Mrs Sarafa's Class Blog

What We Did During Our Week:

Language Arts and Writing: This week we focused a lot on maps – including reading an article on maps and learning how to pull evidence from the article to support our claim that ‘maps are helpful’. This is a difficult concept and they did great! As I met with small groups this week they received their retell ropes – I believe only one group left before they get theirs. Make sure your child is using this at home after reading their book. This will help build their comprehension skills. We also talked about the word chunk ‘ar’ and wrote about our star student, Rayanna!

Next week’s spelling words: yes, by, want, this, bug, hug, mug, tug, and slug.

We had a few visitors come in and read to our class for March is Reading Month – there are still some slots available if you would like to sign up to come in and read to the class! Check out our decorated door, where we are ‘getting caught in a book’.

Math: We started a new concept for the month of March – greater than and less than. We of course use the alligator analogy where the alligator wants to eat the bigger number. They are doing pretty well at writing the symbol correctly, it is the language that is more challenging. Completing the word sentence, “____ is greater than ___” or, “_____ is less than _____”. We will continue to work on this skill all month in addition to our addition and subtraction. Next week is the last addition test, +10 before moving into subtraction.

Science: We are talking about how animals interact within their environment/habit. We got to read one of our scholastic news articles about animals and plants jumping into spring! These should have come home if you’d like to read them again with your child.

Social Studies: Maps, maps, maps! In addition to reading and writing about them we got to make maps with our big buddies. Each buddy pair got to create their own map, a few of them were…Candy Land, Volcano Island, Darth Vader Island, Disney World, Poison Land, Detroit Land, and much more creative fun!

Other: Friday we got to bring our book bag and read with big buddies. 🙂

A sheet should have come home with a drawing that your child made in art class where you can purchase the artwork in different media forms…more information below:

Upcoming Events:

Spirit Week is next week!

Wednesday, March 14th – Late Start

Friday, March 16th – End of 3rd Quarter

Tomorrow we have book fair from 9:30-10:00! If you send money with your child, please put it in a ziploc bag with their name on it and how much money. Thank you! The book fair is open throughout the rest of the week as well.

Hello all!

Sorry for some confusion on the newsletter. I write the newsletters on Thursday and add the pictures on Friday. So, some of the information was wrong – we did not take our math or spelling test yet due to the snow day. We will take these on Monday. And most of my pictures are on my computer at school so I just added a few from my phone.

Sorry about that, and hope you all enjoyed the snow day! See you Monday!

What We Did During Our Week:

Language Arts and Writing: 

This week we worked on the parts of a story. We’ve discussed this before but it is always something to revisit! We talked about setting, character, problem and solution. As I meet with small groups they will be getting their own ‘retell’ rope. This will come home in their green book bags and be sure to have them go through this after reading each book! We wrote our star student books for Naba, and Hussein.

March is reading month! A calendar should have come home with different reading activities you can do with your child. There is a spirit week, so check the calendar for more information on that! We read a scholastic article on Dr. Seuss and learned about his funky style. They love getting to read these articles!

Next Week’s spelling words:

with, play, has, be, hot, not, dot, got, shot

Coming to read to our class:

Inside our pick up and drop off doors I have placed a signup for coming in to read to our class. If you would like to bring in a book and read to the class sign up on the available slots right inside the door. Only 1 parent per slot please – all slots are at 3pm. Hope to see some of you in our class to read! 🙂

Math:

This week was our last week of February math centers – new math centers to come next week! We worked on subtraction, but also number bonds. We were supposed to take our +8 test but did not due to the snow day , +9 is next week.

Social Studies: We continue to learn about maps. We read an article on maps, and were going to create a map of our own on Friday with our big buddies – but happy snow day instead!

Other: We had a pep really to get excited about March is reading month!

Wednesday was PBIS – the kids got to build castles with red solo cups.

Nice weather this meant meant some extra recess 🙂

Upcoming Events:

March 12-16  – Spirit Week

March 12: Dress like an animal with paws

March 13: Twin Day

March 14: Hat Day

March 15: Dress like a Book Character Day

March 16: Crazy Hair Day, and wear Green

March 14th – Late Start

March 30th – No School

What We Did During Our Week:

Language Arts and Writing:  This week we focused on learning the six questions words: who, what, when, where, how, and why? We practiced answering these during our read aloud time, and we played a game “guess what’s in my bag”. We also talked about a reading strategy called ‘cross checking’. With this strategy, we ask ourselves ‘does it look right, does it sound right, does it make sense?’ as we read. Students have been using this strategy during small group reading when they are having trouble with the words. We also wrote about our star students – Batoul and Naba.

