Happy Thanksgiving! My hopes for your family are: good food, good times with family, and safe travels.
Over the past week and a half students learned what Veterans Day is truly about through reading non-fiction, making connections, and vocabulary. They colored the American flag correctly and neatly to show veterans our patriotism. They also recited the Pledge of Allegiance for an assessment. We say the Pledge three times a week in Community Time. There are many big words that may be misunderstood by little ones. Those small things are overlooked for example: "for which it stands" came out "missionsand," and "justice for all" became "and justice league for all". I didn't laugh outwardly, but inside I was rolling. Kids learned that Thanksgiving is not about eating turkey and black Friday. They also learned how the first Thanksgiving was celebrated, and that the people who risked everything for the freedom to worship as they believed had a difficult time in their journey. There was no Pizza Hut, no McDonalds, no Wal-Mart, no Casey's, no houses, no bathrooms. They faced the woods and wild animals when they landed on the shore of America. And yes, this time period was way before I was born. Kids were asked to think about what they are thankful for that was so important their heart would break if they lost it. Only one said "tv" after learning of the Pilgrims' hardships. Most wrote and drew about their pets, family, food, and one child drew the Earth. I think they get the meaning of Thanksgiving. Handwriting letters: Ii, Ss, and Ff. Using lines can be tricky. Kids need to always begin letters at the top and move downward. The Ss is one smooth motion, not two pieces put together. The lowercase f is one fluid motion curved at the top then downward. Some kids are making a vertical line then adding the curve. Sight Words: has, am, go, me Kids have been taught every word on List A and most on List B. I am currently updating the assessment page and will send it home soon. The class is working toward our goal of 80% of students knowing both lists before Christmas break. If we reach our goal, we will have an ice cream party! Writing is reaching the editing and publishing stage. Kids are applying everything they have learned to complete a narrative story to share at our Author's Celebration. Stories can be as simple as one sentence for each part (beginning, middle, end) and a sentence for how they felt at the end. Sight words must be spelled correctly, the beginning letter of each sentence must be capitalized as well as the letter I when used alone, they must be able to read their story (spaces between words help), pictures must match the writing and have details. This is a big order! We take writing time seriously. This is a time when I can sit with three to four kids a day to guide their direction. If kids are writing sentences at home daily, their writing will blossom at school. The biggest challenge I see is kids being able to write as though they are telling their story to someone beside them. Math lessons in Topic 6 have addressed: What types of situations involve addition? Kids learned to join two groups and decide how many there are in all and how to represent joining situations as equations using the symbols + and =. The trouble some are having is getting the total amount added written after the equal symbol. Next week we will continue the practice and assess on Friday. We finished our STEM unit on force and motion with exploring magnets as a force of pushes and pulls. During our Gingerbread unit we will be considering what would have happened to the Gingerbread Boy if he had fallen into the water. Kids will be experimenting, then building something that will float to carry a cookie across water. I am in search of small gingerbread cookie people for tasting and experimenting. Please contact me if you have seen them in stores. Have your child practice reading each night from “on level” books. To access a variety of books on your child’s level login to https://www.kidsa-z.com/main/Login. For teacher username enter willardsouthka or click on my name if it appears. This will take you to our class screen where your child can locate their name. Our class’ password is a picture of a watermelon. Kids previously had their own password picture, but I changed them to all be the watermelon to keep it simple for their reading teachers. Students listen to a book of their choice then read it alone before taking a quiz over information they learned or the story elements. The program does not assess if kids are reading correctly when on their own. If you are able to check in on books checked off as read, your child will benefit. Be sure your child is focused on tracking print, reading exactly what is on the page (no adding words), and using the strategies Lips the Fish & Eagle Eye as the first means for decoding unknown words. Reading tests will be given starting after Thanksgiving. Level 2B is considered on grade level for the second quarter progress report. Upcoming Events: November 30th – Book It Calendars Due December 12th - Make-It, Take-It, Give-It at 6pm Informational fliers were sent home Tuesday explaining activities for the event. December 21st - Students will be dismissed at 12:30 for Christmas break and return January 2, 2018. Please check everyday that your child has a jacket or coat and gloves according to the forecast. We are outside for a 30 minute recess as long as the temperature reads 32 degrees and the wind chill is at 25 degrees or above. Kids get pretty cold when they have no gloves and just a