It's the end of May....already?

I don't know about you, but I feel like these past few months have flown by!

Homework This Week
Due to the holiday weekend, there is no homework this week:-)

Kindergarten Celebration
Save the date...Thursday June 27th @ 1:00 2:00pm. More details to come soon. Please note, this will be a celebration and not a graduation (no caps and gowns).

End The Year Data
As the end of the year approaches, myself and Ms. Gardner will be collecting data on the kiddos that include running records (reading levels), sight word mastery, and math skill mastery.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to begin running records with the kiddos and I cannot tell you how amazing it is to hear the kiddos reading and using their strategies....using sight words, sounding out words, using the pictures, chunking words, skipping unknown words and coming back to them later. Music to my ears......

Specials This Week and Next
Thursday: Music
Friday: Curriculum Focus

Next week-
Monday: Media/Technology
Tuesday: PE1
Wednesday:PE2
Thursday: Art
Friday: Music

Reading, Writing, And Arithmetic
In reading, we continue to work on using the above strategies to read on grade level books. In addition, we continue to work on retelling these stories character, setting, problem/solution (for fiction texts) and main idea/details, facts you have learned (for non-fiction texts). This is especially important because your child's comprehension becomes a determining factor of your child as the move up in their reading levels.  Reading at home and talking about what you read is a perfect opportunity to practice this skill.
We have finished up our 'small moments' in writing, and are moving onto investigating how an author makes their writing more interesting (author's craft).
In math, we are finishing up our unit on representing/solving and creating equations for addition/subtraction stories and will move onto measurement later next week.

On a Personal Note
I want to take a moment and thank you for letting me be apart of your child's life this year. My Dad used to say to me that children are like flowers. You give them water, sunshine, a little fertilizer and then you have to stand back and watch them bloom. And although they are not 'my kids', getting to be a 'drop of that water' in their lives and watching them bloom over these past few months has been an honor. I will miss their smiles, hugs, and excitement for learning. However, I know they are prepared and ready for first grade. And I have no doubt they will continue to grow and reveal the beauty that makes them one of a kind.

What a way to make a teacher feel appreciated!

Thank you so much for all the goodies this week. Between the cards, flowers, and goodies, I can you tell you that you all definitely know how to make a teacher feel appreciated:-)

Literacy
Writing: In writing, we continued to write about small moments. The kids wrote about a time they got hurt focusing on how they felt, what they said, and their actions. Even more, we worked on adding sentences that showed how our feeling changed from the beginning of our story, to the end.

Weekly Sight Words: what, that
These words join our other sight words from the quarter "in", "some", "your", "where". Make sure to ask your child to show you the gestures for these sight words.

Reading: We reviewed the word families -ip, -ot, and -ug that we have worked on in the past. Word families are important in that the more word families they know, the more words they can decode. Words from these word families will be going home in your child's homework this week to practice.
As always, the kids continue to make growth individually during guided reading. This week, we adding the strategy of "chunking" to determine unknown words. For example, the word "jumping", the kids would chunk the work they know 'jump' to help them figure out the word.

Math:
We continue to work on representing/solving "plus/take away stories". It is important that the kids be able to share not just the solution, but how they know how to solve it. For example, "How did you know that was a plus story? How do you know that 4 and 5 are the partners in the equation?" Research has shown that "math talk" is just as important to cementing student understanding of math concepts as being able to find the solution. 

Special Schedule for 5/13-5/17
Monday: Music
Tuesday: Curriculum Focus
Wednesday: Technology
Thursday: PE 1
Friday: PE 2

Please take a look at the important dates for May/June, as there are a lot of fun things coming up:-)

Helpful tidbits for the week...

Language Arts
Phonics- we have introduced the "-ug" word family (rug, bug, tug, lug, hug, mug, etc..) . We continue to tap and drag out words to help us figure out unknown words.
Sight words- your, where, some, in (ask them to show you the gestures for the sight words)
Writing- We are making our way back to writing 'small moments'. That is, sharing moments and/or events in our lives.  When we focused on this in the beginning fo the year, our focus was on being able to draw a picture that had details and maybe some labeling of the picture, or a perhaps even a sentence. Now, our focus is on being able to use/show talking, feelings, and actions in our pictures and our sentences. We started our first small moment stories today and they are soooo excited!

