**Welcome to Ms. Gullo's Class!
**Class begins tomorrow, August 29th at 8:00 am. Please meet me outside our patio door adjacent to the main entrance of our school. There will be a sign (written in chalk) indicating where to line up. The first bell is at 7:55 am and I will be opening my door at 8:00 am with a HUGE SMILE on my face!!
**We will always enter and exit the BROWN PATIO DOOR.
**Because of the hot weather--please send a water bottle with your child. We do not have air conditioning, but have places to cool off in the building.
**Please send a HEALTHY snack each day. I will have a back up snack if you forget.
**The first hour of class from 8:00-9:00 am is a FAMILY HOUR. I will chat with both adults and students. We will have a story and perhaps an activity. Families will depart at 9:00 am and we will continue our day.
**ABSOLUTELY NO NUT OR NUT PRODUCTS ARE ALLOWED IN OUR CLASSROOM.
Your child may bring nut products for lunch that are kept in their lunchbox.
**Your child should know if he/she is has a HOME LUNCH or getting a SCHOOL LUNCH.
Did you send a drink or are they ordering WHITE or CHOCOLATE MILK from SCHOOL?
**Our lunch recess begins at 11:15 am. We will be outside on the playground until 11:40 am. We will use the bathroom/clean hands and eat in the lunchroom from 11:45-12:10.
**I have Ms. Ahring, Ms. Flannery and Ms. Raphael and Zoey's Grandma helping out in the lunchroom. Thanks much!
**IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY--please have your child wear or keep in school a pair of gym shoes and socks.
**Please make sure your child has a COMPLETE CHANGE OF CLOTHES INCLUDING SOCKS AND UNDERWEAR.
**Our SPECIALS SCHEDULE will begin tomorrow afternoon with PE and Spanish.
** Please continue to bring in any supplies and medical forms.
**Our regular dismissal is at 2:55 pm.....BUT.......for tomorrow only, families can come back and join us for our end of the day story. Please note that regular dismissal is at 2:55 daily except for Wednesdays when it is at 1:55 pm.
**I have received information on students who are taking the district bus, attending Hephzibah, Magical Minds, Clubhouse and some home daycares. If your child is attending one of these after care programs, please email me to let me know when your child will begin them. Please remember---older siblings picking up kindergarten students must dismiss from their own designated door and walk around to the front patio to pick up K students.
**I can't wait to see all of you TOMORROW!
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
WELCOME STUDENTS and FAMILIES!! August 2016
**Welcome to Irving School and Room 110 which is Ms. Gullo's Kindergarten classroom.
** I am very excited to meet each and everyone of you!
**I am almost finished getting everything ready for the beginning of our school year.
**Please come to school to drop off your supplies, meet me and check out our classroom on Thursday, August 25th between 4:00-5:30 pm in Room 110.
**I am looking for interested parents to help with the lunch program for the first week of school. Our lunch room time is 11:15-12:10. You can email me if you are interested. I will also have a sign up sheet at the supply drop off.
**Our very first day of school is MONDAY, AUGUST 29th. Students are here from 8:00-2:55 pm. Please line up on our kindergarten patio which is adjacent to the main doors. On this first day, families can remain with students from 8:00-9:00 am. Come see our classroom and hear about our daily schedule.
**Some things to ponder......home lunch?? school lunch?? ordering milk?? what kind??
**All medical forms need to be in by Monday.
** We will have a full day on Monday.
**Stop and check out the Irving Garden! Can you find Ms. Gullo's garden bed? Check out our green beans, tomatoes, eggplant. There are also lots of potatoes underground. We will harvest them in the fall. Check out some of the other beds. The Wild Flowers at the far end were planted by our outgoing fifth grade students.
**See you all soon!!!
** I am very excited to meet each and everyone of you!
**I am almost finished getting everything ready for the beginning of our school year.
**Please come to school to drop off your supplies, meet me and check out our classroom on Thursday, August 25th between 4:00-5:30 pm in Room 110.
**I am looking for interested parents to help with the lunch program for the first week of school. Our lunch room time is 11:15-12:10. You can email me if you are interested. I will also have a sign up sheet at the supply drop off.
**Our very first day of school is MONDAY, AUGUST 29th. Students are here from 8:00-2:55 pm. Please line up on our kindergarten patio which is adjacent to the main doors. On this first day, families can remain with students from 8:00-9:00 am. Come see our classroom and hear about our daily schedule.
**Some things to ponder......home lunch?? school lunch?? ordering milk?? what kind??
**All medical forms need to be in by Monday.
** We will have a full day on Monday.
**Stop and check out the Irving Garden! Can you find Ms. Gullo's garden bed? Check out our green beans, tomatoes, eggplant. There are also lots of potatoes underground. We will harvest them in the fall. Check out some of the other beds. The Wild Flowers at the far end were planted by our outgoing fifth grade students.
**See you all soon!!!
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Sunday, June 5, 2016
UPDATES for 5/31-6/3 2016
**Our ABC COUNTDOWN is nearing the end! This week, the students had a great T-Ball Game on the turf, made a unicorn mask, ate a vegetable for snack and had some juicy watermelon to end the week. Next week, we will make our autograph books (X marks the spot!) have a YES! Day and go into the Reading Bubble to ZIP and ZOOM into Summer and First Grade.
**Our visit to the Chicken Coup was rescheduled for Monday, June 6th. We will be walking beginning at 11:30 and return for lunch at 12:15 pm.
**Our WALKING FIELD TRIP to the Oak Park Conservatory is Tuesday, June 7th. We will begin walking at 9:40 am. We have a classroom experience beginning at 10:00 am and then a tour of all the plant rooms. If time permits, we will sketch in the Desert Room. We have N. Daniel, M. Nelson, K. Bell volunteering their help.
