The Teddy Bear Picnic!

The Teddy Bear Picnic! 

Graphing gummy bears to practice more and less and counting! 

The Bears played with our learning stations. It looks like they had fun with our blocks, Legos, building logs, dinosaurs and play kitchen food! 

A Beary Fun Week!

It's bear week in Kindergarten!! 

Linus' mom was our mystery reader Monday. She brought a bear story! 

Juniper's Duke cheerleader bear and my Terps cheerleader bear measure each other up. They decide to be friends since they aren't in the ACC together anymore. 

We gave the bears class numbers and lined them up. 

They came to Media Center and did research with us about polar bears. 

They made a mess with math materials when we went home for the night! 

They read quietly in cubbies the next night. 

Sonora's mom was a mystery reader Wednesday and she brought two bear books to share!!

We went on a bear hunt around the school using position words as clues to look for bears! 

 While we were at an assembly, the bears went to literacy centers without us!! 

We played a game called Teddy Bear Compare in math!  

We can't wait for tomorrow's teddy bear picnic!! 

Landforms, Planting and More Measurement!

This week we read and wrote about landforms and bodies of water.   We studied mountains, canyons, caves, oceans, lakes, and rivers.  We used both print and the online resource Pebble Go to gather our information.  

We had THREE mystery readers this week.  It was so exciting.  On Monday, Madeline's dad came, on Wednesday Andres' dad was here, and on Friday, Ava and Mr. Ramienski came to read their favorite books.  

Giuliana was the star of the week! We interviewed her and she shared some family pictures with us. We got to meet her stuffed Panda too! 

This week in math we had fun with measurement. We measured height, length and weight! We used non standard units to measure, like linker cubes. We measured the length of our shoes, the height of our classmates, and compared weights of classroom objects. We used a balance scale to compare weight. 

In science we started a new unit on living things. First, we did some sorting to figure out what things are living and what isn't.  Next we brainstormed things that all living things need. Then, I showed the students some materials (rocks, seeds, soil, cups, lamp) and we started to plan and implement our experiment. It was interesting to hear the children's ideas about how and where to put each item and why. We planted some seeds, made predictions and asked questions. So far, much to the students dismay, nothing has happened. But...today we talked to our seeds and gave them a pep talk since they won't get much water and sun this weekend. Do you think they will grow?  We will keep you posted on our findings. 

Scholastic Book orders came home this week. If you're thinking about ordering and want the books before the Winter Break, please order ASAP and let me know so I can expedite the shipping.  Each student was given a free book voucher this month for a free five dollar book if you spend 10 dollars.  

Our school is participating in a pajama drive for needy children.  This is one of my favorite projects because I believe every child deserves a good night's sleep. Your donation of a cozy pair of pajamas paired with a book donated by Scholastic can really help a local child this year.  Thank you in advance for your donations! 

Next week is one of the most exciting weeks in Kindergarten.  It's Teddy Bear week!  Students can bring a teddy bear to keep at school all week.  Everything will be bears, bears, bears all week!   On Friday, we will have a teddy bear picnic with our bears. If you'd like to donate any bear themed snacks, please let me know! 

With the colder weather here and Winter just around the corner, I'd appreciate it if you could send an extra set of cold weather clothes for your child's cubby in case of an accident or spill. Most of the clothes we have are t shirts and shorts! Thanks for your help with this! Please label your child's clothes and place them in a ziplock bag.

I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last weekend.  In the craziness of baking, cooking and preparing for time with family, I didn't get the chance to let you all know how thankful I am that I can work with your children each day.  Please know that I love each of them dearly and I'm so proud of how much they have learned in just the past few months. I feel so lucky to be able to have a job where I can have this much fun and enjoy so much time with some really awesome kids.  

Have a wonderful weekend! I hope that you find these emails helpful and informative. 😃

Lois Elhert, Measurement and Maps!

