Hello Kindergarten Families!
It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of the school year. I am very excited for all of the fun learning and exciting activities that we have coming up in the next few weeks. Here is an update on our learning over the past month:
We finished up our study of animals with amazing animal reports. You can see these displayed in the hallway outside our classroom. We have since moved on to learning about plants. Each student has planted a lima bean plant and they have been growing, growing, growing! Students are being botanists by observing and recording the changes in their plant from day to day. So far, we have learned the parts of the plant and each of the part's function. We are moving in to learning about plant needs and the plant life cycle. Look for plants to come home soon.
All of the kindergarten word wall words have been learned, so we have moved on to learning the first grade words. A complete list of first grade words will be coming home with your kindergartner shortly.
We are wrapping up the year by doing an author study on one of our favorite authors, David Shannon. He writes the No, David books as well as many others that we are very excited about. In addition to David Shannon books, we will be reading all of our favorites from this year and doing various activities with each of them. You should be so proud of your kindergartner's reading. It is so impressive to see what great readers these young children have become.
We hope you mothers enjoyed the Mother's Day gifts that came home last week. The kids were so proud of them and so excited to share them with you. Thank you for all of the hard work you do with your kids at home.
Just a few reminders...
MAY 28 - Field Day (K-2) in the AM
MAY 29 - Kindergarten Celebration - 2:00 (Johnson AND Mohawk)
JUNE 5 - Last Day of School (1 Hour Only)
Looking forward to seeing families soon at the celebration!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Animals Everywhere!
Greetings Kindergarten Families!
We are right in the middle of an information-filled study of animals and it is going very well. We have been learning all about animal needs, animal groups, and even spotlighting some specific animals for more in-depth learning. Below are some photos of student groups and their finished "Reptile Research".
Each student is now working on an animal report on their own. Students got to choose their animal and have conducted research from books and the internet to complete their projects. Look for these to be on display in the hallway very soon!
To go along with our study of animals, we have been doing an author study of Eric Carle as well. Eric Carle writes many different books with animal characters so it has been just perfect learning about him at this time. Ask your child to share some favorite Eric Carle books with you.
We are nearing the end of the word wall list for kindergarten. The words we added this week were WHERE and THERE. If you know your child still needs practice with the 3rd trimester words, please make some time to practice at home. Look for a list of first grade words to come home soon!
Don't forget about Open House next Wednesday, April 17th, from 6:30-7:30. Families are able to tour the building and visit the bake sale and Book Fair at this time. We are looking forward to seeing you there!
We are right in the middle of an information-filled study of animals and it is going very well. We have been learning all about animal needs, animal groups, and even spotlighting some specific animals for more in-depth learning. Below are some photos of student groups and their finished "Reptile Research".
Each student is now working on an animal report on their own. Students got to choose their animal and have conducted research from books and the internet to complete their projects. Look for these to be on display in the hallway very soon!
To go along with our study of animals, we have been doing an author study of Eric Carle as well. Eric Carle writes many different books with animal characters so it has been just perfect learning about him at this time. Ask your child to share some favorite Eric Carle books with you.
We are nearing the end of the word wall list for kindergarten. The words we added this week were WHERE and THERE. If you know your child still needs practice with the 3rd trimester words, please make some time to practice at home. Look for a list of first grade words to come home soon!
Don't forget about Open House next Wednesday, April 17th, from 6:30-7:30. Families are able to tour the building and visit the bake sale and Book Fair at this time. We are looking forward to seeing you there!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Celebrating Dr. Seuss
Hello again kindergarten families!
Over the past few weeks in kindergarten we have been learning all about Dr. Seuss and becoming familiar with his books. Students have been so engaged reading all of the silly stories and have been developing some great reading skills and strategies by doing so. Some of our class favorites have been I Wish that I had Duck Feet, The Lorax, and Wacky Wednesday. Many students are now even trying their hand at writing Wacky Wednesday stories of their own! Below is a picture of us celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday on Monday.
Over the past few weeks in kindergarten we have been learning all about Dr. Seuss and becoming familiar with his books. Students have been so engaged reading all of the silly stories and have been developing some great reading skills and strategies by doing so. Some of our class favorites have been I Wish that I had Duck Feet, The Lorax, and Wacky Wednesday. Many students are now even trying their hand at writing Wacky Wednesday stories of their own! Below is a picture of us celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday on Monday.