hoodie. Our design challenge was an interesting process to watch. Kids were challenged to design the fastest slide in the world. In order to test their master design they needed to design a marble track to test speed and accuracy. The track had to be 6' long and include an actual "track" for the marble to travel. Kids based their designs on previous learning about vocabulary such as: motion, push, pulls, speed, force, incline, and friction. They also viewed marble tracks on YouTube for additional ideas (considering that they are in Kindergarten). Ideas that were difficult to pull together were: understanding the idea of 6' as a measurement, the need for an incline as well as a "track", and working with a team. Teachers expect some bumps because the Engineering Design Loop is the process of "Asking" a question to solve a problem, "Imagining" a solution, "Planning", "Creating", "Experimenting", "Revising", and "Improving". We will have design challenges throughout the year to support learning in this way and to provide opportunities for teamwork. Three of our teams were successful in creating a marble track that was at least 6' long and allowed the marble to move throughout the entire length without touching it. They went through many designs and improvements to reach success. They were so excited when their tiny marble rolled out the other side of their track. Although frustrated, no one gave up. I expect to see kids trying to complete a marble track at Free Choice for weeks! Enjoy video of our work below the slideshow of pictures. My aunt died Sunday after a three-year battle with cancer. I will be absent Wednesday, November 8th to attend her funeral.
The kids met our goal for 80% of students mastering identifying all capital and lowercase letters! **Our class set a new goal to learn ALL sight words from List A and List B by Christmas Break. Our theme last week was Spiders. The kids were enthusiastic to share their knowledge. In Reading we charted what kids already knew, then learned new information through reading Spiders. We verified that some things on our chart were true by answering text-dependent questions and using the Table of Contents to read for specific information. We also verified that some things were untrue or that we couldn't support the information with the text. Kids learned new content vocabulary and label a diagram of a spider's body. Sight Words learned through our poem: we, like Handwriting Letters: Aa, Nn In Writing kids continue to add details to their narrative writing. We are working toward spelling the best we can using everything we know about letters and sounds, as well as spelling by syllables. Breaking words into syllables help to make spelling less scary. We also know that every syllable must have a vowel. We started Topic 5 in Math: Classify and Count Data. Kids are learning to classify objects into categories such as "orange balls" or "not orange balls". They count the objects in each category then record the number with tally marks or numbers. Comparing the categories by using "greater than" and "fewer than" is the final step. These words are confusing for many. We talk about using the number line to show that when a number comes before the other in counting, that number is "fewer than". When the number follows the other number, it is "greater than". The Topic 5 Assessment will be on Friday, November 10th. Science/STEM has been fun learning about gravity and motion. Students have been asked to "Imagine" being a playground designer assigned the task of designing the fastest slide in the world. In order to test their design they must build a marble track by applying what we have learned over the last couple of weeks. Their only limitations include the track must be 6 feet long, the marble must move along the track with no outside help along the way, and it can begin on any surface in the classroom. Students worked alone to draw their design and list materials they will use to build the design. They shared their design with others. Students were then put into groups of three to share their designs, but decide as a group on just one design to build as a team. As designs were being decided, kids tested some ideas they thought might work. Their investigations helped them realize that flat tracks didn't help the marble move at all. They also realized that 6 feet is quite a long way for a marble to travel without an extra push. Kids will be building their design this week. They will test and revise their design if needed. This week kids will be reading Stellaluna to learn about bats. They will be activating schema (background knowledge), making predictions, sequencing a story to retell, and making comparisons between bats and owls. Sight Words learned through our poem: are, down Handwriting Letters: Mm In Writing we will discuss in more depth how to use the word wall to spell sight words correctly and learn how to decide if our books are finished. We will be revisiting vocabulary and strategies from Topic 5 in Math in preparation for the assessment Friday. Upcoming Events November 21 – Picture Retake Day November 22-24…NO SCHOOL/THANKSGIVING BREAK Please send your child to school every day with a jacket. With the temperatures beginning to drop, we require students to have a jacket on at recess if the temperature is below 60 degrees. On extremely cold days please send them with a coat, hat, and gloves. We are outside for 30 minutes as long as the temperature reads 32 degrees and the wind chill is at 25 degrees or above. |
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