Jan. 17, 2011
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful snow and of course the shoveling that goes along with it!
A few reminders...
*please send your child's snowpants, boots, hat, mittens (maybe an extra pair as they get very wet during first recess) and an extra pair of socks every day! They will go outside every day (if it is not below 0 degrees).
*Parent/teacher conferences are Jan. 27 and Feb. 1. You may sign up for conferences on line. Thanks to those of you who already have.
*Our Pirate/Princess day is this Thursday, Jan. 20. Your kindergartner may wear pirate or princess clothes. No weapons please.
*Our field trip to the Environmental Education building was a huge success. Thanks to Mrs. Jenkins, Mrs. Escobedo and Mrs. Eklahare who chaperoned! If anyone took pictures please send them to me electronically so that I can put them on this blog.
*Our next field trip will be in May to the zoo and all parents will be welcomed to come. We will going to see the play "Miss Nelson Is Missing" at First Stage on June 4th. I will able to take 2 chaperones.
*No school this Friday, Jan. 21. (teacher planning day)
*This week and next week the children will be on the computer participating in MAP reading and math testing in the classroom.
What we are learning:
Readers workshop-
*We reveiwed usig picture clues to help us figure out unknown words
*We reviewed using getting our mouth ready to help us figure out unknown words
*We were introduced to a chart that is in our poetty that gives us different strategies to help us figure out unknown words.
*We learned what stamina is and how we need to read the whole time during read to self time. At this time, we are trying to read 15 minutes by ourself. Our goal is to read 20 minutes by the end of the year.
*We learned about connections. We made text to self connections to the book "The Mitten" by Jan Brett and "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". We also made text to text connections with the books
"The Hat" and "The Mitten" both by Jan Brett.
*We compared and contrasted two different versions of the story "The Mitten".
*We learned the sight words "Did" and "can".
*We started to participate in literacy centers after our buddy reading time.
Writer's Workshop-
*We used to descriptive words to write about a snowman we created.
*We reviewed putting spaces between our words and using a popsicle stick to help us with this.
*We reviewed writing the sounds you hear.
*We learned that strong writers write about what they are doing and what they are going to do. We call this writing about their own lives. We are trying to practice doing this.
*We were given paper that has more lines on it so that we can write more than one idea.
Math-
*We played teen and twenty Bingo. This helped us write and recognize our "tricky teens" and our twenties.
*We solved winter story problems on the SMART board and then practiced by ourself.
*We learned what an addition, subtraction and equal sign look like and what they mean. We also practiced writing number sentences.
*We filled out a January calendar on the SMART board.
*We practiced writing our numbers by filling in the missing numbers in the snowflakes.
Science/Social Studies-
*We reviewed the five senses and the season of winter. We made a winter book about the five senses.
*We learned about the characteristics of living and nonliving. We worked with a partner to find pictures of living and nonliving things and then shared our chart with the whole group.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!
Wow! I know it has been awhile since I posted and I apologize for that. I guess the busyness of December got the better of me. I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your kindergartener and you are getting ready for a fantastic 2011! I want to thank each of you who were able to come to the Author's celebration!!!It was such a pleasure to see each of you share the Gingerbread book with your child and to play the Gingerbread games. It just warmed my heart!
Lori Marshman
****On Monday, January 10 we are going to the EB Shurts environmental education building for a field trip. In order for this to be a successful trip, I need 4 parents to come and chaperone. This would involve arriving at the EB Shurts building at 8:45 for a 15 minute training on what you will be doing and then helping the children through this field trip beginning at 9:00 until 11:15. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to chaperone. Thank you so much!!!*****
What we have been learning:
Readers workshop:
*We read many different versions of the Gingerbread Man (Girl) and talked about the different story elements including the characters, setting, and the plot. This helped us write our own version of the gingerbread man. We compared and contrasted the different versions of these stories.
*We reviewed what just right books are and how many they should read at the beginning of read to self time.
*We reviewed the strategy of looking at the first letter and then the whole word to help us figure out new words. We called this getting our mouth ready.
*We learned about identifying the beginning, middle and end of several stories.
*We introduced the reading strategy to ask the question "Does it make sense?". This helps us figure out a new word.
*We learned about rhyming words and made rhyming Rita and rhyming Roy.
*We practiced identifying how many syllables are in different words.
Writer's workshop:
*We reviewed that we need details in our pictures so that we know where we are and what you are doing.
