Thursday, March 28

REMINDERS:
**Tomorrow is hat day!!!!!  Wear a cool, funny, cute, or crazy hat and send in a donation (up to $1) for the Edgerton Community Fund.
**I am missing several snack bags.  If your child brought home a bright green Piggly Wiggly bag, please return it to school with a healthy snack for 20 students!

This week:
We have been finishing up our Dr. Seuss unit.  We are also talking about bunnies, eggs, and chicks.  Your child brought home the Dr. Seuss journal that we have been working on this month.  Take a look through it and ask some questions about the Dr. Seuss books that we read.  In math, we have started chapter 11 which is all about addition.  We have been practicing simple addition all year, so this will be a review for us.  We are also reviewing topics such as symmetry, graphing, and patterns.  We made some fun art projects this week.  On Tuesday, we painted eggs and made them open up into either a bunny or a chick.  We made bunny bags to hold our projects from Friday.  We also printed eggs in computers.  We wrote clues for our classmates to guess whose picture and name were hidden beneath the eggs.  These turned out GREAT!!!  Some of our class' clues included "I am Irish" (Sam), "I have a lot of headbands" (Bella) and "I love horses" (Ellen).  We had a fun time reading this clues and guessing who was hiding.

We have a fun day planned for tomorrow.  In the morning, we will be joining the rest of the kindergarten classes to do fun spring projects in all the kindergarten rooms.  The projects will include a cotton ball sheep, a chick, a bunny, foil flowers, egg-dying, and some other fun things.  It is also hat day, so don't forget to wear your favorite hat.

April 2-6 is spring break.  Classes resume April 9!  Don't forget to write about your spring break in your journal and send it back to school.  We had such a fun time reading the journals from winter break.  I can't wait to hear about all the fun adventures when we get back!

After spring break, we will be starting our Mo Willems author study.  Mo is one of my VERY favorite authors.  I hope that our class enjoys his Pigeon, Piggy & Gerald, and Knuffle Bunny books as much as my kids and I do!  We have some fun projects planned to go with this unit!

Here are some pictures from some of our projects this week:

A chick in an egg

A bunny in an egg



Jelly bean patterns



Jelly bean measuring



March 23

This week we have been discussing healthy habits.  We talked about the importance of eating good foods, exercising, sleeping, brushing our teeth, and washing our hands.  You will see your child's health fact journal coming home tonight, so be sure to take a look at it and discuss it with your child!

In centers this week, we have been working on reading, making words, reviewing sight words, writing -an words, and writing sentences.  In math, we have finished chapter 10.  Chapter 11 will be on simple addition.  I have sent home a family involvement packet to work on at home!

Next week, we will be learning about eggs and doing some fun spring projects.  If you are able to donate cotton balls, google eyes, tape, staples, water bottles, jelly beans, or plastic grass please let me know as soon as possible! 

There are only 5 school days left until spring break.  I will be sending a spring break journal home next week.  Please have your child use "kid writing" to write about what you do on spring break.  Return these journals after break and we will read them in class!

March 13

We have been reading MANY Dr. Seuss books over the last two weeks.  We are having a great time with the silly characters and rhyming!  This week, we made a class book based on Dr. Seuss' One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.  Centers this week include rhyming practice, reading words, drawing, writing sentences, finding numbers on a hundreds chart, making -an words, and listening to a book on CD.  There is also a handwriting activity to go with the assigned centers. 

I have been pulling my small reading groups 3 times each week.  We are having such a great time as the stories become a little more complex and interesting.  We have read many realistic fiction books with lots of dialog.  I am so impressed with the readers in this room!  Your reading practice at home is important to our work in the classroom!

In math, we are finishing up our chapter on measurement and comparisons.  We continue to practice counting coins, telling time, graphing, and simple addition throughout the day.  We have also done some fun Dr. Seuss activities for math.  One exiting game that we will play later this week involves throwing coins onto a bullseye and adding the numbers!

Other fun events this week include a short concert by the middle school band and a trip to the high school for the FFA's petting zoo.  Playing outside has been wonderful as well with the warmer weather!  Let's hope it sticks around for a while.

Reminders:
Library books are due each Tuesday.
Check the snack calendar!
Be sure to have your child read the books in his/her reading bag each night.

Friday, March 2

This week we started our Dr. Seuss unit.  We read the books The Foot Book, 1 Fish 2 Fish, and If I Ran the Zoo.  We have spent a lot of time identifying rhyming words and coming up with our own rhymes.  We have also written story responses in our journals!  Today, we designed a new type of animal.  Some of them are very crazy!  Next week, we will be writing some details about our new animals.