**Please join us on the last day of school (JUNE 8th) beginning at 1:00 pm for our last FAMILY HOUR. The students will be signing autograph signing, have light refreshments, get report cards and summer packets......and maybe "do"something special on the black top!
**Keep those LIBRARY BOOKS and BUSY READERS coming in. They are due NOW! Look around your house and especially behind things.
**Information on the Oak Park Library's Summer Reading Incentive is in your child's back pack. "Read to Win" had begun! Have Fun!
**Information on the Irving School Summer Math Incentive will be in your child's report card.
It is called "Splash Into Math." Students will have a chance to work at their own pace and move across grade levels. Check it out!
**We did not let the weather keep us from our Pizza and Play! We had a dance party in the auditorium in the morning and by noon the weather had cleared enough for us to have our pizza, veggies and fruit picnic style in front of the school. A HUGE THANKS for those of you who helped make our picnic special!
**I was not able to attend the End of the Year Block Party, but I heard it was great fun. Hope you came out to enjoy it!
**Please keep sending your child's back pack! Thanks! The rest of our journals, science notebooks and Trimester 3 portfolios will go home.
**Our space stations will be recycled next week!
This week:
The students spent time looking over their portfolios and writing journals. They really marveled at all the progress they made. The writing journals were especially fun. Some students couldn't believe their own writing at the beginning of the year. We are beginning to put away things for summer cleaning. These students are so ready to move on to First Grade!
Reading/Language Arts: The students continued their review of all they have learned this year in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension. They planned their own workstations. They are READING everywhere!!!!
Math: The students continued to work on their new June Calendar Books and their math review journals. They are so independent now! Yes! Work on counting, shapes, adding, subtracting, story problems, equation writing, positional concepts, nonstandard measurement, teen numbers and number writing were a few of the topics they reviewed.
Writing: The students are currently working on their draft writing on the topic: "Worms." They will finish it up with the final draft next week. They had a great time looking over their beginning journals--from simple white paper to our green journals. Lots of comments on letters formation, word writing, and even how they illustrated "back then." So much progress!
Science: The students are observing the goings on in the worm bin. Students have brought some "food" to feed the worm compost. The students observed a worms segmented body and pointy head. The bristles or hairs that help them to move were too tiny to see. We are hoping to plant next week in our garden bed.
Technology: The students are currently working on their end of the year movie entitled, "The Best Part of Kindergarten." Each student has chosen an aspect of kindergarten and written a script to recite. Then they had to come up with a way to act it out. Stay tuned!!!
Literature: "Curious George Plants a Tree," "Diary of a Worm," "An Ants Day Off."
**Our visit to the Chicken Coup was rescheduled for Monday, June 6th. We will be walking beginning at 11:30 and return for lunch at 12:15 pm.
**Our WALKING FIELD TRIP to the Oak Park Conservatory is Tuesday, June 7th. We will begin walking at 9:40 am. We have a classroom experience beginning at 10:00 am and then a tour of all the plant rooms. If time permits, we will sketch in the Desert Room. We have N. Daniel, M. Nelson, K. Bell volunteering their help.
**Please join us on the last day of school (JUNE 8th) beginning at 1:00 pm for our last FAMILY HOUR. The students will be signing autograph signing, have light refreshments, get report cards and summer packets......and maybe "do"something special on the black top!
**Keep those LIBRARY BOOKS and BUSY READERS coming in. They are due NOW! Look around your house and especially behind things.
**Information on the Oak Park Library's Summer Reading Incentive is in your child's back pack. "Read to Win" had begun! Have Fun!
**Information on the Irving School Summer Math Incentive will be in your child's report card.
It is called "Splash Into Math." Students will have a chance to work at their own pace and move across grade levels. Check it out!
**We did not let the weather keep us from our Pizza and Play! We had a dance party in the auditorium in the morning and by noon the weather had cleared enough for us to have our pizza, veggies and fruit picnic style in front of the school. A HUGE THANKS for those of you who helped make our picnic special!
**I was not able to attend the End of the Year Block Party, but I heard it was great fun. Hope you came out to enjoy it!
**Please keep sending your child's back pack! Thanks! The rest of our journals, science notebooks and Trimester 3 portfolios will go home.
**Our space stations will be recycled next week!
This week:
The students spent time looking over their portfolios and writing journals. They really marveled at all the progress they made. The writing journals were especially fun. Some students couldn't believe their own writing at the beginning of the year. We are beginning to put away things for summer cleaning. These students are so ready to move on to First Grade!
Reading/Language Arts: The students continued their review of all they have learned this year in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension. They planned their own workstations. They are READING everywhere!!!!
Math: The students continued to work on their new June Calendar Books and their math review journals. They are so independent now! Yes! Work on counting, shapes, adding, subtracting, story problems, equation writing, positional concepts, nonstandard measurement, teen numbers and number writing were a few of the topics they reviewed.
Writing: The students are currently working on their draft writing on the topic: "Worms." They will finish it up with the final draft next week. They had a great time looking over their beginning journals--from simple white paper to our green journals. Lots of comments on letters formation, word writing, and even how they illustrated "back then." So much progress!
Science: The students are observing the goings on in the worm bin. Students have brought some "food" to feed the worm compost. The students observed a worms segmented body and pointy head. The bristles or hairs that help them to move were too tiny to see. We are hoping to plant next week in our garden bed.
Technology: The students are currently working on their end of the year movie entitled, "The Best Part of Kindergarten." Each student has chosen an aspect of kindergarten and written a script to recite. Then they had to come up with a way to act it out. Stay tuned!!!
Literature: "Curious George Plants a Tree," "Diary of a Worm," "An Ants Day Off."
Monday, May 30, 2016
UPDATES for 5/23-5/27 2016
**We are one week closer to becoming First Graders! Everyone is feeling the change in the air--students as well as teachers. The students are beginning to help put away some classroom items. Our ABC Countdown continues this next week with T-T Ball Day, U-Unicorn Day, V-Vegetable Day and W-Watermelon Day.
