Newsletter 2/14/19

In Reading Workshop this week, we read Valentine books and poems.  We also reviewed the difference between fiction and nonfiction books.  We are beginning a new reading unit on nonfiction books after vacation.

We finished our How Tos and will put them out in the hallway for all to see!  We learned so many writing strategies in this unit.  After vacation, we will continue to write nonfiction pieces, but in a new style.

We began a short unit on Geometry this week.  We are learning the difference between flat and solid shapes.  We are also learning their names.  We examined solid shapes to see what flat shapes can be found on their faces.

We had so much valentine fun this week!  We did word searches and puzzles, not forgetting to mention our amazing concert.  Thank you for coming!

News and Notes:

• Have a great vacation!
• Book sleeves are due the Monday of our return- 2/25
• The week we return is our Dr. Seuss week!  Please see the email sent home to prepare your child for each day's special activities.  You can also refer to the green note being sent home today.

Decorating our headbands for our show

Decorating our Valentine bags

Teen numbers matching game

Fun Valentine crafts

Our anchor charts for writing

Examining solids for flat faces

Happy Valentines Day!

Newsletter 2/8/19

We celebrated the end of our Bigger Books, Bigger Muscles unit in Reading Workshop this week.  We "super sized" our Partner Power and Book Talk Power by predicting about and retelling, both fiction and non-fiction texts.  We learned that super readers can choral read, which means that we can read the same book at the same time.  This is tricky, because we have to use our eyes AND our ears to listen to one another.

We read some mentor texts in Writing Workshop and tried to use the same writing strategies in our writing.  How To authors often include a list of materials needed, some helpful tips or a safety warning.  We can do that in our writing, too!

We are learning more and more sight words and tapping out sounds in our phonics lessons.  Pick any CVC word (consonant, vowel, consonant- i.e. "dog") and ask your child to show you how to tap it. We are also beginning to tap words with digraphs and blends.

We finished our unit on teen numbers in math!  We put them in order, compared them and played "Guess the Number" while giving hints with words like "more than" and "less than".

We had a super fun 100th Day!  We counted our mac and cheese boxes, by ones, fives and tens.  See the photo below to know how many we collected.  We made a hundreds hat and played mystery number 1-100.  We all enjoyed watching the First Grade Centurion Parade, too.

We continued our science unit on pushes and pulls.  This week we learned that pushes and pulls can have different strengths and directions; a bigger push or pull makes things speed up or slow down more quickly; and we analyzed and interpreted what the effect will be when the balls collide.

We also had our first music rehearsal. This is going to be an ADORABLE show! You won't want to miss it!

News and Notes:

• Kindergarten Valentine Show 2/14 at 9:30. All grown ups and younger siblings invited. (Ox Ridge siblings must remain in class)
• Book bags due on Monday
• Send in your child's valentines! We'll store them here until next Thursday when we deliver.

Sight word games

Building teen numbers with tens and ones

Putting teen numbers in order

Wind is a pushing force

109 boxes of macaroni and cheese!  THANK YOU!  

Comparing and ordering numbers 1-20

Experimenting with collisions

Music Rehearsal!

Newsletter 2/1/19

Hello February!

We worked on predicting and retelling in Reading Workshop this week. We learned that Super Readers look at pictures and words, but they also stop and think about what might come next.  This helps get ideas in our brains.  We learned how to give a "Rockstar Retelling", which includes characters, actions and emotions.

In Writing Workshop this week, we learned how a partner can help us clarify our writing.  We used partners to act out our steps, to make sure we included all the details, so our readers can follow along.

We continued to work with teen numbers in math this week.  We focused on numerals 10-16.

Everyone enjoyed some hands on science fun this week during our Pushes and Pulls unit!  We built Marble Runs and raced cars on ramps!  We also sorted out photos of items that one pushes or pulls.  We also collected our January weather data this week.  We had our first purple day (which means that it was REALLY cold)!

In our social studies lessons, we made predictions about the ground hog and the Superbowl.  See your child's thoughts below.  We also enjoyed making valentines for local veterans with our 5th Grade Buddies, too.

News and Notes:

• Book sleeves are due on Monday.
• Scholastic orders are due on Tuesday.
• 5 boxes of macaroni and cheese are due by Tuesday.
• Kindergarten Valentines Concert: 2/14 at 9:30 am

We went to an assembly about making goals and the performer did basketball tricks!

Acting out one another's How To books

Pushes and Pulls fun with Marble Run

Science fun with ramps and cars

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