In math this week, we have been practicing measurement using nonstandard units such as paperclips, feet, and cubes.  We also practiced some simple addition and subtraction and reviewed patterns and graphing. 

Our centers this week included making -at words, practicing our sight words, practicing handwriting, cooperative game activities, and reading.  We also met for our reading groups.  In every reading group, we have been reading books with the word said and talking marks ("  ").  We have been learning how to read sentences with talking marks and have been practicing the word said, even though it is not a kindergarten sight word!

Next week we will continue reading Dr. Seuss books and doing many fun activities!

February 23, 2012

We have almost finished our unit on dinosaurs and it has been a blast!  We wrote a nonfiction book about five types of dinosaurs, measured dinosaur tails, made dinosaur fossils, measured with a t-rex tooth, excavated chocolate chips from a cookie, and did many other fun activities!  I think our whole class enjoyed learning about these reptiles.

In literacy, we continue to meet several times each week for reading groups.  I am very impressed with the way our class points to words as they read, reads sight words, and uses reading clues (like looking at the picture, trying to sound out a word, or asking for help) to figure out the words they don't know.  Many reading groups are starting to read more difficult books with lots of dialog.  We have been discussing quotation or "talking" marks and have been practicing the word SAID, even though it is not on our sight word list.  Thanks you for continuing to practice reading and sight words at home with your child each night!

We started writer's workshop this week.  I showed the class how to draw a story map as a plan for writing a story.  Everyone chose a topic for their first story and drew a few details onto their maps.  Now, we have started writing one page of the book each day.  When they are finished, we will make covers for the books and publish them in our classroom library.  I am so excited to see the great ideas coming from our students!  Story writing is a fun activity to do at home as well!

In math, we have finished chapter 8 on time and money.  We will continue to review coins and telling time to the hour and half hour.  These are tricky concepts and we need to keep practicing!  Our next chapter is on measurement.  We have done lots of measuring this year already, so this will be a great review.

Next week, we will begin a month-long author study on Dr. Seuss.  I am excited to read many of his books with the class and discuss the similarities and differences between his books.  Feel free to check out some of his books from the Edgerton library and read some at home!  You will probably notice that many of his books have tons of our sight words in them, many have rhyming words, and there are lots of silly characters in his books.  We have many fun activities planned to go along with Dr. Seuss books this month.

Reminders:
*Library is every Tuesday.  Be sure your child returns his/her books on library day!
*Conferences are next Thursday.  Thursday is also an early release day for students.
*Check out the new snack calendar to see when your child should bring snack for the class!

Pictures of February projects:

T-rex noodle skeleton

Stegosaurus noodle skeleton

A bag of candy hearts written by our class!

February 8, 2012

Yesterday we learned a little about putting words into alphabetical (ABC) order.  First, our class worked together to lay out letter circles from A to Z on the carpet.  Then, we used sight word cards and placed them on the alphabet according to the letter they started with.  We used this technique to order some dinosaur words on our own!  This is a concept that you can help your child practice at home.  You can also try putting letters in ABC order!

In math, we have started learning about coins.  We talked about the penny yesterday and practiced counting pennies.  Next, we will be practicing counting by 5s (nickel).  This is a fun activity to practice at home, too!

Jacob's collection of 100 things



Anna's 100 year old self-portrait



Nicholas's writing about $100: "If I had 100 dollars I would go to Lambeau Field."



Ellen's Snowmen at Night writing: "At night my snowman sparkles."



Monday, February 6

The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy!!!  We have been busy reading all kinds of Jan Brett books, doing lots of reading and writing, and learning about polar animals.  We have learned new sight words over the last few weeks and have been practicing them every day.  Thank you for your help and continued practice at home!  Please add the words an, and, he, she, and said to the list of words you have been practicing.

Last week, we learned about Groundhog day and celebrated the 100TH DAY of SCHOOL!!!  We had so much fun doing activities with the number 100.  Highlights included the partner dot game, race to 100, comparing volume and mass of 100 things, putting our 100 collections onto our jars, taking 100 steps, and doing all the fun 100th day rotations on Friday. 

This week we are starting our unit on dinosaurs.  Today we learned about the Triceratops.  We learned that they were plant eaters, traveled in herds, had 3 horns, and they had a sharp beak.  Things to look forward to during our dinosaur unit include making fossils, measuring dinosaur "tails" and making dinosaur skeletons.  We have also started chapter 8 in our math series.  We will be learning about the penny, nickel, and dime and learning how to tell time!   These are great things to review at home with your child.

Reminders:
Preference sheets (single grade or multi-age) for those attending Community Elementary School next year need to be returned by this Wednesday.

Field Trip Money - $4.50 per student due next week Monday for our field trip to the Overture Center.

Library books need to be returned every Tuesday!