*We reviewed getting our mouth ready to help us write new words.
*We reviewed the expectations for writer's workshop so that we were sure we were ready to begin to write our gingerbread story.
*We reviewed putting spaces between our words and we used a popsicle stick to help us with this. (A great way to also practice at home.)
*We reviewed putting ending marks in our writing.
*The biggest accomplishment was writing our first story which was our gingerbread story. The children did an amazing job and I am quite proud of how much they learned from writing their first story!
*We learned about voice bubbles and wrote about what Rudolph said.
Math:
*We continued to practice counting to 100 by ones and counting how many days we have been in school (73 so far!!!). We also started to practice counting by fives and tens.
*We learned different ways to add to five by reading Five little monkeys.
*We practiced writing our numbers by filling in the missing numbers in the number train.
*We practiced putting the numbers 1-20 in the correct order.
*We solved many holiday math story problems.
*We graphed our favorite toy by using our new SMART board. We look forward to using our SMART board much more in the new year.
*We made different holiday items using pattern blocks and then counting how many blocks we used.
*We practiced measuring different objects using unifix cubes and links.
*We played a gingerbread man game using a dice.
Project time:
*We made practiced lacing by making a holiday stocking.
*We made bells with a paper chain link so that we could countdown until our winter vacation.
*We made holiday wreaths to decorate our classroom and now your homes.
*We made our covers, our author page and our dedication pages for our gingerbread books.
*We made a rudolph to go with our rudolph voice bubble.
Important dates:
Jan. 10 Field Trip to EB Shurts environmental education building (9:00-11:15)
Jan. 21 No School-Teacher record day
Jan. 27 & Feb. 1 Parent Teacher Conferences 3:45-7:15pm
Lori Marshman
****On Monday, January 10 we are going to the EB Shurts environmental education building for a field trip. In order for this to be a successful trip, I need 4 parents to come and chaperone. This would involve arriving at the EB Shurts building at 8:45 for a 15 minute training on what you will be doing and then helping the children through this field trip beginning at 9:00 until 11:15. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to chaperone. Thank you so much!!!*****
What we have been learning:
Readers workshop:
*We read many different versions of the Gingerbread Man (Girl) and talked about the different story elements including the characters, setting, and the plot. This helped us write our own version of the gingerbread man. We compared and contrasted the different versions of these stories.
*We reviewed what just right books are and how many they should read at the beginning of read to self time.
*We reviewed the strategy of looking at the first letter and then the whole word to help us figure out new words. We called this getting our mouth ready.
*We learned about identifying the beginning, middle and end of several stories.
*We introduced the reading strategy to ask the question "Does it make sense?". This helps us figure out a new word.
*We learned about rhyming words and made rhyming Rita and rhyming Roy.
*We practiced identifying how many syllables are in different words.
Writer's workshop:
*We reviewed that we need details in our pictures so that we know where we are and what you are doing.
*We reviewed getting our mouth ready to help us write new words.
*We reviewed the expectations for writer's workshop so that we were sure we were ready to begin to write our gingerbread story.
*We reviewed putting spaces between our words and we used a popsicle stick to help us with this. (A great way to also practice at home.)
*We reviewed putting ending marks in our writing.
*The biggest accomplishment was writing our first story which was our gingerbread story. The children did an amazing job and I am quite proud of how much they learned from writing their first story!
*We learned about voice bubbles and wrote about what Rudolph said.
Math:
*We continued to practice counting to 100 by ones and counting how many days we have been in school (73 so far!!!). We also started to practice counting by fives and tens.
*We learned different ways to add to five by reading Five little monkeys.
*We practiced writing our numbers by filling in the missing numbers in the number train.
*We practiced putting the numbers 1-20 in the correct order.
*We solved many holiday math story problems.
*We graphed our favorite toy by using our new SMART board. We look forward to using our SMART board much more in the new year.
*We made different holiday items using pattern blocks and then counting how many blocks we used.
*We practiced measuring different objects using unifix cubes and links.
*We played a gingerbread man game using a dice.
Project time:
*We made practiced lacing by making a holiday stocking.
*We made bells with a paper chain link so that we could countdown until our winter vacation.
*We made holiday wreaths to decorate our classroom and now your homes.
*We made our covers, our author page and our dedication pages for our gingerbread books.
*We made a rudolph to go with our rudolph voice bubble.