**Highlights from last week--King's Decree--Kings will be line leaders, more literacy bag time, iPad time and extra recess. Queen's Decree--more Scribles pops, GoNoodle, more iPad time and more time in space stations.
**OLYMPIC DAY was the bomb! The students showed great teamwork and sportsmanship during all the activities. A big Shout Out to NAYANA, who beat Mr. Degman in the 50 Yard Dash! She was FAST!!
**The students were all eyes for Ms. Henry's presentation on worm composting. The little creatures are in our room now until the end of school. Students got a first hand look at the famous red wiggler composting worm. Students observed the front and back parts and inching movement and the muscle parts of their bodies. We took some time to look up additional info on worms and read some cool books. Thanks so much, Ms. Henry!
**Chicken Coup Walking Field Trip to the Gurgas /Chien backyard is Tuesday, May31st. We will walk at 11:30 am. Please note that the owners will be handling the chickens. We will observing them and their house and find out info on the eggs that they produce. H. Alvarez will be walking with us.
**Our PIZZA and PLAY End of the Year Picnic is WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1ST at Rehm Park. Please send in money and permission slip. Thanks! Please read the info in your child's homework folder about the dropping off of items by Ms. Grogan's door. Come out and join us from 9:30-noon.
**Our Walking Field Trip to the Oak Park Conservatory is Tuesday, June 7th. We will begin walking at 9:40 am. We have a classroom experience beginning at 10:00 am and then a tour of all the plant rooms. If time permits, we will sketch in the desert room. N. Daniel, M. Nelson, K. Bell and Mr. Metz will walk with us and assist.
**Ms. Noonan will handing out record keeping forms for the Oak Park Library's Summer Reading Program this week. Come on out and participate
**ALL LIBRARY BOOKS DUE on FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd per Ms. Noonan.
**ALL BUSY READERS DUE on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st per Ms. Gullo.
**Please keep sending your child's backpack. Next week--Trimester 3 portfolios, all writing journals and calendar books and math journals go home.
**Last Pacers Running/Walking Club for the year is Thursday! Their necklaces will be in their summer packet folders.
**Mr. Packer will finish up the last thinking skills project with the students on Friday.
**The last day of school is WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8th. We will have a regular morning session. In the afternoon, beginning at 1:00 pm, please join us for autograph signing, light refreshments, report cards and summer packets......and maybe something special on the black top!
This week:
It was all about worms and plants! The very "green" Ms. Henry gave an informative talk on worms and worm composting. She brought us some starter compost with lots of red wiggler worms. She showed the students the different stages of the worms life cycle including worm eggs and egg shells, baby, teenage and adult worms. The students used the magnifier to see up close. The students continue to monitor our class box garden. Lots to see! Our bean plant is huge!!! We will plant everything on Monday, June 6th.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue their review of the skills taught this school year. This week, the student groups chose their own reading material from an approved list and came up with their own activities they wanted to do to connect their reading and writing. They also chose an iPad activity that best enhanced what they were studying in their workstation. I really loved hearing group, partner and individual reading as I made my way from small group to small group. The great discussions and elbow chats the students were having with one another were great! There was also time set up for literacy bag independent reading. The students reviewed all Kindergarten sight words and lots of First Grade words! They worked together with partners to create sentences using words and pictures. Another focus was on punctuation marks used at the end of their sentences. Workstations this week included leveled reader group discussions and collaboration on story elements, completing a group story elements butterfly, discussing and writing about fantasy vs. reality in a particular text, working on blends and digraphs, discussion about the author's purpose in writing a particular story, creating CVC words, activities and strategies to find out what a word means and iPad work.
Math: The students continue to work on on solving (using numbers 0-9) subtraction problems using the story problem format. Illustrating their thinking is super important. The students are showing their work using drawings, tally marks and number lines. They are also working on finding the number that belongs when they already know the answer. (7-__=2) Students are working "First Grade" style completing mini math journals each morning like they saw the First Graders do. Cool!
Writing: Students continue to work on writing to our Grandma volunteers. Next week, they will write to a person they think has made a difference in their lives this year. We will also do our final paragraph on the topic of worms. The students continue to work on beginning with a capital letter, spacing between words in a sentence, punctuation, placement of letters on a given line, naming and telling in a sentence, adding details and reading it over. We have begun discussing our end of the year movie and the students are working on writing their script. Students have been part of district pilot of the Keyboarding Without Tears Program on the iPad and computer. They will have home access before school ends so they can continue working this summer.
Science: The students worked on a project on the life cycle of a plant. Some students worked individually and some with partners. They decided the format--posters, acting out, singing, using the iPad for drawing or shooting a video. Great work and student effort! I will be sending the videos your way for those that did them. We were lucky to have "Traveling Seeds Experience Box" courtesy of the Oak Park Conservatory. The students experimented with how seeds travel. Moving by wind, sticking to animals and people, popping or exploding or floating in the lakes, rivers and seas, the students got to experience it. Our seed bags are going crazy with growth! The students are wrapping up their science unit on seeds and plants. We will plant in our garden bed on Monday, June 6th.
Technology: The students are doing an iMovie on the best part of kindergarten. They continue to discuss their own script and what to do for an introduction. We will begin filming next week.
Literature: "Earl the Earthworm Digs for His Life," "Wonderful Worms," "Yucky Worms," "Counting in the Garden," "Oh Say Can You Seed," "I Can't Said the Ant," "It's An Ant's Life," "From Seed to Plant," "Here in the Garden."
**Highlights from last week--King's Decree--Kings will be line leaders, more literacy bag time, iPad time and extra recess. Queen's Decree--more Scribles pops, GoNoodle, more iPad time and more time in space stations.
