Welcome 2015...

This week we will be ending up the 2nd quarter.  I will be checking the students on their sight words, alphabet, and sounds.  I will be also checking students' addition, greater/less than, and number writing.

Even though we will be assessing we will also be learning about how animals change.  We will look at how animals are similar and different to their parents.  We will work on sequencing as our comprehension strategy.  In math, we will begin the next chapter in math...subtraction.  I am excited because we will work with "Pete the Cat" to help us with our subtraction.  I will do some updates later this week!

Math Game...

Yesterday we learned how to play "Steal the Card."  The children put number cards in line and then their friend "steals" a card and then figure out the missing card.  The children loved trying to trick their friends.  It was great to see the children collaborating and working together!

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.  This is one of the areas where we need to continue to concentrate on.  I have noticed students know their sounds, but they are not fluent with the sounds enough to blend the 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 is important and will help with your child become fluent in reading.

This week in math we are continuing our work on subtraction.  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 working with subtraction with various manipulatives...food works great and so do coins!  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 at 12:00!  It should be a great time!

Have a great week!

Learning Time...

This week we will have our DIBELS assessment.  I am looking forward to seeing the results of how the students are performing.  In addition, we will review these scores with you at conferences or send home the scores with your child.  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 will be reviewing addition.  We are working with making number sentences and combinations of 10.  In addition, we are working with word problems.  The children have been doing a great job with addition, but I would like to see the children become a little more fluent.  One of our standards is children need to be fluent with addition facts of sums less than 5.  This would mean 5+0, 2+3, 4+1, 1+4, 2+2, 1+3 etc.

Have a great week!

January...

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.  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.  

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.

Number Bracelets...

In math we are working on decomposing various numbers.  We worked with the number 5 and came up with all the various possibilities to make 5.  We made a number bracelet to help us!  The children did great.

December Fun...

This coming week we are going into Unit 3 of Reading Street and will be reading "Little Panda."  We will be working on two letters and their associated sounds: Nn and Bb.  The letter Bb is a short sound; therefore, please do not have your children add the "uh" sound.  In addition, we will have three new sight words: she, me, with.  We will also be continuing to work with our other sight words and using them in writing sentences.  Please encourage your child to be writing at home on their days off.  We love to see what your child does on their day off and they can bring their writing into class and share.

In math, we are continuing to to work with addition.  The children are being introduced to number sentences.  It is important when working on number sentences to show the equation like: 2 + 4 = 6 AND 6 = 2 + 4.  The children must be able to recognize these are the same.  This can be tricky for the children.  We are working on this every day and the homework packet should work on the skill too.  The children are allowed to use counters to help them figure out the answer; however, children must be fluent in their addition facts by the end of the year.  This means children should automatically know 2+3=5, 1+3=4, etc.

Finally, we are planning the "Winter Celebration" for the children.  The celebration will be held on Wednesday the 18th and Friday the 20th.  We are asking families not to send in items unless asked too.  This is important as we do have allergies in the classroom and we want to make sure we are able to include everyone and not to exclude them.  In addition, we do not want to be wasteful with our food.  We would hate to have 3 people send in cupcakes and not be able to use all of them.  We will be sending out more information in the coming week!  We appreciate your patience and your help as we plan a great celebration for the children.

News...

This week, we will continue our work with the letter Ii. The children did very well with the short Ii sound last week and we are looking forward to creating more words to blend with the letters we have learned. Our sight words/popcorn words will remain the same this week, “for” and “he”. Please practice these words, and previously learned sight words/popcorn words, with your children at home! It should take them no more than 3 seconds to identify the words.

We will be extending our work with segmentation this week and continuing to bridge this into our writing. Last week, we saw some amazing writing during our writing time. The students are beginning to segment the words and write the sounds that they hear. Please remember when you are looking at their work, it is developmentally appropriate for children to only hear the first and/or last sound of a word. Some children may be able to hear and write the middle sound too, but remember this is the last sound the children hear!

In math we will begin Chapter 5.  Chapter 5 homework is being sent home on Tuesday and Wednesday.  The homework should not be overwhelming for the children and is suppose to review what is happening in class in a way they can complete independently.  This chapter delves into addition.  We will work with the addition symbol and the equals sign.  Our program also teaches the number sentence to look like the following: 2 + 3 = 5 and 5 = 3 + 2.  I think the children will be successful with addition.  One great way to practice is with pennies.  As a class, we will also continue counting to 50. Counting will be done daily, as children need to be able to count to 50 by the end of the second quarter. Please encourage your child to count at home! The more practice they have, the better counters they will become!

