A surreal day

The shirt I wore today for St. Patrick's Day said "Lucky to be a Teacher."  I am lucky.  Lucky I was able to spend these last two days with my kindergarten babies who I love dearly.  Lucky to have a wonderful and supportive school and district who is doing everything humanly possible to navigate through this surreal and unknown time.  Lucky to have supportive families.  Lucky to have my health and home to go to during this time.  The list goes on and on.  Please know that this is uncharted waters for all of us: students, families, teachers, administrators, government, our country and our world.  Please know we are all doing the best we can.  Is this situation ideal? No.  Do teachers want to be away from their students? No.  Does it scare us that we aren't teaching them like we know best? Totally!  Are we trusting and hoping they will work hard and learn at home? Yes! Do we understand this is difficult for all parents? Yes!  Are we worried about "our kids?" (which I call my students) Yes!  Again, I could go on and on.  Let's all have patience, compassion, give grace and work together through this time. Please know teachers are here to help and want to help! 

We love your children just as you do!

I sat for the longest time after school today just looking at my empty classroom and feeling sadness.  Hoping and praying that we will all come together again soon.

Your child came home with MANY things to help you/them be as prepared as possible.

They packed a bag of school supplies we had extra of.

They have a bag of about 20 guided reading books (see Luke's picture below showing you the bag). Every child's bag is different based on their independent reading level.  These are books that should be "just right books."  Meaning they aren't too easy, but also not too difficult that they become frustrated.

I encourage you to have your child read 1 or 2 of these books a day.  If you have a shoe box or plastic tub, you could create a book box and have a 15 minute "Read to Self" time each day like we do.  Along with the books, they brought home their poetry folder, paper familiar reading books, a word wall chart, ABC chart and a "Read to Self" job chart they follow in the classroom during this time.  If you set them up with their own book box at home you could ask them to get their "Read to Self" job chart out and help you create the box and show you how we do it!

Please use the following prompts when your child comes to an unknown word in these guided reading books:

1) look at the picture

2) get your mouth ready for the first sound in the word

3) tap it out or sound it out

4) re-read the sentence and think about what would make sense

If they try all 4 strategies and still can't figure it out, PLEASE tell them the word.  We do not want reading to be frustrating for them.  However, don't just tell them every word either, use the prompts above first and go from there.

Your child also brought home a packet of homework for the 2 weeks after spring break.  If they returned their Friday Folder yesterday, it is in their Friday Folder.  If they didn't, or weren't at school, it is in a bag.  There are very clear directions with them, but please reach out if you have questions or need anything!

I told the children it would be a good idea to use their Friday Folder to keep track of their papers.  Once they complete a homework assignment, put it on the "return to school" side so it isn't lost and can be returned to me when needed.

They also brought home a couple of different journals to use for writing.  one with single lines and one with Fundations lines to help with correct letter formation and line placement.  Feel free to use one for school work and one as a daily journal.  It would be a great idea to have a journal during this (hopefully) once in a lifetime experience.  It would be a great keepsake for them.  

We also sent home whiteboards. These can be used for SO many things: math problems, handwriting, practicing word wall words, etc.  We would like the boards returned when we return to school.

They brought home their headphones/earbuds for your sanity!  We would like those returned to school when we return.

I'm sure I"m forgetting something, but please just take some time over these next couple of days to look through their backpack, set up a schedule/system and get a plan in place.  

You can do this!!!  We can do this!!!

If you remember anything from this long post, please remember I love your children and will miss them more than they know.

The learning continues

This week we survived a time change, full moon, Friday the 13th and of course are dealing with the unknown, stress and anxieties of COVID-19.  You know what else we did? We learned, loved, played and made memories!  Routine is key during stressful times and I thank you for sharing your children with me!

A look at our learning this week...

Fundations: we continue to work on reading, writing and building 3 letter CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant).  We are also really beginning to work on reading simple sentences fluently.  It is important to sound like we do when we talk and not like a robot when read.  

To help with this at home, please check your child's Friday Folder and do the suggested activities. 

Shared Reading: to help us practice our new spelling words we, she and he we read the books Polly Gets Out, He Runs and She was with.  We continue to work on trying multiple strategies when we come to an unknown word in a book to help us figure it out and not appealing to an adult/teacher for the answer.  

Please check your child's daily take home folder.  We cleaned out our book boxes today and they are bringing home MANY of our past Shared Reading books.  These are for you to keep at home.  These would be good books to use to practice reading fluently, and not like a robot, like mentioned above with Fundations.  

Writing Workshop: today we finished up our non-fiction unit on guinea pigs.  Every child has written at least one book with facts they have learned about guinea pigs over the past couple of weeks.  Next week we will learn and write non-fiction books about dogs. This will tie into our Service Learning Project. 

We were so excited to have Aurora and her mom bring in their pet guinea pig, Nora, during our writing time this week!  They taught us more facts about guinea pigs and we were able to pet and see what we were writing about in real life!  So cool!

Math: this week we worked on 3D shapes (cube, cone, sphere, cylinder, cone), sorting and playing a "guess my rule" game with sorting and surveys/data collection.  

Check your child's Friday Folder for ways to extend this week's learning at home.  The 3D shapes listed above are the ones we expect them to know by the end of Kindergarten.  
Here is a fun little video we sing to help us learn the shapes.

