Book orders are coming home today and due October 10th.
Remember picture day Thursday!!! I changed the calendar today since I will be gone tomorrow. In your child's folder today you will find an information pamphlet about pictures. Picture day is Thursday. If you want to buy a picture packet, you must have this envelope completed and returned before pictures are taken. The company will not let you order at the prices listed after Thursday. If you do not want a packet, you don't need to do anything.
For parent-teacher conferences you had an option to sign up on Meet-the-Teacher Night in August. If you did, your time slot is reserved. There is a sheet in the folder asking for your preference in date as well as top three time slot preferences. Please complete this sheet and return it as soon as possible. Teachers work together to attempt scheduling siblings on the same night and close together. At this time the time-slots beginning at 5:30 and those after are taken by those who signed up in August. Open are times beginning at 3:45 with the last time available being 5:15. Our theme this week is apples. Kids will be learning about non-fiction text features in books about apples such as: diagrams, labels, and table of contents as well as sequencing story elements and the life cycle of apples and the seasonal changes. We will have a taste test on Friday to learn about foods/drinks that are made with apples. At this time we have the following being sent by parents: applesauce, apples breakfast bars, apples cinnamon Cheerios, and apple cider. If you want to send an item, please let me know. We have enough, but can include more if you have an idea. Last week was a bit easier in writing with students creating learning books about numbers and colors. Complete sentences were not necessary in these books which made them easy to breeze through. They will be sent home soon. This week students are learning how to find their ideas for true stories (narratives). They will be learning how to plan their stories across their fingers using each part of the story to make a new page. You can help your child find writing easier practicing high-frequency words. Having a large bank of words that can be spelled and read easily makes a huge impact on a student's success. Our new words are: he, like, it. A complete list that should be mastered can be found on the "Parent Informational Links" page. In math this week we will be working on counting, recognizing, and writing the numbers 9 and 10. We will be building numbers on a ten-frame and comparing numbers to see which is greater and lesser. A strong number sense is imperative for future math units. Upcoming Events- September 30th- Tiger Pride Assembly @2:45 Wear Tiger Tshirts October 1 - Mrs. Bailey out due to Baby Eli's appointment in Columbia October 2nd- Picture Day October 3rd- Fundraiser Ends October 7th- McTeacher Night October 10th- Early Release at 12:30 Mrs. Bailey The votes are in for earning 100 Tigerrific Tokens! My students chose to wear pajamas Wednesday, September 25 (tomorrow). Please be sure to send tennis shoes for PE. Bathrobes and slippers are allowed. If wet outside, kids will change into tennis shoes before going out. The vote was only one away from having a tie with watching a 30 minute movie. Being the appreciative teacher I am, I am also letting the kids have a 30 minute movie. I'll try to find something about community helpers or a learning video about letters and writing.
Tokens are earned through behavior. Each special class teacher gives up to four tokens, one for each behavior expectation the kids followed. Teachers can give tokens to other classes in the hallways when they see excellent role models or observe respectful manners in one or more students. The kids earn tokens for their lunchroom behavior as well. I give them to kids during class for exceeding my expectations. Be proud of your child for doing their part as a team. Kids do not have to participate, and it's okay if you forget. Don't rush out to buy new pjs! Dad's t-shirt and shorts work just fine. Hair sticking up like kids just got out of bed is fine. Silly socks would be okay too if your child wants to wear them. Mrs. Bailey Fundraiser booklets with 7 or more addresses completed need to be returned tomorrow. Students will get their splat ball prize for returning the booklet. I am am allowed to give bears out as students earn them. Be sure to sign and return the coupons on the information sheet as your child reaches each goal. If you don't plan to participate, go ahead and return the packet right away so the coupon book doesn't get lost. I will not be absent Tuesday as indicated on the calendar. The meeting I have to attend is the following Tuesday (30th). I will miss our first assembly. I may be absent Wednesday, October 1 to take my grandson for genetic testing in Columbia. He has been having seizures that can't be explained by an EEG, EKG, CT scan, nor MRI. I will let you know if I will be out that day. The appointment has been made, but things could change. Reading: Students learned the sounds Ee says. They helped stretch words with Ee in them in order to spell every sound they hear. They learned to use Lips the Fish (get your mouth ready) and Eagle Eye (look at the picture), two strategies for reading words they don't know. They learned can as a new high-frequency word and practiced finding am and my while reading "After the Bath" to practice tracking print. They learned that when they read a question, their voice goes up. When they see an exclamation mark, their voice goes down. They were introduced to what a teacher expects to hear when they retell a story. This concept was very difficult, but we will practice frequently. I sent a copy of the ABC chart home last week. Ask your child to read the chart one of the ways we read it at school. Practice using the chart to spell words and talk about beginning and ending sounds. The more comfortable kids are with the alphabet and this chart, the easier writing and reading will be. Writing: Students finished publishing their first book. This was sent home Friday. The book was to have pictures that match the words written, and tell a story or all about something they know. Kids chose a title and illustrated the cover. We discussed adding details to their pictures and adding more words to make the story complete. Some kids have words, some have beginning letters of words, others have random letters that mean words. Regardless of where your child is, ask him/her to read the story and talk about the pictures. Praise this first effort. Next week they will write color and number books to teach others. Math: Students practiced counting and writing numbers 6 and 7. They answered survey questions and talked about how to read the data to gather information. Next week, they will practice writing the number 8 and talk about ways that help them count more accurately. Theme: Students learned how germs spread by touch and through the air when we sneeze. They had glitter on their hands then shook hands with others to observe how much more or less glitter they found on their hands after. They created a list of steps to successfully wash hands. This chart is hanging outside our room. They also created a chart about bubble gum and the five senses. We had a great time chomping our gum and attempting to blow bubbles to describe what gum looks like, tastes like, smells like, feels like, and sounds like. Next week kids will share what they know about community helpers while comparing and contrasting their jobs. We have a dental hygienist visiting Thursday and the fire department visiting Friday to share about their jobs. Learning Targets You Can Strengthen By Practicing At Home
Mrs. Bailey All teachers were requested to send parents an email from Mastery Connect, the progress report tool Willard uses. I also sent the "Parent Activation Email" for you to access your child's information. If you did not receive these emails, check your "junk" or "spam" folder. If they aren't there either, email Mrs. Crighton-Smith to let her know you need to be added to our Mastery Connect site.
