Friday, December 20, 2013

The last day before winter break...in pictures

Holiday math centers....
Identifying and sorting yummy foods into 2d and 3d shapes

Using one-to-one correspondence to count the pieces of candy on gingerbread houses.
Determining the number of gingerbread men by adding.
Using numbered/colored cards to decorate gingerbread men. Then graphing the number of colored dots we had on the gingerbread men to determine what color we used the most/less. 

And in the fine motor skills department...
We practiced our fine motor skills by cutting out tricky antlers and turning ourselves into.....
                                                               Reindeer!!!

Daily 5 Reading Centers....

We used holiday candles to spell our sight words

We made presents and wrote about their color, size, and texture. These were in addition to our usually centers, listen to reading, I touches, read to self, and computers:-)

And last, but not least, our Book Buddies visited us and we read directions to make 'Reindeer Chow'.

Important Note: Daily folders did not go home today, however please check your child's backpack as their quarter 2 report card is in there.

Have a safe and happy holiday! See you in the New Year.


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Just a quick update...

We have been busy wrapping up quarter 2 objectives and completing assessments to determine the kiddos' growth over these past 9 weeks. With that in mind, I will keep this week's update brief.

Math
We have ended our unit on numbers in the teens and have started to explore 2d (square, circle, rectangle, triangle, hexagon) and 3d shapes (sphere, cylinder, cube, cone). Encourage your child to identify and describe these shapes in their environment to help support our objectives at home. Even more, have your kiddo take a picture (with your cell phone) of any of the shapes they see and email it to me. I will print out the picture and add it to our 'Shapes All Around Us' poster! Happy shape hunting....

Items Needed
For our holiday crafts
-12 clear medium sized ornaments
-12 clear medium sized ornaments
-1 bag of fake snow
Need items by 12/16

More items needed
For our unit on 2d and 3d shapes
-1 bag of round cheese balls (sphere)
-1 bag of large marshmallows (cylinder)
-1 bag of Hershey Kisses (cone)
-1 bag of cubed caramels (cube)
-1 bag of Doritos (triangle)
-1 bag of Wheat Thins (square)
-1 box of Cheerios (circle)
-1 box of Graham Crackers (rectangle)
Need by 12/16

Coming up in Quarter 3
-No More Rest Time
That's right! After track out, there will be no more rest time. So, you can keep your child's rest towel at home. 
-Mystery Reader
Do you want to volunteer in your child's classroom, but have not had the opportunity due to work, school, and/or other obligations? Well, 'Mystery Reader' is just for you. You can surprise your child by coming in to read a favorite a book to our class during our snack time. Stay tuned for more details....

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

What are we up to this week?

Introducing our Super Improver Wall 
Has your child told you about our 'Super Improver Wall'? If you have been in our classroom, you may have seen it on the wall near our cubbies. The wall has 7 different 'levels' and students must earn 10 stickers to move up to the next level.  Students can earn stickers for various reasons including, solving conflicts with friends in appropriate ways, showing kindness, working hard to master a skill, and/or helping others to master a skill. 
A letter will go home in your child's daily folder when they move up a level. Please use this opportunity to make a big deal, brag, celebrate your kiddo and encourage them to share what they did to earn the stickers😃

Language Arts
In reading this week, we continue to focus on identifying the character and setting in fiction books. We also continue to work on 
-phoneme segmentation fluency (saying all the sounds you hear in a word)
-nonsense word fluency (saying the sounds and/or made up words) 
-sight word fluency 
You can support the 3 skills above by completing our weekly reading homework and choosing a different activity each night. 

Sight Words: review week
Does your child already know all the sight words in the yellow homework packet? Are you looking for more words they can master? Please email me, and I will send home a second list. 

In writing, we continue to explore various pattern books, including pattern books with no changes (I like to... on every page) and pattern books with 1 change (I like to... on every page except the last page, I do not like...). In fact, we added a page to our pattern books from last week and made them into a pattern book with one change. Lastly, we learned about  'See Saw' pattern books, where there is a question/answer pattern on each page (What do we learn at school? We learn about math). Later on in the week, we will use our understanding of pattern books to create opinion books (I like pizza because...) where we will state our opinion, and give a reason to support it. As always, we will continue to focus on correctly forming uppercase/lowercase letters, using sight words in our writing, using spaces between words, sounding out unknown words, using a capital letter at the beginning of each sentence, using mostly lowercase letters in a sentence, and using punctuation at the end of a sentence. 

In math this week, we continue to hone in on our understanding of numbers in the teens 11-19. 
-representing teen numbers with a group of objects
-using tens frames to represent numbers in the teens, so we can determine the 'partners' for the teen numbers. 
-correctly writing numbers 11-20 
At home, have your child use their collection of Matchbox cars, Barbies, super heroes, or whatever to represent a number in the teens. Have them arrange the group using a tens frame and have them tell you the partners that make up the number. 

