I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. :) It's good to be back, but there's only a few weeks until the holiday break! We have a lot of fun things planned between now and then. Our holiday party will be held on Thursday, Dec. 15th (more details to come) and Polar Express Day is Friday, the 16th. We have permission to wear PJs that day! I will be asking for a couple of volunteers that morning to help serve donuts and hot chocolate.
Today you may have noticed there wasn't a hw packet. I thought I'd give the children (and you all) a break. I would, however, like some help decorating our little classroom tree. Yes, it's another project! Please work with your child on creating a tree ornament that represents your family's holiday traditions, culture, or interests. I would like to have the ornaments by Monday to hang on the tree. A brief letter will go home tomorrow.
This week's theme is the Gingerbread Man. Everyday we will read a different version of the popular story, comparing and contrasting the characters. We will also create a class book, adding ourselves to the story. In reading, our focus is on reviewing and identifying beginning sounds and the short a sound in words, and rhyming words. In math, our gingerbread theme continues with the game "Roll-a-Gingerbread," Gingerbread glyphs, a cookie graph, counting games on the promethean board, and finding the perimeter and area of a gingerbread man.
In science, we are starting a unit on Properties of Matter. Our goal is to sort objects by observable properties, such as color, shape, size, temperature, weight, and texture. We will record in our science journals what objects we've sorted and the property that we used to sort. On Friday, we will place gingerbread cookies in water and observe them over time.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
It's Native American Week!
Parents, Tom Turkey is due Friday. Please include your child's name on the back, along with the name of the turkey (angel, baseball player, Santa, etc.). Get creative, silly, and have fun! Mrs. Miller is making a turkey too, with the help of her incredibly artistic husband. :)
Today, we made Native American headdresses and children will add a feather each day for great behavior. Hoping to see tons of feathers on the children's heads! Here's what else we're working on:
Reading We are reading a nonfictional book about Native Americans and a fictional story, the Legend of Bluebonnet. Focus is finding the main idea, describing characters, and setting. Phonics skill: identifying the /h/ and short a in words.
Language Arts Focus continues to be on phonetic spelling (sounding out words) in writing sentences, beginning sentences with capital letters, word spacing, and punctuation. I can see that we have some amazing little writers!
Math This week we're focusing on making, counting, and writing 6 to 8. Some of our math centers include: counting corn (kernels), leaf sorting, using playdoh, pipe cleaners, yarn, and craft sticks to form numbers, making a collage of numbers, and a fun game called Roll-a-Turkey (children follow directions to create a turkey with a roll of the dice).
Science The focus is on daytime and nighttime patterns, and on Friday (with your help) we will begin working in our 5 day science journal. The journal will go home Friday for children to record their observations of the sun and moon.
Today, we made Native American headdresses and children will add a feather each day for great behavior. Hoping to see tons of feathers on the children's heads! Here's what else we're working on:
Reading We are reading a nonfictional book about Native Americans and a fictional story, the Legend of Bluebonnet. Focus is finding the main idea, describing characters, and setting. Phonics skill: identifying the /h/ and short a in words.
Language Arts Focus continues to be on phonetic spelling (sounding out words) in writing sentences, beginning sentences with capital letters, word spacing, and punctuation. I can see that we have some amazing little writers!
Math This week we're focusing on making, counting, and writing 6 to 8. Some of our math centers include: counting corn (kernels), leaf sorting, using playdoh, pipe cleaners, yarn, and craft sticks to form numbers, making a collage of numbers, and a fun game called Roll-a-Turkey (children follow directions to create a turkey with a roll of the dice).