Last week we studied Lois Elhert, a wonderful author/illustrator.  We read Mole's Hill, Growing Vegetable Soup, Hands, Top Cat, Oodles of Animals, Color Zoo, Rainbow Garden, and Wag a Tail.  In writing we wrote sentences after reading some of these books.  One day, we created an animal with foam shapes and wrote to describe our animal with shape and color words.  Two other days we drew a cats and dogs and wrote to describe with adjectives. Yesterday, we wrote about the amazing things our hands can do!  This week in math we started a unit on measurement.  We shared ideas of what kinds of things we can measure.  We measured items in our classroom with unifix cubes. We continued to work at our math zones to practice number concepts.  In social studies we began a unit on geography and studied maps and globes.  We know that a map key gives us important information to help us read a map.  We also began to study the continents and oceans.  We are working hard each week on word sorts.  Our first sort was plants and animals, the second was sorting animals by land, sea, and air.  This week we sorted fruits and vegetables!  Soon we will begin to sort pictures by beginning and ending sounds.  

Christopher was the star of the week!  He brought in some cool pictures of his family and a book about dinosaurs.  Thomas' mom came as the mystery reader this week and taught us all about cool ways animals use their external features like tails, noses, eyes, etc.  

Junior Great Books!

Thank you all for coming to parent teacher conferences this week. I enjoyed meeting you all and sharing how much your child is learning!  

This week our reading and writing lessons came from a wonderful program called Junior Great Books. This program is an inquiry model in which students are able to build skills in discussion, questioning, listening, and writing. The program uses poetry, short stories and folklore to develop deep thinking. This week's theme was "companions".  I've attatched the three poems we read this week in case you're interested in reading or discussing them with your child. Our writing focus was integrated this week as we wrote about something we like to do with someone, what our shadows like to do, and where Pooh and Christopher Robin might go together. 

As we continue to collect, count and analyze data with the question of the day in math, we also started new math zones. A favorite is "Compare", which is a counting game with cards. The higher number each round wins and gets to collect the other player's cards. You can play at home with a deck of regular playing cards!!

This was our last week of the health unit. We focused on brushing teeth, going to the dentist and what to expect at a doctor visit.

In our Media Center lesson this week we continued our study of the difference between fiction and non-fiction as we prepare for a mini research project on bears. We read a story about a bear who got lost and was scared and we drew connections we made to the story. In Computer Lab we tried out some cool new math games. I started a Symbaloo, which is a compilation of favorite websites. This will continue to grow as we visit more sites together. Here's the link: http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/kindergarten576 

Our Mystery Reader this week was Andres' grandmother!! Both she and her husband are retired from the education field and it was so nice to have them visit the class and read to the students. We have a lot of Mystery Readers signed up for November and December. If you have family visiting from out of town and they would like to read to the class, just let me know! 

Eric Carle, Teen Numbers, Healthy Habits and Helping the Homeless!

This week we had an Eric Carle author study. 

We read several of his books but we couldn't get to read nearly enough of them.  He has so many wonderful books.  The next time you're at the public library, check out some of his great work.  In writing we wrote about our favorite restaurant after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  We wrote about what makes us happy after we read The Grouchy Ladybug.  We also started new weekend journals for the 2nd quarter. 

We've been exploring teen numbers in math.  We represent them on a double ten frame, with pictures, words, tallies, and can identifying if the number is even or odd.  Each day we even break apart the teen number of the day to identify ways to make that number.  We have a cool song we sing too called Numbers in the Teens Have a Group of Ten. See if your child can sing it to you!!   We also introduced a new math routine called Question of the Day.  We use technology called Activotes to secretly select an answer to a question and then anaylze the results.  It's really cool!

Last week I did some testing with students of letters and sight words during literacy centers. I'm so impressed with how much they have learned in two months!!  Guided reading books came home this weekend with almost everyone. We also began a new word study program where students are sorting concepts into groups.  Soon we will sort pictures by beginning and ending sounds.  

We've learned a lot in our health unit about medicine, being sick, washing hands, and colds and the flu.  We continued to study ways to stay safe and healthy this week.  Does your child know their full name, address and phone number? This is important if they were ever in an emergency and had to call 911. Next week we will practice this so you can help at home by reviewing this information with your child. 

The Walk for the Homeless was a lot of fun! 

We had several donations from families and had a good discussion about how you can help your community. 

In other exciting news, the morning announcements are now LIVE on TV.  Pretty cool!!

Farm Fun!!

Here are some pictures of today's field trip to Heyser Farm!! 

We are authors!!

Hello parents!!  Last week in reading and writing we identified the beginning, middle, and end of stories. We read a lot this week!  Some highlights were, The Secret Birthday Message, The Wind Blew, and One Day, One World.   We also read books about wind and the seasons in science! 