**OLYMPIC DAY was the bomb! The students showed great teamwork and sportsmanship during all the activities. A big Shout Out to NAYANA, who beat Mr. Degman in the 50 Yard Dash! She was FAST!!
**The students were all eyes for Ms. Henry's presentation on worm composting. The little creatures are in our room now until the end of school. Students got a first hand look at the famous red wiggler composting worm. Students observed the front and back parts and inching movement and the muscle parts of their bodies. We took some time to look up additional info on worms and read some cool books. Thanks so much, Ms. Henry!
**Chicken Coup Walking Field Trip to the Gurgas /Chien backyard is Tuesday, May31st. We will walk at 11:30 am. Please note that the owners will be handling the chickens. We will observing them and their house and find out info on the eggs that they produce. H. Alvarez will be walking with us.
**Our PIZZA and PLAY End of the Year Picnic is WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1ST at Rehm Park. Please send in money and permission slip. Thanks! Please read the info in your child's homework folder about the dropping off of items by Ms. Grogan's door. Come out and join us from 9:30-noon.
**Our Walking Field Trip to the Oak Park Conservatory is Tuesday, June 7th. We will begin walking at 9:40 am. We have a classroom experience beginning at 10:00 am and then a tour of all the plant rooms. If time permits, we will sketch in the desert room. N. Daniel, M. Nelson, K. Bell and Mr. Metz will walk with us and assist.
**Ms. Noonan will handing out record keeping forms for the Oak Park Library's Summer Reading Program this week. Come on out and participate
**ALL LIBRARY BOOKS DUE on FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd per Ms. Noonan.
**ALL BUSY READERS DUE on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st per Ms. Gullo.
**Please keep sending your child's backpack. Next week--Trimester 3 portfolios, all writing journals and calendar books and math journals go home.
**Last Pacers Running/Walking Club for the year is Thursday! Their necklaces will be in their summer packet folders.
**Mr. Packer will finish up the last thinking skills project with the students on Friday.
**The last day of school is WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8th. We will have a regular morning session. In the afternoon, beginning at 1:00 pm, please join us for autograph signing, light refreshments, report cards and summer packets......and maybe something special on the black top!
This week:
It was all about worms and plants! The very "green" Ms. Henry gave an informative talk on worms and worm composting. She brought us some starter compost with lots of red wiggler worms. She showed the students the different stages of the worms life cycle including worm eggs and egg shells, baby, teenage and adult worms. The students used the magnifier to see up close. The students continue to monitor our class box garden. Lots to see! Our bean plant is huge!!! We will plant everything on Monday, June 6th.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue their review of the skills taught this school year. This week, the student groups chose their own reading material from an approved list and came up with their own activities they wanted to do to connect their reading and writing. They also chose an iPad activity that best enhanced what they were studying in their workstation. I really loved hearing group, partner and individual reading as I made my way from small group to small group. The great discussions and elbow chats the students were having with one another were great! There was also time set up for literacy bag independent reading. The students reviewed all Kindergarten sight words and lots of First Grade words! They worked together with partners to create sentences using words and pictures. Another focus was on punctuation marks used at the end of their sentences. Workstations this week included leveled reader group discussions and collaboration on story elements, completing a group story elements butterfly, discussing and writing about fantasy vs. reality in a particular text, working on blends and digraphs, discussion about the author's purpose in writing a particular story, creating CVC words, activities and strategies to find out what a word means and iPad work.
Math: The students continue to work on on solving (using numbers 0-9) subtraction problems using the story problem format. Illustrating their thinking is super important. The students are showing their work using drawings, tally marks and number lines. They are also working on finding the number that belongs when they already know the answer. (7-__=2) Students are working "First Grade" style completing mini math journals each morning like they saw the First Graders do. Cool!
Writing: Students continue to work on writing to our Grandma volunteers. Next week, they will write to a person they think has made a difference in their lives this year. We will also do our final paragraph on the topic of worms. The students continue to work on beginning with a capital letter, spacing between words in a sentence, punctuation, placement of letters on a given line, naming and telling in a sentence, adding details and reading it over. We have begun discussing our end of the year movie and the students are working on writing their script. Students have been part of district pilot of the Keyboarding Without Tears Program on the iPad and computer. They will have home access before school ends so they can continue working this summer.
Science: The students worked on a project on the life cycle of a plant. Some students worked individually and some with partners. They decided the format--posters, acting out, singing, using the iPad for drawing or shooting a video. Great work and student effort! I will be sending the videos your way for those that did them. We were lucky to have "Traveling Seeds Experience Box" courtesy of the Oak Park Conservatory. The students experimented with how seeds travel. Moving by wind, sticking to animals and people, popping or exploding or floating in the lakes, rivers and seas, the students got to experience it. Our seed bags are going crazy with growth! The students are wrapping up their science unit on seeds and plants. We will plant in our garden bed on Monday, June 6th.
Technology: The students are doing an iMovie on the best part of kindergarten. They continue to discuss their own script and what to do for an introduction. We will begin filming next week.
Literature: "Earl the Earthworm Digs for His Life," "Wonderful Worms," "Yucky Worms," "Counting in the Garden," "Oh Say Can You Seed," "I Can't Said the Ant," "It's An Ant's Life," "From Seed to Plant," "Here in the Garden."
Sunday, May 22, 2016
UPDATES for 5/16-5/20 2016
**Time is flying by in Kindergarten! The students enjoyed their visit into First Grade. They met the teachers, toured the classrooms and listened to first graders speak about the daily activities and special projects. Some of my students had questions and they were answered by a first grader.
**The ABC COUNTDOWN continues this week-- highlights--Lemonade Day/King Day on Monday, Monkey Day/Note Day on Tuesday, Obstacle Course/Pajama Day on Wednesday, Queen Day/Rainbow Day on Thursday and Surprise Day on Friday.
