On Friday, we attended an assembly on assertion with our buddies. We learned what assertion is and some ways to be assertive (stand tall, shoulders back, look the person in the eye, use a firm but respectful voice). The high school acting group performed a couple of short skits showing what assertion looks like and the staff surprised the kids with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2NWkndNtF8
We had a ton of fun and the kids seemed to love it too!!!
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Finished Houses
Here are some pictures of the finished houses. This week we also did some math and writing with our houses. We counted and graphed the types of candies, chose the candy with the most and fewest, and added different candies together. We also wrote sentences describing our gingerbread houses. Our second grade buddies helped us with some of the math and writing on Friday!
Gingerbread Houses
We made gingerbread houses this week and painted them with shaving cream "snow." Our class thought this was amazing!! They loved finishing off their pictures with this new type of paint!
Visualizing
For the last two weeks we have been focusing on visualizing during reader's workshop. We learned that visualizing is when you make a picture in your brain based on the words the author writes. I read the story The Napping House without showing the illustrations and this is one example of what our class visualized!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Green Snack Bags
I forgot to mention that I am missing most of my green snack bags! If you have any at home, please return them. I try and send them home with your child as a reminder of his/her assigned day, but please continue to send snack even if the bag doesn't come home!
Thanks you!
Thanks you!
Saturday, November 17
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been practicing asking questions before, during, and after reading. The class seems very excited to talk to one another about the books in their book bags. They also enjoyed flagging their questions with post-its and sharing all the things they wondered about while reading.
This week we have been practicing a new sight word: IS. Please be sure to review all our sight words at home with your child. There are many ways to learn new words. Some of the things we do in class include making words with magnetic letters, play dough, and other materials, finding words around the room and in books, singing the sight word songs from Have Fun Teaching (Youtube), reading poems and predictable books with the sight words, and writing the sight words on paper, writing boards, and marker boards.
We have been spending time talking about things that we are thankful for. On Monday, look for a little book in your child's backpack about all the things they are thankful for. We also made a class recipe book that will come home on Monday. I had a great time recording each child's version of their favorite recipe. I hope you enjoy these!
This week we have been learning about the very first Thanksgiving. Ask your child about some of these words: Pilgrims, England, Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, Native Americans, and log cabins. You will see a book about the first Thanksgiving come home on Tuesday. Ask your child to tell you the story of the first Thanksgiving!
On Friday, we had two special activities in the morning. We went to the High School EPAC for the first time and got to watch a concert by the music group Break of Reality. This was a group of four cellos and one drum who play a mix of classical and rock music. The kids enjoyed clapping along to the beat! We also had a special guest (a mother of a kindergarten student) come to talk with us about the winter holiday Diwali. Each student got to make their own diyas. We will be learning more about this and other winter holidays in December and will bring home our diyas then!
Next week is a short week. We will be reviewing all our sight words and finishing up our work on Thanksgiving projects. We have a fun activity planned with other kindergarten classes on Tuesday and your child is welcome to wear his/her PAJAMAS to school on Tuesday!
I hope that you all have a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving and are able to spend time with your friends and families.
This week we have been practicing a new sight word: IS. Please be sure to review all our sight words at home with your child. There are many ways to learn new words. Some of the things we do in class include making words with magnetic letters, play dough, and other materials, finding words around the room and in books, singing the sight word songs from Have Fun Teaching (Youtube), reading poems and predictable books with the sight words, and writing the sight words on paper, writing boards, and marker boards.
We have been spending time talking about things that we are thankful for. On Monday, look for a little book in your child's backpack about all the things they are thankful for. We also made a class recipe book that will come home on Monday. I had a great time recording each child's version of their favorite recipe. I hope you enjoy these!
This week we have been learning about the very first Thanksgiving. Ask your child about some of these words: Pilgrims, England, Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, Native Americans, and log cabins. You will see a book about the first Thanksgiving come home on Tuesday. Ask your child to tell you the story of the first Thanksgiving!
