Our kids earned the Golden Mouse computer lab award and the Library award this month!!! They are beginning to work as a class, and I couldn't be more proud. Check out the "Pictures" link!
Theme: We talked about Presidents' Day and why we celebrate it. Kids learned facts about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. We also compared and contrasted these two presidents. Communication Arts: Students learned how to tell facts across their fingers which helps them remember what they have read or heard. They made a drawing of Washington and Lincoln, then wrote 4 facts about each. These are hanging in our hallway. We read "I Can President Too" and learned what qualities a good president should have. Students wrote what they would do if they were president. Handwriting and Word Work: Ww on handwriting lines; digraphs th, ch, and ck; word family -ug; High Frequency Words "we" "want" with practice on lists A, B, C Writing: Kids brainstormed ideas for new How-To books. They are creating a series of How-To books and combining them to make a chapter book. We also discussed creating better introductions and conclusions. Before writing can be published it has to be edited. Kids are watching for misspelled word wall words, capital letters that should be lowercase, and that their writing is readable. Math: The kids are getting the teen numbers better than any class I've ever had. We worked with finding parts of teen numbers (a group of ten and the extras are ones) and how to write an equation using this information. The equal sign can be at the beginning of the equation or at the end. Kids have to watch for this sign or their equation doesn't read correctly. Next week is a review week with the assessment given on Friday. **I am currently assessing reading levels and high frequency words. I will report student levels as soon as assessments are complete. **I am sending a book order home today even though our book fair is next week. Scholastic has a wide range of books listed by level or grade - you choose. You can even put in a series or favorite author to buy from. Tax is not charged on Scholastic orders. Order online or return your paper order with payment to me and I will submit your order. Important Dates: February 27 - March 3 Book Fair in the Library 8:45-4:30 March 2 it is open until 7:30 during the Literacy Night activities (the flyer said 4:00 the 2nd, but it is 7:30 pm) February 28- Book-It homework is due March 2- Literacy Night 6:00-7:00 March 3 - Book orders are due March 6-10 Read Across America Week Activities March 7- Wear Stripes (donate Peanut butter and Jelly) March 10- Drive-In Movie Day (bring a box your child can sit in decorated like a vehicle of any kind) March 10 - dress like your favorite STORYBOOK character, not movie character March 10- Dismiss at 12:30 March 13-17- Spring Break March 30- Book It due March 31- No School April 4- Crazy Hair Day (donate canned tuna/chicken) April 6- Kindergarten Music Performance April 14- No School April 17- No School May 2- Crazy Sock day (donate pasta) These kids need to bring $2 to help with the Friendship party: Landyn S, Lilianna, Clarity. Theme: Students activated schema about the sun and compared and contrasted characteristics of the Earth and the moon. They learned how sunlight reflects on the moon making it look as though the moon shines. Kids also learned how the sun helps Earth in many ways, and the moon is made of rock and dirt. Communication Arts: Students learned to identify the main idea of books using Sunlight and Come Meet the Moon and practiced using reading strategies to read tricky words in The Night Sky. We read Kitten's First Full Moon then retold the story using pictures and sequence words to help us with the order. Sight Words: where, is, your Our goal for the class: 17 out of 19 students will know ALL words from lists A, B, and C by Spring Break. The more words your child knows, the easier reading becomes! We have planned a "Rock Star" party for March 9th if the class reaches this goal. Kids need to be practicing every day. Sounding out sight words is not an indicator of knowing them. Handwriting/Word Work: Vv and the word family -ug. Students wrote "The moon goes around the Earth. It reflects light from the sun" to practice high frequency words and handwriting. Writing: Students added warnings, tips, and suggestions to writing. Math: Most kids aced the Topic 9 assessment. That was exciting to see. The bee question was tricky so they had a bit of thinking help from me. I didn't tell them the answers, but I helped them think through it. Topic 10 is hitting place value hard. We do this everyday with counting the days of school with straws in place value pockets. Kids need to count the group of ten by saying "ten," then counting on with the ones. We are practicing teen numbers as well with this unit. Important Dates: February 27 - March 3 Book Fair in the Library 8:45-4:30 March 2 it is open until 7:30 during the Literacy Night activities (the flyer said 4:00 the 2nd, but it is 7:30 pm) February 28- Book-It homework is due March 2- Literacy Night 6:00-7:00 March 6-10 Read Across America Week Activities March 7- Wear Stripes (donate Peanut butter and Jelly) March 10- Drive-In Movie Day (bring a box your child can sit in decorated like a vehicle of any kind) March 10 - dress like your favorite STORYBOOK character, not movie character March 10- Dismiss at 12:30 March 13-17- Spring Break March 30- Book It due March 31- No School April 4- Crazy Hair Day (donate canned tuna/chicken) April 6- Kindergarten Music Performance April 14- No School April 17- No School May 2- Crazy Sock day (donate pasta) Our Friendship party was a blast. We enjoyed having several parents available to help out. Thank you for supporting the fun by sending money for supplies. These families need to send their $2 Monday: Landyn S. and Clarity.
