Winter Sing
The kids have been practicing their songs for the Winter Sing.  This great Irving Tradition is always a hit.

• Your child can dress up for the concert but will be going straight to the party after-so please be realistic about how clothes may have frosting on them, etc.  
• The two concerts, 8:15 and 9:45 are identical.  The Kindergarten students perform first and then the first grade will perform.  Ms. Hiolski will ask that you stay for the first grade so it is not disruptive.  The concert usually lasts about 30 minutes total.
• If you- or someone from your family- is unable to attend either of the concerts, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!  Your child will be disappointed if they are not prepared.  If your child is prepared, it is so much easier for them to enjoy the show and the party.  I am happy to send video or pictures to you if you cannot attend.  Your child can help me do this.

Winter Party
Thanks to our Room Parents for organizing a celebration for Wednesday!  I am sure it will be a wonderful event.  Please consider signing up to help or send in supplies by clicking here.  We need a few more people to send in candy for decorating gingerbread men.  Next time you are at the store you could grab some licorice for hair, gum drops for eyes, marshmallows...you get the idea.  We also need someone to teach and play the dreidel game.

Author Visit
We are so lucky to have another author coming just to Kindergarten!  The author, Rachel Ruiz, is a Chicago area author who wrote a book about a little girl meeting POTUS.  She has experience working in the White House and her POTUS happens to be a woman.  It is a great book and I would encourage you to consider purchasing a book for her to sign.  She will be coming right before Inauguration day.    If you misplaced the order form, please let me know and I can send another.

Reading:  This week we compared and contrasted the adventures of the Gingerbread Boy and the Gingerbread Girl.  The students have a formative assessment on this skill in their folders.  It is a Venn Diagram.

Math:  We are working on all kinds of measurement.  We are using the words taller than and shorter than.  We are also measuring with non-standard units. We are exploring capacity during our sensory tables time.   Next week we will explore area and weight.

Writing:  Students have been working on making their writing easier to read.  We have also worked on adding exciting beginnings and adding feelings to our stories.  After break we will be writing how-to stories.  I will be asking you to fill in a form so I can see all the things your child is able to do at home.  

Winter is HERE!

Winter Gear:  We will be going outside every day for recess this winter.   A few reminders:

• Label all the gear.
• If is is wet outside, your child will likely get wet.  Please consider snowpants every day.  We do not have time to change into dry clothes several times a day.  
• Consider leaving an old pair of mittens at school.  
• Encourage your child to do all of the dressing and undressing independently.  I know it takes a little more time initially.   If the boots tie, practice tying.  If it is a tricky zipper, practice zipping it.  I tell the kids I will not help them until I have seen them really trying it first.  This morning it was 8:20 before we were all in our chairs.  Our goal will be to cut that time in half!  Good thing we live in Chicago...they will have all winter to practice!  

Winter Concerts and Party

• There will be two shows the morning of December 21.  The first show is 8:15.  The second show is 9:45.  The Kindergarteners will sing for about 15 minutes.  The first graders sing after Kindergarten.  The whole show lasts about 30 minutes.  
• After the second show we will have our Winter Party.  Everyone is invited to attend this party.
• You will get an email from our room parents with details about the party.
• If you are NOT able to make it to either of the shows, PLEASE TELL ME as soon as possible.  If we can prepare your child ahead of time for the fact that you will not be there it is much easier for them to relax and enjoy the show and party. We can arrange to send pictures and videos.   If your child is anxious about whether or not you are coming, it makes it very hard and your child will be upset.  

Writing:  Ask your child what his/her writing goal is.  They are working hard to make their writing easy to read.  

Reading:  We loved the different versions of the Gingerbread Man.  Next up?  Gingerbread Girl. 

Math:  Please help your child find 3D (Solid) shapes around the house.  Your child should be able to find spheres, cubes, cones, and cylinders. 

practicing our pincher grip with sequins in oatmeal

adding one more fluently

practicing our color words with smelly markers

adding one more

pincher grip

practicing 3D shapes on Starfall

Trimester 2

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.  I am excited to see the kids tomorrow and start our second trimester of Kindergarten!

Here are a few things we will begin to work on this month.
Reading:  We will be finishing up our Bear unit and our nonfiction reading.  After that we will begin reading a whole bunch of Gingerbread stories.  We will compare and contrast the characters and events in each version.  During reading groups we are working on different reading strategies such as re-reading, self-checking, and using picture clues and other context clues.  We are also working on sounding words out and using our sight words to help us read fluently.

Writing:  We continue to strive for writing that is easy to read.  We will be working on setting individual writing goals.  I will let you know once the students have set their goals so you can reinforce it at home.  We will also publish one story from our writing folder.  We continue to work on narrative stories.

Math:  We are starting a short geometry and measurement unit in math.  We will review shapes, work on solid (3D) shapes and learn about volume and area.

Theme:  We will be reading a lot of gingerbread stories and having fun exploring all the different versions.

Lexia:  Please continue to do Lexia at home as often as you can!  The program individualizes lessons for each child.  Just 20-30 minutes of Lexia at home each week makes a huge difference!