How Many to Ten...

The children worked on creating "Indian Corn" with a tens frame.  They rolled a dice and colored the number of squares red and then they had to figure out how many more to 10.  The last part was writing a number sentence ___ + ___ = 10.  We had a lot of fun with our project!

News from the Classroom...

First, you should have received your child's report card on Friday or if you are in the "A" class you will receive your child's report card on Monday.  This will give you an idea of how your child is doing in school.  Your child can receive a L, M, or P.  The goal is for your child to receive a P or Proficient by the end of the year.  If your child receives a P prior to the end of the year, we will be working on extending their learning.  An M is making progress towards the Proficient goal.  An L means your child has made some progress, but needs consistent support.  I will be discussing this with your further at conferences this coming week and the following week. 

Over the next two weeks we are going to move on to the letter Cc. We will be working with the children on how to produce a hard Cc sound. On some of their papers, you may notice this written like /k/. The hard Cc sound is comparable to our Kk sound (candy, cup, cat, color). We will work on blending words together, such as, cap, tap, Cam, sap, etc.  The Cc sound is one of the trickiest sounds we learn (Gg is the other tricky sound).  In addition to learning the letter and sound of Cc, we will also continue to work with the sight words/popcorn words: like, we, and my.  Our story this week is about Bears.  We will discuss what Bears do during the winter and read the story "Bear Snores On."  The children will also identify what happened first, second, and third in the story through sequencing.  We will also be comparing and contrasting "Bearn Snores On" and "Bear Wants More."

Please continue to practice all letters, letter sounds, and sight words at home. Your continued support and work with your children at home has become very evident in the classroom. I greatly appreciate all of your extra time and effort.

In math, we will be working on the number 10.  We will also figure out how many to ten.  This means if I have 6, how many more do I need to get to 10.  We will be learning the game "Bears in a Cave" to help with this concept.  Please continue to work on the math homework which was sent home last week.

Have a great week!

What Are We Doing?

In the classroom we will be working on the letter Pp.  This letter has a short quick sound and says /p/.  When you practice this sound try not to let your child say /puh/ (this would mean your child is producing two sounds rather than one).  This is important when children try to blend words together.  We will also be working on new sight words or popcorn words (like, we, my).  Please continue to practice all the letter sounds we have learned.  You can write the letters on a card and have your child say the sounds.  In addition, you can place three letters out with a vowel in the middle and have your child begin to blend the word.  These words can be real or make believe.  It is okay for your child to read a make believe word because the purpose is to practice blending.

In math, we are beginning Chapter 4.  The children will begin to learn about the number 10.  The children will also need to compare numbers (greater than, less than, more, fewer).  We will also explore ways to make 10.  This entails children to understand 6 and 4 make 10, 3 and 7 make 10, etc.  This is the first stages of understanding addition.  We will be using pumpkins to help us with this skill!  We will also be counting pumpkin seeds.  We will also be working on counting to 50.  All children are expected to count to 50 by the conclusion of 2nd quarter and by the end of the year to 100.  Our goal is to have all children counting to 100 as quickly as possible.

What Are We Learning...

This coming week we will be doing a lot of learning. In reading street we will continue our study on how animals and plants are unique. We will be working on the sound of Ss. Currently the children have learned the sounds m, t, a, and now s. In addition to know the sounds in isolation, we have been working on putting these sounds together to make words. Children should be able to blend (saying the sounds to form the word) and read the following words: mat, tam, sat, and sam. When practicing blending with your child, have your child say the sounds slowly without stopping (mmmmmmaaaaaaat). Furthermore, children should also be able to read the sight words: I, am, have, little, to, a, the, is. In addition, please continue to practice letter identification with your child. Many children are doing extremely well with this skill and some need to continue to practice. I will be sending home your child's October alphabet and sound assessment this week!


In math, we will be finishing Chapter 3 (reading, counting, and writing numbers to 9).  The children will take their Chapter 3 test on Wednesday or Thursday.  The skills your child will be tested over are on the math homework.  We are also learning math games.  We have learned "Number Top-It," "Cover All," and "Number Memory."  We will begin Chapter 4 the following week.  We will be working on counting and comparing numbers up to 10.

Thank you for all of your support!  The children are doing an awesome job!