Communication Arts: Retelling stories and including all of the story elements was our focus in reading. We read Slugs In Love and completed a story map using each of these elements: setting, characters, key details, the problem, and the solution. We also looked at a new version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to identify these elements. Sight Words: can, you, see, the, when, they, review of lists A and B Handwriting/Word Work: Letter Uu handwriting and the short and long vowel sounds, teen numbers, -ig word family, taking the beginning letter of a word away then adding a new letter to form a new word, rhyming for poetry Writing: Students have worked for several weeks on their How-To books. Many are quite detailed as well as fun to read. Kids who are finished writing a book are editing for capital letters in the right places as well as punctuation. Word wall words must be spelled correctly. This is quite a task for Kindergartners, but those who listen and use what they are taught are doing very well. I'm excited to share these with the first grade teachers. Math: Counting and writing 18, 19. 20, counting to find how many, counting objects we can see then marking all the numbers that tell how many objects there could be in all if some are hiding (this is on the test Tuesday!!! Things to Work on at Home (Learning Targets)
Theme: During our enrichment time this week we learned about shadows. We learned that you need light and something to block the light to form a shadow. Kids showed off their shadow skills on the smartboard, predicted the Groundhog Day outcome, learned lots of facts about groundhogs and chose three to write.
Communication Arts: We read The Substitute Groundhog and practiced identifying the beginning and ending of the story. Then we then sequenced the entire story from beginning to end together and alone using a model. Sight Words: where, is, your, review of lists A and B. We have not met our December goal of 16 out of 18 mastering these lists. We still have a goal for 17 out of 19 to master lists A, B, and C before spring break to have a Rock-Star party. If your child has mastered list C, he/she will be reading a level C. If none of the lists are mastered, your child is probably not reading yet. This is a good way to measure whether your child is grade level in reading. Right now kids should be fluent on Level B and almost fluent on Level C. Handwriting/Word Work: Tt and teen numbers, using the words "Groundhog Day" to spell as many words as we can, the word family -ig Writing: We used student work to gain ideas how to make writing better such as using capital letters or bold words for emphasis and the word “you” to get the reader to listen. We read Jaylynn's "How-To" today to see just how a completed book should look. This girl is good! She is using everything being taught to write well. There are many others writing amazing pieces, but none are at the publishing stage yet. A well-written How-To Book has: a title, pictures that teach, a list of items needed, important parts in bold, and clear instructions. Books will be on display during the March 2nd Literacy Night. Math: Topic 9 "Count Numbers to 20": Students are learning that teen numbers are one group of tens then ones based on the second number in the teen number. We are grouping counters in a ten-frame first, then the ones as though we might have a second ten-frame. The kids have been taught that once we get to 20 they will need two ten-frames. Common mistakes are that some kids say "firteen" for 13 then skip 14, some say "firteen" then "firteen" again, some say these numbers with "ty" at the end because they don't hear the "een," and often kids reverse the numbers in the teen number (12 looks like 21). Valentines/Friendship Party: A list of students' names has been sent home for Valentines. Please prepare to send a decorated box or bag and Valentines by Wednesday. We begin passing them out early because there is no way we can get this done during the party and have time for anything else. Money to help support our party goods is due Monday so Traci can prepare for your kids. These people have not sent money yet: Cash, Aubrey, Clarity, Jaylynn, Ryley, Laura, Isaac, Xander, Gabriel, Lilianna, Rosalea, Landyn. Important Dates: February 6-10: Change A Life WCCF Fundraiser (goal $1 per child) February 7– Twin Day (Mrs. Bailey in a meeting) February 8-send Valentines and a decorated box February 10 – Friendship Party @ 10:00 Early Dismissal @ 12:30 February 20 – We have school |
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May 2019
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