In addition to learning all about Dr. Seuss, we have added some new words to the word wall as well. The 3rd trimester words tend to be a little tricky for some little ones, so please be vigilant about practicing them at home as you see fit. Recent words added to the word wall include PLAY, WILL, THEY, and WITH. Next week we will be working with the word WHAT.
Our focus now in reading has shifted from the fiction of Dr. Seuss to the world of nonfiction texts. Our new unit of study is Animals, so we will be reading a lot of nonfiction texts about each animal group as well as animal life cycles. Students will be reading and writing lots of nonfiction during our animal unit. Our study of animals includes learning the animal groups and their characteristics, life cycles of some animals, conducting research and writing about specific animals, and much more. All of the students are very excited!
In math we are beginning to work on memorization of math facts and adding and subtracting larger numbers. We do these things through a variety of whole-group, small-group, and individual activities.
Thank you for supporting your child at home. The academic growth I am seeing is amazing! :)
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Welcome February!
Hello Kindergarten Families!
Room P171 has been hard at work over the past few weeks. In writing, each student has begun to write their Personal Narrative story. Thank you so much for helping your kindergartner come up with some great life events to write about! Each student narrowed his or her topic and is off and running as a personal narrative author. We will continue to work on these special stories for another couple of weeks.
Our reading focus has been finding the main idea and details of a text. We discussed that the main idea is what the story is mostly about, while the details are the little parts of the story that support the main idea. When reading at-home books, you can ask your child to tell the main idea and the details of the book you are reading and they should be able to tell you (with support). In addition to main idea and details, we are still working on recognizing sight words in the books that we are reading. Our new words this week are OF and ARE. Both of these words are challenging, so please practice reading and writing them at home with your child.
Our Common Core focus this week and next week will be learning about the Five Senses. We have been doing many fun activities that activate each of our senses. Ask your child to sing you the Five Senses Song!
Finally, today we celebrated the 100th Day of School! We did lots of math activities using the number 100. Below are some pictures of us during this very special day!
Room P171 has been hard at work over the past few weeks. In writing, each student has begun to write their Personal Narrative story. Thank you so much for helping your kindergartner come up with some great life events to write about! Each student narrowed his or her topic and is off and running as a personal narrative author. We will continue to work on these special stories for another couple of weeks.
Our reading focus has been finding the main idea and details of a text. We discussed that the main idea is what the story is mostly about, while the details are the little parts of the story that support the main idea. When reading at-home books, you can ask your child to tell the main idea and the details of the book you are reading and they should be able to tell you (with support). In addition to main idea and details, we are still working on recognizing sight words in the books that we are reading. Our new words this week are OF and ARE. Both of these words are challenging, so please practice reading and writing them at home with your child.
Our Common Core focus this week and next week will be learning about the Five Senses. We have been doing many fun activities that activate each of our senses. Ask your child to sing you the Five Senses Song!
Finally, today we celebrated the 100th Day of School! We did lots of math activities using the number 100. Below are some pictures of us during this very special day!
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
No School - Monday, February 18th - President's Day
Field Trip to the Shedd Aquarium - Tuesday, February 19th
Thursday, January 17, 2013
All Settled In!
The transition to Johnson School has gone so smoothly! We are adjusting well and getting settled into our beautiful new space. Thanks to all families for their support during this transition time.
For the past two weeks we have been learning all about winter. We have been having fun reading winter stories and writing our own nonfiction winter books. One of our favorite books to read was The Mitten by Jan Brett. We did several activities with this story, and even acted it out! I hope your child shared this fun activity with you. Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming is another book we enjoyed. Each student participated in a reader's theater of this book. We performed our great reading for Mrs. Kendall's class! In addition to learning facts about winter, we have also been learning all about what animals do in winter. We now know a lot about hibernation and migration.
Word wall words for last week and this week were LOOK, WAS, and HERE. We are quickly nearing the end of the 2nd trimester words, so 3rd trimester words will be coming home soon! Words for next week are OF and DID. Please continue to practice sight words at home by using the flashcards, and find them in the books you are reading nightly.
In math we have been working hard on adding and subtracting. In the near future we will be starting fact memorization, as students have shown they are ready for it. Some end of the year goals for kindergartners in math include recognizing numbers up to 20, counting to 100, and performing basic addition and subtraction operations. Keep those in mind when practicing math at home!
Thank you for all you do with your children at home. We have great families to work with! Please contact me with any questions or concerns you may have!
DON'T FORGET!
- NO SCHOOL - Monday, January 21 - MLK, Jr. Day
- BINGO Night - Friday, January 25th
Below are some pics of our new classroom!
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