Important dates:
Jan. 10 Field Trip to EB Shurts environmental education building (9:00-11:15)
Jan. 21 No School-Teacher record day
Jan. 27 & Feb. 1 Parent Teacher Conferences 3:45-7:15pm
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Nov. 29 What we are learning
Reader's Workshop:
*We read Lillly's Purple Plastic Purse and learned the importance to "check for understanding". We do this by asking the "who and what" while reading a story. This was added to our CAFE menu so it could possibly be a future reading goal for some of the children.
*We started our unit about nonfiction text. This included:
-learning the difference between fiction and non-fiction
-why we read non-fiction
-we listed what type of non-fiction books we would like to read about
-we listed what type of questions we would like to answer while reading non-fiction text
-we learned about the table of contents and that you don't have to read a non-fiction text from the beginning (Way cool!)
*We reviewed the expectations for reading to self time and buddy reading time during reader's workshop and we learned that strong readers think about how they are doing while reading. This allowed the children to individually evaluate how they are doing while reading to self and while reading with their partner. They also thought about what they need to work on.
*We read many fiction and non-fiction texts about Thanksgiving including Turkey for Dinner (one of Mrs. Marshman's favorite)
*We also read the books Bear Feels Sick & Bear Feels Scared by Karma Wilson.
*We learned about the different sizes of lower case letters. This included sorting the letters that are tall, small or have tails. This activity came home so please practice saying the letters and letter sounds with your child.
*This week we will be finishing our letter experts. Every child will have had the opportunity to be a letter expert. Thank you for your help with this activity!
*We have started to have a morning message that helps us read and write a message every morning. Every child will have a chance to be a morning message star. This child helps us with the morning message and they get to take the morning message home. Please practice reading the morning message when your child brings it home. You will notice that we circle, underline and star many different things on the morning message. This helps us learn our super words, words with different syllables, ending marks and many other concepts about reading and writing.
Writers workshop:
*We have learned that writers write more than what they like or see.
*We learned that writers write more than one idea. I ask them to tell me more.
*We learned that writers go back and add more details.
*We finished our first unit so we brainstormed a list of what we have already learned in writers workshop. Their writing samples came home with a letter explaining what they have learned so far. They have really learned a lot already!
*We learned about periods and exclamation marks.
*We brainstormed a list a possible things we could write about.
Math:
*We graphed how many boys and girls are in their family. We tallied how many moms, dads, brothers, sisters and pets are in our family.
*We solved Thanksgiving and family math story problems to help us learn our addition and subtraction.
*We tallied and counted what our favorite holiday is.
*We learned why calendar time is important and reviewed all the math concepts we learn during calendar time.
*We started to count by 10's and 5's.
*we played the game buzz to 30.
*we practiced writing our numbers to 100.
*we reviewed our shapes and what we find in our world that is those different shapes.
Social Studies/Science:
*we finished our 5 senses book. The book was sent home last week. Please read it with your child.
*Mr. Fay (Will's dad) came in to talk to us about Veteran's day and showed us some very interesting things from WWI and WWII. Thank you so much for helping us understand this important day!
*We made turkeys and wrote 4 things that we are thankful for.
*We made pictures of our house and our family so that we could learn how families are alike and different. (This will be coming home soon.)
****A special thank you to all the parents and family members who have come in so far for their child's star of the week presentation!!!!! Your child really loves when you come in and I appreciate the time you take to come and share with your child!!!! *****
*We read Lillly's Purple Plastic Purse and learned the importance to "check for understanding". We do this by asking the "who and what" while reading a story. This was added to our CAFE menu so it could possibly be a future reading goal for some of the children.
*We started our unit about nonfiction text. This included:
-learning the difference between fiction and non-fiction
-why we read non-fiction
-we listed what type of non-fiction books we would like to read about
-we listed what type of questions we would like to answer while reading non-fiction text
-we learned about the table of contents and that you don't have to read a non-fiction text from the beginning (Way cool!)
*We reviewed the expectations for reading to self time and buddy reading time during reader's workshop and we learned that strong readers think about how they are doing while reading. This allowed the children to individually evaluate how they are doing while reading to self and while reading with their partner. They also thought about what they need to work on.
*We read many fiction and non-fiction texts about Thanksgiving including Turkey for Dinner (one of Mrs. Marshman's favorite)
*We also read the books Bear Feels Sick & Bear Feels Scared by Karma Wilson.