Thanksgiving Activities-donations needed
As part of our Thanksgiving Day unit next week, we will be focusing on long ago vs. today. To help us understand that how we get our food has changed from long ago vs. today, we will be making our own butter. To do this, we will need donations of the following:
-1 quart of heavy cream 
-6 small plastic containers (can be found at the dollar store)
-1 pack of Saltine crackers (salted)
*Please email me if you are able to donate any of the above items. All donations are needed by Tuesday*

Interims going home this week
For those of you not familiar with interims, they are mid-quarter reports letting you know how your child is progressing halfway through the quarter. These reports will be going home in your child's daily folder on Friday. Please feel free to email and/or call me should you have any questions or concerns. 





Friday, November 15, 2013

Our Writers' Celebration

A fun time was had by all during our Writers' Celebration today. The kiddos shared their favorite page from the pattern book they made this week to the class. Later, they got into groups and shared their whole book with friends. And, as an added bonus we were able to enjoy some delicious donuts for a classmate's birthday!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Halfway through the second quarter

Can you believe we are almost halfway through the second quarter? It feels like just yesterday I was meeting all the kiddos for 'Meet the Teacher', showing them where their cubbies were going to be. They have made a lot of growth from that first day and we have been working hard to master our Q2 goals.

Language Arts
In reading, we have been working on identifying the story elements (character and setting) in fiction books. Ask your child to show you our gestures for character and setting. You can support this goal by asking your child to identify the character and setting in their favorite story. Heck, you can even ask them to identify the characters/setting in their favorite TV show!
We have also been working on phoneme segmentation (being able to break a word into basic sounds) and nonsense word fluency (sounding out and reading made-up words). Your child will be assessed on these objectives at the end of the quarter with the goal for phoneme segmentation being 20 words a min and the goal for nonsense word fluency being 17 words a minute. You can support mastery of this objective by completing at least one phoneme segmentation activity and one nonsense word fluency activity a week from our reading homework. 

In Letterland this week, we got to know more about Impy Ink (that's the letter I for all you adults who have not been to Letterland) and the sound he makes. In addition, we have been using the 'roller coaster trick' (using our shoulder, elbow, and wrist) to sound out CVC (simple 3 letter words made up of a consonant letter, vowel, and consonant letter). 

Sight Words: come, from
As always, ask your child to show you our gestures for these words. As you know, the amount of sight words your child can read corresponds positively to the books they can read independently. To support this goal, ask your child to name all the sight words they can identify in a toy catalogue. If they name a specific amount (you can set an achievable goal), tell them you will put in a good word with Santa/grandma/grandpa about a special toy they want....just an idea:-) 

In writing, our focus is on creating 'pattern books'. That is, creating books that use the same language pattern (usually consisting of sight words) on each page. This week, we created books using the pattern, "I like to...".

Math
In math this week, we are working with numbers 11-20. Specifically
-identifying and correctly writing numbers 11-20
-creating groups that represent numbers 11-20 using our tens frame
For example the number 16 would be XXXXX.          XXXXX
                                                           XXXXX.          X
-decomposing numbers 11-20 into a group of ten and some extra.
For example, using the tens frame above, 16 would be 10 and 6 extra make 16 or 10 and 6 are partners that make 16. 

Homework
I apologize for not sending homework home on Friday. Although our homework doesn't officially start until Monday, I hope it did not cause any inconvenience at home. 
Also, just a quick thank you for everyone who remembers  to send in your child's HOMEWORK BAG each and every Friday. 

The Most Wonderful Volunteers 
I just want to take a moment and thank the wonderful moms who help our class each and every week. They do everything from pulling small groups of kids to help them master various skills, to doing the down and dirty job of organizing/preparing all of our 'paperwork' .
Jessica Clem- thank you for putting our homework together every week. Lord knows it is not an easy job and I am so thankful you come in every week to help. 
Meg Yancey- thank you for helping our kiddos master number recognition, number counting and all things math. Thank you also for volunteering to come in on Pumpkin Day. It literally would not have happened without you.
Stacy Kozlowski- thank you for pulling small groups and helping our kiddos master phoneme segmentation and nonsense word skills. Thank you also for coming in for our Pumkin Day. It literally would not have happened without you.
Whitney Tribble- thank you for ripping out/putting together all of the math pages for the kiddos each and every week. 
Becky Melton- thank you for keeping our parents in the loop by sharing all things PTA. 

                



Wednesday, October 30, 2013

What's Going On in Room 210?

Well, I'm glad you asked. Like I said in our last post, we are back on track and diving in head first to quarter 2.

Language Arts
In reading this week our focus is on using sights words to read texts. Sight words, or high frequency words are words that are most commonly found in texts. As many of you were able to see during our conferences, it is important that the kids can name most of the sight words on the back of our homework, in order to master the goal of reading on a level C by the end of this quarter. 