Science: we continue to learn about the weather.  We are noticing that when it is almost time to change seasons (next week will be the beginning of Spring) the weather can be very up and down.  One day it might be mild and the next day very cold!  We are also learning that Spring is a very rainy time, but this is good for our plants, grass and the outdoors!  Check your child's take home folder for a weather tracking activity we did this week. 

We have also been talking about keeping healthy!  We learned how germs get in your body, as well as the ways to help ourselves and others stay healthy. We are working on washing our hands well, coughing and sneezing into our elbows, blowing our noses and then washing hands or using hand sanitizer.  We are also using hand sanitizer more often, especially when it is not a good time to wash hands.

We have not talked about specific illnesses at this point, as not to put extra stress or worry on the children that they do not need.  It is important to remember that they are 5-6 years old.  All teachers are being provided accurate information on COVID-19 and are taking precautions and guiding students as necessary.  

Here is a link with information, including a cartoon for children. Another good resource is the CDC website.  They have information for individuals, but also information to guide leaders who are making decisions about closing/canceling public places or events. This link will take you to a hand-washing video we watched in the classroom this week.  The Magic School bus also has a good video about germs.  

All in all, we are lucky to live in a time with quick and effective forms of communication, scientific knowledge and advanced medical care.  

Classroom fun: on Thursday we had a special visitor, Miss Beily.  She is a Sophomore at Hickman High School and job shadowed me as part of her classes through the Career Center. She is thinking she might want to be a teacher someday.  The coolest part?!  I was her 1st grade teacher when I taught at Midway Heights Elementary!  Although it makes me feel old, THIS is one of the many reasons I teach!  The children enjoyed having her with us for the day!

Read Across America Week

A look at our learning...

Fundations: we are beginning a new unit next week.  We will continue to work on tricky spelling words, please cut out and utilize the flash cards that are in the Friday Folder this week.  Your child should be able to read and write these words with ease over the next few weeks.  They will be added to our word wall as we learn them in the classroom.  We will also be focusing more on words with digraphs (wh, ch, th, ck, sh).  We are learning that diagraphs are two letters that make one sound.  Please check out the Fundations papers in the Friday Folder to help extend their learning at home.  

Shared Reading: our new spelling words this week were look and was.  To help us practice these words we read the big books Bananas Sometimes (a super silly book they loved) and I was with.  We are learning more strategies to try when we come to an unknown word in a book: look at the picture, get your mouth ready for the first sound, tap it out/sound it out, think about what would make sense and re-reading.  When you are reading with your child at home, prompt them to use these strategies before just telling them a word.  If they try at least 3 strategies and are still stuck, then it is OK to tell them the word. 

Daily 5:  it was so nice to FINALLY have a full 5 day week and get reading groups going regularly again.  During reading groups children are given books that are "just right" for them.  Every group has anywhere from 3-6 students who are at the same reading level.  Every group is reading a new book every day that they meet, working on the skills mentioned above during Shared Reading.  We also work on retelling/discussing the books we read.  When group is over they are able to keep these books in their book boxes to practice reading independently during our daily Read to Self time. 

While I am working with reading groups, the other children are working with a partner at their Daily 5 literacy centers. 

Writing Workshop: we continue our non-fiction/informational writing unit.  We have written 1 or 2 books about hedgehogs (which I enjoyed sharing with you at conferences) and are now learning and writing about guinea pigs.  

We are learning how to put spaces between our words when writing. Ask your child to tell you about their spaceman sticks.  Ask your child how many fingers they use to put spaces between their words at home when they don't have a spaceman stick to use (the answer is 2 fingers).  Putting spaces between our words makes it easier to read.  

Math: this week we worked on basic shapes, counting a set number of objects and accurately recording it on a recording sheet, measurement and surveys and graphs.  Check your child's Friday Folder for ways to extend math at home and for some of the work they did this week at school. 

Science: we continue to learn about the weather and record in our weather journals.  Please continue to send at least a light jacket with your child to school every day.  Many times we look at the high temperature of the day, not realizing that Kindergarten has lunch recess at 10:40 and it is still very chilly.  We require students to wear a light jacket if the temperature is 45-59*.  If the temperature is below 45* they must have a big coat.   A hoodie or fleece is not enough if the temperature at 10:40 is below 45*

Many times our lunch recess is still below 45* and we have some cold children!Thanks for understanding and helping us with this.

Craft: to celebrate National Read Across America Week all grade levels at Beulah Ralph chose an author to learn about.  Kindergarten chose David Shannon.  Every bulletin board in our hallway is decorated with a David Shannon book.  Our class chose to make pirates from the books How I became a pirate and Pirates don't change diapers!  Today we took a tour of all the hallways to see what author the other grade levels learned about.  

Relax and Read Day

Books 'n' Buddies Day

Reading with our 3rd grade buddies in Mrs. Freese's class

 and learning about their Service Learning Project.

Favorite Book Character Day

Library Field Trip

We enjoyed our visit to the Daniel Boone Public Library.

We learned about so many fun things we can do at the library and take home if we have a library card!

From robots to music to movies and of course books!

We also learned about their summer reading program.  It is similar to our Pizza Hut Book It program, but you win books and other prizes, rather than pizza.  

I hope you will participate this summer!

If you signed your child up to receive a library card, it should be coming to you in the mail within the next couple of weeks.

Read Across America Week

We are having fun celebrating National Read Across America Week and Dr. Seuss' birthday week!

We loved wearing hats yesterday (group photo above) and wearing crazy clothes and hair today!  

Even teachers love to get in on the fun!