*We learned about the different sizes of lower case letters. This included sorting the letters that are tall, small or have tails. This activity came home so please practice saying the letters and letter sounds with your child.
*This week we will be finishing our letter experts. Every child will have had the opportunity to be a letter expert. Thank you for your help with this activity!
*We have started to have a morning message that helps us read and write a message every morning. Every child will have a chance to be a morning message star. This child helps us with the morning message and they get to take the morning message home. Please practice reading the morning message when your child brings it home. You will notice that we circle, underline and star many different things on the morning message. This helps us learn our super words, words with different syllables, ending marks and many other concepts about reading and writing.
Writers workshop:
*We have learned that writers write more than what they like or see.
*We learned that writers write more than one idea. I ask them to tell me more.
*We learned that writers go back and add more details.
*We finished our first unit so we brainstormed a list of what we have already learned in writers workshop. Their writing samples came home with a letter explaining what they have learned so far. They have really learned a lot already!
*We learned about periods and exclamation marks.
*We brainstormed a list a possible things we could write about.
Math:
*We graphed how many boys and girls are in their family. We tallied how many moms, dads, brothers, sisters and pets are in our family.
*We solved Thanksgiving and family math story problems to help us learn our addition and subtraction.
*We tallied and counted what our favorite holiday is.
*We learned why calendar time is important and reviewed all the math concepts we learn during calendar time.
*We started to count by 10's and 5's.
*we played the game buzz to 30.
*we practiced writing our numbers to 100.
*we reviewed our shapes and what we find in our world that is those different shapes.
Social Studies/Science:
*we finished our 5 senses book. The book was sent home last week. Please read it with your child.
*Mr. Fay (Will's dad) came in to talk to us about Veteran's day and showed us some very interesting things from WWI and WWII. Thank you so much for helping us understand this important day!
*We made turkeys and wrote 4 things that we are thankful for.
*We made pictures of our house and our family so that we could learn how families are alike and different. (This will be coming home soon.)
****A special thank you to all the parents and family members who have come in so far for their child's star of the week presentation!!!!! Your child really loves when you come in and I appreciate the time you take to come and share with your child!!!! *****
Nov. 21 News & Updates
Dear Kindergarten Families,
Happy Soon to be Thanksgiving day!!! I am so thankful for your child and for you!!! I am thankful they are in my class and that you make education important to your child. Enjoy Thanksgiving with your family and friends!
*I want to give my apologize for the confusion on the supposed field trip to the museum. The kindergarten team had sent home a note early in the year regarding a field trip to the museum on Friday, November 19th. As you probably figured out it did not happen. Due to a curriculum change the kindergarten team decided to not go to museum but we will be scheduling a field trip to see a play at First Stage. We will keep you posted when that is scheduled.
*As a community project, all three kindergartens will be collecting winter hats, mittens, gloves and scarfs to give to children who need them this winter. If you are able to help with this community project, please send in your donations by Dec. 13th. Thank you for your generosity!
*A few weeks ago, the children made a project to help them learn the poem the Itsy Bitsy Spider and to help them learn their addresses. The project has come home so please practice having your child read the poem and say their address. An important part of being a kindergartener is knowing your address. Thank you for help with this.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Nov. 22 Buddy day in the afternoon
Nov. 24-28 No School- Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Nov. 30 End of 1st Trimester
Dec. 2 Early Release at 1:55
Dec. 10th Report Cards go home
Dec. 21 Holiday Party (more information will come soon)
Dec. 23-Jan. 2 Holiday break
Jan. 10th Field Trip to EB Shurts Environmental Education building (more information to come in Dec.) 9:00am-11:15am
Happy Soon to be Thanksgiving day!!! I am so thankful for your child and for you!!! I am thankful they are in my class and that you make education important to your child. Enjoy Thanksgiving with your family and friends!
*I want to give my apologize for the confusion on the supposed field trip to the museum. The kindergarten team had sent home a note early in the year regarding a field trip to the museum on Friday, November 19th. As you probably figured out it did not happen. Due to a curriculum change the kindergarten team decided to not go to museum but we will be scheduling a field trip to see a play at First Stage. We will keep you posted when that is scheduled.
*As a community project, all three kindergartens will be collecting winter hats, mittens, gloves and scarfs to give to children who need them this winter. If you are able to help with this community project, please send in your donations by Dec. 13th. Thank you for your generosity!