What's Going On...

This week we will be working on the letter sound /a/ as in apple, ant, and ax. The children will begin to develop the understanding of decoding simple words, such as, tam, mat, and am. As you are at home working you can show your child these letters and have them begin saying the sounds. You can place the letters m, a, and t on a card and mix them up and have your child say the appropriate sound. This is the beginning skill to decoding words. In addition, please continue to work on letter identification with your child.  I am in the process of assessing the children and you will receive an updated copy of your child's letter and sound knowledge.

In math, we are continuing to work with numbers up to 9.  This past week your child did bring home Chapter 3 homework and their Chapter 2 test.  Please review both of these with your child.  Children should be able to read and write the numbers to 9.  In addition, children should be able to compare the numbers (greater, more, fewer, less).  We will also be learning some new math games on Wednesday and Friday!  I will be posting an update on the games we learned at the end of the week!

Here are a few pictures of some of our learning this past week...

I hope you have a great week!

This Week in 116...

This week we will continue to work on letter identification and letter sounds. We will work on the letter Tt and the sound /t/. When working with your child be cautious not to add an /u/ sound at the end. For example, the beginning sound of top would be /t/ not /tuh/. This is important when children learn to blend words together. We will also be continuing to work on our sight words of a and to. We will also be working on the sight word of the. This particular word seems to confuse some of the children. One thing you can do at home is play memory with the sight words by writing the words on index cards and have your child try to match them. In addition, when they find the match they would need to say the word. One of the most valuable things you can be doing with your child right now is simply reading to them. I would recommend taking your child to the library and having them choose some books and throughout the day or evening sit down and read with them. This promotes vocabulary development, fluent reading, comprehension, and word identification.


Almost all the children can write their name with a capital letter and lowercase letters; therefore, we are ready to move forward with writing words and sentences. This will take place whole group and during our small group time.  All the children have writing journals, which we write in and we have been concentrating on drawing a picture to tell the story.  The past few weeks the children have been coming up with their own topic to write about.  In addition to their journals, the children have been "Writing to Sources."  This is a writing piece your child completes about the weekly story.  The children learn how to be a reporter and look for the details in the story to help write their piece (I know I say "write," but that includes drawing), 

In math, we will begin Chapter 3.  First, thank you for completing your homework packets.  We are having a high rate of return, which is fantastic!  We will be working on the numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9.  One of the big components of this chapter is not only being able to count these numbers, but realize 7 is 5 and 2 more, 8 is 5 and 3 more, and 9 is 5 and 4 more.  I will also be sending out Chapter 3 homework towards the end of the week.

Have a great week!

This Week...

This week we will be learning two new sight words: a, to. This brings the total of sight words to 6 (am, I, the, little, a, to). The children are expected to be able to read the sight words in less than 3 seconds. The children practice this daily during our reading group rotations; however, practice at home is necessary too. In addition, we have completed all the letters of the alphabet. Children are expected to be able to identify all the letters. This week we will begin learning the sounds of the letters. We will focus on the letter Mm. We will concentrate on the sound and the writing of Mm. We will also begin to blend words (this is when children see the letter and start saying the sound). I love this part of kindergarten because the children are able to begin reading words. I am sure you will be amazed in the next couple weeks what your child can do in reading.

In math, we will be finishing up Chapter 2. We have worked hard on comparing numbers 0 to 5. The children have learned the vocabulary words greater (more) and fewer (less) to help be able to compare a set. We also learned how to play a new math game "Number Top-It." I blogged about this game yesterday, check it out! We will prepare to take our chapter test on Wednesday and Thursday. I am sure the children will do great! We have also been working hard on counting. The children are expected to be able to count to 100 at the end of kindergarten. At the conclusion of 1st quarter children should be able to count to 25 to be considered "making progress." I hope you have a great week!

Number Top-It...

This past week we learned how to play "Number Top-It."  The children were able to practice their ability to identify the greater number.  The game is played like the card game "War."  Each player draws a card and the one who has more, gets the cards.  You can also change the rule and the person gets the cards if they have less.  If the cards are "equal," then you get your own card.  Here are two students playing the game!

More Fun...