Science The focus is on daytime and nighttime patterns, and on Friday (with your help) we will begin working in our 5 day science journal. The journal will go home Friday for children to record their observations of the sun and moon.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
News from the Pad
It's hard to believe November is here! We have a busy week (and month) ahead. The next several weeks we are learning about people (life) from the past and comparing them to people and life in the present. Today, the children had a great time looking through family photos, old and new, and sorting them into categories. Thank you all for sending in pictures. Some of them are posted in the hallway for our "American Heritage" display. :) Other activities we have planned this week are:
Reading Yesterday, we read Sarah Morton's Day (the life of a pilgrim girl) and have been comparing/contrasting her life with our own. I am also doing AR testing on the book, Ugly Pie, which will go into next week as well. There's a recipe for Ugly Pie that I'll try to send home this week. :) Comprehension strategies we're using in the classroom (you can do at home) are: identifying characters and setting, retelling the beginning, middle, and end of the story, comparing/contrasting, predicting, and identifying fiction and nonfiction books. Phonics skills this week are: identifying the beginning /n/ sound in words, like Nyle Noodle. You may want to have your child list words that begin with n, as well as end with n. This skill will be easy to do with our word family -an. Come up with as many -an words as possible, and take apart and blend the words. Ex: /f/ an, fan; /m/ an, man; /k/ an, can; etc.
Language Arts We will continue to write (and speak) in complete sentences, use punctuation to end sentences, and capital letters at the beginning. What we say can be written down and our focus is writing our thoughts down and sounding out our words on paper. Sight words we have been using in our writing include: I, can, see, like, my.
Math The focus is on numbers 1-20, verbally, in writing, and counting with manipulatives. Our math centers include: domino counting, number writing (using number "roads" and hotwheels), counting with Halloween-themed erasers, number concentration, candycorn count, and making a collage of numbers.
Science We will explore the law of gravity this week, with an experiment to see which objects in the classroom fall more slowly/rapidly than others. Any objects that the children can pick up, then drop, are fair game. :)
Reading Yesterday, we read Sarah Morton's Day (the life of a pilgrim girl) and have been comparing/contrasting her life with our own. I am also doing AR testing on the book, Ugly Pie, which will go into next week as well. There's a recipe for Ugly Pie that I'll try to send home this week. :) Comprehension strategies we're using in the classroom (you can do at home) are: identifying characters and setting, retelling the beginning, middle, and end of the story, comparing/contrasting, predicting, and identifying fiction and nonfiction books. Phonics skills this week are: identifying the beginning /n/ sound in words, like Nyle Noodle. You may want to have your child list words that begin with n, as well as end with n. This skill will be easy to do with our word family -an. Come up with as many -an words as possible, and take apart and blend the words. Ex: /f/ an, fan; /m/ an, man; /k/ an, can; etc.
Language Arts We will continue to write (and speak) in complete sentences, use punctuation to end sentences, and capital letters at the beginning. What we say can be written down and our focus is writing our thoughts down and sounding out our words on paper. Sight words we have been using in our writing include: I, can, see, like, my.
Math The focus is on numbers 1-20, verbally, in writing, and counting with manipulatives. Our math centers include: domino counting, number writing (using number "roads" and hotwheels), counting with Halloween-themed erasers, number concentration, candycorn count, and making a collage of numbers.
Science We will explore the law of gravity this week, with an experiment to see which objects in the classroom fall more slowly/rapidly than others. Any objects that the children can pick up, then drop, are fair game. :)
Monday, October 24, 2011
It's Party Time!
Our fall party is this Thursday, 12:45-2. All ADDitions approved parents are welcome to attend- please let me know ASAP if you're planning to come. If you've emailed me to rsvp, I gave your name to Whitney. Please be sure to check in at the volunteer office first.
Reminder- there is NO SCHOOL on Friday. Homework is due this Thursday. Please make sure your child's name is written on the HW cover. Thanks!!
This week in:
Reading We are reading fiction and nonfiction books about spiders, skeletons, and all things Halloween. We're asking ourselves what makes a story great, how does the story make us feel, who are the characters, what is the setting, the problem, how is the problem solved in the end, and we are making predictions (in fictional stories). We are also learning to retell important facts about topics (nonfiction books). Our word family this week (and last) is -at. Have your child draw/write words that rhyme with at (cat, fat, sat, that, splat, mat, etc.) The letter sound we're focusing on is /b/. See how many words your child knows that begin with /b/ (bat, bee, boat, box).
