Weekly Update - 3/18-3/28

Language Arts

Over the past two weeks, we've been learning some true trick words during our Literacy Center time. We've now added "as" and "has" to our sight word (or trick words as we've begun to call these words) to our rings at home. Please continue to practice these words at home as your student will need to know all of these words at the end of kindergarten.

In our 6+1 Traits of Writing, we've been focusing on organization and ideas to help support our writing. This past week we read the story The Best Pet To Get by Emma Dodd. We discussed which pet would be the best pet to get and needed to give two reasons to support our answer. The students were introduced to a helpful organization tool which asked them to give their opinion and two reasons why they thought this. They then took that information and wrote a full story about which pet is the best to get, in our opinion of course!

A reminder about reading bags (the plastic Ziploc bags). These are to be kept at home until the following Tuesday when they're returned to school. Some students will bring these home for longer periods of time pending their reading group time during the week. All books that come home in the bag must be returned the following week in order for your student to bring home a new book.

Math

Our new unit is off to a great start! We're focusing on the terms most, fewer and same in our math discussions. Students are beginning to look at how they know quickly that one number is more than another by just looking at dot cards or with other manipulatives. We've also begun to look at how we know things are matched up using one-to-one correspondence. Homework this week may have been a bit confusing - our math books certainly were! But, we're continuing to work hard on understanding these new, and sometimes confusing, concepts.

Science

We have begun our unit on Transportation. The students have been discussing the three types of transportation we use including air, land and water. The students then created a replica drawing of a type of transportation they liked in the books we had been exploring. These will be added to our transportation poster this week.

Important Reminders

*Please remember to save your recyclable materials to send into the classroom. We will be using them to create our own transportation vehicles in the next week.

*Early Release on Friday, April 4th at 1:15 pm. Lunch will be served on this day.

*Ice Cream Social and open house is scheduled for Thursday, April 10th from 6:00-7:00 pm.

*The snow is almost gone here at Steward School, but with that comes lots and lots of mud! Please remember to continue sending boots with your student to school so that they can play on the playground during recess.

Weekly Update - 3/11-3/14

Language Arts

Our new sight word for the week is "be." There was a bit of trouble with the computer and printer Friday morning, so please look for the sight word in your student's folder on Tuesday afternoon.

In Fundations, students have begun to use their knowledge of letter sounds to continue to develop their reading skills. We have been tapping out trickier words this week like yes, wet, quiz and wig. We've also been listening to beginning, middle and ending sounds and spelling the words together as a class. We continue to work on our lowercase letter formations. When working with your student at home, it's helpful to remind them to use their best Fundations handwriting and to focus on using lowercase letters when writing words, unless it's the word I, the first word in a sentence or their name.

In writing, we'll begin to turn our focus to opinion writing. We have completed a pre-assessment and will begin building on what we already know of giving our opinion in writing.

Math

We continue to work on understanding groups of 10 and ones left over. Our focus this week were on the numbers 70-100. We've made progress in understanding this very difficult concept and even if it's still feeling difficult for your student, they're working really hard! Next week, we'll be finishing up chapter 8 and completing the chapter assessment!

Science

In science this week, we discussed our last type of matter - air or gasses. We observed how air moves water, how paper moves through air (balled up or flat), and how blowing through straws helps to move water around different types of materials.

Important Reminders

*Sight word books will be coming home this week. We have been keeping them in our reading bags to be sure we had enough to read during our read to someone activities. We have plenty to go around now, so many will be coming home for your student to keep and work on reading to family and friends!

Weekly Update - 3/4-3/7

Language Arts

Our new sight word this week is "one." This word is one that they must memorize and cannot tap or sound out. For the first few times they practice this word with you, it's OK for you to tell them what it says as it's a true trick word.

We're really getting the hang of guided reading! I'm so impressed with the growth that each of your students have shown since January - you should all be so proud of them! Remember when reading at home to have your student look at the pictures to help solve tricky words and use the first sound they see in a tricky word to be sure that solve the word using the skills they know. For example, if the word is "hen" and the picture is of a chicken, make sure they look at the "h" at the beginning to decode the word and to tap out smaller words using their Fundations skills. If you have any questions about strategies to try with your student, we can talk more at conferences on Friday.