*A few weeks ago, the children made a project to help them learn the poem the Itsy Bitsy Spider and to help them learn their addresses. The project has come home so please practice having your child read the poem and say their address. An important part of being a kindergartener is knowing your address. Thank you for help with this.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Nov. 22 Buddy day in the afternoon
Nov. 24-28 No School- Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Nov. 30 End of 1st Trimester
Dec. 2 Early Release at 1:55
Dec. 10th Report Cards go home
Dec. 21 Holiday Party (more information will come soon)
Dec. 23-Jan. 2 Holiday break
Jan. 10th Field Trip to EB Shurts Environmental Education building (more information to come in Dec.) 9:00am-11:15am
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Nov. 12 Important Dates
* Nov. 11 Veteran's Day-Thanks to all who have served our country!
*Nov. 22 Buddy day in the afternoon
*Nov. 23 No library-Friday schedule
*Nov. 24-26 No School-Happy Thanksgiving!
*Nov. 22 Buddy day in the afternoon
*Nov. 23 No library-Friday schedule
*Nov. 24-26 No School-Happy Thanksgiving!
November 12th What we are learning
Reader's workshop:
*we reviewed what we do when we are buddy reading
*we learned that strong reader's make sure they understand what they read
*we learned how we find and read different "just right books" that we can put into our book baskets.
*we learned that strong readers check for understanding but asking who is in the story and what his happening while reading the story
Writer's Workshop:
*we learned to put spaces between our words so that our words don't crash
*we wrote about what we would be for Halloween
*we learned that writer's write about what they know and has happened to them or will be happening to them
*we learned we need to "Give it a go" when we try to write a new word
Math:
*we learned the game "Buzz" which helps us practice counting to 20 and counting by 5's
*we played the number race and no ones game which helps us with counting quickly
*we solved problems about leaves on trees
*we practiced creating and labeling different patterns
*we identified and sorted different shapes
Social Studies & Science:
*we learned about the season of fall by reading a fall mini book
*we started to make a fall five season book which helps us learn more about the season of fall and what the five senses are
*we are starting to learn our addresses by making a house that the Itsy Bitsy spider climbed up (we also read a story about the Itsy Bitsy spider)
*we reviewed what we do when we are buddy reading
*we learned that strong reader's make sure they understand what they read
*we learned how we find and read different "just right books" that we can put into our book baskets.
*we learned that strong readers check for understanding but asking who is in the story and what his happening while reading the story
Writer's Workshop:
*we learned to put spaces between our words so that our words don't crash
*we wrote about what we would be for Halloween
*we learned that writer's write about what they know and has happened to them or will be happening to them
*we learned we need to "Give it a go" when we try to write a new word
Math:
*we learned the game "Buzz" which helps us practice counting to 20 and counting by 5's
*we played the number race and no ones game which helps us with counting quickly
*we solved problems about leaves on trees
*we practiced creating and labeling different patterns
*we identified and sorted different shapes
Social Studies & Science:
*we learned about the season of fall by reading a fall mini book
*we started to make a fall five season book which helps us learn more about the season of fall and what the five senses are
*we are starting to learn our addresses by making a house that the Itsy Bitsy spider climbed up (we also read a story about the Itsy Bitsy spider)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Important dates & information
*We will not have library this Tuesday because we will be "pretending" it is a Thursday and go through a Thursday schedule and on Wednesday we will "pretend" it is a Friday.
*Our Halloween party & parade will be on Oct. 27th. Parents are welcome to come at 2:10 to take pictures of your child in our classroom and the parade will start at 2:30. Please send your child to school with their costume. They will have help in the afternoon to put it on.
*We will not have school on Oct. 28 & 29 and Nov. 1 due to teacher's convention.
*We will not have school on Nov. 24-26 due to Thanksgiving.
*Thanks to all of you who came to conferences!!! I enjoyed talking to each of you about your child's learning. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
*Our Halloween party & parade will be on Oct. 27th. Parents are welcome to come at 2:10 to take pictures of your child in our classroom and the parade will start at 2:30. Please send your child to school with their costume. They will have help in the afternoon to put it on.
*We will not have school on Oct. 28 & 29 and Nov. 1 due to teacher's convention.
*We will not have school on Nov. 24-26 due to Thanksgiving.
*Thanks to all of you who came to conferences!!! I enjoyed talking to each of you about your child's learning. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
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