In writing, we wrote our own books called My Day.  We worked on a page each day, and we are proud to say that we are officially authors.  Our first book is a success!    

 In math we continued to work in our math zones while I worked with small groups to practice number concepts and counting.  The students are getting really good at subitizing, or knowing how many there are without even counting.  Their number sense is growing as well, as they are starting to recognize greater and less, and ways to make numbers in different ways.  

We had Andres' dad come Wednesday to be the mystery reader!!  Also Wednesday the class had their first substitute teacher. I got a great report from the sub and I'm proud of everyone for being respectful and responsible while I was at a curriculum study meeting. 

In science we are studying the seasons!! We also did a fun experiment with wind on Friday. Students made a hypothesis about what items would move in front of the fan. Then we tested 20 classroom objects. The students were really thinking like scientists today!  You can try this experiment at home too.  All you need is a fan and some heavy and light objects.  

Please let me know if you can volunteer in our classroom. I'd love for you to come either as a mystery reader for 15-30 minutes, or as a classroom volunteer if you can stay for an hour or so. The cafeteria and recess para educators also love volunteers too!!  I just had to snap this picture of Thomas' dad, who volunteered last week.  Everyone wanted him to read to them! 

We are gearing up for a fun class party on October 30th!! A sign up sheet came home today if you would like to sign up to bring decorations, food, drinks, or paper products. We could also use volunteers starting around 1:30 to help with decorating, helping children change into costumes, and running activities or games after the costume parade. 

Thanks for all of your support! 

Fire Safety Week!!

Last week was Fire Safety Week!  We read books this week all about firefighters and staying safe around fire.  On Thursday, firefighters came to our school and showed us all of their tools in the firetruck and what they have to wear to fight fires. It was a fun surprise for the kids!

We also had a bus evacuation drill on Thursday.  We all got to go on a bus and meet a bus driver, and hear about how to safely exit a bus in an emergency.  In writing we continued to work in our weekend journals and wrote lists.  We are working on stretching out the sounds in our words to write a beginning, middle and end sound for each word.  The words of the week were to and the this week, and we practiced those everyday!  This week in math we started have new math centers to continue building our number sense.  Some of our favorites are playing grab and count, roll and count, and using the Promethean Board and computers during math zones.  We finished up learning about U.S. Symbols this week and talked a lot about leaders this week.  We identified leaders in our families, school, community and country.  Juniper was a great star of the week!  She shared some toys she made, pictures of her family, and made a great poster.  She also brought in a favorite book that I read to the class. We had two mystery readers this week.  Thomas' grandma from Seattle came and Christopher's Tia also came to read to us.  

Monday is Open House!  If you have some time between 9 and 12 to stop by, we would love to show you around our classroom!   Please send back library books, book buddy bags, and homework tomorrow.  If you haven't sent the field trip permission slip and money, please try to send that in this week!  There is no school Friday!  

Our first field trip is coming up at the end of the month.  We will be visiting Heyser Farms in Colesville, MD.  It's a local farm that produces many things, including apple cider.  We will get to observe the process of making apple cider from start to finish, and we will even get to take home a sample!  Please send field trip permission slips in with cash or check.  We have space for one parent volunteer to come with us on the bus.  Please let me know if you are interested!  

This week we read informational books about Fall and U.S. Symbols in whole group reading. In guided reading we worked in small groups to learn reading strategies and practiced letters and sight words. Some groups made "cut up sentences" with a familiar part of the book. As beginning readers, your child will use picture clues, sight words, and familiar language patterns to help them read.  We have new centers, including a play-doh sight word center.  Thanks to Linus' mom for making homemade play-doh this month!  

In writing, we took a huge step forward developmentally.  Up until now, we drew pictures and added labels to them. This week, we wrote lists! We wrote letters together to make words and drew our pictures last.  We wrote a grocery list, a list of colors, and a list of toys.  One day, we went to the computer lab and made a list of animals using the program Kidspiration.  It was really fun!  In math, we continue to count and represent numbers in different ways.  We can show a number with words, tallies, a picture, a domino, on a ten frame, on a die, with fingers, or just a numeral.  We only have six or seven children left to bring home the counting jar, so it's almost your turn if you haven't gotten it yet!  Here's what Sonora brought one day to count!! 

We had a fun and educational visit from Thomas' dad this week.  He came as the mystery reader and taught us all about oviparous animals.  