I will be sending you emails when new assessments are updated so you can track your child's progress. Our conference in October will be focused on questions or concerns you have rather than progress since you have access to this information at all times. The high-frequency word list expectation has changed. I've updated this change on the "Parent Informational Links" page. Students need a word bank of 40+ words in order to be at the proficient level in reading by the end of Kindergarten. You can help your child practice using flash cards. Most kids are ready for this practice. Only begin with a few words, then build on those. If your child is struggling with letters and sounds, let your child trace high-frequency words with their finger, write them on paper, glue rice on the letters of each word, make the words with pipe cleaners.... I am teaching a few of these words each week and practicing those already taught as we go. The more words kids know, the easier it will be to read and comprehend what is read. You do make the difference! All additional practice matters. Thank you, Mrs. Bailey Students have been grouping attribute blocks and buttons by the attributes they have in common. They also practiced sorting shapes by a common attribute. They will begin counting objects up to 7 and recording their count by writing the numbers 6 and 7. They will begin taking surveys and analyzing the data by counting answers in each column. Please ask your child to write numbers to 10 a few times a week for practice forming numbers correctly. Always begin writing at the top, moving the pencil down.
Handwriting and letter practice focused on the letter Dd. Students should know the sound Dd says and be able to name words that begin with Dd. We stretched words that have Dd in them to hear all of the sounds in order to read them. In writing, students worked toward making books from writing by adding pages to their stories. Staying on one topic and telling events in order is important. Next week kids will work on making their book the best it can be by adding words, details in their picture, and more pages. Using the book I Went Walking and Pete the Cat, students practiced making predictions. Next week they will practice reading skills. One very important skill is tracking words being read by sliding one finger under the words, being careful to match the word being read to the word being pointed to. Using picture clues (Eagle Eye) and getting our mouths ready to read (Lips the Fish) are two "Beanie Baby" strategies that help kids create meaning from text. We had fun dressing in specific colors the past two weeks. Thank you for helping at home. I didn't stress participation - not all kids have something of each color. I had a hard time with a few. I've posted pictures on our "Pictures" page. Tyler's family sent colorful cookies to share on our last day! Kids learned how crayons are made, and that we can learn true information from non-fiction texts and video. Next week we will continue learning from non-fiction texts as we learn about the five senses, germs, and hand washing. We will be describing bubblegum on Wednesday using our five senses. If anyone would like to send enough bubblegum for 21 people, please email me. Any time you have an activity or something to share about our social studies or science theme, we would love to have you visit. Tiger t-shirts went home Wednesday. We wear them every Tuesday to show unity in our school. Remember that Friday September 19 is an early dismissal at 12:30. Mrs. Bailey Students learned that reading for enjoyment is one purpose for reading. Most of them have heard Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? and can recite the story. They had fun reading the book to me by using the pictures. They sequenced the story as a class by using pictures of the animals that appear in the story. The tricky part was that they couldn't talk at all to accomplish this. I was very proud of how they worked together and helped each other find the right order. We took sequencing a step further and let them match the color words to the correct animal. Next week they will learn about the purpose of reading non-fiction books and practice making predictions in stories by using the picture clues.
In writing, kids learned that they can add more to their pictures and writing or start a new piece during writing time. They can write multiple pages on the same topic to make a teaching book. Next week we will learn how to work with a writing partner to help make our writing better. Students learned how to write the letter Cc correctly beginning at the top. They named words that begin with Cc, stretched words with Cc in them to write each letter heard, and practiced writing Cc on handwriting lines. They should be able to write letters Aa, Bb, and Cc correctly and identify the sound each letter makes. Counting items correctly and recording the count was taught using a counting jar. Kids counted, wrote the number of items, then used tally marks to represent the number of items. Next week they will practice grouping and sorting items based on different attributes such as: color, size, corners, texture, shape, etc. This week we used our enrichment time to learn to spell color words by singing color songs. The kids are learning how to differentiate the color words by counting the letters in each word and looking at the beginning letters. Please remember to help your child wear our color-of-the-day. I've been taking pictures each day and will post them Friday. Monday, September 8th…Orange Tuesday, September 9th… Purple Wednesday, September 10th… Brown Thursday, September 11th … White Friday, September 12th ...Black Popcorn Words kids should know are: I, a, am, you, see, is, little New words this week: went, at Several parents have asked about keeping the monthly behavior calendars. I keep them at school and put them in your child's binder to be sent home in May. If at any time you would like to see or copy the calendars, I can send them home. Sometimes parents use these to refer to when helping with behavior. Monday I will not be at school due to my husband's monthly IV and an MRI. I've already told the kids so they won't worry or be afraid. If you have anything the sub needs to know such as a change where your child goes after school, please write a note and send it in the folder. The sub won't have a way to check email or phone messages. Reminders:
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