4th grade Service Learning Project

Today kicked off 4th grade's Service Learning Project fundraiser.  They are selling purple bracelets to help those who have EOE.  Two students in their grade level have this illness.  Bracelets cost $2 and will be sold every morning in the lobby from 8:00-8:20.  On Friday, they would like the entire school to dress in purple to support their cause.

Happy 2020-Welcome Back

Although I always love winter break, it was good to see the kiddos again and get back into a routine.  We are now in "Kindergarten Part 2" as both Coach C and I like to call it.  Routines and expectations have been established and we've slowly increased the academics.  While we will always work on routines and expectations, the focus is on learning to be readers, writers and mathematicians even more.  This also means we will be holding them more accountable for their behavior, following directions, making good choices, etc.

A look at our learning this week....

Fundations: we continued to touch base on correct letter formation of uppercase letters and tapping out 3 letter words to help us read and write.  Check your child's Friday Folder to see the letters we worked on this week.  I also highly recommend you use the word list and worksheet to practice tapping out words and writing the sounds they hear with your child each week.  This will help them as they move forward in writing stories and reading books.  

Some words we "tapped out" this week.

word family work

Shared Reading: our new word wall words this week were yes and no. We read the big books He said no and What is at the zoo? and the poem Baa Baa Black Sheep to help us learn our new words.  We are also working on "tapping out" unknown 3-4 letter words when 
reading.

Writing Workshop:  We started the week by writing about our winter break. They brought those home on Monday. See pictures below.  

We are learning how to add more detail to our stories.  This can be by adding more to our picture or to our words.  We now have paper with more lines on it to encourage telling more detail.  I am encouraging them to try and write 2 sentences when telling a story.  An example from a students story this week was "I got a Nintendo Switch.  My brother got a truck."  This child's story was about their Christmas presents.  At this point in Kindergarten, those two sentences are a story.  When writing at home, encourage your child to tell at least 2 things/sentences for their story and to "tap out" words they don't know how to spell rather than telling them how to spell it. 

Math: this week we explored weight and capacity.  The kiddos had fun using pan balances to weight objects and see which were heavier and lighter and exploring capacity with various containers and rice, beans, gems and buttons.  We also learned about the penny and dime and counting by 10's to 100.  Check the Friday Folder for ways to extend this learning at home.  

 

Centers: always working on social skills when we play such as: sharing, taking turns, using kind words, cooperation, problem-solving.

Fun Friday-Sports Day

Pictures from the week

Golden Broom Award

Yay!  Our class won the Golden Broom Award!

This means the custodians thought we did the best job, K-2, of keeping our rooms and bathrooms clean the week before winter break!

It was announced at the Monday Morning Meeting.  

We will proudly display the Golden Broom in our classroom all week!

Holiday Fun

We had so much fun on the last day before winter break!

We watched The Polar Express in our jammies, ate popcorn and drank hot cocoa with marshmallows and whip cream!

We had a book exchange!  

I hope you enjoyed reading the books over winter break!

We had fun at our winter party with games, cookie decorating, snacks and a story!

Thank you so much for the AMAZING gift card wreath to some of my favorite places and all the other great gifts!  It is greatly appreciated! 

Winter party day was also our friend Jacob's last day with us at Beulah Ralph Elementary.  We will miss him dearly, but know that he and his family are excited to move to Nebraska to be closer to family.

Teachers love jammie day too!