Language Arts Our school-wide writing prompt is on Wednesday (we have 1 every month). We will discuss and write about Paradigms (the way we see the world). I'll break it down for the little ones so that they see not everyone thinks or learns just like them. It's important to have an open mind to view the world because you can learn from and teach others new ideas. Should be interesting! ;)
Math We are reviewing all concepts we've learned so far in math this 9 weeks. I am also observing student knowledge of numbers up to 20, verbally, in writing, and with manipulatives.
Science We are comparing/contrasting real spiders and skeletons to those in the media (books, movies). We're also discussing spider facts (with a KWL chart) and identifying bones in the body. The class will put together "Mr. Bones" on Wednesday.
Reminder- there is NO SCHOOL on Friday. Homework is due this Thursday. Please make sure your child's name is written on the HW cover. Thanks!!
This week in:
Reading We are reading fiction and nonfiction books about spiders, skeletons, and all things Halloween. We're asking ourselves what makes a story great, how does the story make us feel, who are the characters, what is the setting, the problem, how is the problem solved in the end, and we are making predictions (in fictional stories). We are also learning to retell important facts about topics (nonfiction books). Our word family this week (and last) is -at. Have your child draw/write words that rhyme with at (cat, fat, sat, that, splat, mat, etc.) The letter sound we're focusing on is /b/. See how many words your child knows that begin with /b/ (bat, bee, boat, box).
Language Arts Our school-wide writing prompt is on Wednesday (we have 1 every month). We will discuss and write about Paradigms (the way we see the world). I'll break it down for the little ones so that they see not everyone thinks or learns just like them. It's important to have an open mind to view the world because you can learn from and teach others new ideas. Should be interesting! ;)
Math We are reviewing all concepts we've learned so far in math this 9 weeks. I am also observing student knowledge of numbers up to 20, verbally, in writing, and with manipulatives.
Science We are comparing/contrasting real spiders and skeletons to those in the media (books, movies). We're also discussing spider facts (with a KWL chart) and identifying bones in the body. The class will put together "Mr. Bones" on Wednesday.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Another Hoppening Week
Homework went home today. Please remember to have children write their names and all hw should be in pencil, unless drawing is involved. :) Hw is due Friday.
Did your little ones tell you about their pumpkin plants? We were so excited to see that most of the seeds we planted last week have already sprouted! We made science journals today and will record our plant observations every week.
This week's reading and science will include fiction and nonfiction books about nocturnal animals. We will share what we Know about the topic, what we Want to know, and what we've Learned by the end of the week. Your children will get to know the KWL chart really well this year! Today, we learned a few facts about bats. Ask your child what a baby bat is called (pup) and what bats use to help them find their way around at night (echolocation).
Language Arts: We are writing facts about bats and owls and will continue sounding out words to write in our sentences. Focus is on beginning our sentences with capital letters, spacing words apart, and ending with punctuation.
Math: Emphasis this week is on ordering numbers 0 to 5 and ordinal positions (first, second, third, etc). In class, we use connecting cubes to make towers of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The children place the towers in order from fewest to most, then most to fewest. We will also have plastic cups labeled 0-5 in which we'll place the correct number of objects (you can use beans, seeds, acorns, pennies, rocks) in each cup. Cups are to be lined up in order. You might also want to practice ordinal positions. Line your family up, one behind the other, at the door. Ask who is first, second, third... then change directions and ask "Now, who is first, second, third..." Have your child line up stuffed animals, dolls, army men, or shoes and identify first to fifth positions.
Did your little ones tell you about their pumpkin plants? We were so excited to see that most of the seeds we planted last week have already sprouted! We made science journals today and will record our plant observations every week.
This week's reading and science will include fiction and nonfiction books about nocturnal animals. We will share what we Know about the topic, what we Want to know, and what we've Learned by the end of the week. Your children will get to know the KWL chart really well this year! Today, we learned a few facts about bats. Ask your child what a baby bat is called (pup) and what bats use to help them find their way around at night (echolocation).
Language Arts: We are writing facts about bats and owls and will continue sounding out words to write in our sentences. Focus is on beginning our sentences with capital letters, spacing words apart, and ending with punctuation.
