It's been a crazy whirlwind week, and a tough one. The kids are hyped about Christmas. We played into it by reading The Polar Express. Kids created a Story Element train by drawing pictures of the characters, setting, problem and solution. We've made text-to-self connections, sequenced the story, and compared the book with the movie. We will end our week with Kindergarten PJ Day Thursday and the last half of the movie. Remember that students are dismissed at 12:30.
A huge thank you to families who were able to send items for our ice cream party and movie party: Amiya, Tyrique, Madilyn, Ryan, Braylen, Grayson, and Trystan. The offers to help were overwhelming. Thank you all. Our ice cream party was in celebration of the growth kids have made in letter recognition and sounds as well as learning sight words. Everyone increased the number of sight words they know! The kids ate two tubs of vanilla ice cream, one full bottle of strawberry syrup, two full cans of whipped cream, two bottles of sprinkles, and most of the chocolate syrup. Geez. Tomorrow we will have hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream. Students wrote a new book without any help from me to complete their narrative writing assessment. These will be sent home with progress reports and the scoring rubric in January. If you are curious, check out Mastery Connect today. Data is entered as assessments are created. The amount of growth in student writing is amazing to witness. Everyone "wrote" a story! The skills will be assessed again later with another form of writing, so any areas lacking have a chance to improve. Writing at home will strengthen skills. Encourage your child to write daily. Topic 7 in math was assessed and questions missed were re-assessed with a different test. These scores can be seen in Mastery Connect this week. We will begin Topic 8, "More Addition and Subtraction," when we return in January. Keep practicing sight words from Lists A and B over break. Begin adding a few words from List C. Enjoy your family time and Merry Christmas, Mrs. Bailey Our theme this week was Reindeer. What a fun theme! The kids learned many facts about real reindeer and wrote an informational book using these facts. They labeled to show the importance of labeling. We read Reindeer & Olive the Other Reindeer
Sight Words: List A & B Review Handwriting Letters: Zz, Cc using handwriting lines In writing many kids are editing their book for our writers' celebration. They will be writing and completing a full book on Monday for their Summative Narrative Writing Assessment. This will be the last opportunity to show off what they have learned about writing a narrative. Their score will be on the second quarter progress report. Topic 7 in math is wrapping up. Kids should understand subtraction - showing the story using pictures and writing an equation to match. They have also learned taking apart and taking away in different ways to understand various ways to show subtraction. Using patterns to develop fluency in subtraction is tough. We have used this in addition and kids have tested over the concept. It will be on the subtraction test as well. Important Dates: December 21st – Polar Express Party: Kindergarten kids wear pjs to school Students are dismissed at 12:30 December 21 or January 4 – December BOOK IT Calendar Due December 22 – January 3…WINTER BREAK Learning This Week:
Shared Reading: How the Grinch Stole Christmas Character analysis - Kids used adjectives to describe the Grinch in the beginning then ending of the story Text-To-Self Connections - What makes us grumpy like the Grinch? What makes us happy? Also, sharing what we could do to make the Grinch happy. Sight Words: Review of Lists A and B We are still working toward our goal of 80% of the class mastering these lists before Christmas break. We have a party riding on this goal! Handwriting Letters: Bb, Uu - Kids are improving so much that I displayed their Kk handwriting in the hallway! The lowercase k is tricky! Writing: Kids continued to work toward completion of narratives for our Writers Celebration. Many kids have more than one book completed. Several are just now completing their first book that they can read, and I can read it too! So many lessons go in to this unit. Think of where the kids started - with knowing some letters and sounds. Now they are writing sentences! The summative narrative writing prompt will be given the 18th and 19th. Helping your child write sentences and practice sight words will strengthen skills in preparation of the writing assessment. Math: Topic 7: Understand subtraction - Kids began to understand that "take away" means that something in the math story went away and can be drawn by crossing out or separating the part that was taken away. They focused on using a minus sign (-) to show "take away" in an equation. I'm stressing that the larger number will come first in subtraction and why. Yes! We use counters and fingers! This makes learning concrete and meaningful. Ways to help at home: Focus on tracking print, reading exactly what is on the page (no additional words nor omitting words), and using the strategies Lips the Fish & Eagle Eye as the first means for decoding unknown words. I am currently assessing reading levels. Tracking print and making sure the word being spoken matches the print is proving difficult when a pattern change occurs. Students are expected to be reading at level B/2 to be considered on level for 2nd quarter progress reports. Kindergarten teachers will be organizing 3rd quarter reading groups based on the DRA scores, sight words known, and scoring on a dictated sentence. Reminders: December 12th - Make-It, Take-It, Give-It 6:00pm - 7:30 pm - bring hygiene products to donate See Santa, decorate a cookie and an ornament. There is no charge for this event. December 11th - 15th - The book fair will be in the library. Kids can shop during library time, STEM class, and after school. Visit the book fair during Make-It Take-It on the 12th. December 20th - Book It Reading Log due December 21st - Dismiss @ 12:30 December 22nd - January 3- No School January 4th - Return to School We have new hires for the jobs in our classroom! Nine kids applied for the sixteen classroom jobs, so several of them have more than one job. I am so thankful for their help. Congratulations kids!