Math: We did a little more practice with subtraction! We played a game called “Get off my boat!” Students walk onto my boat, we count, and then we pick how many need to walk the plank. This is a game you could play at home with the family!

Social Studies: We have started to learn about maps. We talked about map legends, as well as a compass and its’ directions. The kids are loving trying to identify which way is north, south, east, and west around the building. They got to draw a map of their bedroom.

Other: We had our Valentine’s day celebration with big buddies! They made a ‘love monster’ after we read the book. We also had our class party, where they got to….play BINGO, do a heart bean bag toss, decorate their valentine bag, and make a yogurt parfait!

Friday was the 100th day of school – they looked great! They rotated classrooms where they got to….do some exercising (100 jumping jacks, 100 push ups, etc.) finding 100 words, building with 100 different items, and finding 100 hearts hidden around the room! Friday was also an assembly: Journey to the center of the Earth!

It was a busy week – enjoy having next week off and we will see you on February 26th!

Upcoming Events:

February 19-23 – No School

February 28 – PBIS Celebration

March 14 – late start

I just want to thank all of you for your overly generous gifts yet again! I did not have time to write in my little thank you cards, but please know that I do appreciate all that you do! I am definitely going to be gaining some serious weight over our break. haha

Also, big shout out to our room moms for putting on all of our classroom parties this year – the kids had a blast today – and to everyone else for constantly asking to help in anyway. Hope you all have a wonderful valentines day, and thank you again!

Tomorrow is the last day to send in candy gram money with your child! If your child wants to send a candy gram to someone it is $1.00. Please write your child’s name on a piece of paper as well as who the candy gram is for. This way the process can move quickly and the adults know how to spell the names. Place this paper and the money in a ziploc bag.

Thanks!

This Wednesday is Valentine’s day – if you would like your child to pass out valentines we have 23 students in our class. Just have your child sign each valentine and leave the “to” section blank. This way, the students can independently pass out their valentines. We will be decorating bags as part of our party, so no need to bring in your own.

Also, the lunch menu changed for this week, here is the updated version:

Thank you!

What We Did During Our Week:

Language Arts and Writing:  This week we learned about the ‘h’ brothers. We learned about the digraphs: ch, sh, th, and wh. This are a little tricky for them, so you could definitely have conversations about these at home! While reading the books in your green book bag, have your child try and identify any words that have these beginning or ending sounds. In addition, we continue to work on comprehension. We stop every few pages when reading to check who is in our story, and what is happening. We also wrote about our star student this week, Amelia. Here are some videos we watched to introduce each digraph:

Next week’s spelling words are:

me, on, do, she, cap, map, nap, tap, and clap.

Math: We took our +5 addition test  – they all seem to be doing pretty well drawing pictures and counting how many in all! Next week’s math test is +6.

Science: We learned all about polar bears this week! A few fun facts we learned are that polar bears have webbed feet to help them swim, they love to eat seals, and their fur is actually clear – not white.

Other: We got to go to our big buddies room on Thursday and the big buddies got to read a book to their little buddy. Afterwards, they asked the kindergarten students about the setting, character, and problem and solution in the story that they heard. Big buddies help us get excited about where our reading will go!

Wednesday was an assembly about the wonders of Michigan! They got to learn about some of our famous athletes, native foods, and the great lakes.

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, February 7th – Late Start

Friday, February 16th – 100th Day Project Due

February 19th-23rd – No School, Mid Winter Break

It appears that the first few pages of this week’s homework are the same as last week – so, you may choose to do them again, or just spend some extra time with your child in their green book bags and skip those pages. Reading these books are the most important thing to do! Thanks for your understanding!

Also, our library day is on Fridays; however, we have no school this Friday and then the library is closed for the next month due to testing. Unfortunately, this means your child will have the same library book for quite some time. I do not have the power to change this, so keep reading those book bag books in the meantime.

Thank you!