Wa-hoo! A full week of school!

This was our first full week of school in over a month and I sure LOVED it!

5 day weeks are great for routine, consistency and learning! 

I'm so happy we will have many more 5 day weeks to come!

A few things to note...

*Kindergarten registration for CPS is on Thursday, March 9th.  If you have an incoming Kindergartener, please plan on attending.  If you know someone who has an incoming Kindergartener, please spread the word.  It is important that families come to register on this night rather than waiting until August.  It helps determine class sizes, number of classrooms, etc.  Please feel free to share the flier below.  I also sent it to you via email.

*Please return the RSVP for BEU's 1st annual Math Night ASAP.   We would like to know how many people plan on attending AND how many pie's we need to order from Peggy Jean's Pies.  Check your Friday Folder for another RSVP form if you didn't return the one from last week.

*Missouri weather is crazy!  Please make sure you are sending a jacket to school with your child each day.  This week we had some VERY cold children outside with no coats on a 37* morning.  Please remember that Kindergarten's first recess is at 10:40, so even if the high temperature of the day is supposed to be warm we are out well before it has had time to warm up and those sweet babies get cold.

A look at our learning...

Fundations- we are learning about digraphs.  Digraphs are a combination of two letters that make one sound.  We are working on the following digraphs: sh, ch, th, ck, wh.

Shared Reading-we read 2 big books this week: Looking at Cities and Butterfly.  Both are non-fiction books that not only tie in and help with our non-fiction writing during writing workshop, but they also featured our new word wall word have.

We also read the fun and silly poem Have you ever seen a sheep in a jeep?  This poem also had our word wall word have in it many times and is a rhyming poem.  

Next week's new spelling words:

had

did

Daily 5-Daily 5 is an hour and a half of our day where the kiddos work at centers focused around literacy.  While the kiddos are rotating through centers with a partner, Miss Nemechek and I are meeting with them in their small reading groups.  We hope you have enjoyed their new reading homework routine on Tuesday and Thursday's. The book they bring home is their newest one from group (they get a new book daily).  They were very proud and excited to bring home their books and show you what wonderful readers they are becoming!  These books can be recorded on the reading log that comes home with the book AND their monthly reading log.  

Math-this week we began a math unit called Bunk Beds and Apple Boxes. This unit begins with the story of a pajama party—a sleepover during which eight children play, moving up and down bunk beds, teasing the babysitter who imagines she is losing and then gaining children!

The unit introduces the arithmetic rack (rek) as a powerful model and tool to act out the story. The arithmetic rack is a calculating frame consisting of two rows of ten beads with two sets of fives in each row. In this unit, children move the beads on the arithmetic rack to illustrate and develop an understanding that eight can be made in many ways, for example as 7 + 1, 5 + 3, or 4 + 4. The unit works to further develop early number sense.  Look for some of their work with this in their Friday Folder.  Below is a picture of the arithmetic rack (rek) that they use.

Writing-we are continuing to learn about butterflies to help us write informational books AND continue learning about our service learning project of helping Monarch Butterflies.