ms. Barnett for volunteering.
**The students had their first visit with their 5th grade Book Buddies from Ms. Balicki's class. Each student was matched up with a buddy. With their buddy they took a picture using the iPad and then interviewed their book buddy and recorded the information in their take home book. They then shared some Halloween stories. A great time was had by all!
**Route to Reading Rotation 2 will begin on Tuesday. At that time you will receive information on the skill your child will be working on and the teacher teaching it.
**INFORMATION on HALLOWEEN--On Thursday, October 31st, students can bring their costumes in a bag. We will have regular morning activities and lunch. At 1:00 pm, they will change into their costumes. We do need volunteers to help with changing and details. The Parade begins at 1:30 pm. The parade route will be outside around the school grounds. Our classroom celebration and activities will begin immediately following the parade. Our room parents are taking care of the details. In keeping with our nonviolent atmosphere, please do not send toy guns, swords, hooks, knives, light sabers, poles, brooms or handcuffs. Students may bring a treat for the class if they wish. (candy or non-candy) that will go home in the treat bags we are making. Room parents will have a healthy snack for all on hand. Parents and sibs are invited to attend both events.
**Our next D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) in Tuesday, October 29th from 9:30-9:50 am.
**Wednesday, November 6th is our 50th Day of School! We will be half way to 100! That week, the student will learn a little about what it was like to live in the 1950's. On Wednesday, the students can dress up like the 50's. It can be as simple as white tee shirt and jeans--slick back hair for the boys and pony tails for the girls. If you should have a poodle skirt on hand --WOW! We will have a morning SOCK HOP and math and literacy activities surrounding the number 50.
**Student Council meetings have begun. Our reps Blaine and Samuel attended their first meeting where everyone was introduced and Mr. Gray and Ms. Pelling talked about what Student Council is. Stay tuned for more!!!
**Green Team reps, Reid and Gina talked to our class about the "Geography Challenge" Each week will have a new question to be answered. Check out the one in your child's homework folder. Parents can help! Students can write down the answer and put it in a collection envelope. Green Team will choose a response. If it is the correct one, prizes and incentives will be given. Get out your maps, computers, globes, books!!!! Take the challenge!!
**Our Helping Grandma, Mrs. D. is back from her travels. She showed the students on our map where she traveled to in her car--from Chicago all the way to California and up the coast. She related some of her adventures. She will be working with students every Tuesday morning.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey did a great activity on "being in the zone." She talked about the importance of being in the zone to get work finished, to listen to directions, interact with friends and to be a good citizen.
**In Mr. Packer Math Enrichment this week, Mr. Packer did a cool activity on "visual counting." He projected dots on the screen and asked how many. The time for viewing the dots became less and less. What did you see? How many do you remember? What was your strategy for getting the correct number? Fun! Fun!
**The permission slip for our November 15th Field Trip to BROOKFIELD ZOO is in your child's homework folder.
This week:
It was all about pumpkins and spiders! We have a Banana Spider visiting us! Our Nature Table is filled with spider info, pictures, toys and diagrams. The spider is not so spooky. It is really very helpful to our earth. The students learned the difference between spiders and insects and viewed some spider specimens. The students learned the term--arachnid. The students learned that spiders live almost everywhere on earth and hatch from eggs. Baby spiders are called spiderlings. Spiders can be very colorful! Students listened to nonfiction and fiction stories about spiders. We accessed information on the internet on spiders of interest like the tarantulas and black widows. Many spiders eat pesty bugs and insects that bother humans and plants. The students took a look inside a pumpkin. They closely examined the skin, flesh, pulp and seeds. The students viewed the growing sequence and counted the seeds. They listened to stories both nonfiction and fiction about the pumpkin. The topic--pumpkin was used for our common core summative sequencing prompt. Our station day activities included marble painted spider webs, colorful spiders, turning their pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns using basic shapes, spooky spider pattern color and count the dominoes on the spider legs and glue in the correct number.
Reading/Social Studies: The students began work on Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series. They built background knowledge about what a friend is and what types of activities you can do with a friend. They listened to the song "The More We Get Together." Many students remembered this song from their time in preschool. The students listened to the Big Book story, "What Do You Like?" They responded and made connections about activities they do with friends. The students found the title page and discussed the main characters (girl and boy) and the setting of the story. The students created a whole group Venn Diagram where they compared what each child in the story liked and what they both liked. (ie--they both liked fruit, but the boy like watermelon and the girl liked apples.) The sight word LIKE was introduced. The students reviewed their previous words and played, "Hands Up, Hands Down." Our target sound in isolation was Ss. The students brainstormed words that began with the sound. They used chants and rhymes to reinforce the sound.
The students reviewed what a noun was and sighted several examples throughout the Big Book story.
We added the Robust Vocabulary words FAVORITE, FRIENDS, PARTNER, HOBBY and COMPLETE to our list. The students listened to the story, "From Seed to Pumpkin," and retold key events in sequence using numbers and pictures. The story was read again and the students wrote key details they remembered from the story. The students worked on their sound blending--using 3 sounds (phonemes) They read their pre decodable story, "We Like," and discussed what a speech bubble or balloon was. Workstation activities included working on a mural depicting friendship and writing about it using the sentence starter--We can...., picture sort with letters A, S, M, P, using a stuffed animal as their Book Buddy to read and write an important event form the story, leveled reading for comprehension and beginning fluency and creating 3 letter words using the app Reading Magic Two.
Math: The students continue to work on counting quantities and one to one correspondence. They are doing a great job of completing their Calendar Books daily. They are working on the concepts before and after, greater than and less than and number families. The students did a variety of activities using their ten frames. They counted pumpkin seeds, shapes spiders and bats. The students completed their number globes. They are posted in our hallway. The students worked on the apps Monster Squeeze and Sam Phibian with partners.
Writing: The students reviewed all Frog Jump Capitals and are beginning to work on their Starting Corner Capitals. They really enjoy working with the wooden pieces and their mini boards with chalk and sponges. The students continue to work on labeling pictures in their journal and beginning sentence structure. We began practice on where to write letters on a given line. Where do you write lowercase...uppercase...tall lowercase.....what about the lowercase that goes below the line? So much to think about. The students practiced on sentence strips and wrote about their trees. Check it out! They are posted in the hallway.
Technology: The students continue to use the iPad as a tool to enhance skills taught. They had lots of fun using the camera to take a picture of their Book Buddy. In reading the students used the apps Dolch Words, Magic Reading 2, Letter/Sound Match, Word Wizard and Magnetic Letters to practice their sight words. In math, the students used Sam Phibian, Monster Squeeze, Geoboard and Animal Count. Small groups of students also worked on Lexia Core 5.
Literature: "From Seed to Pumpkin," "Picking Apples and Pumpkins," "Pumpkins,""The Pumpkin Book," "Spiders," "Super Spiders," "Spiderlings and their Families," "Diary of a Spider," "Perfect Pumpkins."
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