**Permission slip for PIZZA and PLAY End of the Year Family Picnic is in your child's homework folder. Please send back with $3.00. Instead of the online sign up---I am asking parents to send blankets and ground covers, cut up fruit or veggies and paper plates and napkins. We will have 2 large thermos containers of water and fruit punch. If your child does not want pizza, just send a bag lunch. We will also need some parent help to set up at Rehm Park. I will be emailing our Room Parents for assistance in getting this all together. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, June 1st from 9:30-noon at Rehm Park.
**Permission slip for our Walking Trip to the Oak Park Conservatory is also in your child's homework folder. Let me know if you are interested in waling with us. That event is Tuesday, June 7th from 9:30-11:30 am.
**One last WALKING TRIP planned is to visit the CHICKEN COUP at the Gurgas/Chien backyard on Tuesday, May 31st from 11:30-12:10. I will send out that permission slip on Monday.
**The presentation of the Summer Reading Program-Read to Win begins on June 1st. This year, students can sign up in school thru Ms. Noonan. Details are forthcoming.
**ALL LIBRARY BOOKS ARE DUE on FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd per Ms. Noonan.
**ALL BUSY READERS ARE DUE BACK TO MS. GULLO on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st.
**Route to Reading has ended for this year.
**The students said goodbye to our workstation Grandma, Ms. Cummings. We will miss her. She and the students had so much fun as she worked with various groups during our reading workstations.
**Olympic Day is Friday, May 27th from 8:30-11:00 am. Come on out and see Team Gullo in all of our Olympic events throughout the school.
**The students have chosen an outside time for their last Friendship Club of the year!
**Mr. Packer will finish up his project with the students on the following Friday, June 3rd.
**Work portfolios will come home this week.
**The last day of school is Wednesday, June 8th. We will have a regular morning session. In the afternoon, beginning at 1:00 pm, please join us for autograph signing, light refreshments, report cards and summer packets and maybe something special on the black top!
This week:
The students are having lots of fun with the ABC Countdown. They are also monitoring our Class Box Garden. We have beans, watermelon, cantalope and radishes growing along with assorted flowers. The students began weeding our outside garden bed and preparing it for planting. We will discuss and choose plants to grow in our outside garden next week.
Reading/Language Arts: Students continue to work on skills and literature from Treasures Units 9 and 10. Sight words for this week are with and my. Target sounds are Jj and Qu along with long vowels. Students continue to review all skills on the Phonemic Awareness Continuum as per our Route to Reading format. They used their dry erase boards to practice blending and segmenting 3-4-5 and even 6 sound words. All students are working in the first half of the First Grade word list. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Fish Faces." They were so interested in the world of fish and sea creatures. They elbow chatted about what their favorite fish was in the book and why it was their favorite. The students worked on a summative blueprint about comparing illustrations in a text and a writing summative narrative about what kind of garden they would grow. Robust Vocabulary this week included CONFUSED, DESCRIBE, INSIST, TEXTURE, UNDERSTAND. Workstation for this week included leveled reader self read, partner read and elbow chatting about story elements, comparing and contrasting stories, vocabulary and word choice, drawing a picture of your favorite sea creature and telling why you like it, answering yes/no questions, writing about a comparison--which sea creatures are bigger then you--smaller then you, sort fish pictures into groups and writing about how you sorted them and working with unknown words.
Math: The students have completed their Story Problem Math Journals. Next week, their new journals will touch on all areas of math that we have learned this year and some first grade math. Workstations this week were all about the game. Students learned to play "Pop for Numbers," "Number Bond Matching Game," "Addition and Subtraction Sort," and "Story Problem Solve."
Writing: The students continue to reflect in writing on various topics in all their subject areas. They continue to work on writing a "meaty" sentence containing adjectives and other details. Next week, we will write a thank you note to Ms. Cummings, our workstation Grandma.
Science: The students continue to observe plants growing in our class garden. In Experiment 4, we removed a baby sunflower, nasturtium, morning glory and marigold from the soil to take a closer look at the root system. The students noted similarities and differences in the stems, leaves and roots. Thicker roots, skinny roots, straight roots, curvy roots, lots of roots, stringy roots were some of their observations. The students also looked at the leaf structure of each plant and made a sketch of the leaves. How do the roots and stem help each plant? Students reflected in their science journal. What is the job of the leaves? In Experiment 5 the students pondered the question......do seeds need soil in order to germinate? Each table placed 5 seeds in a bag with a paper towel and some water. They taped it to a sunny window. They made a check each day and on day 5--what ----roots were growing and some little shoots. Cool! We will try seeds on sponges next week. The students weeded the outside garden bed and found lots of rolly polly bugs, worms and other creepy crawly things. They will decide next week what to plant. Next week--How seeds travel and WORM study!
Technology: Reviewing all apps. Next week, the students will do a project about life cycles of plants that may involve some apps. Also.....they will begin work on a script for their final project about kindergarten.
Literature: "The Seed Song," "How and Why Seeds Travel," "Flip, Float, Fly," "A Seed is a Promise," "A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds," "Growing a Garden," "Garden Tools," "The Atlas of Plants," "Amazing Bugs," "Tropical Fish."
**The ABC COUNTDOWN continues this week-- highlights--Lemonade Day/King Day on Monday, Monkey Day/Note Day on Tuesday, Obstacle Course/Pajama Day on Wednesday, Queen Day/Rainbow Day on Thursday and Surprise Day on Friday.
**Permission slip for PIZZA and PLAY End of the Year Family Picnic is in your child's homework folder. Please send back with $3.00. Instead of the online sign up---I am asking parents to send blankets and ground covers, cut up fruit or veggies and paper plates and napkins. We will have 2 large thermos containers of water and fruit punch. If your child does not want pizza, just send a bag lunch. We will also need some parent help to set up at Rehm Park. I will be emailing our Room Parents for assistance in getting this all together. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, June 1st from 9:30-noon at Rehm Park.
