Subtract Like a Pirate...

One of our favorite subtraction songs!



Let's Have Fun...

This week we will be continuing with our Reading Street program and reading The Lion and the Mouse.  We will be focusing on the main idea (or theme) of a story this week.  We will also continue to work on blending words.  The children are doing this extremely well and we are impressed with how well they are learning their sounds and words.  Our sight words will remain the same this week (they, of, you).  Please take some time to review all of the sight words nightly for about 5 minutes.  

This week in math we are continuing our work on subtraction.  I have seen improvement with this skill last week.  I did notice some confusion with addition and subtraction and a few children getting these two skills mixed up.  Please continue to work on this skill throughout the week.  We will be having our assessment next week.  Please remember math homework is due this week on Wednesday and Thursday.  Mrs. Franz and I both check to see if the children are turning in homework.  In addition, please make sure you allow your children to do the writing.  We want you to help your child with the learning; however, it is important for them to do the work.

We go to book fair this week on Wednesday and Thursday!  It should be a great time!

Have a great week!

Reading...

You probably have noticed at times we send home a reading packet that we have worked on in one part of our reading groups.  This reading packet is part of our core curriculum.  The children work on blending words, reading sight words, reading sentences, and reading a short story.  Here is a quick clip of some of the children completing this task.

3rd Quarter Begins...

We are beginning the 3rd quarter this week (oh how time flies when we are having fun).  We have completed all of our assessments for the 2nd quarter and report cards will be coming home in the next week. In addition, your child will receive one of three scores on their report card.  The three scores are proficient (P), making progress (M), or limited progress (L).  This basically means if your child can do the assigned skill listed with no help he/she will receive a P, if he/she is making progress towards the skill listed they will receive a M, or if he/she is unable to complete the skill independently or is not making progress then your child will receive a L.  Please do not be discouraged if they receive a no because progress may have been made.  We will discuss this more at conferences.

This week we will be continuing on in our reading street and discussing the differences between today and long ago.  This always allows for some great conversations to occur about what we had awhile ago to what we have today.  You may want to take some time and talk about how school was different for you.  We will continue to work on blending words.  The children are doing this extremely well and I am impressed with how well they are learning their sounds and words.  We have three new sight words this week (they, of, you).  I have noticed the word "like" and "me" have been somewhat difficult for the children.  Please take some time to review the sight words nightly for about 5 minutes.  We are working extremely hard on our writing too.  The children need to be able to write a sentence with spacing, upper/lowercase letters, and punctuation by the end of kindergarten.

This week in math we are continuing to work on subtraction.  The children are working with numbers up to 5.  Many of the children are doing well with drawing a picture of the story; however, some children are having difficulty with writing a number sentence.  You also have probably noticed that your child has been bringing home math pages.  These math pages are ones we are completing in class.  These are from our math program Go Math!  We typically have kept these pages in the book and not have sent them home, but we have now decided to send these pages home.  Please be aware that some pages will come home blank because we do not complete every page, but you will be able to reinforce the skill at home!

Have a great week!

Fingerprints...

We are in the final stages of planning our field trip this year.  We are tentatively planning the trip in late March.  We will have the dates once they have been approved by the district office.  We will need chaperones to help with the trip; however, to chaperon you will need to be fingerprinted and approved by the Board of Education.  You can get your fingerprints taken at the district office located on Aicholtz Road (this is the same place where you registered your child for school).  It only takes a few minutes, but it can take up to a few weeks to have them approved.  I encourage you to have your fingerprints taken as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, if you do have fingerprints on file you will be unable to chaperone.  This is for the safety of all the children and yourself.  We are looking forward to our trip!

Learning Time...

Last week we had our DIBELS assessment and I was impressed with how well the children did and showed what they know!  You will be receiving their scores later this week or early next week as we finish up a few children who were absent.  In addition, we will review these scores with you at conferences.  If you receive your scores and you have a concern please do not hesitate to give us a call and we will talk with you about it.  Please remember if your child did not make the benchmark this may mean we will want to do some intervention with your child to help them in a particular area.  Furthermore, if your child made the benchmark closely, we may want to continue an intervention because we want your child to be strong in all areas.

We will continue into reading street this week.  We will be focusing on the letter Ff and the sight words look and see.  Another word, which is not a sight word, but is important is and.  We will be introducing this word to the children as well.  We will be continuing our work with story plots (beginning, middle, and end) and the characters in a story.  The children will also be working on their writing.  We are looking for children to have "control" over their writing.  This means the words and letters are on a line, legible, and spacing.  Every morning your child will have a chance to practice this skill.  You can see how your child is progressing when you check their folder nightly.

In math, we are working with subtraction.  We have introduced the vocabulary: subtract and less.  We also spent a day working on the word less and played "Top-It."  This is played like "war," but instead of the winner having the largest number the winner had to have the number who had less.  We also began working on children acting out simple take away stories.  It has been fun watching the children tell these stories and acting them out.  This coming week we will continue to work on these number stories and drawing pictures to represent these number stories.  A new math homework packet will be coming home on Monday and Tuesday.  These packets will be due back at the end of the month.

Have a great week!

January Fun...

We are moving right through Unit 3 of Reading Street!  This week, we will be reading, “George Washington Visits”.   This story correlates very well with our question of the week: How is life today different from life hundreds of years ago?  The children will also be introduced to the concept of cause and effect as well this week.  However, we will continue to review the setting, plot, and characters of our stories!  Our Amazing Words for this week are: celebration, sprinted, barn, blacksmith, arch, and soldier.  I think the children will enjoy thinking about how different life was without television, computers, iPods, iPads, and the x-box.  It should be a fun week for discussion!  

In addition, we will be reviewing the letters Dd and Kk and their associated sounds.  Both Dd and Kk are short, quick sounds; therefore, please do not allow your children to add the “uh” sound.  This can create difficulties for them when they segment words.  We will also be introducing two new sight words: “see” and “look”!  

We are planning to continue our work with our other sight words this week and using them to create awesome sentences!  Students will revisit the basic elements of writing sentences this week as we continue our new morning routine.  The children are now required to come in and read a sentence, write a sentence, and draw a picture to show comprehension of the sentence.  Last week we modeled this and did this together and this week we will be continuing the modeling process.  The children will become independent with this very soon.  Students should be able to show you how they start a sentence with a capital letter, use two finger spacing between words, and end their sentence with a punctuation mark.  Please continue to encourage your child to be writing at home on their days off.  We have really enjoyed having the children share their winter break journals last week!

In math, we will be taking the Chapter 5 test on addition.  You will see the results of this test next week.  After the test we will be moving into subtraction.  The children have done a good job with addition.  Many children are doing well with having cubes to help them complete the problem.  Our hope is to have children doing many addition problems mentally by the end of the year; therefore, please continue to work with addition.  A great site to help you with addition is: http://goo.gl/NgnVA and http://goo.gl/njGoF.

Have a great week!

New Year...

I am looking forward to seeing the children tomorrow and Thursday!  I hope everyone had a great winter break!  Let's make 2013 a great year!  We have lots of learning to do!