Weekly Peep Report

The Happy Friday, Kindergarten Families!

I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures of the Peeps in action this week (in the following posts). We've had a lot of learning fun! This upcoming week, we will celebrate the 100th Day of School, and learn all about groundhogs and shadows. Look for progress reports to come home next week, also. Please be sure that your child wears his/her 100 Day shirt for Monday, if you chose to make one. We'll wear those all day. 

Kindergarten Weekly Report
January 29, 2016

​ABC's and 123's

Reading and Writing:

This week we've learned about "main idea" and "details." We've looked for the main idea and supporting details as we've read our "Let's Find Out" magazines during science lessons. We're building vocabulary by learning how to figure out what unknown words mean, by looking at the other words in the text. 

Keep working on sight words at home to be sure that they are automatic. We need to know these words as soon as we see them! These are the words from the 3rd quarter list that we've worked with in class so far:

went, in, how, to, are, go, up, have, come

On ABCYa, there's a terrific "Spelling Practice" game that helps us practice sight words. It's silly, because the words are all mixed up. Click on the link to practice at home!

In Writer's Workshop, we're working on adding details to our writing, and taking time to make our writing easy for others to read. Our focus has been on being sure that we put spaces between words, making sure that we get the first letter sound of the word, and having pictures that show all of the parts of the story. Some children are stretching words to hear all of the sounds. Our writers are in different places, depending on what their level of letter sound and sight word knowledge is. Every day we're getting better! (I will send some writing home along with progress reports, so that you can see what your child is doing. I think you'll be excited about the growth that the children are showing!) This week, we expanded our story sharing. We're using the ELMO projector, so that everyone can see exactly what our writing looks like, and we can "make it match" when we're reading. (We're trying to touch every word as we read our stories, just like we do when we're reading books in our reading lessons. That encourages the children to be sure that they have all of the words on the page, in some form, and it's sometimes a big challenge! Earlier in the year, we could just tell our stories, and all of the words weren't on the page.)

Keep reading books at home to meet your January reading goals! I'll change the reading log pages on Monday for the new month. Remember that I have a Take-Home library for the children to use each day if they'd like. Some children check out a book every day to take home. Others have stopped using the library, because they'd rather just read their books at home, or they've lost a Take-Home library book. I don't mind if a book is lost, as long as we don't lose too many. I have lots of books! If you'd like your child to use the Take-Home library, please remind him/her. I'm encouraging them, too.

Math:

We started using the + and = sign with adding this week. The boys and girls are learning strategies such as using counters to add, and using pictures to add. We are telling addition stories, too! In math stations, we use the Decomposing Monster to break a group of poker chips into two smaller groups. We also like to play "Make 10" with a deck of cards, and count all of the ways that we can make 10. 

Science:
We've learned about how birds and squirrels adapt to winter temperatures. Some birds migrate, and squirrels hold their tails close to their bodies to stay warm. They also spend time curled up in their winter nests. The boys and girls had fun making bird feeders! We learned about penguins, too. They are used to living in cold conditions most of the time, if they're Antarctic penguins! We know that there are 17 different kinds of penguins! Some of the boys and girls have been using what were learning in science to write "How To" books during Writing Workshop! I love seeing them make connections!

Upcoming Events

A Peek at Next Week:

Monday: E Day (Library) Please remember library books. 99th Day of School (Wear 100 Day shirts). 

Tuesday: A Day (Art) 100th Day of School/Groundhog Day
Wednesday: B Day (Music)

Thursday: C Day (P.E) 

Friday: D Day (P.E.)

Class Sign Ups:

Sign Up Genius for Class Helpers and Field Trip Chaperones

Sign Up Genius for Class Parties

Looking Ahead:

Wednesday, February 10: Early Release Day

Friday, February 12: Class Valentine Party 2:00-3:00

Monday, February 15: No School, President's Day

Friday, February 19: Teddy Bear (send a teddy bear to school with your child for our activities that day)

Wednesday, February 24: Dental Health Theater Field Trip

Friday, February 26: Class Project (10:50-11:40) 

First Week of March: Dr. Seuss Week

Friday, March 4: 3rd Quarter Ends, 1/2 day of school

Enjoy your weekend! Especially Saturday! It's supposed to be absolutely gorgeous outside!

Kelley

Some Snapshots From Our Week

This week, we've been learning all about animals in the wintertime, wintertime, and antarctic animals. The Scholastic "Let's Find Out" issues have had terrific information for us! We laughed at the title "Backyard Birrrrrds." After finding out what birds do to stay warm in the winter, we decided to make birdfeeders!

Here are some scenes from our Writer's Workshop sharing time. It's a LOT of fun to put your work on the "stage," so that the whole class can see it! 