**Permission slip for our Walking Trip to the Oak Park Conservatory is also in your child's homework folder. Let me know if you are interested in waling with us. That event is Tuesday, June 7th from 9:30-11:30 am.
**One last WALKING TRIP planned is to visit the CHICKEN COUP at the Gurgas/Chien backyard on Tuesday, May 31st from 11:30-12:10. I will send out that permission slip on Monday.
**The presentation of the Summer Reading Program-Read to Win begins on June 1st. This year, students can sign up in school thru Ms. Noonan. Details are forthcoming.
**ALL LIBRARY BOOKS ARE DUE on FRIDAY, JUNE 3rd per Ms. Noonan.
**ALL BUSY READERS ARE DUE BACK TO MS. GULLO on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1st.
**Route to Reading has ended for this year.
**The students said goodbye to our workstation Grandma, Ms. Cummings. We will miss her. She and the students had so much fun as she worked with various groups during our reading workstations.
**Olympic Day is Friday, May 27th from 8:30-11:00 am. Come on out and see Team Gullo in all of our Olympic events throughout the school.
**The students have chosen an outside time for their last Friendship Club of the year!
**Mr. Packer will finish up his project with the students on the following Friday, June 3rd.
**Work portfolios will come home this week.
**The last day of school is Wednesday, June 8th. We will have a regular morning session. In the afternoon, beginning at 1:00 pm, please join us for autograph signing, light refreshments, report cards and summer packets and maybe something special on the black top!
This week:
The students are having lots of fun with the ABC Countdown. They are also monitoring our Class Box Garden. We have beans, watermelon, cantalope and radishes growing along with assorted flowers. The students began weeding our outside garden bed and preparing it for planting. We will discuss and choose plants to grow in our outside garden next week.
Reading/Language Arts: Students continue to work on skills and literature from Treasures Units 9 and 10. Sight words for this week are with and my. Target sounds are Jj and Qu along with long vowels. Students continue to review all skills on the Phonemic Awareness Continuum as per our Route to Reading format. They used their dry erase boards to practice blending and segmenting 3-4-5 and even 6 sound words. All students are working in the first half of the First Grade word list. The students listened to the Big Book story, "Fish Faces." They were so interested in the world of fish and sea creatures. They elbow chatted about what their favorite fish was in the book and why it was their favorite. The students worked on a summative blueprint about comparing illustrations in a text and a writing summative narrative about what kind of garden they would grow. Robust Vocabulary this week included CONFUSED, DESCRIBE, INSIST, TEXTURE, UNDERSTAND. Workstation for this week included leveled reader self read, partner read and elbow chatting about story elements, comparing and contrasting stories, vocabulary and word choice, drawing a picture of your favorite sea creature and telling why you like it, answering yes/no questions, writing about a comparison--which sea creatures are bigger then you--smaller then you, sort fish pictures into groups and writing about how you sorted them and working with unknown words.
Math: The students have completed their Story Problem Math Journals. Next week, their new journals will touch on all areas of math that we have learned this year and some first grade math. Workstations this week were all about the game. Students learned to play "Pop for Numbers," "Number Bond Matching Game," "Addition and Subtraction Sort," and "Story Problem Solve."
Writing: The students continue to reflect in writing on various topics in all their subject areas. They continue to work on writing a "meaty" sentence containing adjectives and other details. Next week, we will write a thank you note to Ms. Cummings, our workstation Grandma.
Science: The students continue to observe plants growing in our class garden. In Experiment 4, we removed a baby sunflower, nasturtium, morning glory and marigold from the soil to take a closer look at the root system. The students noted similarities and differences in the stems, leaves and roots. Thicker roots, skinny roots, straight roots, curvy roots, lots of roots, stringy roots were some of their observations. The students also looked at the leaf structure of each plant and made a sketch of the leaves. How do the roots and stem help each plant? Students reflected in their science journal. What is the job of the leaves? In Experiment 5 the students pondered the question......do seeds need soil in order to germinate? Each table placed 5 seeds in a bag with a paper towel and some water. They taped it to a sunny window. They made a check each day and on day 5--what ----roots were growing and some little shoots. Cool! We will try seeds on sponges next week. The students weeded the outside garden bed and found lots of rolly polly bugs, worms and other creepy crawly things. They will decide next week what to plant. Next week--How seeds travel and WORM study!
Technology: Reviewing all apps. Next week, the students will do a project about life cycles of plants that may involve some apps. Also.....they will begin work on a script for their final project about kindergarten.
Literature: "The Seed Song," "How and Why Seeds Travel," "Flip, Float, Fly," "A Seed is a Promise," "A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds," "Growing a Garden," "Garden Tools," "The Atlas of Plants," "Amazing Bugs," "Tropical Fish."
Saturday, May 14, 2016
UPDATES for 5/9-5/13 2016
**The month of May is really flying by! Our Space Station 2016 iMovie is ready. Just scroll down to the end of this post!! It is very cute and really captures the students ability to collaborate and work together toward a common goal. I do apologize for the typo that I spotted after I published. They are having a great time using their space stations for a quiet reading space.
**My class is a little behind the game but......we will begin our very own ABC COUNTDOWN on Monday, May 16th. We will do 2 letters a day for a while. The students have decided what we will do. The full calendar of ideas is in your child's homework folder. Fun! Fun! Fun!
**Public Service Announcement---With the weather warming up, many of my students will want to wear sandals. Sandals will be okay in the classroom, but I would like all students to wear gym shoes and socks as we venture out on the playground more. Closed toe shoes would be okay too. Let's protect our feet!
**The Traveling Poets Project is going well! Our class got to travel to the office, 1st grade, 3rd grade, the music room and another kindergarten room to recite their poems. Next week is the last week of Traveling Poets. We have enjoyed students from 4th grade, 5th grade and 2nd grade traveling to our room.
