Newsletter 11/17

We activated another super power in Reading Workshop this week: PATTERN POWER!  Sometimes we can find word patterns within texts and that can help us read.  We hunted for sight words and patterns that would enable us to read fluently, instead of sounding like a slow robot.  We read poems and books about Thanksgiving this week, too.

We began a new unit in Writing Workshop: "Writing for Readers".  This unit will teach us how to write true stories that are easy to read.  We learned how to plan our story across a packet of 3 pages, planning out the beginning, middle and ending.  Ask your child about his/her story.

We have learned all of the "Starting Corner Capitals" in our handwriting lesson.  Look for the  practice sheet coming home today.

Social Studies is all about Thanksgiving these days!  We began by learning the history, why the Pilgrims came over, where they landed, how the Native Americans helped them learn how to plant, etc.  Then we formed our tribe!  Everyone gave themselves a Native American name.  We worked on our feast costumes all week long.

We took apart a new Exemplar in math this week, comparing amounts and showing how we know the answer.  We built manipulative models with color tiles to help us solve the problem and it was so interesting to see how various strategies (see photos) all came up with the same answer!  Then, we made a diagram to show our thinking.  Lastly, we learned how to use a ten frame to solve the problem as well.

We are also working on patterning in math.  We made patterned Native American noodle necklaces with pasta!

News and Notes:

• please let me know if your child will be missing any school next week.  I want to make sure that everyone has their costumes for Thanksgiving with you.  
• please note, due to space limitations, guests/parents are not attending our feast on Tuesday.  Only the two volunteers will be there, but I promise to take a lot of photos!

Working with our sight word rights with our partners

A manipulative model of our Exemplar, organized by height

A graph of our Exemplar,  organized by height

Searching for sight words in poetry

Painting our Native American vests with symbols and patterns

The first, unorganized (on purpose!), visual model of our Exemplar

Reading just right books about Thanksgiving

Writing about a story we read

Matching rhymes

Making a patterned, Native American noodle necklace

Fun during Choice Time!

Using a 10-frame to solve our Exemplar

Various diagrams to solve our Exemplar

The Exemplar we worked on this week

Newsletter 11/10

We did a lot of social studies lessons this week, learning about Election Day and Veteran's Day. We learned that the United States is a democracy and we get to vote on our leaders.  We learned what a veteran is and why we should be thankful for veterans services.  A friend shared photos of her grandfather, who is a veteran and came for the breakfast, and we got to ask her questions.  Lastly, we sang to the veterans at their special ceremony.

Mrs. Farson, the school psychologist, visited on Friday to teach us a lesson about personal space.  We read a book about a boy who goes to Personal Space Camp and learned how to stay inside his own space.  We also learned when and where it's ok to get into someone's personal space "bubble" (hugging a family member, etc.).  We all got certificates from Personal Space Camp!

In reading workshop, we learned more super powers!  We activated our PERSISTENCE POWER!  This power helps us to use multiple powers when we get stuck on a word.  Sometimes, picture power doesn't work, so we need sound power.  We also have partner power to support us.  Super readers never give up!

We finished our Looking Closely writing unit and celebrated by sharing our pieces with Dr. Trifiatis' class.  In this unit we learned to examine an object and write about it in detail, including its color, shape, size and texture.  Our published pieces will be hung in the hallway for all to see.

We continued our unit on comparing in our math lessons this week.  This week, we studied the length of our names.  We used cubes to measure how long our names are, and then we searched for friends with longer and shorter names.  Lastly, we organized the names by length from shortest to longest.  After studying our names, we played a card game where we pulled four cards from a deck and put them in order from least to greatest.

We continue to learn more sight words and sounds in phonics and we're learning how to form uppercase letters in our handwriting lessons.  We're about halfway through the alphabet.

News and Notes:

• It's cold!  Please teach your child to zip/button the winter jacket or coat that s/he will be wearing most this winter.
• Please make sure to LABEL all winter items with your child's name

Student generated list on what we learned in our Looking Closely writing unit

Sharing our finished writing pieces with friends!