This week we will be continuing our sight words "I, am, the, little."  Please make sure and practice these nightly and have them mixed up.  Also, we will be learning the rest of the alphabet this week.  Children should be able to identify all letters of the alphabet.  Please take 5-10 minutes and practice this nightly.  I have sent home alphabet assessment information to the B class on Friday and the A class will receive theirs on Monday.  The best method for practicing letters is to only put the ones they know in a pile plus 2 they do not know.  Then go through pile until they can correctly identify all the letters.  Once they identify all the letters add two more they do not know and practice.  You would continue this method until they can identify all 52 letters (this means the uppercase letters and lowercase letters are not on the same card). 

We will be reading "Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip" this week and will be classifying.  We will also review characters, setting, and sequencing.  The children are doing a great job with identifying the characters of a story and the setting.  Sequencing can be tricky because the children are not remembering the beginning, middle, and end in the correct order; therefore, we will continue to work on this skill.

We will begin Chapter 2 this week and the focus is comparing numbers.  This means children will be able to identify numbers which are larger and smaller with sets less than 5.  We will play various math games to help with this concept and will be using various math tools to help us too.  I think the children should like this chapter!  I hope they come home and talk about what they are doing in math.

I hope you have a great week!

Our Learning...



5 Frames used in Math

This week we will continue to work on letter identification of all letters up to Ss. Many children need to continue working on letter identification of upper/lowercase letters. In addition, we will begin to learn new sight words: the, little. We assessed the children on the sight words "I, am" last week.  Many struggled with the words I and am.  I showed them "am" first and "I" second and the children were unable to tell me the words in the correct order. Please continue to work on this at home as I continue to work on this at school.  My suggestion is to use write "I, am, the, little" on note cards and play memory with them.  Also, continual practice on the stories we send home on Monday/Tuesday will help.  We will also be working on listening to initial sounds. This means what you hear at the beginning of cat.../c/ (the children have to say the sound, not the letter).

In math, I will be assessing the children on their ability to read, write, count, and build to 5.  Many children are doing a great job with this skill.  Some may think this is an easy skill; however, this starts the foundation for children and success in mathematics.  A lot of research has been conducted around the world on how children learn mathematics and beginning here is key.  The children have had to build the number 5 and recognize a set of 5 without counting.  In addition, children have had to develop an understanding for what makes 5.  For example, children have had to know if I have 3, 2 more makes 5.

Finally, we are almost complete with all the state and district mandated assessments. You will be receiving information regarding your child's progress in the next week or so.  As always if you have questions please let me know!

The Learning Continues...

 

Students are working on "Writing to Sources" from the book "The Little School Bus"

This week we will continue to work on letter identification of letters Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj. The children are doing pretty well with identification, but some still need to continue to work on identification. We will also continue to work with the words "I" and "am". You may want to put these on flash cards and practice them with your child. Please remember to mix up the order or you can hide them throughout your house and have your child go on a hunt or if you have magnetic letters you can have your child practice building the word on the refrigerator (a cookie sheet works well too). In addition, please continue to work on name writing with your child. This is what we will be focusing on during our writing time.

In math, we will continue to work on showing, counting, and writing numbers 0-5.  Students should be able to model, count, and write to 5 by the end of this chapter.  The homework packet has many great sheets that directly link to our lessons in the classroom and our workbook.
I will also be sending home homework this week.  I have attached a copy of the letter that your child will bring home on Monday or Tuesday!
 

I cannot wait to see the A group on Monday.  I have missed them!

 

Second Week of Learning...

I hope all the children had a wonderful first week at WT Elementary and I hope they have shared something they have done at school with you at home. It was a fun and hectic week. We are working on learning procedures of the classroom and the school. The children are learning these procedures at different rates; however, I am positive the children will have them down in the next week or so. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know your children and have enjoyed working with them.

This coming week we will continue to practice procedures, but also dive into our literacy and math curriculum. We will be working on letter identification; specifically, the letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, and Ee. In addition, we will work on rhyming words and identifying the high-frequency words of "I" and "am". In math we will begin to work with numbers 1-5. We will also be working on writing our names with a capital letter at the beginning and then lowercase letters.

We do eat lunch late at school. Our lunch time is 12:45; therefore, the children have a long time between when they arrive at school to when they eat lunch. We do have a snack to help them make it to lunch. Mrs. Nicodemus and I will be sending home a letter explaining more about snack time at school later this week and into next week. Please encourage your child to eat breakfast before coming to school or you may purchase breakfast at school.

I also want to take this moment to express my gratitude... your help and support with our new drop-off/pick-up procedures has been amazing. It is becoming smoother each day and this would not be possible without your help and your patience!! THANK YOU!!