Exciting news!  We have five members of the shoe tying club!  If your child is still working on learning this skill, don't worry!  We will add more children to the shoe tying club next month.  

The October sign up for volunteers and mystery readers will be sent to you this evening! 

Guided Reading has begun!

In reading this week we focused on setting!  We read Good Night Gorilla, Memoirs of a Hamster, Memoirs of a Goldfish, and Library Mouse. 

Each day we predicted and then identified the setting in each story.  Help your child remember that setting is WHERE and WHEN a story takes place.  Ask them about setting in the stories you read at home!  In writer's workshop we drew and wrote about the setting of each of these books, as well as worked on our weekend journals.  We are getting really good at using colors, details and labels in our pictures.  At the end of the month, I will send home a bundle of writing your child has done, and I know you will be so impressed!  We practiced lines with diagonals or slants in handwriting. We focused on the letters Xx, Vv, Ww,  Zz, Kk, and Zz this week. Try practicing these at home in any way you can.  You can use pens, pencils, crayons, playdoh, or get really messy with shaving cream or sand!   We also practiced our new words of the week, go and up every day this week.

Guided reading is the most important part of the literacy block.  Now that testing is almost complete, and the students are pros at working independently and in small groups at their literacy centers, I can start instructing students on reading skills in small instructional groups.  We learn strategies for reading and decoding unfamiliar words and focus on reading comprehension too.  This week we talked about using the picture to help you figure out a word  Most of the books we start with in Kindergarten have a repeating pattern. Once your child picks up on that pattern, they can use the pictures to help them read!  Today your child brought home the "Book Buddy Bag" for the first time! Inside is a guided reading book that your child read in small groups this week.  There is also a chart for you to complete, letting me know who your child read to, and what comments you have. Please take some time this weekend and read the book together.  Practice good reading skills like using the pictures to help identify unknown words, pointing to words, going from left to right, identifying letters and practicing sight words. Once you help your child get started you'll see that they are starting to read! It is very important that these books come back on Monday so I can use them next week with different children.  Thanks for you help in remembering these books on Monday.  Homework and library books are always due Mondays too!!  

 

This week in math we continued to use the counting jar to practice our number sense.  If you haven't had a chance to fill the jar at your house, your turn is coming soon!  It's great to see how creative everyone is with what they put in the jar!  This week, we not only counted, but we worked on the correct formation of numerals, and learned some number words too!   We started completing pages of a counting book.  We show a number in a lot of different ways including pictures, tallies, in a ten frame, in numeral and word form.  We also are learning how to identify one more, one less and even and odd.   Math zones were new this week, and we even have a new math zone on the Promethean Board. Here are some math zones pictures!

   We learned a new game called "Grab and Count".  We will get to play in small groups next week.  The last math concept that we have just started is called subitizing.  Subitizing is "instantly seeing how many."  You probably haven't heard that word before, but I'm sure you can subitize.  Think about when you see the numbers on the dice when you play a game.  You don't have to count the dots to know how many.  We will play some more games next week to practice this skill.  You can practice at home by playing games that have a die to roll, or by quickly showing your child a pictures of a small amount of things and then cover it or hide it to see if they can tell you how many were there! 

This was our last week of learning about the weather in science, and it was a fun one.  We did a very messy, but very exploratory lesson about making something that sounds like rain.  Basically I just put a bunch of materials out on the tables, and let the kids explore with what they had to make a rainstick.  They had a blast!

  Next week our focus shifts back to Social Studies as we learn about United States symbols and songs.  

On Tuesday,the entire school practiced two emergency drills.   A shelter drill is called when danger could be outside or near the school.  We close exterior doors and windows, close the window blinds, report attendance to the office, and continue instruction.   A lockdown is called when danger is imminent.  We close and lock all windows and doors, turn off lights, and sit quietly in the cubby area. Your child may tell you about these drills that we practiced this week so I wanted you to be aware of the vocabulary and procedures for these events. Please let me know if you have any questions about either of these drills. I explained them to the children in very simple and kid-friendly terms, so as not to alarm or scare them.  

New Scholastic Book orders came home this week!  You may order online or send in the paper order form with cash or checks.  

Does your child know how to tie shoes?  Students who know how will join the Pete the Cat Shoe Tying Club in our class.  They will get an official "License to Tie" card and something out of the prize box.  Practice tying those shoes at home any chance you get!