Math: Emphasis this week is on ordering numbers 0 to 5 and ordinal positions (first, second, third, etc). In class, we use connecting cubes to make towers of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The children place the towers in order from fewest to most, then most to fewest. We will also have plastic cups labeled 0-5 in which we'll place the correct number of objects (you can use beans, seeds, acorns, pennies, rocks) in each cup. Cups are to be lined up in order. You might also want to practice ordinal positions. Line your family up, one behind the other, at the door. Ask who is first, second, third... then change directions and ask "Now, who is first, second, third..." Have your child line up stuffed animals, dolls, army men, or shoes and identify first to fifth positions.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Week of Oct. 10-13
It's a short week with lots to do! We're learning about pumpkins this week, as well as fire safety. Stop, drop, and roll! Homework went out today- please return by Thursday. Thanks! This week in:
Reading The focus is on /r/ sounds and words beginning with r. We will continue to review /m/ and /s/. During story time, our comprehension strategies are: using background knowledge to help us understand or make predictions in text; compare/contrast (we are doing this with real and pretend pumpkins in the media); and retelling events from a story and identifying characters and the setting. When reading to your child, ask him/her to tell events that happened in the beginning, middle, and end.
Language Arts This week we are drawing and writing about what a firefighter looks like to us, creating a list of fire safety words, brainstorming ideas for what to do in case of an emergency, and then writing about it in our journal. The big focus for us is using phonetic spelling (sounding out words) and then putting the sounds to paper. We will continue to work on capitalizing the first letter in a sentence, as well as our names, placing spaces between words, and adding punctuation to the end. After our writing today, I've discovered that we have some AWESOME phonetic spellers!
Math We've started a new topic- comparing groups with 0-5 objects. Children will determine which group has "more" or "fewer" and "how many more" or "how many fewer." An example I did today was hold 3 markers in one hand and 2 crayons in the other. The class had to identify the group with more and the group with fewer items. They understand "more," but fewer is a bit tricky. They should be able to understand that fewer is less, it's the smaller group. Around the house, gather up spoons vs. forks, pennies vs. nickels, crayons vs. markers and have your child circle or point to the group with more and then the group with fewer. Ask him/her how many more is one group and how many fewer are in the other group. I would not make a group of more than 5 objects for right now.
Science We are learning about the parts of a pumpkin plant, planting pumpkin seeds (which we will record our observations every week), observe the characteristics of real pumpkins and pumpkins in the media (talking, dancing, singing), make a prediction of how many seeds are in a pumpkin, then carve it and count seeds to see if our predictions are correct, and finally we'll have a pumpkin tasting and graph our favorite pumpkin food. Mrs. Miller votes for ice cream. :)
Funny quote today- Mr. Smith, the music teacher, to the class: Who was Christopher Columbus? Student: He was a big giant. :) Tomorrow, we will construct student choices of the Santa Maria, Pinta, or Nina.
Reading The focus is on /r/ sounds and words beginning with r. We will continue to review /m/ and /s/. During story time, our comprehension strategies are: using background knowledge to help us understand or make predictions in text; compare/contrast (we are doing this with real and pretend pumpkins in the media); and retelling events from a story and identifying characters and the setting. When reading to your child, ask him/her to tell events that happened in the beginning, middle, and end.
Language Arts This week we are drawing and writing about what a firefighter looks like to us, creating a list of fire safety words, brainstorming ideas for what to do in case of an emergency, and then writing about it in our journal. The big focus for us is using phonetic spelling (sounding out words) and then putting the sounds to paper. We will continue to work on capitalizing the first letter in a sentence, as well as our names, placing spaces between words, and adding punctuation to the end. After our writing today, I've discovered that we have some AWESOME phonetic spellers!
Math We've started a new topic- comparing groups with 0-5 objects. Children will determine which group has "more" or "fewer" and "how many more" or "how many fewer." An example I did today was hold 3 markers in one hand and 2 crayons in the other. The class had to identify the group with more and the group with fewer items. They understand "more," but fewer is a bit tricky. They should be able to understand that fewer is less, it's the smaller group. Around the house, gather up spoons vs. forks, pennies vs. nickels, crayons vs. markers and have your child circle or point to the group with more and then the group with fewer. Ask him/her how many more is one group and how many fewer are in the other group. I would not make a group of more than 5 objects for right now.
