Back to our regularly scheduled programming....kind of!

After a crazy couple of weeks with snow days, cold days, ice days, late starts and a teacher being chosen for jury duty for the first time ever, we are kind of back to a regular schedule and boy does it feel good!  While I love a good snow day (or two or three) I also love routine! 

A look at our learning...

Fundations: Your child has now learned how to form ALL uppercase and lowercase letters correctly.  While I do see them forming their letters correctly, for the most part, when we explicitly work on it during Fundations time, I do notice many struggling to carry the correct formation over into their daily writing.  I continue to encourage you to hold them accountable for forming their letters neatly and correctly at all times.  The more we perfect it now, the more successful they will be as writers as they go to first grade and beyond.  The less they have to think about how to form their letters, the more they can focus on the craft of writing. 

Don't know where to start to hold them accountable for their learning? Their name is a great place to start!  Do they rush and just slop their name down on paper?  If so, have them erase and tell them to slow down and form their letters correctly.  Then expand beyond that to spelling words, etc. 

Please refer to the Fundations parent packet in the Friday Folder.  I encourage you to use the ideas for handwriting and tapping out words at home throughout the week.

Writing Workshop: since returning from winter break, we have been using new writing paper with more lines and is two sided!  The lines are Fundations lines, rather than the single line paper we had been using.  This is a natural progression now that we have learned how to correctly form all letters in Fundations and their gross motor skills are developing and ready for a more traditional style of writing paper.  This new paper will also help to reinforce forming their letters correctly at all times, not just during explicit practice in Fundations. 

This new paper also helps us to add more detail to our stories.  We are working on writing more than one sentence.  The long term goal is to eventually write 2-3 sentences to tell a story. 

Adding more detail is something that will take some time and we will work on for quite awhile, so please know that if this is tricky for your child at the moment, that is more than ok and expected. 

Check out a couple of our classmates stories from this week on our new paper.  They did a great job writing on the lines and telling more. Also, check out those word wall words spelled correctly and phonetic spelling on the rest! 

I was playing with my cat.  My cat loved it.

Me and my family play with my toys.  It was fun. 

Shared Reading & Spelling: this week we read the big book For Mom and the poem Love is... to practice our new spelling words.  Something we are working on is NOT capitalizing the m on mom and d on dad.  We have discussed how those are terms we call our parents, but not their names, so they need to start each word with a lowercase letter.  Watch for this at home. 

Next week's new spelling words

yes

no

Daily 5 Workstations/Guided Reading: Guided Reading groups are in full swing for all students!  While students are working independently at their literacy workstations each day, I work with small groups of students in guided reading groups.  These groups are based on student ability and we work on reading strategies and read books that are appropriate for those specific children in that group.  Many groups are focusing on pointing to the words when they read and learning multiple reading strategies to try when they come to an unknown word, rather than appealing to an adult.  

Check out some of our readers below.  You will notice the red card in one picture.  This is a resource we are using to help us use our reading strategies.  9 times out of 10, if they try these strategies they won't need adult help. The strategies we are working on at the moment: 1) Look at the picture 2) Get your mouth ready for the first sound in the word 3) Say the word slowly (tap it out, sound it out) 4) Reread to see what might make sense.

When reading group time is over each day, these books go in their book boxes and are there for them to read during Read to Self time each day.  Rereading familiar texts is key in becoming a fluent reader. 

Math: they had a lot of fun learning about a pan balance, weighing different objects on the pan balance to see what objects were heavier, lighter or the same, using rice and various cups, bowls and containers to learn about capacity, the penny and the dime and making numbers in various ways.  We've also had fun sharing our 100th day collections.  If your child hasn't turned theirs in, no worries!  They have until Friday, February 9th.  This is the 99th day of school and we want them all turned in before the 100th day.  

Counselor: this week we learned about keeping small problems small and not letting them turn into big problems and how it's not always what we say, but how we say it or how we handle a problem that makes the situation better or worse.  

An important reminder about why attendance is so important.

Fun with friends at school

Snow Day!

 A look at our learning...

