Every week this page will be updated with information regarding what is going on in math, reading, writing, and science. This will provide you with a litte insight into our classroom.
“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.”-Dr. Suess, Oh the Places You'll Go
Week of April 22-April 25
Math: Before Spring Break we completed our unit on 2D(flat shapes, such as squares, triangles, rectangles, circles, trapezoids,etc.) and 3D shapes (sphere, cone, cube, cylinder) and describing them based on how many sides, corners, faces, bases(bottom shapes of spheres) etc. We will continue to review these shapes and their attributes throughout math daily in games, picture sorts, and puzzles. This week, we will begin our new unit of measurement! In kindergarten we focus on measuring objects using concrete smaller units (not typically the ruler). These units include using cube trains and paper clips. The students are expected to use cubes and paper clips and count how many they used to determine an objects length or width.
Reading: In reading this week, we will focus on learning strategies we use to get us thinking before we read and during our reading. These include, looking at the book cover and title first and asking ourselves, "What do we think it will be about?"; taking a picture walk and talking about what we notice in the pictures, before reading; and backing up and rereading something if it does not make sense. While working one-on-one with your child I identify strategies that I specifically think are benefical for him/her based on their reading abilities and needs currently. Please look out for a paper that will explain the strategy that we are currently using and how you can reinforce it at home. I truly appreciate the time that you have spent reading with your child each night! Please continue to have your child read the books that are sent home. Usually the book your child is currently reading with me will be sent home for that week, to build accuarcy, fluency, and comprehension of this new text. As explained on the paper inside their book bag, these are books that we have read together and are currently your child's independent level (books that they can read all by themselves) or instructional level (books that we have read together, with more support). Please read the sheet very carefully to best know how to help your child. Please return the book baggie and book to school each day. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you for your cooperation! *Your children become better readers when they hear stories read to them. I still encourage you to read some of their favorites aloud to them as well as having them read to you.
Please continue to practice letters and sounds each night:
ABC phonics song (letters and sounds): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffeZXPtTGC4
Our word study will focus on the word families -og, -op, and -ot. We will be repeating this sort from the week before break. These sounds are very similar and can be tricky. This will be our way of reinforcing rhyming and making words with short o.A copy of the sort will be sent home for extra practice.
Writing: We were so proud of everyone during our How-To writing celebration that we had before break! All the children worked so hard and did such a wonderful job "teaching" their readers something! We are excited to begin our new unit this week. During this unit, the children will be persuading their readers to do something. We will be mimicking the techniques and writing craft of Mo Willems, a children's author and his famous "Pigeon series" (Ex."Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!"). This week we will read many of his books together and point out some features and words that we want to use in our individual books. We will begin by creating a class pigeon series book this week!
Sight Words/"Snap Words": Our snap words for this week: have, will. These words will help us read more words in books, but also help us when writing our ideas and sentences. It is also important to read snap words in books, not just in isolation. When reading with your child go on a word hunt and try to find the snap words. I suggest focusing on no more than two when doing this. *Some of the books that your child may bring home this week, contain snap words. We practice circling these words when we see them. It is helpful to reread these books several times together. It is important to practice reading these words every night for a few minutes. Knowing our snap words fluently help us to become strong readers and writers! Keep up the great work! :)
Our Snap Word List:
I, the, is, see, you, can, we, to, look, like, go, my,it, here, and, play, are, come, with, run,they, for,jump, in, make, said, red, blue, green, yellow, he, she, one, two, will, have
Science: The children had SO much fun during our previous unit on Balls and Ramps! For the next marking period, we will focus on plants and how they grow and what they need to survive.This is a perfect unit for the end of the year and hopefully the weather continues to cooperate for our science experiments!
Other: Thank you to all that were able to attend our Spring Break Celebration and Writing Celebration before break! Both events were so much fun and I appreciate that you were there and able to share in these special moments with your children! I hope that you all had a wonderful, happy, and healthy break and holiday week! As mentioned in a notice that went home before break, your child is now a blogger! We blogged about penguins and fun facts that we learned while in our Research Center (listening to stories and videos). Please refer to this handout that was sent home that explains how you can access this. I want to remind you that it is optional to write comments back at home, but certainly the more practice the children get with keyboarding and the computers the better and easier it will become. I appreciate your cooperation and support with this new experience. They were so excited to begin when we started before break and I am very proud of their work! We will be going back to the computer lab some time this week to post our next blog! :) I cannot believe that it is already the 4th marking period. Report cards will be sent home on Friday and progress reports will be mailed home to you beginning this week. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me. :)