Newsletter 6/16/17

  Look at us!  We're FIRST GRADE ready!

What a blast we had this week.  Enjoy some of our theme day photos below.  THANK YOU for teaming with me this year!  I am so proud of this class; everyone has grown in leaps and bounds!  Please feel free to have your child keep in touch with me over the summer via school email.  I will be checking it every so often and I promise to write back!  Wishing your kindergartner and you a wonderful summer,

Fondly, 

Sandy Henry

Making Flag Day necklaces

Reading on Beach Day

Collecting Team Autographs on Baseball Day

Newsletter 6/9/17 and Field Day Fun!

We're getting close to the end!  It's a lot of fun and games from here on- along with some learning...

We read a lot of books this week: about first grade, camping and fathers.  We spent time reading our favorite stories and choosing our reading partners. We added a camping poem to our Book of Poetry and read to our stuffed animals on camping day!

Our narrative writing unit is done.  Did you see your child's story come home?  The students have grown so much as authors!  Amazing.  We wrote about camping and made cards for Father's Day.

We are making a Summer Reading and Writing Journal, making plans to keep working this summer.  Look for it coming home and please use it this summer.

In math this week, we learned how to conduct an organized survey.  First, we surveyed the class to see our favorite spring activity.  Then, we made surveys of our own: thinking of a survey question, collecting and keeping track of data (see photos).

In Second Steps this week, we learned some calming down strategies.  When I feel angry or sad or scared, I can use 3 steps to calm down:  stop, name my feeling, and take belly breaths.  This lesson is helpful for everyone!  Look for Second Steps papers that went home for more information.

We visited the first grade teachers on Wednesday and asked them a lot of questions.  Some friends were nervous about going, but everyone agreed that they felt much better after.

We decided to name Friday "Finally Field Day Friday" because we had waited for it so long!  The sun was shining and we had a blast!

News & Notes:

• Please see the Theme Day note sent home to prepare your child for each special day next week.
• Hope to see you at our classroom celebration (project, snack and play) from 2-3 pm next Wednesday.  All parents are invited!
• Next Friday, 6/16, is the last day of school and a half day.
• Please let me know if your child will be leaving any earlier than next Friday.

A student survey about mussels

Recording data in our surveys

Visiting First Grade

Our class survey

Enjoying the Ox Ridge Band

Mr. Warble playing a focusing game

Happy Campers!

Team Henry!

Newsletter 6/2

Our "Character Clubs" continued to meet this week to read series books about a favorite character.  Each club worked together at the end of the week to make a character trait web, which we've hung in our hallway.  Ask your child about her/his character and see the photos below.

In Writing Workshop, our narrative pieces became even better as we worked on elaboration techniques.  Everyone tried to describe small moments within their stories with greater detail.  We were also very aware of needing to end sentences with punctuation and begin new sentences with a capital letter.

In math this week we worked on counting and keeping track of larger quantities, making a representation of a set of data and seeing one-to-one correspondence between that set of data and the representations we made.  We all chose to represent our data using various strategies, so we shared our ideas.

We wrapped up our study of geography by playing the best game!  Mr. Warble labeled the room with north, south, east and west and we used the class map that we made, along with these directions, to guided a partner to a hidden object.  Students were choosing to play this game during Choice Time all week long.  It was wonderful to overhear: "Turn west and walk straight", and then squeals of delight as the objects were found.

We had Infinite Roots, an African percussion group, visit our school on Thursday.  Wow!  They were amazing!  They formed a band of students and everyone danced to the African rhythms.  Reed and Julianne were chosen to be in the band!  See the photos below.

On Zoo Day, we sang zoo songs, read zoo books and added zoo animals.  We even created a zoo animal from the numeral zero!  Finally, we had quiet time reading our favorite books to our animals.  What a fun day!

News and Notes:

• Book sleeves due on Monday.  Please return all books for summer inventory.  
• 6/5 FIELD DAY (hopefully!)  1:45-3:15 pm
• Please check your child's theme day sheet (or post below) in preparation for the next 2 weeks!
• all parents invited to our end of year celebration on 6/13 from 2-3 pm for a craft, a snack, and some free play with your child.

A bunch of clubs' character trait webs!

Character research in a club

Learning an African dance

"Infinite Roots"

Making a representation of a set of data

Newsletter 5/26

We began a character study in reading workshop this week.  Every partnership is reading books on the same character, examining that character's traits in each story.  We are understanding our characters by what they say, do and think, not just external factors.

We are returning to writing narrative texts in Writing Workshop, but now everyone's stories are so much more detailed!  We began our unit by making a plan for our story, using a five page packet of paper.  After writing for a few days, we re-read our stories to make sure that everything "looked right" and "sounded right".

We were busy doing math assessments all week long!  Everyone worked really hard.

In phonics this week we studied the "QU" combination of letters.

In Social Studies, we made a map of our classroom with it's own key and we also talked about Memorial Day.

Our pupae have become adult ladybugs!  We watched them crawl all over our Ladybug Land and eat raisins.  Then, on Friday, we set them free!

News & Notes:

• Have a great Memorial Day weekend!  Look for the whole Henry family at the parade and the Post 53 Food Fair!
• Book sleeves due on Tuesday.
• We will be having ZOO DAY next Friday, 6/2.  Have your child bring a small toy zoo animal to school.
• Kindergarten Field Day- 5/31, 1:45-3:15   Stop by for a bit to watch or stay for the whole thing!
• ALL PARENTS INVITED to our end of year celebration on June 14th from 2-3 pm.  We will be doing a craft, enjoying a treat and then some free play time with your child.  Save the date!

