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!