Our Week

A look at our learning...

Fundations: we continued to work on "tapping words" and the following trick words: are, to, his.

Shared Reading: spelling tests were much better this week.  Most students had a perfect score on their test.  We will resume learning new words on Monday.  We read two cute penguin poems this week that had a lot of word wall words in it and tied in with our non-fiction writing unit.

Daily 5 & Guided Reading: we started new reading groups this week.  Almost every child moved up one, or multiple, levels in reading over the past couple of weeks, which is amazing!  When reading clicks, it truly just clicks and they really take off!  Every child is in a group that is at their specific skill level.  This means the books they bring home on Tuesday and Thursday are from groups at their specific reading level and only the kids in that group are reading them.  Not every child in the class brings home the same book, as not everyone is at the same reading level.  After conferences I realized not every parent knew that.  

Writing Workshop: most children have finished their first non-fiction writing assignment about penguins!  Ask your child about their penguin book!  If they have finished, they have started a 2nd book about penguins.  Soon we will be deciding a new animal to learn and write about.  

Math: we worked on addition to 10 all week.  We are learning about the plus sign + and equal sign =  Check out the Friday Folder for fun ways to help with this at home.

Reading Week: next week is national "Read Across America" week and we are celebrating at Beulah.  Every grade level has picked a famous author to learn about.  Kindergarten chose Kevin Henkes.  We have been reading books by Kevin Henkes all week and will next week as well.  Our hallway will be decorated with Kevin Henkes characters.  Check out the bulletin board we made today.  Every child in our class picked a Kevin Henkes character they liked and made that character.  The 2nd picture shows what author the other grade levels chose.  Next Friday, we will take a tour of the building to see how each hallway is decorated for their author.  

Donors Choose: we have enjoyed using some of our new items purchased through my 2nd Donors Choose project.  Thank you for helping to fund the STEM project!  

February Citizen of the Month

Yay Madeline!

She was chosen, by her peers, as

February Citizen of the Month!

Weekly Update

A look at our learning...

Fundations: most weeks from now until the end of the school year we will be learning "trick words" during Fundations time.  These are words that you can't tap out or sound out and try to trick us.  They are important words to learn how to read and spell as they are ones we use often in reading and writing. Lucky for us, some of them are already word wall words we know and they couldn't trick our smart friends!  

We have learned the following "trick words": and, are, is, his, to

Shared Reading: we are continuing to read books and poems that help us review the 24 word wall words we have learned so far this year.  We will resume learning new words the week of March 4th. Hopefully by then all students will spell every word correctly on their weekly spelling tests and be ready to move on.

Daily 5 and Guided Reading Groups: we have been assessing students the last two weeks to prepare for parent teacher conferences and I am excited that almost every child moved up at least one level in reading!  Next week, their reading groups may change a bit and you will notice they might start bringing home more difficult books on Tuesday and Thursday's.  Yay!  

Writing Workshop: we are working on some amazing non-fiction books about penguins!  So far every child has made a cover, opening page and written 2-3 facts and drawn pictures with labels about penguins in their books.  Next week, we will learn about endings and headings and their first non-fiction book will be finished! 

We made penguins today during craft time to go along with our penguin non-fiction writing unit!

Math: this week we worked on teen numbers and addition.

We go outside, even when it's cold! Please send hats and gloves!

Checking out the Scholastic Book Fair and making wish lists!

You can find their wish lists in the library next week when you come for

 Parent-Teacher Conferences.

February Lunch with the Principal

Yay Bryson!

He was chosen to have

Lunch with the Principal

for the month of February!

Happy Valentine's Day

A look at our learning...

Fundations: please check the Friday Folder for ways to practice at home, especially since we have a 4 day weekend.  The more they practice "tapping" words, the better they will get at reading and writing.  Below we are using our magnet boards to tap out and spell words. 

Shared Reading: this week we reviewed all 24 word wall words we have learned so far this year.  We read several books that featured these words and added these books to our book boxes for read to self time. Today we took a spelling test over all 24 words. These will be in their folders today for you to see.  We will continue to review these words for the next two weeks and begin learning new words again the week of March 4th. 

Daily 5: working hard at our centers each day while I teach guided reading groups.

Word Family Center

Search & Tally Center

Osmos

Books on CD center

      

Classroom Library Center

Writing Workshop: the kids have loved learning about penguins during our informational/nonfiction unit!  We've read so many good books and watched cute and informative video clips about penguins.  Check out our "Can, Have, Are" chart to see the many things we have learned.  

After days of filling our brain with knowledge about penguins, we began to write our first informational book on the topic.  On Wednesday, we learned how to make a cover for our book that includes a title, author name and illustration.  On Thursday, we learned different ways to write an opening sentence for our stories that tell the reader what they will learn about in our book.  Next week, we will learn how to write at least 3 facts and an ending for our stories.  
Ask your child about their penguin book, cover page and opening sentence.  

cover page

penguin facts

opening

Math: we continue to work on teen numbers.  We have also focused more an addition. This week we worked on ways to show our work and answer through story problems.  Stories such as "I was having a party.  I put out 4 chairs for my party.  The doorbell rang and 7 friends were here for my party.  Did I put out enough chairs?"  The students had to answer yes or no AND show the story through drawings.  

Stories similar to these would be great to practice at home!  

Service Learning: this week we made a class book to give to our new friends at Columbia Manor nursing home.  We drew a self portrait (and stuck on a small school picture in the corner) and wrote a sentence that told our names and something we like to do.  Kindergarten teachers will deliver these books (one from each class) to the nursing home next week.  We are going to ask if the residents will make a book for us as well so we can get to know them!  

Kindergarten had the best attendance at BEU last week!

We celebrated with an extra recess on Wednesday!

They announce this award every week at the Monday Morning Meeting!  It's been quite awhile since Kindergarten has won, so we were super excited!

Valentines Day is so much fun!