On Friday, we had two special activities in the morning. We went to the High School EPAC for the first time and got to watch a concert by the music group Break of Reality. This was a group of four cellos and one drum who play a mix of classical and rock music. The kids enjoyed clapping along to the beat! We also had a special guest (a mother of a kindergarten student) come to talk with us about the winter holiday Diwali. Each student got to make their own diyas. We will be learning more about this and other winter holidays in December and will bring home our diyas then!
Next week is a short week. We will be reviewing all our sight words and finishing up our work on Thanksgiving projects. We have a fun activity planned with other kindergarten classes on Tuesday and your child is welcome to wear his/her PAJAMAS to school on Tuesday!
I hope that you all have a safe and relaxing Thanksgiving and are able to spend time with your friends and families.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Tuesday, November 6
We have been busy over the last week learning about Lois Ehlert, community helpers, and new sight words. We have been practicing all kinds of different patterns in math and have been reading, reading, reading! Last week we visited several reading and writing centers throughout the week. There are some pictures of some of the centers below!
This week, we started talking about ASKING QUESTIONS during reader's workshop. We talked about the difference between asking and telling and came up with several question words such as who, why, do, what, could, and several more!
Tomorrow we will be starting our centers for the week. Many will be the same such as reading books from the book bin drawers, reading charts and poems, practicing sight words with play dough and magnetic letters and listening to stories on CD. We will add a few new centers for the week as well. Watch for the center sheet to come home on Friday and ask your child about the centers he/she visited.
Reminders:
We will be opening the book fair next week. Our class will visit on Wednesday morning. We will make a "wish list" to take home. Then if you choose, you can visit the book fair with your child before or after your conference or you can send in money and I will send your child to the book fair to pick up the books that you choose.
Please continue to work on your turkeys at home as well as the family questionnaire. Return these and a few FAMILY PICTURES by next Monday for our project! We have received several turkeys with great disguises!!!
Remember that Parent/Teacher conferences will be held next week with an early release day for students on Tuesday. If you don't remember when your scheduled conference is, please let me know!
Last week we had a hard time with clean up. We ended up missing half of our library time on Friday and weren't able to check out new books! This week we have had a more limited amount of centers open and clean up has been going much better. Having your child help clean up and be responsible for his/her belongings at home is helpful to us here at school, too!
Here are a few pictures from this week:
This week, we started talking about ASKING QUESTIONS during reader's workshop. We talked about the difference between asking and telling and came up with several question words such as who, why, do, what, could, and several more!
Tomorrow we will be starting our centers for the week. Many will be the same such as reading books from the book bin drawers, reading charts and poems, practicing sight words with play dough and magnetic letters and listening to stories on CD. We will add a few new centers for the week as well. Watch for the center sheet to come home on Friday and ask your child about the centers he/she visited.
Reminders:
We will be opening the book fair next week. Our class will visit on Wednesday morning. We will make a "wish list" to take home. Then if you choose, you can visit the book fair with your child before or after your conference or you can send in money and I will send your child to the book fair to pick up the books that you choose.
Please continue to work on your turkeys at home as well as the family questionnaire. Return these and a few FAMILY PICTURES by next Monday for our project! We have received several turkeys with great disguises!!!
Remember that Parent/Teacher conferences will be held next week with an early release day for students on Tuesday. If you don't remember when your scheduled conference is, please let me know!
Last week we had a hard time with clean up. We ended up missing half of our library time on Friday and weren't able to check out new books! This week we have had a more limited amount of centers open and clean up has been going much better. Having your child help clean up and be responsible for his/her belongings at home is helpful to us here at school, too!
Here are a few pictures from this week:
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| The play dough center |
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| Writing word on the writing board |
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| A Lois Ehlert activity: painting with feathers |
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| Another Lois Ehlert activity: pumpkins, owls and leaves using different craft materials |
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| More Lois Ehlert activities: Leaf Projects |
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| Our November Calendar |
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