Newsletter 1/25/19

In Reading Workshop this week, we learned that we can "super size" our Picture Power.  When readers look really carefully at the pictures, they can figure out more words on the page.  Sometimes, an author shows something important in the picture, and doesn't write words about it!  Our Picture Power is much stronger now. 

We also studied the classic story Rumplestilskin this week, in preparation for the play.  We learned new vocabulary and concepts (what is a spinning wheel?) and we noticed/wondered a lot of great things.  Why did the daughter want to marry the king?  Why did Rumplestilskin want her baby?  We had a thoughtful whole class conversation.  Then, we celebrated our love for the tale on Friday, by seeing the play!  What fun!  If you haven't been to the Downtown Cabaret Theater in Bridgeport, you've got to check it out.

We launched our How To unit in writing and moved forward this week.  We learned that we can use some of our same tools that we used in writing narratives.  We can touch each page of our packet and plan the steps out before we write.  We are also challenging ourselves to remember the lessons of our last unit: how to make our writing more readable.

We are moving into the teen numbers in math!  These are tricky, so we're taking it slow.  We can't use our fingers to show teen numbers, we need a buddy, to form a "teen team"!  We played a guessing game while building numbers 10-12 on a ten frame.  We are beginning to learned place value.  Eleven is 1 ten an 1 one, etc.

Everyone enjoyed our push/pull investigation in science this week.  We used rulers and tubes to see how a marble would roll down them.  We experimented with lifting one side to various heights and noticing how the marble's speed changed. 

We also observed our tree outside and recorded how it has changed since we observed it last.

News and Notes:

• Book sleeves are due on Monday.
• K will attend an enrichment program on Monday about basketball.
• Next week:  Groundhog and Superbowl predictions!   

Coding games

Guess my teen number

Building teen numbers on ten frames

Fun with our Push/Pull science unit

We recorded what we noticed in our science journals.

We're headed to the theater!

Newsletter 1/18/19

In Reading Workshop this week, we learned more about how sight words can help us read.  We read sight words quickly, but slow down when we come across a word we don't know, so we can "activate our super size sound power".  So, our reading rate changes from fast to slow as we read a book for the first time.  We also learned that even though a sight word has a special ending, we can still read it!  If we come across a word like "sees" or "looked", we just find the base sight word and then we can read it.  Readers are constantly checking their reading: "Does it look right?  Does it sound right?  Does it make sense?".  If not, we don't keep reading!

We celebrated all that we learned in our narrative writing unit and moved on to "How To" writing.  We examined "How To" books to see their attributes and then we tried to write that way, too.  We're off to a pretty good start!  Everyone is an expert at something and has something to teach (how to brush your teeth, get ready for soccer, pack your snack, etc).

In math, we reviewed numerals 1-10 and learned how to recognize and represent them on a ten frame.  We are moving on to teen numbers!  We also played a card game called "Top It!" where we compared quantities.

We began a new science unit on Pushes and Pulls this week.  It is so much fun!  We are observing like scientists as we use force to make things move.  We are watching balls rolling and cars zooming across the cafeteria floor!  What is the difference between a big push and a small push?  How do you know?  See photos below.

We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to our country.

Enjoy the long weekend!

News and Notes:

• Save the Date:  K Valentine Concert on 2/14 at 9:30 am.  All are welcome.
• Field Trip next Friday!  Please see the blue note sent home for important information.
• Library books and book sleeves due on Tuesday

Pushing Matchbox cars across the cafeteria...

... and recording our results/findings.

Big push vs. small push results

Representing quantities on a ten frame

Card game fun

Newsletter 1/11/19

We learned how to "super size" our Sound Power in Reading Workshop this week.  When books get harder, readers need to look at words and sounds more carefully.  We learned that readers not only look at the first letter of a word, but also search for blends and read sounds all the way to the end of a word.

We edited our narrative story and made a cover for it.  Our stories are great!  We also wrote 2 separate narrative pieces this week.

We began lower case letter writing this week, learning about letters that are the same shape as they are in capital form.  We familiarized ourselves with lower case writing lines, and learned that lower case letters can be tall, stay in the middle space, or descend below the writing line.

We spoke about the passage of time in math this week, solidifying our understanding of "before" and "after".  We also did an Exemplar problem solving activity in our math lessons this week.  See the attached photos for more information.

On Teddy Bear Sleepover Day, we read Corduroy, sequenced the events of the story, and wrote about our favorite part.  We also made our own bears to decorate the classroom.  They're hanging all over the ceiling!  We read to and wrote about our bears, too.  We were so surprised to see the trouble they made during the night!  See photos below.

News and Notes:

• Book sleeves are due on Monday
• No School 1/18 and 1/21
• Please be sure to label hats, mittens, etc

Before and after school I...

Lower case letter work

The beginning of our Exemplar

Solving the Exemplary using various manipulative models

Various diagrams to solve our Exemplar 

Our Class Diagram

Reading with our bears 

Look at what the bears did last night!

Happy New Year! Newsletter 1/4/19

It was great to get back together this week!  This is my FAVORITE time in the K year; the students are independent and and growing/learning so fast!  Just you wait and see!  We're really taking off now!

We spent some time with ABC books during Reading Workshop, because they can show us how certain letters can make more than one sound.  We learned games to play with ABC books and played them on our own and with partners.  We have been following Ezra Jack Keats' character named Peter, too.  We read Snowy Day in December, and this week we studied Peter's Chair.  This is always a K favorite, as Peter is struggling to adjust to life with a new baby in the house, and many students can relate.  Find it in the library if you haven't read it yet; it's worth a read. We also read Snowmen at Night and imagined what we would do if we were a snowman at nighttime.  Come see your child's artwork and writing about it in the hallway.

We wrote about what we did over our winter breaks and picked a piece to publish.  We've been using a checklist to help us write narrative stories- see photo below.  We'll edit and publish next week.

We learned how to "tap" in our phonics lessons this week.  Tapping provides students with a kinesthetic way to hear sounds within words.  We'll be tapping for months as it helps us segment and blend words in reading and writing.

We started a new unit in math.  Look for the Home/School connection sheet coming home today.
We revisited the concept of big/small, learned about capacity (a cup can hold more small items than larger items) and used appropriate positional language (in front of, beside, etc.) to describe and compare.

Lastly, we learned a new computer program, Learning A-Z (Raz-Kids)!  Everyone is reading just right books and earning stars!  They can't wait to play Raz-Kids and Dreambox at home!

News and Notes:

• Please send your child's Rough Draft Folder back to school on Monday
• Book sleeves due on Monday
• Teddy Bear Sleepover next Thursday!  Look for a blue note coming home today with important information.  
• January Scholastic book orders are due next Wednesday
• Your child has brought home his/her password, which enables Dreambox and Raz-Kids home access. Please read the yellow note sent home today. Enjoy!

Designing our Snowmen

We're so glad to see our friends again!

Reviewing capital letters

Learning about capacity

Comparing ABC Books

Our narrative writing checklist

Our Snowy Friends!