Science We are learning about the parts of a pumpkin plant, planting pumpkin seeds (which we will record our observations every week), observe the characteristics of real pumpkins and pumpkins in the media (talking, dancing, singing), make a prediction of how many seeds are in a pumpkin, then carve it and count seeds to see if our predictions are correct, and finally we'll have a pumpkin tasting and graph our favorite pumpkin food. Mrs. Miller votes for ice cream. :)
Funny quote today- Mr. Smith, the music teacher, to the class: Who was Christopher Columbus? Student: He was a big giant. :) Tomorrow, we will construct student choices of the Santa Maria, Pinta, or Nina.
Monday, October 3, 2011
What's hoppin' this week
Homework went out today- it is most important that you read with your child at least 20 minutes a day. Ask questions: Who are the characters? What is the setting (where it takes place)? What happened in the beginning, middle, and end? Is the book fiction or nonfiction? This will help them to better understand what they've read and provide a summary of the story. :) For HW, I would prefer that the children write in pencil and, when drawing, use crayons.
This week our theme is Community Helpers, with the science focus on smell:
Reading: Comprehension strategies we're now focusing on are using prior knowledge to help understand the text, making predictions, comparing/contrasting (how is this story like/different from the story yesterday, how are you similar to/different from the character), and summarizing. The letter sound of the week is /m/, as in Mimi Mouse. Call out some words to your child, some of them beginning with m, and have them raise their hand if it is an m word and cover their ears if it's not. Ex: mouse, cat, map, big, mall, make, hop, etc. Ask your child to think of new words that begin with m... or maybe even end with m!
Language Arts: Today, we wrote in our journals the sentence I ____. Children chose a simple action word by sounding it out. Simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words work best for this practice. They were able to write the word on their own. You can reinforce this skill at home by saying a word, then sounding out each part, and having your child write it down. d-o-g, h-a-t, m-i-x, c-u-p, etc. The action words we used today were: dig, mix, cut, hug, hop, run
Math: This is the last week of making, counting, and writing numbers 0-5. We have an assessment on this topic on Thursday. At home, I would practice writing the numbers (you could also use playdoh, yarn or string, popsicle sticks, or beans to form the numbers) and the number words: zero, one, two, three, four, five. Your child can make groups of objects up to 5 with eating utensils, remote controls, pennies, cotton balls, toothpicks, candles, toys on the floor... the ideas are limitless!
Science/Social Studies: In science, we will create of list of things we smell and then sort them into groups labeled Pleasant/Unpleasant. On Friday, we are having a smell test and recording our observations. In SS this week, we will identify community helpers and their responsibilities. At home, you can have your child draw a community helper and then label their picture. While driving in the car, if you pass a hospital, vet, fire or police station, post office, school, construction site, ask your child who works there and what it is that they do.
This week our theme is Community Helpers, with the science focus on smell:
Reading: Comprehension strategies we're now focusing on are using prior knowledge to help understand the text, making predictions, comparing/contrasting (how is this story like/different from the story yesterday, how are you similar to/different from the character), and summarizing. The letter sound of the week is /m/, as in Mimi Mouse. Call out some words to your child, some of them beginning with m, and have them raise their hand if it is an m word and cover their ears if it's not. Ex: mouse, cat, map, big, mall, make, hop, etc. Ask your child to think of new words that begin with m... or maybe even end with m!
Language Arts: Today, we wrote in our journals the sentence I ____. Children chose a simple action word by sounding it out. Simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words work best for this practice. They were able to write the word on their own. You can reinforce this skill at home by saying a word, then sounding out each part, and having your child write it down. d-o-g, h-a-t, m-i-x, c-u-p, etc. The action words we used today were: dig, mix, cut, hug, hop, run
Math: This is the last week of making, counting, and writing numbers 0-5. We have an assessment on this topic on Thursday. At home, I would practice writing the numbers (you could also use playdoh, yarn or string, popsicle sticks, or beans to form the numbers) and the number words: zero, one, two, three, four, five. Your child can make groups of objects up to 5 with eating utensils, remote controls, pennies, cotton balls, toothpicks, candles, toys on the floor... the ideas are limitless!