This is the cover for the story, "At My House." You can see "aT" "WY" (my), and the "H" for house. We are working very hard on stretching the sounds in words to spell!

This page from another friend's book says "I saw the magician." Look at this word stretching, and the spaces between the words!

Our math stations are busy, too! We are using shapes to create, and practicing the names of shapes. (Hexagon and octagon are very easy to mix up!) In the next picture, two friends are using the Decomposing Monster to decompose numbers. 

We absolutely love taking turns on the whiteboard!

Our iPad center is very popular every day:

We made pretend snow! (It's Insta-Snow powder, which is a polymer...it absorbs water and "grows" big and fluffy.)

We've been busy this week!

Recess on a Sunny January Day

We had a wonderful time at recess today! It was such a beautiful day to be outside! While we were out, I took pictures of the children playing. When we came back inside for Writer's Workshop, we looked at our pictures, and talked about all of the details that we can see. We know that writers use details with their words and pictures, so we've been adding details to our writing!

Weekly Peep Report

Happy Friday, Kindergarten Families!

We've had a busy, but short week this week! The children were SO EXCITED to share their snow day adventures on Thursday! At this point, we will still plan to celebrate the 100th day on Monday, February 1 (even though that is really the 99th day of school). 

Kindergarten Weekly Report

January 22, 2016

​

ABC's and 123's

Reading and Writing:

The boys and girls are developing their reading fluency as they practice reading their Guided Reading books each day! I am so proud of the progress that I see, and delighted with the pride the children are showing in themselves! They are learning to self-monitor as they read, and re-read to make sure the story makes sense!

Keep working on sight words at home to be sure that they are automatic. We need to know these words as soon as we see them! In the past two weeks, we've really focused on these words:

went, in, how, to, are, go, up

We've continued working on our "How-To" books this week. One BIG writing skill we are working on is re-reading our work to be sure that it makes sense, and that we remember what we've written. At home, you can help your child by pointing out things that they could write a "how to" book about. (How To Ride on a Sled, How to Get Dressed for Winter, etc.) 

Math:

​We've continued working this week on the foundation for addition and subtraction. We are composing and decomposing numbers, and making sure that we record the information carefully. Sometimes our numbers are backwards. That's OK, but we are learning to look at the number charts and check our work, so that we can flip those numbers if necessary to make them correctly. 

​

​Social Studies:

We've learned all about Dr. Martin Luther King this week, and read stories about how we are the same, and how we are different. Today we read Dr. Seuss's story, The Sneetches. We had a play where the boys and girls acted out the parts of the story. At the end of the story, the Sneetches learn that "no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches." Even after our class play, some of the boys and girls choose to play "Sneetches" at center time. They took turns in all of the different roles. Enjoy the pictures!

Upcoming Events

A Peek at Next Week:

Monday: E Day (Library) Please remember library books.

Tuesday: A Day (Art)
Wednesday: B Day (Music) 
Thursday: C Day (P.E) 

Friday: D Day (P.E.)

Enjoy your weekend!

Kelley

The Sneetches

Our theme for the week was "We Are Alike, We Are Different." We've learned all about Dr. Martin Luther King, and how he taught that all people are equal, and need to be treated fairly. We read non-fiction stories about Dr. King and his work, and at the end of the week, we read a fictional story on the same topic, Dr. Seuss's book, The Sneetches. 

Then we pretended to be star-belly or plain-belly Sneetches, and act out the story! It was a lot of fun, and before we were finished, the star-belly and plain-belly Sneetches were all mixed up, just like in the story!

Here are the star-belly Sneetches having a frankfurter party!

This plain-belly Sneetch is going through the "Star On" machine, to get a star for her belly!

Everyone wants to pay money to go in the "Star On" machine!

Now the star-belly Sneetches want to go through the "Star Off" machine, so that they can still be the "best" kind of Sneetch on the beaches.

"Ah...which group was I in, anyway?"

"Step right up, pay me your money! And I'm raising my prices!" said Sylvester McMonkey McBean.

"We're running out of money!"

And, when every last cent of their money was spent, the Fix-It-Up Chappie packed up and he went. And he laughed as he drove in his car up the beach, "They never will learn. No. You can't teach a Sneetch."

But McBean was quite wrong. I'm quite happy to say, that the Sneetches got really quite smart on that day. The day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches, and no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches. That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars, and whether they had one, or not, upon thars.

Math Learning and Family Time

Here we are, showing ways to make 10 on the whiteboard. It's lots of fun to get a turn! 

