Today during math all 5 Kindergarten classes counted our pennies and loose change again. When we counted a few weeks ago we had raised $90. As of today we have collected $200. We have ONE WEEK LEFT to collect change and our goal is $500!
With $200 we have enough to cover the cost of the clipboards we need to purchase and decorate, but not sure if we have enough to cover the shipping cost.
We would also like to send each teacher an Amazon gift card to purchase activities for their literacy centers. Clipboards and center activities were things lost and needed in the hurricane.
Thank you SO MUCH to those who have donated! We appreciate donations of all sizes! You can send pennies, change, bills or checks payable to CPS.
March has definitely come in like a lion...hopefully that lamb like weather will be here soon! We read a cute book this week about this saying.
A look at our learning...
Fundations: check the Friday Folders for how to help extend our learning at home. These are great suggestions to help your child's reading, writing and spelling skills.
Shared Reading: we read the big books I can be and Bananas Sometimes. Both are SuPeR sIlLy books that contained our new word wall words look and as.
Next week's new word wall words:
she
he
I encourage you to introduce these words to your child on the weekends to get a head start with practicing.
Daily 5/Guided Reading: they are becoming great little readers. Our reading groups changed a bit this week, as many of them moved up reading levels! yay!
Math: our week was spent on addition and subtraction and 3D shapes. We played several games that focused on this: Disappearing and Growing Train and Hide the teddy bears. Ask your child about these fun games! We also worked on story problems. A booklet of their smart work came home in their take home folder on Thursday. We are learning that mathematicians not only know the answer, but can also show their work/thinking.
Writing Workshop: everyone has finished their first non-fiction book about penguins! They are WONDERFUL! Ask your child to tell you about it! They have all started on their 2nd book about penguins that include different facts from their first. While they are still finishing up their 2nd book we have started learning about elephants now! We are reading books and watching video clips to fill our brain with knowledge on this new animal. After they finish their 2nd penguin book they will begin a factual book about elephants. They are loving this type of writing and learning so much! Their writing truly has grown so much even since parent-teacher conferences! You will be AMAZED when they bring these stories home to share! I know I am!
Service Learning: WOW Chase! Thanks for collecting so much change for our penny drive! You are a rockstar! Our friends in Texas will be so grateful!
Along with collecting change, we are working on cutting out words and objects to modge podge on the clipboards we will be sending to Texas.
Germs: Nurse Lynn read us a new Berenstain Bears book about germs! It's always good to have a refresher about how to properly wash our hands and use our cough/sneeze pockets.
Counselor: we met Mrs. Roof, the counselor who is filling in for Mrs. Davison while she's on maternity leave. Mrs. Harris also fills in if Mrs. Roof can't. Mrs. Roof is a former CPS counselor and was the counselor coordinator for many years. She is so fun and the kids loved her! We also met Shaggy, her friend who will come to counselor with her!
It sure was nice to finally have a 5 day week, even if it was full of out of routine things!
They were all super fun though!
Check out all of our fun from "Read Across America Week!" Turn up the volume, there is sound.
Box Tops: we haven't heard which class earns the pizza party for collecting the most Box Tops, but our class brought in a total $26.30 worth of Box Tops during this last contest! Kindergarten alone raised $102.20. Way to go! Thanks for helping us earn money to go towards more playground equipment. Dr. Majerus showed me a picture of the equipment they are thinking of purchasing and it looks like so much fun!
Library trip: we had fun touring the Daniel Boone Public Library this week. The kids are excited to go back with their families to check out all of the fun things and use their "free book" coupon!
A look at our learning...
Shared Reading: we learned the tricky new words her & of. Even though these words can't be sounded out and we have to just know them, they are showing up more and more in our guided reading books and our writing so they are important words to know.
Next week's new word wall words: look as
Fundations: the kids are getting good at tapping out 3 letter words to help them spell (and read). I encourage you to use the packet sent home in last weeks Friday Folder to help them continue this practice at home. You can also write simple 3 letter words (non-word wall words) on a piece of paper and ask your child to tap the word out for you and read it. Be sure to use words that can be sounded out and don't have any tricky sounds. Words such as: bat, tub, pig, van, hit, etc. You can also find words like this in books you are reading and ask your child to tap the word out for you and read it to you.
Math: this week several of our lessons focused on subtraction. We learned about the minus sign. We learned that subtraction means to take away and our number will get smaller. We mostly focused on subtraction through verbal story problems. I would tell a simple story such as "I have 5 flowers. I gave 2 flowers to my friends. How many flowers do I have left?" The kiddos would then use objects (fingers, counters, snap cubes, etc.) to solve the answer. I encourage you to do story problems like this at home, as well as writing down basic math facts up to 10 for them to solve. 10-2, 8-4, etc. It is definitely ok for them to use their fingers, objects, drawings, etc. to solve the problem! We encourage this in Kindergarten!
Writing: we have spent the last couple of weeks learning how to write informational books. We have learned all about penguins and each child has written their own factual book about penguins. Most kiddos are on the final stages of their book!
They have learned that informational books contain the following:
*cover page
* opening
*at least 3 facts
*closing/ending
*each page has pictures with labels
*headings at the top of each page
Ask your child to tell you about their penguin book and what 3 facts they included! They have LOVED this unit and their writing is incredible!
She was chosen as our classroom Citizen of the Month!
Yay Jacob!
He was chosen by specialists as their Citizen of the Month!
We also recognized our January Citizen of the Month, Josh, as he was ill on the day of last months assembly.
February is Dental Health Month. One of our BEU parents, Dr. Wietholder, is a dentist and presented 20 minute assemblies to each grade level today about dental health. Ask your child what they learned in the assembly! (click on photos to enlarge)
I will post more about academics and our learning next Friday when we are back in a routine! I am ready for a full 5 day week and a consistent schedule!
Next week's new word wall words:
her
of
Read Across America Week
Next week we will celebrate this fun week! Check the Friday Folder for our fun activities planned each day. Each grade level picked a famous author to learn about for this week. Kindergarten is learning all about Mo Willems and reading his wonderful books! Ask your child to tell you about Mo Willems, what books he has written and what he does in his books that makes them fun and special! All hallway bulletin boards will also be decorated with characters from that author's books. Check them out when you are at school!
Check out the bulletin board by the library to see what author each grade level chose.
Have a great weekend!
I hope to see you all at the circus tomorrow night!
We have some amazing baskets you can bid on at the silent auction! Our Lego basket turned out great!
The Circus is coming! We hope you are too! Saturday, February 24th from 5-8 p.m. at school! Flash the Timber-wolf will be there for pictures!
Please turn in your wristband and Flash Bucks order forms ASAP.
We need MANY more volunteers to help make this fun event successful. The proceeds from this event will be used to purchase more playground equipment. Please consider signing up for a 30 minute shift at the link below. Your kiddos can help you while you work or one parent can work while the other parent goes around with the kiddos to play and then switch! We really need all hands on deck! It is super easy, promise! We gladly welcome grandparents, teenage siblings, etc. to work a shift as well!
This week we had our third, and final, lesson with Mrs. Cardetti from the CPS Gifted Program.
The students had to be fluent, flexible thinker to make paper bag stories with the materials they were given. They turned out so cute! She told them they could make large paper bag books at home if they ask for paper bags, rather than plastic, when shopping at the grocery store. They were excited to try this! So if they ask you for paper bags, this is why!
We will NOT havenew spelling words next week.
We will still have a test on Friday, but it will consist of 10 of the current word wall words (I can promise you that said will be on there, as it is still a tricky one)