We had a great trip to Brookfield Zoo!  Thanks to all our awesome chaperones!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year I am thankful for a great group of students and families!  Thank you for making this one of the best years I have had as a teacher.  I have so much fun with your children!  A few reminders for the coming weeks!

• It is hard to believe we have reached the end of our first trimester.    Report cards go out in a few weeks and will reflect your child's progress towards end of the year goals. 
• Our field trip is scheduled for Tuesday.  We will be outside for much of the day.  PLEASE make sure your child is appropriately dressed for the weather!  
• Your child needs a packed lunch on Tuesday!  Please make it disposable so your child does not need to carry it around all day.
• No school on Wednesday
• Our winter concert is scheduled for December 21 at 8:15 and 9:45.  There are two performances to accommodate all families in Kindergarten and first grade.  
• We generally do a little celebration after the second show.  I will coordinate with room parents to get this organized, so please look for information about that in the coming weeks.

  

  This might be one of my favorite writing responses of all time.  The prompt was to write a true story about a time you got hurt.  

  
  

  

  Look at that great reading!

  
  

  

  She's pointing to each of the words as she reads!  Way to go!

  
  

  

  Learning those sight words!

  
  

  

  Working on letter sounds!

  
  

  

  Read to self during Daily 5 sometimes involves reading to a stuffed animal, too!

  
  

  

  Working on that handwriting while practicing sight words!

Bears! Bears! Bears!

Reading:
We have been learning about bears this week and we are enjoying reading some nonfiction books.  Students have learned about how nonfiction books have certain text features like labels, picture captions, and a table of contents.  We have been learning how to figure out what unknown words are by using the pictures and the words around the unknown word.

We will also do a quick assessment on characters, settings, and main events.  We will use the book Bear Snores On.  This is a fun book and there are many different versions of the Bear story.

Math:

 During math we have been working on fluency- in particular naming the numbers that are one more and one less.  We have also been working on writing our numbers correctly.  This week we will finish our unit one assessment.

Writing:

This week we are talking about vowels in words.  Students learned that every word has a vowel!  We will be learning about "snap" words, too!  These are words we just "know" and do not have to sound out in order to write.  Some of these words are our sight words like "the" or "can", but some of the words are words that we have seen a lot-like names in our family, or our favorite color.

Field Trip: 

•  I still would like one more chaperone so that our groups are a nice size.  I currently have 3 confirmed chaperones.  
• Your child will need a packed lunch that is disposable.  
• Your child should be dressed to spend the day outside-and even eat outside!
• Your child should wear walking shoes or warm boots if the weather is cold.  

Homework:

A Bear Research assignment went home today!  Please take the time to read through it and help your child complete the research by Monday, November 28th.  It should not take too much time, but it is a good opportunity for you and your child to read some nonfiction books or articles together.  There is a simple sheet to complete.  If you and your child would like to make a bigger presentation or a a presentation using technology, that is fine but it is not required.  Have fun doing the research!

November 8

Whew!  We had such a busy Monday!

We had a blast voting for Bad Kitty and Scaredy Squirrel.  Students also voted for the United States presidential candidates.  Hillary Clinton won in a landslide.  We also enjoyed our first multicultural assembly sponsored by the PTO.  The students learned about and enjoyed traditional Mexican music.  Finally, we had a blast at our sock hop and learning how to blow bubbles.  I did not get pictures at the sock hop because we were using the ipad to play music.  Suffice it to say they were dancing up a storm!

Reading:  We will revisit character, setting and main events this week as we read Bear Snores On.   This fun book is our introduction to our Bears unit.  Next week will read some non-fiction books to get ready for our trip to Brookfield Zoo.

 

Math:  We are finishing our first math module and will do our assessment next week.  In this module we focused a lot on visualizing numbers 0-10 and how to write them.  We also looked for hidden partners in numbers and practiced counting objects in lines and circles.

Continue to count to 100 with your child every day if your child is not counting to 100 yet.

Writing:  We are working on narrative stories.  Students are encouraged to go back and re-read their writing every day.  As your child writes at home, please encourage her to go back and re-read by pointing to each word.

Upcoming Dates:
November 22:  Brookfield Zoo Field Trip
November 23-25:  Thanksgiving Break
December 21:  Winter Sing and Celebration *** This date is different from our curriculum night presentation!

We had a great trip to the Arboretum today!  Thanks to the super-star chaperones who joined us!  The kids did a great job listening and learning about trees and their parts.  

Reading:  We spent a lot of our reading time this week enjoying Halloween books.  We are talking about rhyming and syllables.  In reading groups, students are getting books for their book bags and enjoying reading independently.  Keep encouraging your child to point to each word.

Writing:  We talked about all the things we can do when it is time to write words.  We can

-say the words to a friend

-count the words

-stretch the words

-listen and write the sounds we hear

-go back and point and read

Next week we will start a new bend in our narrative writing unit.  

Math:  In math this week we continue to practice putting numbers in order and subitizing.   Subitizing is the ability to 'see' a small amount of objects and know how many there are without counting. For example-when you roll a dice you know how many it is without counting.

Science:  We learned about tree parts and did some classifying of trees.