In writing, our focus has been thinking and writing like a scientist. Last week, we went on a nature walk. Using items each kiddo collected, the kids drew and wrote about each item. We focused on
-naming the object "This is a leaf"
-sharing an attribute about the object (color, shape, size, texture) "It is red"
-using a capital letter to begin each sentence
As with writing last quarter, we also continue to work on using the word wall to spell sight words, using spaces between each word, and using end punctuation.

Sight Words: said, we, in
You can support the mastery of these objectives at home by having your child identify any sight words they see in the world around them. Want to really 'ramp up' their motivation? Offer them a penny (or piece of candy) for every sight word they can correctly identify. 

Math
In math this week, we have been focusing on:
-identifying +1 (one more) and -1 (one less) patterns in numbers
Students have been creating groups that represent the numbers 1-10. The focus has been on getting them to see the pattern that each successive number is +1 more than the next number. For example, 2 is one more than 1, 3 is one more than 2, 4 is one more than 3 (and so on and so forth). Or, that 1 is one less than 2, 2 is one less than 3, 3 is one less than 4 (and so on and so forth).
-comparing numerals
In quarter 1, we focused on comparing groups of numbers. That is, a group of 3 birds vs a group of 5 birds. We used the words more, less, or equal to compare the groups of birds. In quarter 2, we are comparing just the numerals. For example, which is more 7 or 5? You can support your child at home by asking them to compare numbers found at your home (use the numbers on the oven clock, numbers in your address, numbers on a price tag) and ask them which one of these numbers is More? Less? Equal? Play the card game (you can use UNO cards that just have the number, but it is not necessary) "War", where each player outs down a card and whoever has more gets both cards.

Homework
You may have noticed that the reading homework has changed for this quarter. Again, the activities listed are specific to your child's needs, with a book that is also suited to your child's reading level. I have had some parents share that their child completes the 'packet' of homework in one night, which is fine. However, I do ask that one reading activity be completed each night. The reading activities listed are goals that your child will be assessed on at the end of the quarter. They are:
-first sound fluency (if applicable)
-reading behaviors (if applicable)
-95% mastery of a level C book
-nonsense word fluency (being able to sound out and say nonsense words)
-phoneme segmentation fluency (being able to break up words into individual sounds)
FYI....
*I will be adding a new website/activity choice for your child to practice their sight words.
www.spellingcity.com
Click on 
-find a list 
-Type in my name (Shannon McGarry)
-Click on my name (it is listed under Lincoln Heights Elementary)
-Click on quarter 1 or quarter 2 sight words
-Click on games. 
-choose any of the following games (spelling test me, hang mouse, spelling teach me, missing letter, or audio word matching. I would start with audio word matching) 
Wallah! Your child has fun and gets to practice their sight word mastery! 







Thursday, October 24, 2013

And We're Back!

And we're back! The first week of quarter 2 has gone smoothly with the kiddos having all the routines and procedures that were a large part of quarter 1, already under their belt. With that confidence in mind, we are 'kicking it up a notch' and diving into our Daily 5 reading structure. For those of you who didn't read my earlier post, they are:
-Read to self/read to someone
-Listen to reading
-Word work
-Write about reading
-Guided reading 
As I have told the kiddos, all of these centers help them become better readers. In fact, we took a poll today and the kids said they felt smarter after going to their Daily 5 centers. With excitement like that, you can't not help love the little ones ;-) 

Report Cards
Report cards will be going home on Friday. If we have already met for a parent/teacher conference, I have already shared with you if your child is on grade level (level 3) in reading, writing, and math. I have also shared if there are any areas your child needs to work on. Your child's report card should be reflective of what I shared during our conference. Please do not hesitate to call or email should you have any questions or concerns. 
*NOTE: Please excuse any punctuation/formatting errors in the 'comment' section of the report cards. The new report card program did not reflect the comments as the bullet points that I had initially written. 




Friday, October 18, 2013

Welcome Back!

Welcome back! It has been great to be able to meet with you all for our parent conferences. I have really enjoyed being able to share the growth your children have made this first quarter. Many of you have shared how the kiddos have demonstrated their mastery of our objectives at home by identifying sight words, sounding out words, and even showing off their math skills. I can't tell you how much that warms the teacher part of my heart:-)

We have some activities for Spirit Week this week that the kids will love.
Monday- dress up as your favorite character from a book
Tuesday- career day dress up
Wednesday- pj day

Field Trip
We are going to Smith's Nursery, Monday, October 28th. If you are planning to chaperone, please be at the school by 9:15. We will leave at 9:30 and chaperones may follow the bus or you may meet us there. 
If you have not already signed and returned your child's field trip form/money please do so ASAP:-)

* We will need 2 large rolling coolers to put the kiddos lunches in. If you are able to lend us a cooler for the day, please email me.



Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Track Out Here We Come...

Just a few more days and the end of the first quarter will be here!

Introducing the Daily 5
For the past few weeks, I have been slowly introducing our Daily 5 reading structure to the kiddos. Not familiar with the Daily 5? The Daily 5 is a structure that allows students to work on 5 components that will contribute mastering the end of year goal of reading on a level D. They include:
-Word Work
Students work in various ways with our sight words to help them improve their sight word mastery. Sight words (high frequency words) are common words that are found in the majority of texts. In order to master the end of the year goal of reading on a level D, students should be able to identify around 30-35 sight words by the end of the year.
-Writing
Students use their understanding of letters/sounds to create pieces of writing and convey their ideas. Generally, the writing prompts in this center are reflective of the writing genre we are currently learning about. For example, if we are working on opinion writing, then the activities in the writing center will ask them to share their opinion about a topic (Would you rather have a pet horse or a pet pig?) Again, the more a student uses their understanding of letters/sounds to create a pice of writing, the more likely they will be to master the end of the year reading goal of reading on a level D. 
-Listen to Reading
Did you know that when a child listens to fluent reading, that it actually helps with their own reading? Well, that's where listen to reading comes in. In this center, students listen to a story on CD or tape (remember them, lol?) fluently and with expression. So, hearing a person read fluently/with expression will help the kiddos understand how their reading should sound when they are reading. Again, this supports the end of the year goal of students reading on a level D. 
-Read to self/Read to someone
You know the saying, practice makes perfect. The more you read, the better they will get. At this center, the kids will have the opportunity to use their strategies such as using the picture/first letter of a word to determine unknown words, sounding out unknown words, opportunities to see (and master) sight words, etc...
-Reading with the Teacher
In this group, students will be pulled to work with me in small groups based on their reading needs for more strategic intervention.

As you can see, all of these centers are geared towards making the most of your child's time during our literacy block. The goal being having all the kiddos reading on a level D by the end of the year. 

So far, I have only I introduced the kiddos to word work, writing, and listen to reading. We will add read to self/read to someone when we come back from track out. 

Want to help support these goals during track out or just keep your little one busy for a bit? Read to your child. Have your child read to you, or a sibling, or a grandparent. Go to www.storybookonline.com and have them listen to a story. Have them play 'HORSE' (the basketball game) using sight words. Have them use their clothes (or stuffed animals) and spell out sight words (or other words that are easily sounded out cat, rat, mat, etc...). Ask them to look over a cookie recipe and if they can find 4 or more sight words, they get to make the cookies (learning and yummy goodness all in one!). Have your child help make some cookies and write/draw about their favorite part. The possibilities are endless:-) 

Math
In math, we are continuing to work on solidifying our understanding of using a 5 fame to represent numbers 6-10. For example,  XXXXX.     XXX
Instead of counting starting from 1, 2, 3...they would count on from 5 saying "5, 6, 7, 8. there are 8 x's". 
In addition, we have been using the 5 frame to look at the partners of the numbers 6-10. Using the example above, we would say 5 and 3 are partners that make 8. 

Gift Card Basket/Fall Festival
Thank to everyone who has so kindly donated gift cards for our gift card basket. This basket will be auctioned off on Friday during the Fall Festival with ALL of the proceeds going to our grade level. It means a lot that you, as parents have gone out of your way to help our kindergarten team get the most money we can for our grade level. 

Conferences
Thank you to everyone who have signed up for quarter 1 conferences. I look forward to meeting with you and sharing your child's progress this quarter. Please email me if the dates provided do not work for you. I'm sure we will be able to determine a date/time that works for everyone. 

Homework 
There will be no homework over track out (which means a break for you, too. YAY!) See above for fun ways to work on school objectives at home.
I do have a quick request though. Please return the clear plastic bag and book to school each Friday (the large yellow envelope is not needed). The kids will add the small books from their homework to their good fit bags. 

Change of Clothes Going Back Home
I will be sending your child's change of clothes (that you sent to school in August) home on Friday. Upon tracking in, please send in a change of that are reflective of the cooler whether that we will have in the fall. 


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Since it is the end of the quarter, I have been completing quite a bit of assessments to determine the growth that the kiddos have made from that very first day (half-day) in August. And I must say, it is so amazing to see the growth the kids can make in just 9 weeks. From oral counting, identifying letters/sounds, reading behaviors, identifying the first sound in a word, and identifying parts of a book....WOW! WOW! WOW! 
I hope you too, have been able to see evidence of how much they have grown acedmically/socially. 

Okay, now on to the nitty gritty. 

Language Arts
This week in reading, our focus is marking part of a story, so we can go back and talk about it after reading. This also links to our speaking and listening goals, as being able to share our ideas orally (and listen to others share their ideas) is very important. At home, you can share with your child their favorite part of a book (while they listen) and then have them share their favorite part. Make sure to have the kiddos explain WHY it is their favorite part. 