Math
We continue to work on representing and solving math stories using our strategies (ask your child what they are!), as well as writing an equation for each math story.

Early Release
Friday, May 10th @ 1:15

Specials for this week 4/29-5/3
Monday: Technology
Tuesday: PE
Wednesday: PE
Thursday: Art
Friday:  Music

Specials Schedule for next week 5/6-5/10
Monday: Curriculumn focus
Tuesday: Technology
Wednesday: PE
Thursday: PE
Friday:  Art

And we're back!

"Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to school we go. We are are learning all day long, hi ho, it's back to school we go." We are back and the kiddos have been amazing! It's like we haven't even been away for 3 weeks, they have not skipped a beat. Here's a quick low down of what we are learning this week...

Language Arts:
In writing, we have continued our unit on non fiction texts by creating an "All About School" book. The book incorporates non fiction text features we have been talking about including, sub-headings and photographs. They have had a lot of fun creating these books, since they are the experts on school. Of course, we continue to focus on using capital letters at the beginning of each sentence, spacing between words, spelling sight words correctly, using beginning, middle, and end sounds to spell unknown words, using a punctuation mark at the end of each sentence, and writing 2-3 sentences on one topic.
In reading, our skill focus is on retelling a story (have you seen a theme here?). As you can see, we are including our focus of not just reading the words, but also understanding what we have read (critical thinking skills, anyone??). This includes being able to retell the characters, setting, and problem with fiction books, and knowing the main topic and the sequence of events with non fiction text. As always, you can 'sneak' these skills in at home when you are reading to your kids.

Math:
In math, we continue to work on addition and subtraction, with this week's focus on being able to decompose numbers 7-10 using a tens frame. For example...
X X X X X
X X
We would use a 'fast 5' to count the number of Xs. "5, 6, 7). Then, we would create an equation and say
5 + 2 = 7

PTA Family Bingo Night this Thursday

Please join us for a FUN night filled with lots of prizes and chances to win BIG! You

are welcome to bring your dinner with you and eat in the Banks Road Cafeteria while

playing Bingo, and there will be drinks and snacks available to purchase.

Along with playing FREE Bingo, there will be items to be raffled off such as:

*KINDLE FIRE

*$100 Gift Card to Great Wolf Lodge

*NC Symphony Tickets

**Must be present to win!**

Raffle ticket prices: 1 for $5 or 5 for $20

Family Fancy Dance
BRES 1st Family Fancy Dance! Friday, May 24th, from 5:45pm-7:45pm. All Banks Road students are invited to come with their families to this FREE event. Come in your Sunday best to the Multi-Purpose Room and dance with your BRES family to celebrate another successful school year. Diane McKinney Photography will be on hand to take family pictures that will be available for purchase after the dance. The DJ will keep the fun going all night. Light refreshments will be available. Do not miss this exciting event which is possible due to the efforts of our teachers, staff, amazing PTA, and fantastic student council!

Quarter 3 is almost in the rear view mirror...

I can't believe it, this quarter has flown by! And in just a few days, it will be see you later quarter 3 and hello quarter 4. I feel like so much has been happening, so let me fill you in...

In language arts, we continue to focus on non-fiction text. As a class, we have talked about how fiction and non-fiction texts are alike and different. For example, fiction text has illustrations/drawings, and non-fiction text has photographs. Both, fiction and non-fiction have authors, but non-fiction text has a table of contents and a glossary. For reading strategies, we have been talking about determining the main topic of non-fiction text and identifying/sharing with others when you have learned something new from a text.