Singing to veterans

Multisensory "Wet, Dry, Try" lessons in handwriting

Comparing the length of our names

The comparing work we've done in our math workbooks

Newsletter 11/3

Happy November!

We had such a fun week with our Halloween parade, setting up our November calendar and celebrating birthdays!

In Reading Workshop we continued to activate our secret SUPER READER powers!  This week, we learned about picture power, partner power and re-read power.  An explanation of all the powers will be coming home to you once we've learned them all.  Your child will be bringing some of his/her paper books home today.  Some are harder than others.  Please have your child read the sight word books to you.  These are the copied books that have been colored by your child.  S/he should use a pointer finger with 1:1 correspondence while reading.  Often, this means slowing down to make sure that your finger is matching your voice.  I suggest making a special book box to collect these books at home throughout the year.  These books do not need to come back to school.  A good reading routine for home is for your child to read a book from this box to you and then you can read a chosen book after.  Repeated reading of these books increases your child's sight word vocabulary, reinforces book handling skills and gives your child a chance to exercise his/her super powers!

We continued our Writing Workshop unit, Looking Closely.  This week we learned the sight word "and", so we had the power to write a lot more details about our chosen specimen.  We used magnifying glasses to notice even more about each item.

We are comparing amounts in our math lessons.  We began by building a 10-tower and finding items in the room that are taller and shorter.  Next, we compared two handfuls of cubes.  Last, we learned a card game called "Compare" (traditionally called "WAR"), where we compared numbers.  We are simultaneously increasing our mathematical vocabulary, using words like "more", "less" and "equal", while describing our findings.

In science, we gathered October's weather data and recorded it into our science notebooks.  We also had the Darien Environmental Group visit us and speak to us about making less trash.  They gave us a wrap to use at lunch so we don't need plastic baggies!  We're going to try to make less trash at snack and at lunch time.

In social studies, Officer Dan visited us on Monday to discuss Halloween safety.  We also learned two Second Steps lessons about following directions and ignoring distractions.  Look for the notes sent home for more information and an opportunity to practice with your child.  We also began to discuss veterans.  We made cards for those who are serving our country right now.

News and Notes:

• 11/7 NO SCHOOL- Election Day
• Thursday 11/9 Scholastic November order due by the end of the school day
• 11/14 Picture Retakes- Please let me know if you would like your child to have his/her picture re-taken

Noticing changes in each month's weather

Recording weather data in our notebooks

Officer Dan visits

Comparing heights in math

Our Halloween Parade

Happy Halloween!

Making cards for those serving our country

The Darien Environmental Group teaches us to recycle

Newsletter 10/27

We began a new writing unit this week called Looking Closely.  In this unit, we will learn how to write a nonfiction piece that describes a special item.  We all went outside to collect our first "specimens"- leaves!  We are writing just like scientists.  We learned to use our senses, and our knowledge of sight words, to describe our leaves.  Scientific authors look, record, and label.  They describe colors they see, sizes, textures and shapes. 

We also began a new reading unit: SUPER POWERS!  We are becoming super readers and learning how to activate our super reading powers.  This week we learned about Pointer Power, how it helps us read carefully and recognize words.  We even got plastic pointer fingers to strengthen our powers! 

In math, we did an Exemplar called Anna's Apples.  Ask your child about it.  We had to compare two amounts and describe how we know which is more.  We made manipulative models of the problem with connecting cubes.  Everyone's was unique (see photo).  Then we worked as a team to come up with a diagram that would show our thinking.  We also learned the correct formation for numerals 0-9, so now we can write ANY number!  See the numeral writing practice sheet coming home in back pack mail.  This is not mandatory, but great extra practice.  Correct numeral formation is hard to master.  It's normal to have reversals at this age.  If your child is reversing numerals while writing, please correct him/her, as now we have learned the correct formation.