In writing, we continue to work on using a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to convey our ideas and thoughts. We have also continued to write words we do not know how to spell by stretching them out to hear their  beginning, middle, and end sounds. Ask your child for some 'help' in spelling words like, cat, hat, or mat! 

We continue to use Letterland to address our foundational skills (letter formation, letter identification, and letter sounds). This week, we met 'Mr. A' (long vowel A, who appears I words like acorn). We also delved into Dippy Duck (the letter D). The kiddos were even able to generate 52 (a class record) 'D words' today. They were so proud of themselves:-)

Math
In math this week, we have introduced counting on from 5. That is, instead of using one to one correspondance to count each object starting at one, the students use a 5-group and count on to six, seven, eight, etc... For example,    X X X X X.       X X      
Instead of counting each object individually, we would circle the group of 5 and say, "Five, six, seven. 
There are 7 x's". 
It is very important that students have a solid understanding of this concept, as we will build on it when we begin to add numbers. 

Apple Day
Part 1 of Apple Day went well. Today, we taste tested red, yellow, and green apples. The red apples came in first as our favorite, followed closely by green apples, then with only 1 vote, yellow apples. Together, we also made apple sauce. We then invited our book buddies from Mrs.Vaughn's class to share our applesauce and read our books together. A fun afternoon was had by all:-)

Report Cards
As you may or may not know, there have been technical difficulties with our new report cards. Due to this, report cards have been pushed back to October 25th. However, you will not have to wait until then to hear about your child's progress, as I will be holding teacher/parent conferences during my work days in October. Please see below for more information. 

Fall Festival Auction Baskets
Don't forget our Fall Festival Auction baskets. Our theme for the basket is 'gift cards'. We are looking for contributions of gift cards in any amount $2, $5, $10, or more. Our basket will be auctioned off to the highest bidder with the proceeds going to our grade level. 

Conferences
I will be holding conferences October 17th and 18th. To sign up, please go to www.signupgenius.com . Click on "Find a Sign Up". Put in my email address smcgarry@wcpss.net and whallah! you will be connected to my quarter 1 conference page. Please email me should you have any questions or concerns. 



Friday, September 6, 2013

Book Picnic With Our Book Buddies


It was a perfect day for a 'book picnic' with our 2nd grade Book Buddies. The kiddos had a BLAST! 

*If I have accidentally added your child's photo to our website and you do not wish your child's photo to be published, please email me and I will delete it immediately*





Don't Forget Spirit Week this upcoming week
-Monday: Hat Day
-Tuesday: Dress to Impress
-Wednesday: Patriot Day
-Thursday: Wacky Tacky Day
-Friday: Spirit Day
*Our Coin Drive will be going on all week. Send in any spare change you have. ALL the proceeds will go to our grade level:-) 

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Such a short week....

I loved having Monday off, but Wednesday snuck up on me so quickly! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. We began our weekend enjoying a family movie night complete with a 'carpet picnic' with popcorn and other goodies. We ended the weekend with a trip to the water park which was a perfect way to say goodbye to the summer. Bring on the cool weather and pumpkin everything! Now onto our class 'business'.....

Language Arts

Reading
This week in reading, our comprehension focus is understanding how the illustrations in books relate to the words that are written. We have been practicing sharing out which part of the story is illustrated on the page we have just read. For example when we were reading "Mrs. Smith's Incredible Storybook" we shared out that one of the illustrations showed the part of the story when Mrs. Smith closed the book and all of the characters whooshed back into the book. Of course, we continue to work on print concepts (title, front cover, back cover, title page), identifying rhyming words, and understanding why we read fiction (for fun) and non-fiction texts (to learn). 

Letterland/Foundational Skills
We are continuing to address our phonics objectives (identifying letters/sounds and understanding how they work together) with our Letterland program. We are finishing up our introduction to our Letterland friends this week (we met Yellow Yo-yo Man and Zig Zig Zebra yesterday) and will begin a more indepth exploration of our friends and their sounds later on in the week. 

Writing
In writing, we are continuing to focus communicating our ideas/thoughts with a combination of pictures, labeling, and sentences. 

Sight Words
Our new sight words is week are: This, is, my
Ask your child what the gestures are for these words and challenge them to identify these words in books and other real world examples.

Math
In math this week, we have been talking about how two groups of numbers can be equal even if they arranged in different ways. For example, a group of 8 can be arranged in a line or scattered, yet both groups are equal. We used our knowledge of one-to-one correspondence (touch counting) to count each group, ensuring that indeed they were groups of 8. Lastly, we talked about how to keep track of items that we are counting (especially if it is scattered). We decided that making a mark (we used a pencil) on the item that we counted helps us to keep track of what item we counted (and not accidentally double-count). 