Halloween: You should have received a sign up for our Halloween Party.  Everyone is invited to attend the parade and party.  If you want to help-please show up any time after 1:00!

Kids should not wear their costumes to school.  However, if there are base pieces that your child can wear that will be worn as part of the costume or under the costume, it is helpful if those pieces are worn to school.  Parade starts at 1:30 and party immediately follows.

Finally-don't forget 50th day of school is November 7th!  Dress like a child from the 1950s on that day!

Halloween is in the Air!

It was great seeing everyone this week for conferences.  It is always exciting to see all the progress the kids have made.  If you left with any questions, please reach out to me and we can figure it out!

Reading:
We will be reading a lot of non fiction books about fall and trees this week.  We will also be reading a lot of fun Halloween books.  We will practice our rhyming and syllables.

Writing:
We are in the midst of our narrative writing unit.  Students are writing stories about events in their lives.  We discuss beginning, middle and end when we write.  If we discussed your child having a hard time coming up with topics during writing, you can help by pointing out all the fun things they do and how they write about those events at school.

Math:
We are working on writing  numbers in order and counting objects in different configurations.

Halloween Schedule:
 Students will get into their costumes at 1:15 and we will have a parade at 1:30.  The parade is an Irving tradition and it is a lot of fun to watch.  Please come see it!  Following the parade we will have a class party.  Be on the look out for more information about this party and how you can help in the next few days.  (Please note that some older grades may have their parties at different times. )

Upcoming Dates
 October 31:  Halloween Parade and Fall Party (see above)
November 7th:  50s Day (50th day of school)  Your child can dress up like it is 1950.  We will have a sock hop, a 50's day snack and learn about life in 1950.
November 8th:  Institute Day- No school
November 23-25:  Thanksgiving Break

I hope you all had a great weekend!

The Fun Run is around the corner!  If you have not already contributed, please consider donating now.  The kids are all excited about getting a trophy for our classroom!
Here is a link with more information.

FUN RUN Information

Reading: 

Students are learning about apples while reading non-fiction books.  We are learning the difference between fiction and non-fiction and also learning about the jobs of author and illustrator.  Route to Reading started this week.  Guided Reading groups also started this week during Daily 5.

Writing: 

Students are writing "teaching books" in Writers Workshop.  We learned about adding pages and staying focused on a our topic.  We are also learning how to stretch our words and say them slowly so we hear all the sounds.

Math:

This week in math we learned about number sentences and practiced numeral formation of zero, one, two and three.  

Apples:

We will be making apple sauce on Friday!  Please send in an apple that we can peel and cook.  Mmmmm....Applesauce!

Upcoming Dates
October 11:  Picture Day- Pictures will be outdoors this year!   Dress your child ready for outside smiling.

October 12: Hispanic Heritage Presentation in the morning for the whole school has been moved to a date in November.
Author Visit from Lori Degman, Mr. Degman's mom, in the afternoon!

October 14:  Fun Run:  This is a big fundraiser for our school.  The kids love running around the field and you are welcome to come and cheer them on for a half hour that morning.  (Times are being finalized.)  Please consider raising money for our PTO.

October 19:  Academic Fair

October 27th:  Morton Arboretum

Exploring with our senses and practicing our pincher grip.

Playing "match it" with our Peanut Butter and Jelly Partners

Getting a little exercise while learning letter formation!

Reading:  Students spent some time reviewing character, setting, and main events this week.  We also enjoyed re-reading Kevin Henkes books.  We also found our groove reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  This familiar book was so fun when they started thinking of the letters as characters!


Next week we will start our Route to Reading Groups.  These groups are skill-based and change every few weeks as students master the skill.  You should get a letter from your child's route to reading teacher in the next few days.  All Kindergarten teachers will take a group and our reading specialist and reading tutors also take groups.

Writing:  Look for a bundle of writing from September to come home this week!  I will always keep a sample of your child's writing from each month, and I tend to keep the "best" piece so I can share it with you at conferences and so it can go home in a portfolio at the end of the year.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Math partners are the best!

Math:  Students are looking for hidden partners in groups of numbers.  For example, in a stack of 5 cubes, there are hidden partners 2 and 3.  Next week we will really focus on numeral formation.

Young Athletes:  We are lucky to be working with Mr. Tim McDonald this year as Young Athletes.  We will join his group of adapted PE students as peer models once every three weeks.  At the end of the year we will celebrate being Young Athletes at a celebration at Whittier School that is planned together with the Special Olympics of Illinois.



Please look at all of the upcoming events.  There are links whenever possible.


October 5:  Walk to School Day

October 10- no school Columbus Day

October 11:  Picture Day- Pictures will be outdoors this year!   Dress your child ready for outside smiling.  Forms went home on Tuesday.  Let me know if you need another.


October 12: Hispanic Heritage Presentation in the morning for the whole school
Author Visit from Lori Degman, Mr. Degman's mom, in the afternoon!

October 14:  Fun Run:  This is a big fundraiser for our school.  The kids love running around the field and you are welcome to come and cheer them on for a half hour that morning.  (Times are being finalized.)  Please consider raising money for our PTO.

October 19:  Academic Fair

October 27th:  Morton Arboretum