Mrs. Henry's Classroom: Newsletter 1/26

Miss Emily from the Darien Nature Center visited us on Monday and taught us about animals in the winter. Some are active, others hibernate or migrate. We learned what animals do which. We got to touch animals

We continued our unit "Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles" this week, carefully examining pattern books and being on the lookout for pattern breaks. Sometimes authors try to trick you at the end of the book and you have to use super powers to figure it out! We also had a "Whole Class Conversation", which is unlike any other time of day (see photo of anchor chart). At this time, students are encouraged to have a conversation that flows naturally (no teacher direction) about a book we've read multiple times, not raising hands and giving everyone who wants to a chance to participate. We recorded our "big ideas" about dragonflies on the white board. We learned and wondered about so much!

We are excited to use post-its in our reading, too. Readers often find a "WOW moment" or a place where they wonder or are stuck. We mark these with a post it to remember to discuss this spot with a peer.

We began a new unit in Writing Workshop called "How Tos". We are writing non-fiction pieces that teach the reader how to do something, in organized steps. We read mentor texts and tried to write the same way. We were inspired by some authors from Mrs. Battersby's second grade who visited us and shared their published pieces. Very impressive!

Math is all about TEEN numbers right now! What are they? How are they made? We worked on numeral identificaition, composing and decomposing teens into tens and ones, and using addition notation to record each composition. We noticed that teens are always made up of 10 + another number 1-9. It's a pattern! 10+1, 10+2, 10+3... etc. We played math games to become more familiar with this concept. Notice and point out teen numbers at home, too!

We continue to "tap out" words in our phonics lessons and are moving forward with lower case letters in handwriting lessons.

We went to our "observation station" and examined our tree outside during our science times this week. It has changed so much since the fall! Ask your child about how.

News and Notes:

book sleeves are due on Monday
Look for a note about Valentines Day coming home in your child's backpack today
Save the Date: 2/14 at 9:30 am: Kindergarten Valentines Day Music Show!
Your child can now play Dreambox at home. See the email sent home for more information.
It's almost the 100th Day! Have you sent in your 5 cans of tuna fish for our collection? Thank you!