Homework
Homework will be going home for the first time on Friday. You will find a large yellow envelope with a parent letter on the front that explains how our class homework will work for the remainder of the year. Inside the envelope, you will find the weekly homework assignments/materials. Please know that your child's reading homework is a direct reflection of their specific assessment data, and is intended to support your child in mastering quarterly goals. The homework envelope is should be returned the following Friday with the completed work inside. Please email me should you have any questions

What Does This Paper With Assessment Information Mean?
On Friday, you will find a form sharing some of your child's assessment data from "mClass" in your child's Friday folder. "mClass" is one of the resources we use to collect data during 'Staggered Entry' at the beginning of August.
Some of this data includes:
-Letter Naming Fluency (how many letters can a student correctly identify in a minute)
-First Letter Sound Fluency (identify the first sound in a word such as moon)
-Reading Behaviors (using one to one correspondance while reading, identify the title, maintain the language pattern when reading, use the picture support to help with unknown words)
I have previously sent home the results of other data taken during this time, which should be reflected in the form going home on Friday. Please call or email me should you have any questions or concerns. 

Good Fit Bags
Now that we have started homework, your child will need a 'Good Fit Bag'. What is a 'Good Fit Bag', you ask? It is a sturdy bag that students will use to store books that are on their reading level for the duration of the year. I find that the medium sized reusable shopping bags work well, and can stand up to the wear and tear of the year. To get the kids excited, you may want to have them decorate their bags (it is totally up to you). Please turn in the bags by next Friday, September 13th

Thank You
Thank you to Mrs.Riggs and Ms. Kozlowski for sending in goodies for our custodians for 'Custodian Appreciation Week'. You still have time to send in a snack if you want, as we are giving our goodie basket to them on Friday.
A BIG thank you to Ms.Tribble (ripping out our math pages), Mrs. Clem (putting together our homework), and Mrs. Melton (putting together our class directory) for helping out our class. I literally could not do it without you:-) 

Don't Forget
-This Friday: Spirit Day and our Coin Drive begins
-This Saturday: 'Beautification Day' from 9am-12pm. Come out and help make Banks Road look it's best! Any student/family who helps out will earn a 'Compass Coin' for their class
-Next Week: Spirit Week (see the previous post for each day's special activity)

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Can you believe we have been in school for almost a month? It seems like the time has flown by! In just a few weeks, we will have the first quarter under our belts.

Language Arts
In reading this week, our new focus is sharing our our thoughts with our partners. For example, this week, I have had the kiddos share out if they liked reading our non-fiction book (Wombats) or fiction book (Batter Up, Wombat). Sharing our thoughts and ideas (across all subjects areas) not only helps solidify our understanding of concepts, but also gives students an opportunity speaking and listening, which are part of our curriculum. We have also been working on our reading behaviors (what you do when you read a book) such as one to one correspondence (pointing to each word as it is read), return sweep, using the pictures and using beginning letter/sound to determine unknown words
Of course,  We continue to work on identifying parts of a book (title, front cover, back cover, and title page), understanding what an author and illustrator do, and identifying rhyming words.
Any of these objectives can be 'snuck in' during bedtime when you are reading you with little guy or girl.

In writing, our focus has been on adding details to our illustrations that help the reader understand more about what we are sharing. For example, I used an illustration of an ice cream cone from last week (from our "I like" sentences) and added details such as tables, myself, the sun, and some grass to show the kids that I like eating ice cream outside at Sunni Skies.
We continue to work on labeling our pictures, creating sentences that use sight words, using spaces between our word, and using a period at the end of our sentences.

In Letterland, we are introducing letters q-z. Ask your child what sound 'Quarrelsome Queen' or 'Talking Tess' makes. Challenge your child to come up things that each character might like (the characters like things that begin with their corresponding letter and sound). For example, do you think 'Talking Tess' likes telephones (yes)? What about dogs (no).

Sight Words
We have started to introduce sight words in our class. Sight words (or high frequency words) are common words that are found in most texts. Knowing this, it makes sense for students to be able to identify these important words. So far, we have introduced the words "I", "like", "see", "a". Encourage your little ones to point out and say these words wherever they may see them.
Also, ask your child to show you the gestures for these words.

Math
In math, we continue to work with numbers 1-10
-identifying numbers 1-10
-counting orally 1-10
-creating groups that represent 1-10
-writing numbers 1-10
We have also started to compare groups of numbers and using using words like more, less, and equal.
Ask your child to share with you our gestures for these words. At home you can support the development of this vocabulary/concept by asking questions like, "Do we have more girls or boys in our family? How do you know? " You can even have them use their toys to determine if they have more (or less) red cars or blue cars. The possibilities are endless!

