Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving from your Kindergarten Turkeys!


Dear Families:

We wish you a very happy and safe Thanksgiving! Please take a moment to look at some pictures below, to see what we did during the past few days. A few brief points to start the conversation with your child at home include:

- Morning Meeting: turkey greet  
- Thanksgiving Feast during lunch in the cafeteria on Tuesday 
- Making and wearing our Turkey Hats! 
- Going to the library on Tuesday 
- Filling up our class jar (again!) - and earning a whole class prize of watching a movie on Wednesday :) 

Looking Ahead: 
When we come back after our Thanksgiving break...
-Our theme next week will focus on animals during the winter time
-In Fundations we will learn about the letters p & j 
-We will wrap up Topic 4
-Note about Parent-Teacher Conferences: I sent home your scheduled day/time of a parent-teacher conference last week. Please let me know asap if you are unable to make your scheduled conference.
I'm looking forward to meeting with you next week! 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! 









Saturday, November 21, 2015

Book buddies!

Classroom News in Room 6:

  • The new Fundations letters learned this week were e & r. Both letters are tricky sounds to master. Don't forget to practice at home! 
  • enVision Math: We are continuing with Topic 4, comparing numbers. This week, we learned to compare 1 more, 1 fewer, and 2 more. 
  • Our centers this week focused a lot on Thanksgiving: 
    • Listening Center: Turkey Trouble 
    • Writing Center: we wrote what we are thankful for.
    • Art Center: Cupcake turkeys 
    • Game Center: First Sound Fluency - Pick a Turkey
    • Fundations Center: practiced letters e & r 
    • Poetry Center: I'm Glad I'm Not a Turkey
  • Morning Meeting: Dice Greet, and playing Chief
  • Social Lesson with Ms. Greene: learning about the word patience. 
  • Computer class: we watched a BrainPOP video on why we celebrate Thanksgiving, and then designed our own turkey
  • Library: We listened to the story Click Clack Boo! 
  • New Brain Break: I'm Awake, Alert, Alive, Enthusiastic! 
  • Class Reward:  As a whole class, we have been working so hard and remembering our classroom rules and following the expected behaviors. As a result, we filled up our class ticket jar! Our class reward was to have Book Buddy day on Friday, with a second grade class! Take a peek at the pictures below! 



Guiding Questions: 
  • What are some words that begin with the letter e? 
  • What are some words that begin with the letter r? 
  • For an additional challenge, tell your Kindergartener a word, and ask them what sound he/she hears at the beginning. See if they can tell you what letter the word begins with! 
  • Ask your Kindergartener to count as high as they can. We are practicing counting orally to 100! 
  • Tell your child a number. Can they tell you 1 more/1 less/2 more of that number? 
  • What is your child thankful for? 
  • Ask your child why we celebrate Thanksgiving. 
  • See if your child can perform our new Brain Break: I'm Awake, Alert, Alive, Enthusiastic! 
Looking Ahead:
Don't forget next week is a short week!
Dismissal will begin around 11:45. Please let me know any changes in your child's dismissal as soon as possible. 

We are looking forward to another exciting week in K! 


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Early Release Day on November 25th


Early Release Day: Thanksgiving
Dear Families,
Wednesday, November 25th will be an early release day. Dismissal for all students grades K-5 will begin approximately at 11:35am.

If your child is taking the bus home:
There will be no bus A, B, or C this day. Kindergarten children will go home on the same bus number as they take to school in the morning. Please write the morning bus number below. If you are not sure of your child’s morning bus number, please contact the main office.

If your child is being picked-up:
Parents picking their children up will drive their car around the building and wait in the parent pick up line. Teachers are present to supervise and facilitate this process. Please do not meet or pick up your child in the main lobby on this day.

If your child is going to the After School Program or YMCA at Francis Wyman:
He/she will be riding bus 16 to Francis Wyman along with other K-5 students attending after school or YMCA.

To ensure this day runs smoothly please complete the information that was sent home, and return no later than Thursday, November 19th.
THANK YOU!!!

Monday, November 16, 2015

Just a Few Things...

Please check your child's communication folder to find the following items...
  • Your scheduled day/time for a parent teacher conference. Please email me if you have any conflicts. I am happy to accommodate!
  • We missed library last Tuesday due to having no school. Please remember we have library tomorrow, Tuesday, November 17th!
  • Be on the lookout for a notice to come home this week, regarding the early release day next Wednesday, November 25th. 
Thank you!!!

Saturday, November 14, 2015

A Short but Sweet Week!

Even though students had two days off, we still had lots of fun and learned a lot this week in Kindergarten! Check out the blurbs below to find out our classroom happenings!