**The Irving Art Slam and Poetry Fest was spectacular!! A huge SHOUT OUT to our "Little Slammers" Audrey and Quinn and Audrey's babysitter, Yola for their participation. The art work was beautiful and chorus was lovely. Many people were interested in Senorita's Spanish games too and the poetry breaks were great. Come and visit the hallways to view them all.
**Look for permission slip and information on PIZZA and PLAY End of the Year Picnic next week. We are going to do a Sign Up Genius for items needed for the picnic. That will also be sent out next week. Pizza and Play is June 1st from 9:30-noon at Rehm Park. We need lots of help!
**A presentation on the SUMMER READING at MAZE LIBRARY will take place on Wednesday, May 18th at 8:45 am. It is a super fun program for our soon to be First Graders!
**Pacer's Running/Walking club will continue a few more weeks. The students are receiving lots of feet for their necklaces!
**Olympic Day is scheduled for Friday, May 27th beginning at 8:30 am. A schedule of events will be in your child's homework folder next week.
** Look for portfolios and writing journals from Trimesters 1 and 2 to come home next week.
**The final rotation of Route to Reading will be next week. You will receive notification of your child's skill mastery.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey continued her review of all of this years topics in a game show format. Her final session with students is May 26th.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking and Problem Solving this week, Mr. Packer worked with small groups of students in placing dots according to the direction given.
**Future field trips--Pizza and Play-Wednesday, June 1st at Rehm Park from 9:30-noon.....Walking trip to the Oak Park Conservatory on Tuesday, June 7th at 10:00 am.......Walking trip to Gurgas/Chen Chicken Coup--TBA and in room guest speaker, Ms. Henry to speak about worm composting--TBA.
**June 8th (full day)--Last day of school (tear drop!) Family Half Hour, summer packets, autograph books and final report cards will be sent home.
This week:
Change is in the air! The students are sensing that the end of the kindergarten is near. They are thinking about new teachers, new classrooms, new friendships and new expectations. They are also thinking about students who might be moving away.or going to other schools in Oak Park. Turning into a First Grader is BIG! We will be visiting First Grade next week. I encourage you to chat with your child about moving on. Parent or child can write a question down that they would like the First Graders to answer. There is definitely excitement in the air and perhaps.....a little anxiety. We will be working through it in our classroom too! Station Day activities this week included ways to say a number flower, seed sequence and creating an addition story problem, illustrating it and writing the equation.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue to work on skills and literature from Treasures 9 Amazing Creatures and 10 We know A Lot. Students took a look at the world of bugs. What is an insect? Can you name the similarities and differences between an insect and a spider? Sight words for this week were has and look. Target sounds for this week were Jj and Yy. Students spent time with partners using their word cards, pictures and punctuation creating sentences. Students continue to work on using and recognizing nouns, verbs, pronouns and adjectives. Each day this week, the students worked on group substitution activities to strengthen sound recognition and automatic recording of sounds to create words. They also worked on formative and summative blueprints
on word choice and how the illustrations are important in the text. Robust Vocabulary for this week included ENORMOUS, GULP, FANTASY, INCREDIBLE, REALITY. Workstations this week included leveled reader self read, partner read and elbow chat on story elements, comparing and contrasting stories and vocabulary and word choice, What bug do you like? and why do you like it? opinion writing, writing about how insects are alike and how they are different, discussing and writing 4 facts about insects, short e word work, word scramble, silent e word work, writing sentences using your sight words, choosing an illustration from the text and telling in writing what information the picture gives you and why it is important, creating a word web for the letter sound Ww and working with word families ut, et. un and en.
Math: The students keep working on reading simple story problems, illustrating the process, showing it on a number line and writing the equation. The students continue to review rote counting skills, basic shape and geometric solids, comparing and contrasting 2D and 3D shapes, teen numbers and addition and subtraction processes including number bonds and number families.
Writing: The students are working on writing pieces in both reading and science. They wrote thank you letters to Reading Grandma Mary. They are writing about a certain subject, stating and opinion, comparing and contrasting and writing about illustrations.
Science: The students continue their study of seeds. This week, they observed the inside of a seed. We soaked pinto beans and white beans in warm water overnight. The next day, the students observed that the seeds got bigger. They made a comparison. Yes!!......the water climbed up into the spaces of the seed. The students split their seeds in half with their fingers. They observed the outer covering (coat) and in the inside corner was the baby plant (embryo) The rest of the inside is the seed food where the see gets its nourishment. The students made a diagram in their journal, labeling parts and discussing and writing about pertinent vocabulary. The students also watched their own seed germinate and grow into a baby plant. They kept track of the growth by making drawings every few days. Students also looked at root systems and created a diagram of their plants root system. Leaf structure and stem structure rounded out their inquiries and observations. OUR PLANTS ARE READY TO GO HOME! This will happen on Monday, May 16th. I will also send home an information sheet. Next week--preparing our garden bed and soil vs no soil experiments.
Technology: The students saw the iMovie we made. The overall reaction was great. They were so proud. The did note that in some parts of the footage, they needed to speak up to be on the soundtrack. It was a great experience. They want to do another........stay tuned!!!!!
Literature: "The Tiny Seed," "The Bug Patrol," "3D Bugs," "Giant Book of Bugs," "Eating the Alphabet," "Leaves," "Roots," "Stems," "Plants," "My Tree Named Steve," "The Sunflower House."
**My class is a little behind the game but......we will begin our very own ABC COUNTDOWN on Monday, May 16th. We will do 2 letters a day for a while. The students have decided what we will do. The full calendar of ideas is in your child's homework folder. Fun! Fun! Fun!
**Public Service Announcement---With the weather warming up, many of my students will want to wear sandals. Sandals will be okay in the classroom, but I would like all students to wear gym shoes and socks as we venture out on the playground more. Closed toe shoes would be okay too. Let's protect our feet!