A little bit about gestures...
In our class, I present concepts, especially vocabulary in multiple ways including:
-visually with a picture representation
-orally, so students hear the vocabulary word
-I have them repeat/say the word
-associating a gesture to accompany the vocabulary word
Research has shown that presenting concepts in multiple ways helps increase mastery/understanding, especially in young children. So......long story short, encourage your kids to use their gestures. It really does make a difference :-)

Custodian Appreciation Week
Custodian Appreciation week is next week. Kindergarten will be creating 'snack baskets' for our hard working custodians. They do a lot to keep our classrooms, bathrooms, water fountains, and hallways nice and clean for the us. If  you would like to contribute any snacks (chips, soda, candy) , it would be greatly appreciated.

At Home Volunteer Opportunity
I am looking for a parent who is willing to take home our math workbooks and rip out pages each week for our class. The books would stay with you at home until the reminder of the school year. please email me if you are interested.

Scholastic News contributions
Scholastic news is a wonderful newspaper for kids that kindergarten uses to address in our science and social studies curriculum. If you would like to contribute to help make sure we, as a grade level can continue to use this resource, please send a check or cash for $6 to school.

School Happenings and Reminders...
-No School Monday, 9/2
-Spirit Week is scheduled for September 6th-13th. 
-9/6 Spirit Day (wear Banks Rd shirt or blue/green)
-9/9 Hat Day (any type of hat)
-9/10 Dress to Impress Day (how good can you look?)
9/11 Patriot Day (wear red/white/blue)
9/12 Wacky Tacky Day (how crazy can you dress?)
9/13Spirit Day (wear Banks Rd shirt or blue/green)
-We will also have a Coin Drive going on during Spirit Week, so bring in any loose change. The overall class that raises the most money will win a Pizza Party. The winner of each Track will have a Popcorn Party. All money raised will go into the Grade Level Fund and used towards field trips, magazine subscriptions, classroom supplies, etc.
9/13 Homework will go home in your child's "Daily Folder"
 
So, thats's it! A little slice of our lives in kindergarten in a (sort of) nutshell. As always, please do not hesitate to email or call should you have any questions or concerns.
Have a safe and relaxing Labor Day!


Monday, August 19, 2013

What are we up to this week?

Language Arts
Reading-
Our focus this week is determining a purpose for reading. Today, we learned the word fiction (ask your child for the gesture) and found out that we read fiction, or make believe stories to have fun.
Later on this week, I will introduce the word non-fiction, and we will learn that we read non-fiction text to learn more about a topic.
We also continue to work on recognizing rhyming words and understanding print concepts such as
 title, author, illustrator, title page, and front cover.
Want to 'sneak' in some teachable moments at home? Go to the library (or you may already have some at home) and check our some fiction and non-fiction books. Talk about how you are so excited to learn more about x,y,or z from said non-fiction book. Or, how you think it's going to be so much fun to find out what x,y,z character does in said fiction book. While you are are at, ask your child to point out the title, title page and front cover. Ask them to tell you what the author and illustrator does in a book.  
Too tired to read your your little one? Have them go online and listen to a fiction/non-fiction book. It's still counts as exposure to different types of texts. I promise, I won't tell anyone lol:-)

Letterland/Foundational Skills:
We continue to work on our foundational skills through our Letterland program. This week we will meet some new friends (letters k-p) and found out what sounds they make.
Want to 'sneak' in some teachable moments at home? Letterland also exposes the kiddos to vocabulary that corresponds to the sound that each letter makes. For example, "Jumping Jim" likes jig-saw puzzles, juice, and jackets. See if you can challenge your child to find more words/things that the letterland characters like. For example, "Do you think Bouncing Ben likes bikes? Do you think he likes zebras?"

In writing this week, we continue to work on creating and labeling our drawings to share our thoughts and ideas. You may have had a chance to look over one of your child's drawings with labeling, that was sent home in your child's daily folder on Friday.  I attached a rubric to their drawing (the score was NOT added to my grade book) so you, the parent, could see what the end of quarter expectations are, and where your child is currently at.
This week, we  are introducing the concept of creating a sentence to go along with our drawings. We have talked about how in a sentence, the words are separated by spaces. Ask your child about the "space men" we used to make sure our words had spaces between them. 

Math
In math, we continue to work on:
-orally counting to 30 (the end of year expectation is orally counting to 100).
-recognizing and writing numbers 1-10
-representing groups of numbers 1-10 with drawings
-counting objects up to 10 with one-to-one correspondence
One-to-one correspondence is also known as 'touch counting'. Ask your child to show you what one-to-one correspondence means.
Want to 'sneak' in some teachable moments at home (and even get a few minutes to yourself?) Click on the link below and have your child sing our numbers song, they LOVE it!! Don't worry if they can't count to 100. For now, have them focus on orally counting from 1-30. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0dJWfQHF8Y
Give your child some play-doh and have them:
-make a number with play-doh. For example, can you make the number 1 with the play-doh? What about the number 3?
-represent a given number with playdoh. For example, can you make a group of 4 snakes? What about a group of 8 soccer balls? Then, have them use one-to-one correspondance (touch counting) to count the objects.