Today during Family Time, the boys and girls saw a short video called "The Ten Little Pigs." It reinforced Habit #5: Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood." They also talked about whole body listening, and the need to be kind to others. They made hearts of kindness to give to their friends, teacher, or family members. They were excited to tell me all about it when they got back to the classroom after visiting with their family! (The children are divided up into different families all over the building during family time. The fifth grade members of their families come to the classroom to pick them up, and then bring them back when family time is over. Families consist of  2-3 students from each grade level, for about 14 children per family.) We LOVE family time!

Weekly Peep Report

Happy Friday, Kindergarten Families!

*Please look carefully at the "Upcoming Events" section of the weekly report...there are LOTS of fun things to look forward to in the near future, and some opportunities to volunteer in the classroom. 

Kindergarten Weekly Report

January 15, 2016

​

ABC's and 123's

Reading and Writing:

Our reading has been tied in closely with our science this week, as we've continued to learn more about matter, and how matter changes. We've read non-fiction books such as Amazing Water, The Story of Snow, and What Is Matter?  We've also read some fantastic fiction, like Sneezy the Snowman. Sneezy is a silly snowman who is so cold that he tries jumping in a hot tub, drinking hot cocoa, and standing next to a campfire. Of course he melts. He's just lucky that the children rebuild him!

Our writing has correlated to our reading and science work, too! We made snowpeople, and then wrote "How To Stay Frozen," or "How to Stay Solid." The boys and girls had good ideas to keep their snowpeople from ending up like Sneezy the Snowman!

When writing, we're working on stretching words to hear each sound, and then make sure that we can read our writing once it's on the paper. That's still very tricky for some of the children. For students who have mastered stretching sounds, we're working on spacing between words, beginning with a capital letter, and punctuating at the end. 

We are learning how important "How To" writing can be; we use it whenever we want to learn something new! "How To" writing is everywhere--from instruction manuals to recipes, and directions for playing new games! (At home, you can point out some "how to" writing that you encounter...and how it helps when instructions are clear and easy to read. Especially assembly instructions!) I'm excited about the "How To" books that the children are working on! They have terrific ideas! Ask your child to tell you about his/her first "How To" books!

Math:
We are continuing to build the foundation for addition and subtraction, by composing and decomposing numbers to 10. We know that "composing" means building a number. "Decomposing" means taking a number apart. We're getting pretty good at composing and decomposing, and being able to explain what we're doing and why it's important! 

​Science:

We are learning about states of matter, and how matter changes. We know that solids keep their shape, liquids flow and  take the shape of their container, and gases have no shape at all! We've really enjoyed exploring matter. When it was really cold early in the week, we froze water inside balloons and made an ice person! Then we watched it melt inside. We also froze water in flat ziplock bags, and saw how it took the shape of the flat bag. We explored gases with balloons and making balloon rockets. We especially liked that!

Upcoming Events

A Peek at Next Week:

Monday: No School (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)

Tuesday: A Day (Art)
Wednesday: B Day (Music) 
Thursday: C Day (P.E.) 

Friday: D Day (P.E.)

​Monday, February 1:  OUR 100TH DAY OF KINDERGARTEN! Don't forget about making a 100 Day shirt with your child, to wear on that day. 

Our classroom Valentine's Day party will be from 2:00-3:00 on Friday, February 12. Please remember to send a Valentine mailbox and valentines with your child on that day. (We will distribute Valentines in the morning, so it won't interfere with party time.)

Soon, you will receive a field trip chaperone/classroom helper sign up from Sign Up Genius. We will have field trips and special events on the following dates. Look at these dates and events, and think about what you might be interested in. I'll send out the link in the next week or so, and you can let me know then if you're available to help. Permission forms will be sent out as the dates get nearer. I know that it can be tricky to take days off from work, and it's also nice to know what ALL of the opportunities are, so that you can decide what you'd most like to be part of. It's important to note that all field trip chaperones and helpers need to have a police record check on file in the office. If you have not completed one, or if you're not sure you have, please let me know so that you can be included as a volunteer. 

Wednesday, February 24: Dental Health Theater (2 or 3 chaperones needed)
Friday, February 26: special class project (2 helpers needed from 10:50-11:45)
Wednesday, March 9: Museum of Transportation (2 or 3 chaperones needed)
Friday, March 18: Easter Egg Hunt (3 or 4 helpers needed to hide eggs, and then help children)
Last week of March (To Be Determined): Purina Farms Easter Village (As many parents can come as are available. This is a longer field trip, and we'll have lunch at Purina Farms.)
Thursday, May 12: Zoo Field Trip (I would love to have as many parents as can come. This is an all day trip, lasting from 9:00-2:30.)

Have a wonderful weekend, and stay warm as the temperatures drop again!

Kelley