Memorial Day and Information...

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.  It was gorgeous!

We have a lot of things happening over the next two weeks!  We will have Kindergarten Graduation on June 3rd and June 6th at 9:30.  We will have Field Day on June 4th and June 5th.  The time for this event is still to be determined. 

This week we will be working on reflecting upon the school year.  We will be making memory books and reflecting on our writing.  It is amazing to look back at everything we have accomplished since September!

This Week in 116...

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 will take our chapter test on Wednesday and Thursday. In addition, Chapter 2 homework is to be turned in on Wednesday or 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."

We will also be sending home progress reports with your child this week.  The report will let you know the letters your child knows and do not know.  It will also let you know how high your child can count.  We will also be letting you know any other important information necessary for your child's success.

I hope you have a great week!

May Flowers!

This week we will be learning a lot in kindergarten.  We will be completing Unit 5 in Reading Street.  We will be reading "This is the Way We Go to School."  We will be working on the comprehension skill drawing conclusions.  We will culminate the unit by going back to the big question "How do people get from here to there?"  We will pull all of our knowledge from Unit 5 and transportation to answer this particular question.  I hope the children have been coming home telling you about their learning in Reading Street and I hope you have seen improvement in their comprehension ability.  We have also been working hard on story writing.  The children have been writing stories all week and are making final copies.  It has been a lot of fun to read the children's writing and listen to the stories they have written.  The children have come a long way in the writing development.  We will be using these stories to help us with their writing assessment.  We will be assessing letter formation, spacing, punctuation, capital letters, and spelling.  When we assess for spelling we are looking to see if the children write what they hear; therefore, if a child was trying to write the word "monkey" we would expect the child to possibly write "muke."

We are currently still working on our sight words: where and come.  Please continue to work on these words.  In addition, we will be sending home a list of all sight words which should be mastered by the end of Kindergarten.  The words on the list are words we have been working on all year.  Your child should know these words in less than 3 seconds and should not try to sound them out.  Also, we are working on letter naming fluency (speed), letter sounds, and segmentation.  We will be sending home a new practice sheet this week.  We have our DIBELS assessment beginning next week; therefore, we want the children to do the best they can!

In math, we are continuing our work with addition and subtraction.  We are working with stories which delve into both addition and subtraction.  The children have to be able to determine if the story is an addition or subtraction.  We are also working on having the children identify the addition symbol and subtraction symbol as they are working.  This helps the children look to see what they are suppose to do before thinking they must add on everything or subtract on everything.

Finally, we are beginning one of my favorite units in science.  We will be working with plants.  The children will begin to learn about how plants live, grow, and the parts of a plant.  This will be what our centers revolve around over the next 2 weeks.  All the children will plant a seed and watch the first stages of a plant.  We will label a plant at our art center.  We will work with various seeds to help us with our addition and subtraction at the math center.  At our writing center the children will be writing about plants.  This helps children begin to develop a non-fiction writing piece.

I hope your children have as much fun this week as I plan on having!  Enjoy the week...

New Year...New Fun...New Learning...

This coming week we are continuing to work with Unit 3 of Reading Street and we will be reading "Little Quack."  We will be working on the letter Rr and the associated sound.  The letter Rr is a short sound; therefore, please do not have your children add the "uh" sound.  In addition, we will continue to work with our sight words: she, me, with.  

We are planning to continue our work with our other sight words and using them to write sentences!   Students have been introduced to the basic elements of writing sentences.  They should be able to show you how they start a sentence with a capital letter, use two finger spaces 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 love to see what your child does on their days off and they can bring their writing into class to share.  

Centers will be changing this week!  We will have five centers this week: library center, math center, art center, writing center, and teacher center.  In the library center, students will be able to browse winter books and complete their book report.  In the math center, children will continue to explore 2-D and 3-D shapes.  They will be comparing and contrasting the shapes, sorting shapes by 2 attributes, and discussing the shape's properties with their peers.   The art center will provide students with the opportunity to create a snowman and label all of the parts.  Finally, in the writing center, we will be working on our sentence writing and sharing our writing with the class!

In math, we will be reviewing 2-D and 3-D shapes.  The children are required to identify five 2-D shapes and four 3-D shapes for the report card.  The children will work with all 2-D and 3-D shapes and explore them in the way they move, look, and other properties.   We will also reviewing the similarities and differences between 2-D and 3-D shapes.

Also, this week, we will also be spending some time reviewing our classroom and school procedures!  We are looking forward to seeing the children on Tuesday/Wednesday and hearing all about their winter breaks!

Happy New Year!

Last week of 2011...

This will be our last week of school for 2011.  It is amazing how quickly the year has gone and how much the children have learned.  We will not be having Reading Street lessons this week; therefore there will not be a Family Ties or Reader this week.  We will be reviewing all learned letter sounds, decoding, letter names, and a few various other items this week.  I encourage you to still take time to read to your child and continue to work on letter sounds and simple 3 letter words.  This is important as we will be having our DIBELS assessment when we return from break.  In addition, the children will be bringing home a journal to be able to write in during their time off.  When we return we will be doing a lot more writing and journaling.  This is probably one of my favorite things to teach young children; I love writing.  I look forward to reading what the children did over their time away from school.  The children can return these to school on January 3rd or 4th.  I will read them and allow the children to read them to the class.  (Please note I do not expect words to be written correctly.  I encourage the children to segment the word and write the sounds they hear.  For example, if your child was trying to write "pick," I would expect to see the word "pik" or "pic."  If your child was trying to write "present," I would probably see "prznt" or "prezt")

In addition, I have completed the first round of math assessments.  Many children are having difficulty with counting to 50.  Many children are able to count to 39 and then skip to 50 or they make it to 49 and skip to 60.  The second quarter requires children to be able to count to 50.  The children have also been exposed to 4 3-D shapes, which they will be assessed on this coming week or when we return from break.  These shapes are: cube, sphere, cone, and cylinder.


I hope you all have a great holiday break!  I look forward to seeing everyone back at school on January 3rd for the B class and January 4th for the A class!  

November is Rolling In...

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 assessment on Wednesday and Thursday!

In math, we are continue to work on counting and comparing numbers.  Children will work on counting a specific set of objects and identifying the corresponding numbers.  I will also be asking various questions to the children to work on comparing and ordering.  We have been working a lot on this skill to develop a solid foundation of number sense.  Research shows this foundation will make it easier when we begin to add and subtract in the spring.

Since November is upon us I will be sending home a new homework calendar.  Please keep this safe as it has all of our sight words and math activities to complete at home during the month.  In addition, please continue to complete the Family Ties sheet as this corresponds to what we are doing in the classroom.  I am seeing a lot of progress from the children who are completing these quick activities at home.  It is important to continue this practice since children are at school only 2 or 3 days a week.

News About Me...

Some of you may have heard news about me this past week from your child.  Shannon, my wife, and I will are expecting our first baby in the spring (currently she is due May 4th; however, since children have a mind of their own, it will be interesting to see when the baby actually arrives).  We are looking forward to not finding out if it is a boy or girl.  We would like to be surprised (if any of you really know me this may be a surprise to you).  I will be letting you all know more information as the time comes closer.