Fundations: thank you to the many families who have used the parent packets to practice tapping out words with your child! This extra practice is really showing up in their reading and writing skills at school!  I should have clarified last week, while I do hope that you do these with your child, you do not need to return them to school.  They are for you to keep at home.  The only thing that needs to be returned is the handwriting practice like normal. 

This week we reviewed uppercase letters I-N and of course, practiced tapping out words.  

Shared Reading: we read the poems Mary had a little lamb and This little piggy, as both featured our new word wall word had. Most students were familiar with these nursery rhymes from when they were younger and already had it memorized, which is great!  Memorization is a key component to reading and one of the first steps of reading.  You probably notice at home that your child can read familiar books without even attending to the words.  This isn't something to be concerned about, but rather celebrated, as this is a step in the learning to read process! 

We also read the big book Dad & I to practice our word wall word dad and were able to add this familiar reading text to our book boxes. 

Spelling Words: since we didn't have school today, we obviously didn't have our spelling test.  Assuming we return to school on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday) the plan is to move forward with introducing the two new words of the week that you see below.  Next Friday, we will have a spelling test like normal and the students will be tested on this week's words (dad, had), next week's words (mom, love) and then 6 review words.  I will attach our most recent word wall words paper to my weekly email so you can ensure you have the most up to date word list to practice over this long weekend. 

Next week's spelling words:

mom

love

Writing: as mentioned above with Fundations, I am noticing more and more students tapping out/sounding out words when writing and applying it to their stories.  The learning at school and extra practice at home, really does show up and make a difference when they are independently working.  Their stories are becoming more legible as they are able to hear and write more sounds in words.  I hope you notice this at home as well!  Many are writing about what they did over winter break, Christmas and their recent snow day! 

Math: this week we continued to explore how to build shapes in many ways.  For example, you can build a hexagon with a hexagon, but you can also use 3 trapezoids or 6 triangles, etc.  We continue to reinforce teen numbers and counting by 1's and 10's as well.  

While you are home during these snow days, see if your child can count by 1's and 10's to at least 60.  This is the goal for the end of 2nd trimester. The end of year goal is 100. 

Social Studies: we learned about Martin Luther King Jr, why he is important and his special holiday on Monday.  We will talk more about him next week as well.  So many great lessons about kindness, equality, friendship and love and how WE, no matter how small, can make a difference in our world.  

First Snow Day: We had so much fun playing in the snow at school on Monday!  Moments like this is why Kindergarten is truly magical!  The joy on their face was priceless and I loved hearing “this is the best day ever!” Mr. Foulk and a few other Beulah Ralph staff members even joined Kindergarten playing in the snow!  

I love that so many kiddos went home and tried out the magic tricks that ensure a snow day: pj’s inside out and backwards, spoon under their pillow and flush ice down the toilet!  Who thought of these silly things? Who knows, but I love the excitement it brings!  Kindergarteners first snow day is something special!  Thanks for allowing them to have this fun at home!

Snow Days at home: going a little stir crazy since you can't get outside in the bitter cold?  Here are some fun ideas that incorporate learning, fun and some even give mom and dad a few minutes of peace and quiet (hopefully lol).

*Read for at least 15 minutes and record on their January reading log

*Download "Teach your Monster to Read" app and let them play.  They use it at school and it's an amazing learning app.  I fully support the use of technology when they are using apps like this.  Let them know they can't play their non educational apps (Roblox or whatever it may be, until they do at least 20 minutes of an educational one!) 

*Make homemade play-dough, linked here.  Math and fine motor skills here!

*Play Uno, but incorporate math.  Click here to learn how. 

*Play board games and card games as a family!  

*Practice our spelling words in fun ways.  Here's a list of ideas. 

Yearbook orders: last chance to order yearbooks!  They are due by January 15th. At the end of the year we do an "A-Z Kindergarten Countdown to Summer" and X day is "eXchange autographs."  Each yearbook has a page for class autographs and we will use the yearbooks then.  You do not have to order, but wanted you to know about this ahead of time.  Students who do not have a yearbook will be given a special autograph paper from me so that they can still participate.  To order your yearbook visit: inter-state.com/order and enter code: 81979E.

Friday folders will be sent home the next day we are at school. 

Working hard at school

Don't forget, we would love if all students wore their BEU gear every Monday!

Have a great weekend and stay warm!