Line Leader - Karter Lumber Jack - Lilly, Amiya Student Support - Henry Dust Bunny - Avaya, Alec Clean Up Crew - Amiya, Phoenix Cubby Keeper - Henry Substitute - Phoenix Card Counter - Lilly Electrician - Madilyn Smartboard Tech - Karter Chair Keeper - Avaya Supply Scooper - Alec Learning This Week: Shared Reading: Gingerbread boy Communication Arts: sequencing, retelling – identifying characters, setting, problem, and solution, text-to-self connections which means talking about what the story made your think of that relates to your own life. We experimented with a gingerbread cookie to see what would happen if he tried to swim across the river. We put him in a tub of water. He floated! But then he became water-logged and sank within a minute. Over a couple of hours he faded in color, and the water turned a yellow-brown. Another hour passed and he started to curl - which cookies are not supposed to do. One child was asked to feel the gingerbread man. Where he was touched fell away from the cookie. So sad to see that he couldn't possibly swim and live to run on the other side. We wanted to see if we could help the Gingerbread Boy get across the river without having to swim or count on the kindness of the fox. Teams of kids began working on a vision to build a bridge across the river. They are still struggling with the idea of teamwork, so we will continue this design challenge next week. If you are looking for a stocking stuffer, I've noticed that most of the kids love to unroll and cut tape with no plan in mind for using it. Masking tape is really cheap! Sight Words: me, can. I tested sight words known last week and sent home a new list with those known marked. We have many kids who know over 20 already. This is perfect for this time of year. These words are used in the books we read, our poems, and in daily writing. Knowing them in a snap makes a child's life so much easier. Please continue to practice at home. We practice here as well. Handwriting Letters: Rr, Kk using the lines correctly! We talked about how the R is like a P with a leg, r is the beginning of n, K is a one with a V centered if we turn it on its side, k is a small capital k under the dotted line but with a tall line like the capital. We are not using capital letters within words. We only use a capital at the beginning of a sentence or special names. Word Family: -an. We have a routine of activities that help kids realize that a word family is simply rhyming words that end with the same letters. All we do is change the beginning letters. We will continue these activities for several months. You can help practice by making rhyming words a game while riding in the car or at supper. If kids can't hear the rhyme, they will struggle. Writing: Personal narratives are being edited and published! Many kids who have not completed any books are about to. They must have a beginning, middle, ending, and a feeling to end their story. Their words must be readable with detailed pictures to match - just like real authors. We are focusing on only a small moment for a story. Not a weekend, but one event such as eating pizza. We will keep pushing to complete more than one book to practice for the summative writing which will be December 14th. Students will have an hour to write a 4 or more page story and illustrate. You can help at home by asking your child to write sentences daily about what they learned at school that day or who they played with at recess and what the played. Sight words we have taught must be spelled correctly in their writing. Keep practicing lists A and B until they are memorized, then add List C. Math: Topic 6: Understand Addition - We wrapped up Topic 6 and took the assessment. Check Mastery Connect for the results! The test was sent home today, but may still be in your child's mailbox if he/she forgot mail. Next week we begin subtraction! That will blow their minds. 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 are currently being given. Level 2B is considered on grade level for the second quarter progress report. Upcoming Events: November 30th – Book It Calendars Due ( I will accept these next week) December 12th - Make-It, Take-It, Give-It at 6pm Check the school website of FB site for information. December 21st - Students will be dismissed at 12:30 for Christmas break. 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. |
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May 2019
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