In writer's workshop, we're beginning to work towards using only capital letters at the start of a new sentence or the word I, using punctuation, and writing our sight words with the proper spelling. We have also moved from only having a sentence about what they did and how they felt about it to having a beginning, middle and end to a story. As we move into the spring, it's important that students begin to practice writing like first graders and using all of the skills they've learned this year each time they write.

Math

We continue to work on place value to the tens place and have practice with numbers up to 79. We have been practicing sequencing numbers and filling in the missing numbers. For example, yesterday we put four random numbers in order, 54, 63, 67 and 73 and then we counted by ones from 54 to 73. This helps us get used to beginning to count at any given number between 1 and 100 and automatically know what the next number will be.

Important Reminders

*Early release on Friday, March 14 at noon - no lunch will be served.

Please check the classroom calendar for the share schedule.

Dr. Seuss's Birthday and Read Across America

On Friday, we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday with an assembly and a guest reader, Mrs. Mitchell. The class was very excited for the day's activities and learned about Mrs. Mitchell's work in the medical field by seeing equipment to make casts and give stitches.

There was information sent home on Friday in your student's folder about the Read Across America activities over the month of March. We'll be working towards "winning" Olymipic medals of bronze, silver, and gold for the number of minutes they read each week. Please read through the packet that was sent home and let me know if you have any questions.

Weekly Update 2/25-2/28

Language Arts

It's been another successful and hard working week for our kindergarteners. This week, we learned a new sight word, "have." In the coming week, please watch your student's folder and backpack for the white paper sight word books that we've been working on for the last few months. These books can be kept at home and used as their practice reading books in addition to our reading bag books.

In Fundations we've moved into Unit 3 and we'll begin to really work on segmenting words into individual beginning, middle and end sounds. We've also begun to learn about our "silent e" words by listening to the middle sound of words to see if the vowel makes a short sound or says it's name like in hop and hope. This is the next step for their reading and writing development.

We will begin working in our reading groups again next week. Over the past two weeks, we've been reading different levels of texts individually and have found our new reading levels. I am so impressed with what each and everyone of your students have been able to achieve! Your student will begin bringing home their reading bag next week to practice reading their books with family and friends at home.

IMPORTANT REMINDER - Please, please, please remember that each and every school reading book that comes home in your student's reading bag NEEDS to be returned to the class each Tuesday. If they loose a book or their entire bag, I am no longer able to send home any school books for them to practice with you at home.

Math

Before vacation we began Chapter 8 in our Math In Focus program. Since returning to school we've been focusing on numbers between 20 and 100. This chapter has students look at numbers as sets of 10 and ones left over. For example, the number 37 is 3 sets of 10 and 7 ones left over. We've also been looking at numbers that come before and after a specific number. For example 28 comes BEFORE 29 and 30 comes AFTER.

You may notice some confusion and/or frustration with the homework pages that come home over the next few weeks. If this is the case, please leave the homework blank or write a note if they were confused. This will help me to see where they're becoming stuck and I can work further with them during our What I Need Time in small groups on specific strategies and skills that will help them moving forward with these types of math problems.

Science

We're continuing to learn about matter in science. This week we looked at different types of liquids by mixing water with oil, food coloring, and ice cubes colored with food coloring. We made a few predictions about what might happen when we mixed the different liquids together and observed what happened when we did mix them together.

The students made some fun predictions including the oil would fizz over the sides of the container when mixed with water, the food coloring would mix with water immediately, and the ice cube was staying the same size and shape, but the food coloring was leaving the ice cube and going into the water. They were very excited to see what really DID happen when we mixed the liquids together. Ask them about what they saw and learned during math this week!

Language Arts

*Again, please remember that reading bags NEED to be returned with all books each Tuesday in order for a new book to be sent home.
*Conference reminder slips were sent home on Wednesday. Please sign and return next week with confirmation of your scheduled time.
*Parent Conferences are scheduled for Friday, March 14. Students will leave school at noon and no lunch will be served.
*Report cards will be sent home on Tuesday, March 11th.