**The Traveling Poets Project is going well! Our class got to travel to the office, 1st grade, 3rd grade, the music room and another kindergarten room to recite their poems. Next week is the last week of Traveling Poets. We have enjoyed students from 4th grade, 5th grade and 2nd grade traveling to our room.
**The Irving Art Slam and Poetry Fest was spectacular!! A huge SHOUT OUT to our "Little Slammers" Audrey and Quinn and Audrey's babysitter, Yola for their participation. The art work was beautiful and chorus was lovely. Many people were interested in Senorita's Spanish games too and the poetry breaks were great. Come and visit the hallways to view them all.
**Look for permission slip and information on PIZZA and PLAY End of the Year Picnic next week. We are going to do a Sign Up Genius for items needed for the picnic. That will also be sent out next week. Pizza and Play is June 1st from 9:30-noon at Rehm Park. We need lots of help!
**A presentation on the SUMMER READING at MAZE LIBRARY will take place on Wednesday, May 18th at 8:45 am. It is a super fun program for our soon to be First Graders!
**Pacer's Running/Walking club will continue a few more weeks. The students are receiving lots of feet for their necklaces!
**Olympic Day is scheduled for Friday, May 27th beginning at 8:30 am. A schedule of events will be in your child's homework folder next week.
** Look for portfolios and writing journals from Trimesters 1 and 2 to come home next week.
**The final rotation of Route to Reading will be next week. You will receive notification of your child's skill mastery.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell Bey continued her review of all of this years topics in a game show format. Her final session with students is May 26th.
**In Mr. Packer Thinking and Problem Solving this week, Mr. Packer worked with small groups of students in placing dots according to the direction given.
**Future field trips--Pizza and Play-Wednesday, June 1st at Rehm Park from 9:30-noon.....Walking trip to the Oak Park Conservatory on Tuesday, June 7th at 10:00 am.......Walking trip to Gurgas/Chen Chicken Coup--TBA and in room guest speaker, Ms. Henry to speak about worm composting--TBA.
**June 8th (full day)--Last day of school (tear drop!) Family Half Hour, summer packets, autograph books and final report cards will be sent home.
This week:
Change is in the air! The students are sensing that the end of the kindergarten is near. They are thinking about new teachers, new classrooms, new friendships and new expectations. They are also thinking about students who might be moving away.or going to other schools in Oak Park. Turning into a First Grader is BIG! We will be visiting First Grade next week. I encourage you to chat with your child about moving on. Parent or child can write a question down that they would like the First Graders to answer. There is definitely excitement in the air and perhaps.....a little anxiety. We will be working through it in our classroom too! Station Day activities this week included ways to say a number flower, seed sequence and creating an addition story problem, illustrating it and writing the equation.
Reading/Language Arts: The students continue to work on skills and literature from Treasures 9 Amazing Creatures and 10 We know A Lot. Students took a look at the world of bugs. What is an insect? Can you name the similarities and differences between an insect and a spider? Sight words for this week were has and look. Target sounds for this week were Jj and Yy. Students spent time with partners using their word cards, pictures and punctuation creating sentences. Students continue to work on using and recognizing nouns, verbs, pronouns and adjectives. Each day this week, the students worked on group substitution activities to strengthen sound recognition and automatic recording of sounds to create words. They also worked on formative and summative blueprints
on word choice and how the illustrations are important in the text. Robust Vocabulary for this week included ENORMOUS, GULP, FANTASY, INCREDIBLE, REALITY. Workstations this week included leveled reader self read, partner read and elbow chat on story elements, comparing and contrasting stories and vocabulary and word choice, What bug do you like? and why do you like it? opinion writing, writing about how insects are alike and how they are different, discussing and writing 4 facts about insects, short e word work, word scramble, silent e word work, writing sentences using your sight words, choosing an illustration from the text and telling in writing what information the picture gives you and why it is important, creating a word web for the letter sound Ww and working with word families ut, et. un and en.
Math: The students keep working on reading simple story problems, illustrating the process, showing it on a number line and writing the equation. The students continue to review rote counting skills, basic shape and geometric solids, comparing and contrasting 2D and 3D shapes, teen numbers and addition and subtraction processes including number bonds and number families.
Writing: The students are working on writing pieces in both reading and science. They wrote thank you letters to Reading Grandma Mary. They are writing about a certain subject, stating and opinion, comparing and contrasting and writing about illustrations.
Science: The students continue their study of seeds. This week, they observed the inside of a seed. We soaked pinto beans and white beans in warm water overnight. The next day, the students observed that the seeds got bigger. They made a comparison. Yes!!......the water climbed up into the spaces of the seed. The students split their seeds in half with their fingers. They observed the outer covering (coat) and in the inside corner was the baby plant (embryo) The rest of the inside is the seed food where the see gets its nourishment. The students made a diagram in their journal, labeling parts and discussing and writing about pertinent vocabulary. The students also watched their own seed germinate and grow into a baby plant. They kept track of the growth by making drawings every few days. Students also looked at root systems and created a diagram of their plants root system. Leaf structure and stem structure rounded out their inquiries and observations. OUR PLANTS ARE READY TO GO HOME! This will happen on Monday, May 16th. I will also send home an information sheet. Next week--preparing our garden bed and soil vs no soil experiments.
Technology: The students saw the iMovie we made. The overall reaction was great. They were so proud. The did note that in some parts of the footage, they needed to speak up to be on the soundtrack. It was a great experience. They want to do another........stay tuned!!!!!
Literature: "The Tiny Seed," "The Bug Patrol," "3D Bugs," "Giant Book of Bugs," "Eating the Alphabet," "Leaves," "Roots," "Stems," "Plants," "My Tree Named Steve," "The Sunflower House."
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