Science/Social Studies: In science, we will create of list of things we smell and then sort them into groups labeled Pleasant/Unpleasant. On Friday, we are having a smell test and recording our observations. In SS this week, we will identify community helpers and their responsibilities. At home, you can have your child draw a community helper and then label their picture. While driving in the car, if you pass a hospital, vet, fire or police station, post office, school, construction site, ask your child who works there and what it is that they do.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
First weekly update!
Hello parents! This is my first attempt at blogging, so bare with me. I've had parents ask me what their children are doing in school all day long, because when they ask, the children say "Nothing." I assure you we are learning and doing quite a bit! I will do my absolute best to keep you informed on a weekly basis. This week in:
Reading- We learned about Johnny Appleseed with comprehension questions focusing on characters, setting, sequence of events, and with every book, whether it's fiction or nonfiction. We learned about the /s/ sound at the beginning of words and can sort /s/ words and non /s/ words. We also have been identifying colors and their words and will continue to do so into next week.
Language Arts- We had a writing prompt this week on why principles are powerful and we illustrated and wrote about examples of principles. I thought someone would give an example of Dr. Large as a principal, but no one did. :) Everyday we focus on beginning sentences with capital letters, leaving spaces between words, and ending with punctuation.
Math- We are making, counting, and writing numbers up to 5. The students need to show different ways to make a number. Ex: tally marks, drawing groups of objects, pennies or a nickel, writing the number word, and the number. Today, we read the book Ten Apples Up on Top and the class drew a self-portrait with 5 apples on their heads. We also did M&M math, sorting by color, counting the M&M's in each group, and then graphing the results.
Science- We have focused on the Five Senses each week. This week has been taste. Ask your child questions like what body part do you taste with, what are the different tastes (bitter, sweet, salty, sour), what are your favorite foods to taste. Funny thing today, I was testing on campus and we had a sub. I came in as the children were taste testing different items, one of them being unsweet Baker's chocolate. I think they were upset with the sub for giving them something so horrible. I'm happy I wasn't the one to have them taste it. :)
Social Studies- We are focusing a lot on good citizenship, being responsible, what it means to be fair, and how we can solve problems peacefully. This week and next, we are covering U.S. symbols and what freedom means to us.
Reading- We learned about Johnny Appleseed with comprehension questions focusing on characters, setting, sequence of events, and with every book, whether it's fiction or nonfiction. We learned about the /s/ sound at the beginning of words and can sort /s/ words and non /s/ words. We also have been identifying colors and their words and will continue to do so into next week.
Language Arts- We had a writing prompt this week on why principles are powerful and we illustrated and wrote about examples of principles. I thought someone would give an example of Dr. Large as a principal, but no one did. :) Everyday we focus on beginning sentences with capital letters, leaving spaces between words, and ending with punctuation.
Math- We are making, counting, and writing numbers up to 5. The students need to show different ways to make a number. Ex: tally marks, drawing groups of objects, pennies or a nickel, writing the number word, and the number. Today, we read the book Ten Apples Up on Top and the class drew a self-portrait with 5 apples on their heads. We also did M&M math, sorting by color, counting the M&M's in each group, and then graphing the results.
Science- We have focused on the Five Senses each week. This week has been taste. Ask your child questions like what body part do you taste with, what are the different tastes (bitter, sweet, salty, sour), what are your favorite foods to taste. Funny thing today, I was testing on campus and we had a sub. I came in as the children were taste testing different items, one of them being unsweet Baker's chocolate. I think they were upset with the sub for giving them something so horrible. I'm happy I wasn't the one to have them taste it. :)
Social Studies- We are focusing a lot on good citizenship, being responsible, what it means to be fair, and how we can solve problems peacefully. This week and next, we are covering U.S. symbols and what freedom means to us.
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