In writing, we are also focusing on non-fiction by writing about what we have learned from reading non-fiction text. This week, we are reading a book about chickens, and so far, we have learned that hens lay many eggs, mommy chickens are called hens, and that baby chicks have a tooth on their beak that they use to make their way out of the shells they are in. Some very interesting stuff, indeed.
As always, we continue to focus on using capital/lowercase letters, spacing between words, using the word wall to spell sight words, using beginning, middle, and end sounds to spell unknown words, and writing at least 2 sentences about the same topic.

In math, we continue to work on addition and subtraction stores At this point, student should be able to represent and solve addition/subtraction stories at least one for the following ways: drawing pictures, using manipulatives, acting out a story, or writing an equation.

Leprechaun Traps
Thank you, thank you for taking this 'homework' in the spirit it was intended. I know that getting projects like this can be more like homework for the parents instead of homework for your child. However, please know that this is not a grade for your child. The intention is to encourage 'problem solving' in a fun and creative way. We have talked about things that would perhaps lure a leprechaun such as gold and/or a rainbow, so have fun with it and don't stress. Most of all, your child should be excited and proud of their (not your) accomplishment.

Spring Pictures
Information went home in your child's Friday folders about Spring pictures. They will be next Tuesday, the day before we track out.

Student Led Conferences
Thank you to those of you who have already signed up for our student led conferences on April 15th. There will be 3, 10 minute rotations for each conference. Your child will be showing you what they have mastered for the following rotations: reading, writing, and math. Please note that although I will be facilitating the conferences, I will not be conferencing with you about your child. Please email me should you want to set up a parent/teacher conference at another time.

Boosterthon/Fun Run update

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Boosterthon/Fun Run on Thursday. Although it wasn't the warmest (or driest) of days, the kids had a lot of fun. And our class alone was able to raise (drum roll, please).....$1,746 in pledges. What an amazing accomplishment!!

*Note: the last day to turn in pledges in March 7th.

**Note: The kiddos chose to have one day of no homework for earning $40 a lap on the pledge-o-meter. So, for the homework that goes home today, choose one day, and make a BIG X on it. Not only will the kids love it, but it will be nice to have a day off for you, too!

What a week!

We have had such a busy week....

Language Arts- This week in reading, we have learned that good readers "STOP and THINK" about what they are reading to understand what is happening in the story. When you are reading our refrigerator homework stories, try modeling this skill by saying, "You know, I am not sure what is happening on this page. Let's stop and think about the sentence we just read, so we can understand what is happening."
We have also introduced the -ap word family. The kiddos helped come up with -ap words such as cap, sap, lap, nap, and tap. It's amazing how by just knowing a word family (-at, -ap), how many other words they can read! Please look for a corresponding word family refrigerator story coming home with your child's homework on Friday.  

In writing, we are ending our unit on "how to" writing this week with a "How To Put Together Mr. Potato Head" piece. Next week, we will begin "informational" writing. As always, we continue to work on using capital letters at the beginning of sentences, using mostly lowercase letters, spacing between words, tapping/dragging (beginning, middle, and end sounds) out unknown words to spell, and using the word wall to spell sight words.

In math, we have started representing addition/subtracting stories with pictures, manipulatives, and equations. I know I mentioned this before, but being able to see 'real' examples of addition and subtraction in their own lives really helps to develop their understanding of math.

Boosterthon/Fun Run
Thank you to everyone who has supported our Fun Run by making pledges. As of yesterday, our class was at $39 a lap. The kids have really enjoyed getting to participate in our class incentives like crazy hair day and pajama day. Don't forget tomorrow, Thursday, February 28th from 9:30-10:30 is our Fun Run. Have your kids wear their Fun Run T-shirts and wear appropriate shoes.
Parents are more than welcome to come out and support us.

Dr Seuss/Read Across America
We have been celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading Dr. Seuss books and participating in fun activities. Yesterday, we read, "Green Eggs and Ham" and made our version of green eggs and ham using applesauce, green food coloring, and Nilla Wafers.

Donations For Upcoming Activities
We have some activities coming up in the next few weeks. Please email me if you can donate any of the following:
a box of Lucky Charms, 3 bags of cotton balls, or as MANY donations of glue sticks (we really need glue sticks!).