Read Alouds:
Image result for scholastic news let's find out veterans dayImage result for indian paintbrush tomie depaolaImage of item

Fundations:
This week in Fundations, the two be letters we learned were: d and s. These letters are very tricky to write, so I was impressed when students practiced them on our whiteboards! Be on the lookout next week for a homework packet, which will feature letters c, o, a and g.
                                              d, dog, /d/                         s, snake, /s/
    Image result for d dog fundations
Centers
Art Center - This week's art center focused on Veteran's Day and Native Americans. We made American flags, corn, and our very own Indian Paintbrush flowers.
Fundations Center - This week, we practiced letters d, s, and g.
Writing Center - During writing center, we got to use the iPads to practice writing letters we have already learned. We used the app glowdraw. It was a huge success!
Book Making Center - We colored and made books based on words that begin with d, s, and g. Ask your Kindergartener to read you the book he/she made when the books come home! 

enVisionMath:
This week in enVision Math, we began our next unit, Topic 4, Comparing and Ordering Numbers 0-10. We learned how to tell when a number is greater than another number. We will continue with this topic next week, in which we will talk about numbers that are 1 more, and 1 fewer than each other. 

Other
- In computers, we practiced geometry skills as children built houses on the computers.
- In library, we got to listen to the story Library Lion.
-During our social lesson with Ms. Greene, we learned some strategies we can use when we wait. These include singing in our head, looking around the room, counting in our head, daydreaming, and more! 
-November Scholastic book orders are due next week!
-Morning meeting: we did a salute greet when we said good morning to our friends.
-Symphony Math: Last Thursday, children took a math assessment on the computer. Results were sent home with your child on Friday. If you have any questions/concerns about the assessment, etc., I would be happy to answer them at our upcoming parent-teacher conference.

Check out the video clip to watch the Waiting Game!!! 

New brain break this week, check out the clip! 
Guiding Questions:
- What are some words that begin with the letter d?
-What are some words that begin with the letter s?
- What was your child's favorite craft this week?
- What was your child's favorite center this week?
-What are some strategies that your child remembers when he/she waits?

Looking Ahead
-Next week, we will focus on learning about Thanksgiving, and some of the differences between Thanksgiving a long time ago, and Thanksgiving now.
-Be on the lookout for a notice to come home early next week, informing you of your scheduled day/time for a parent-teacher conference.

Some of our November crafts so far! 


                                       


Saturday, November 7, 2015

Authors At Work!

Image result for authors at work
Narrative Writing:
- This week, Kindergartners in Room 6 have been working so hard on Narrative Writing! We learned that narrative writing is when we write about something that really happened to us, and includes a beginning, middle and end. It also includes how the author feels during the event. 
- Throughout the week, the children wrote their very own book on our Halloween celebration last Friday. Each child wrote about what they did in the beginning, middle and end of our celebration, and included an illustration for each part.
- On Friday, we designed our very own cover pages. We made sure to design our cover pages so that the books were appealing to our readers.
- The children even got to use special coloring pencils that we use only for illustrating our writing!
- We took a class vote and decided on what the title of our books should be. 
The children did an amazing job! We can't wait for the final products to be ready so we can share them with other classes, teachers, and you! 
*Please be on the lookout for your child's book to come home in the coming weeks. Please have your child share his/her book with a family member. We ask that you return the book to school the next day.*

Fundations:
-This week in Fundations, we learned two new letters, a and g. (a, apple, /a/; g, game, /g/)
-When we learn new letters, we not only learn the letter-sound association, but we also learn how to write the letters.
-First we "skywrite" the letters, and then each day, some children are chosen to be a "student teacher" to show how the class how the letters are formed on the big white board.
-Please note that as we learn new letters, we continue to practice and review the letters we have already learned. By January, we will know all 26 letters!
Image result for fundations letter aImage result for fundations letter g

EnVision Math:
This week, we finished up Topic 3 in enVisionMath. The children did a great job learning to count and write up to the number 10. Next week, we will begin Topic 4, Comparing and Ordering Numbers 0-10. 

Guiding Questions:
-Ask your child some words that begin with the letters a and g.
-Challenge your child to see if he/she can remember all the letters we have learned so far! (We have learned a total of 11 letters!)
-Ask your child about going on a "roller coaster" ride during morning meeting. We watched this "brain break" after reading the story Roller Coaster, by Marla Frazee. Check out the video clip below!
-Symphony Math in Computer class on Thursday
-Mr. Murphy read the book Sparky! in library on Tuesday



Reminders/Upcoming Week:
-Please remember that there is no school on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. 
-Next week, we will focus on Veteran's Day, and begin to learn about some Thanksgiving topics, such as Native Americans, and Pilgrims.
-If you haven't already done so, please send in the Conference sheet indicating which days/times work best to meet with me for our first parent-teacher conference.

Enjoy the warm(er) weather this weekend!