PROGRESS REPORTS ARE BEING SENT HOME TODAY Teacher comments are in the Reading section.
The summer school link is on my previous post. All students are invited to register and attend. We earned the Golden Whistle Award and the Music Award this month!!! I am so excited to share the news. PE is really hard with 11 boys in a class. (They get a bit competitive and rowdy). We can do it! Weekly Theme: Weather: We learned how clouds are created, how wind helps us, how the water cycle works and three new, long words (evaporation, condensation, precipitation), types of weather and the seasons they occur in. Students learned how to identify the main idea and use details to remember facts across their fingers. They researched non-fiction texts to identify features we find in them then charted these. Writing This Week: Students began writing “Opinion/Persuasive Papers”. This is a fun unit because kids get to write pieces that are really meaningful to them. We talked about seeing problems and possibilities at school, home, and in the world. We talked about providing consequences to support what we are asking someone to do or not to do. If you see writing coming home from other students to your child, it is from our writing time. Often kids write to someone they want to play with or to someone they are having problems with. We talk about being nice in our writing to get the results we hope for. I had fun reading the formulative assessment writing done Wednesday. Eighteen kids wrote pieces I can read. Of those 18, sixteen actually wrote about a problem they saw in our classroom. I've been sharing these with other teachers because I am that proud. Word Family: -ing word search and word slides Sight Words: We read an A-Z reader Clouds to learn the words what, do, go, and review look, see, the, will, you, at This book was terrific to review our reading strategies for breaking through unknown words. We used Chunky Monkey, Eagle Eye, Skippy Frog, Stretchy Snake. Handwriting: Revisiting correct formation of letters, making writing readable using spaces and punctuation. Be sure your child is always beginning their letter writing at the top of the letter. Many push the letter upward, but this is wrong. Math This Week: Understanding the 100s chart and the patterns within it are complex. Kids have learned to count by tens. These numbers are the "decade" numbers. They went further to use tens and ones to count forward from any given number by looking at the patterns in rows and columns. We have never been asked to push kids through the entire 100s chart - ever. I see the value, and that most kids are able to understand the structure when taught properly. Next week we will practice using the chart as we have been and test Thursday. Lockdown: Thank you for your understanding about the buses not bringing your children home and the busy pick up situation. When the lockdown began, I talked briefly with the kids about listening for further information in these situations, and that we practice the intruder drill for this type of situation. I explained that someone was making bad choices and the police were looking for them. During this time we were going to play it safe by locking our classroom door and staying inside. I assured them they were safe, and we were being proactive by being careful and locking the doors. A couple of children were worried that the "Bad Guys" might hear us playing inside. I always tell them that they don't need to cry or be afraid if I am not crying. We went about our afternoon as normal. I did NOT tell them about a gun or a shooting. Upcoming Events: March 27 – Parent Teacher Conferences: Kindergarten is required to meet with students reading below level B/2. I've already contacted those parents. You are always invited to ask me questions as you have them. I'll never turn away a parent who want to be involved in their child's learning. March 31 - No School April 4 - Crazy Hair Day - bring a canned meat food item Kindergarten Screening day - I will be out during the afternoon to do exit conferences April 6 - Kindergarten program at 2:45 and 6:30 April 13 - Spring pictures May 5 - Kindergarten Field Trip to the zoo 9:00 to 12:45-ish I will need help to keep kids corralled and safe. If you can attend, please let me know. There will be a note sent closer to the date. Trolls won the survey! Thank you for your last-minute input and for your participation in creating a vehicle for your child. We only had two kids without a vehicle! Dress-up days, assessments, McTeacher Night, and a Drive In all in the same week make for a crazy-busy week. The kids have loved it all.
The high-frequency and reading level sheets will be sent home today. The Progress Report will be sent home the week we return from Spring Break. I think it's important for you to know how your child is doing now when you may have time to work on skills. Mastery Connect is always available, but the reading level and high-frequency words known are not recorded there. I am excited that eleven kids have mastered lists A, B, and C. Your child will read on the highest level of mastery on sight words. These are tremendously important to your child's success. Weekly Theme: Transportation - Kids brainstormed ways to get from one place to another and categorized them as land, water, or air transportation. We read If I Built a Car, then kids created their own vehicle with anything in it they wanted to include. This was a lot of fun for the kids. We have swimming pools and snack bars in our cars. These pictures are on the "Pictures" page along with other fun pictures from our crazy week. We discussed force and played charades with actions to determine if a "push" or a "pull" was used to make something move. The Drive-In was a terrific way to end the week. Reading: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus was fun to read. The pigeon really wanted to drive the bus and kept begging. He talked to us giving many reasons why we should let him. We held firm. We had fun creating a directed-drawing of the pigeon and giving him a new vehicle to beg to drive. These are hanging in our hallway and are REALLY good. Writing: Kids completed How-To writing pieces and shared them during our Writer's Celebration. Kids who had a completed book and who could also read them to the class were rewarded with a prize from the small treasure chest. Kids had one hour Monday to complete a How-To book for the writing assessment. I was delighted to be able to read all but three of these without the author's help! I found myself laughing at the warnings and helpful hints kids included. Our next unit is Persuasive or Opinion writing. Math: We started Topic 11: "Count Numbers to 100". Recognizing the patterns in the columns and rows of the 100s chart was the focus of the first three lessons. Counting forward from any given number up to 100 will be our next focus. Reminders: 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 May 2- Crazy Sock day (donate pasta) |
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May 2019
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