Friday, August 16, 2013

It's Friday!!!

Week 2 is down in the books....
The kiddos are really getting the hang of our procedures, rules, and expectations and we are beginning to make our way towards mastering our quarter 1 goals. Don't forget to look in your child's 'Daily Folder' sometime this weekend. In it, you'll find your child's letter and sound identification and reading behavior results from staggered entry in July. In addition, you'll find the quarter 1 objectives to see where your child needs to progress in order to earn a level 3 this quarter. As always, do not hesitate to call or email should you have any questions or concerns.
I also want to note that the results do not always reflect where a child is at academically. Parents in the past have mentioned things like, but my child knows x,y,z (or whatever objectives I happen to be sharing). Please know that meeting your child for 1/2 day does not always represent their full understanding of the concepts assessed. What is more important is your child making progress and eventually mastering the objectives at the end of each quarter. Again, please do not hesitate to email or call me should you have any questions.

Open House
Thank you to everyone who took time out of their evenings to come to our open house. I hope you left having a better idea of what the curriculum expectations are, as well as what a day in kindergarten looks like. Please do not hesitate to email or call should you have any questions.
If you unable to make it last night, I sent home an abbreviated version of our curriculum for you.

Me Bags
The 'Me Bags' went over great. Not only did the kiddos get to share a little bit about themselves, but they also got to see what they had in common with the other kids in our class.

Box Tops
Have you seen the 'Box Top' labels on many of your child's favorite foods? Did you know that just by cutting them out and sending them in, you can help raise money for our school? Just grab a zip lock and fill up a bag. When it's full, send it in to our class. Its that easy!

Technical Difficulties...
Thank you to Kacey's mom for letting me know the specials rotation was not on the right hand side of my blog. Although it shows up on my dashboard, for some reason, it does not show up for you guys. So.....here it is:-)
Monday- Technology
Tuesday-Media
Wednesday-Art
Thursday- PE
Friday- Music



Wednesday, August 14, 2013

What are we working on this week?

Literacy:
In reading this week, we are identifying rhyming words in nursery rhymes, books, and poems. Ask your child to show you the gesture we use for 'rhyme'.

Has your child told you about our imaginary place called Letterland? Everyday, our class goes to
Letterland. There, we get to meet some very special friends (Annie Apple, Bouncing Ben, Clever Cat, and Dippy Duck). The kiddos know that most grown ups don't see these friends hiding in the letters that grown ups know as A, B, C, and D they only come out when we are in Letterland. Want to know more? Ask your child what new friends we have met this week and what sound they make.

In writing, we continue to work on using a combination of drawing and dictating to represent our ideas/thoughts. This week, we have introduced the concept of labeling our drawings. Want to support this at home? Have your child draw a picture of something they like to do. Encourage them to label as much as they can in the picture with at least the first letter sound. Can your child sound out the first and last sound of what they are labeling? Even better!

Math:
In math this week, we are working with numbers 1-10. We have worked on identifying these numbers and making groups (for example, making a group of 5 circles to represent the number 5) that represent each number. Want to sneak in some practice without the kids even knowing? Challenge them to find a specific number around the house (or wherever you may be...for example, can you find the number 5 in the kitchen?). Encourage them to find groups of 1-10 (for example, that's a group of 4 plates). See...sneaking in practice and they won't even know it:-)

In other classroom news.....

Open House Reminder
Open House is tomorrow from 6-7:30
Principals Presentation 6:00-6:30 in the multi-purpose room (gym)
Session 1 Open House: 6:30-7:00
Session 2 Open House: 7:00-7:30

Staggered Entry results and Quarter 1 Benchmarks:
As you may remember in the last week of July, you brought your child to school for a 1/2 day where myself and other staff members completed an array of assessments on your child (fine/gross motor skills, math skills, letter naming/letter sounds, reading behaviors, etc..). On Friday, a paper will go home in your child's daily folder to share with you these results for letter naming/letter sounds and reading behaviors.
On that same page, you will see that I have shared with you the 'End of Quarter 1 Benchmarks' for reading and writing that your child is expected to meet in order to be considered on grade level by the end of September. Please know that Ms. Cassidy (our teacher assistant) and I are working diligently each day to ensure your child meets these goals. The information is sent home in an effort to keep parents informed of our academic goals. However, any support you can provide at home is greatly appreciated. Please do not hesitate to email me should you have any questions or concerns.

Picture Day
Picture day is Wednesday, August 21st. Please be on the lookout for information regarding this in your child's daily folder this week.

Early Release
We have an early release day next Friday, August 23. Dismissal will begin at 1:15pm for all carpoolers and bus riders.

For School Updates and Information
Want to know about upcoming events/information in our school? Click on the link below to access the Banks Road Elementary website.
http://banksroades.wcpss.net/