We learned a bit about syllables in our phonics lessons this week, but most of our focus was on sight words and sentence structure.  We worked on building sentences with word frames, using spaces between the words, beginning with a capital letter and including punctuation (see photo).

We finished our study of severe weather in science this week.  We watched a news cast and learned what a meteorologist is.  What does s/he do and how is s/he helpful?  Then we discussed ways to stay safe in extreme weather and what items we should have on hand.  A meteorologist tells us when the weather is coming, so we should be ready. 

We celebrated our five senses and Halloween by carving pumpkins!  Everyone helped build a Table Teamwork Pumpkin. 

Lastly, we had a super fun race with our 5th Grade Buddies, building skeletons outside!

News and Notes:

• 10/31  HALLOWEEN!  All students should bring costumes in a sturdy bag.  No masks or weapons, please.  Parade outside at 9:45 am.  Everyone's invited!
• 11/3 The Darien Environmental Group will speak to the class about recycling.  
• 11/7  NO SCHOOL
• On 11/9, Kindergarten will be singing for local veterans at the breakfast we have at school.  This is an event for veterans and their family only.  If you have a veteran in your family who would like to attend, please contact the office, and let me know as well.  

Two manipulative models comparing 7 and 10

Looking closely at our leaf specimens

Acting out a math problem with and without graphic organizers

Sight word and sentence structure work in phonics lessons

Showing how we found a math answer with a diagram

Super readers use POINTER POWER!

Carving fun

Newsletter 10/20

We did a lot of celebrating in Kindergarten this week!  We are learning so much!

We finished our Emergent Readers unit in Reading Workshop.  To celebrate, the Kindergarten had a Storybook Parade through the halls of Ox Ridge, with all the older students cheering us on!  We held our favorite storybooks as we walked through the school, celebrating that WE ARE READERS!  Everyone was so proud and supportive of us.  Please see the anchor chart in the photo below to see some of what we learned in this unit.  We also read many sight word books, working on reading accurately while pointing to the words.

We also finished our first unit of Writing Workshop.  We made a decision, just like an author, about which piece to publish, and we put our rough drafts aside.  Then, we learned how to "fix and fancy" (edit and color) our pieces to make them as good as we can.  Lastly, we shared all the we'd learned, hung our work in the hallway for all to see, and celebrated with a toast of bubbly!  WE ARE ALL AUTHORS!  Please see the photo below for some of our writing lessons from this unit.

In math this week, we learned about a tool called a ten frame.  We'll use ten frames all year.  We played a game called "Build It" where we represented various numbers on a ten frame.  We also continued working on numeral formation.  Lastly, we gathered data regarding what Halloween creature is the scariest.  We made a graph and used tally marks to record our results.  Most of us think vampires are the scariest, some think witches, and less of us think Frankenstein is the scariest.

We finished learning how to write the "Frog Jump Letters" in our handwriting lessons.  Please look for a practice sheet coming home.  This sheet is for you to model correct formation and your child to copy. 

We learned about our five senses in our science lessons this week.  We studied a different sense every day.  We played a listening game to exercise our sense of hearing and colored with scented markers to smell.  Everyone made a book of their favorite things to see, hear, smell, touch, and taste.  We also learned how if one sense is weak, other senses become super strong. 

Everyone had a blast at our first Games time today!  Thank you to everyone who volunteered!

News and Notes:

• Look for your child's Book Fair wish list coming home on Monday
• Our pumpkin carving next week is a secret!  
• Halloween parade 10/31, outside at 9:45 am.  Students should NOT wear their costumes to school, but bring them in a sturdy bag.  We will change in/out of costumes at school.

Our Writing Workshop anchor chart

Reading sight word books

"Build It" on ten frames

Our Emergent Storybook anchor chart

CHEERS!

WE ARE AUTHORS!

Our favorite storybooks

Our Kindergarten Storybook Parade