Mr. Warble reading a book

Studying characters

Our pupae are adults!  They are eating raisins.

Freeing the ladybugs!

Our class map

Newsletter 5/19/17

What an exciting week we've had!

We began the week going to the Library for a CompuChild activity.  We built LEGO robots that plugged into our computers and moved!  So cool.  We also learned about the stages of a ladybug's life cycle.  Our ladies came to us as larvae, but now we have many pupae in our Ladybug Land!  We are hoping they'll be adults when we return to school on Monday.  We made ladybug crafts in their honor.

On Tuesday we edited our persuasive writing piece and read books while searching for blends and digraphs.  We also went on a digraph hunt around the room.  Point out digraphs to your child while reading!  We are speedy at our addition facts, but needed a bit of subtraction support this week.  We also learned about "landmarks" in our geography lesson today.  Ask your child about landmarks in Darien!

On Wednesday we did a math Exemplar and read ladybug books.  We also played "I Spy" for symbols on various maps.  Perhaps you've heard of the colors on our classroom thermometer.  We watched it rise from green to yellow and even to orange this week (see photo below).

On Thursday we celebrated the end of our persuasive writing unit.  Your child's piece is in his/her backpack today.  Please ask to see your child's piece and give him/her a lot of praise!  Please send your child's piece back to school by next Wednesday. 

Friday we did an intense writing assessment and then relaxed by playing games with our volunteers! Thank you to Mrs. Donzeiser, Mrs. FitzPatrick and Mrs. Morgan for coming in.  Friday afternoon we had a blast visiting the Maker Faire with our 5th Grade Buddies.

News & Notes:

• Last Scholastic book order deadline is TODAY by 3:45 pm.
• Book sleeves due on Monday.
• Kindergarten Field Day- 5/31, 1:45-3:15   Stop by for a bit to watch or stay for the whole thing!
• ALL PARENTS INVITED to our end of year celebration on June 14th from 2-3 pm.  We will be doing a craft, enjoying a treat and then some free play time with your child.  Save the date!
• See post below for special theme days in June and what your child needs to do each day.
• We will be having a high school intern, Mr. Warble, begin volunteering in K next Monday.  We are so excited to welcome him back to Ox Ridge and back to my class!  Yes, he was in my kindergarten years ago...   

LEGO fun at CompuChild

Our robots kicked a ball!

Our outside thermometer is almost in the "orange"!

Our pupae

I Spy symbols on the map

Connect 4 with addition

Our larvae

Fun times ahead...

Dear Parents,

In the spirit of ending the year with a bang, I have included a schedule of fun (and educational) activities that we will be participating in the weeks to come.

                                                      J Sandy Henry

Wednesday, June 7^th Moving Up Day

• Get ready to visit the first grade teachers and classrooms!

Thursday, June 8^th Dinosaur Day

o   Bring in a favorite dino book (fiction or nonfiction) if you have one.

Friday, June 9^th Camp Day

• Bring your favorite stuffed animal to share stories with!
• Wear your summer camp outfit or favorite summer outfit.

Monday, June 12^th Baseball Day

• Wear your favorite baseball team shirt or jersey if you have one!

Tuesday, June 13^th Beach Day

• Bring a beach towel to read on

Wednesday June 14th Flag Day 

and Class Celebration

• Wear your red, white and blue!
• Parents welcome for a craft, snack and choice fun from 2-3 pm.

Thursday, 6/15^th Wipe Out Day

• Bring your team spirit and get ready to work with your classmates!

Friday, June 16th Last day of school

• The school year comes to an end!

Newsletter 5/12/17

I am amazed by how your young reader has grown!  I am in the process of assessing each student's reading level and will be updating book sleeves accordingly.  Once all students are assessed (end of May) I will adjust your child's level on Raz Kids so s/he can continue to read appropriate literature all summer long!  

We are wrapping up our persuasive writing unit and preparing to publish next week.  This week, we wrote opinion pieces, sharing our recommendations on books to read, toys to buy, restaurants to visit, etc.  Some students wrote about things to avoid, too!  We are learning to make very convincing cases.

We've been working on increasing our fact fluency in math, adding and subtracting within 5 as quickly as we can.  We also did an Exemplar this week where we combined amounts to form teen numbers.  We're continuing to examine teen numbers and break them apart into tens and ones.

Our science unit on Heredity and Evolution continued this week as we brought in our next living thing... LADYBUGS!  Yes, we have baby ladybugs in the classroom!  Ask your child about them.  They are currently in the larvae stage.  We can't wait to see them grow and change.

Besides our amazing field trip (see photos in post below), we also got ready for Mother's Day! Wishing all the mommies out there a wonderful weekend!  Make sure your child gives you your gift bag and card, please!

News & Notes:

• be on the lookout for multiple special occasions planned in June.  A note will be sent home next week with information on our THEME DAYS.
• Kindergarten Field Day- 5/31, 1:45-3:15   Stop by for a bit to watch or stay for the whole thing!
• ALL PARENTS INVITED to our end of year celebration on June 14th from 2-3 pm.  We will be doing a craft, enjoying a treat and then some free play time with your child.  Save the date!