We started a new unit this week: Friends

Reading: We will be reading What do you like?, Friends Follow Rules, The Little Red Hen and Games Around the World.

Strategies:

• Comprehension: Identifying character
• Accuracy: Identify the first sound in a word
• Fluency: Recognize upper/lower case letters and sight words
• Expanding Vocabulary: Reading from left to right, Reading from top to bottom, Read from the left page and move to the right page. Know return sweep when reading /writing a sentence

Letter of the week: Ss (Review: Aa, Mm- we also blended “a-m” to make the word “am” and now we will add “s” in front of am to make the word Sam!

Grammar: Nouns- (singular and plural) We will also listen for “s” at the end of a word to describe more than one.

Sight word: like (Review: I, can, we, the)

Writing: We will continue to practice letter formation. We will also practice making lists. We will be able to write a sentence independently using the sight words learned thus far.

Math: We will continue to practice counting 0-20. We will focus on numbers 11-20. We call these numbers tricky teens. Students will at times write number incorrectly within these numbers. Here is a chant that will help to remember writing the numbers:

1 and 1 make 11 fun,

1 and a 2 tell 12 what to do,

1 and a 3 tell 13 climb a tree,

1 and a 4 tell 14 shut the door,

1 and a 5 keep 15 alive,

1 and a 6 tell 16 pick up sticks,

1 and a 7 send 17 to heaven,

1 and a 8 makes 18 great,

1 and a 9 help 19 shine,

2 and a 0 makes 20 a hero!

We will also review patterns with shapes and other items. We will also discuss positional/prepositional words.

Science: Fall investigation. We created a thinking map of things that occur in fall. We will collect leaves and other items we find during our Fall walk. We will document our observations in our science log. We will also discuss and record our senses about the walk. What do we hear in Fall time? What do we feel in Fall time? What do we see in Fall time? What do we smell in Fall time? What do we eat in Fall time?

Social Studies: We will discuss what it means to be fair/equal. We will also discuss what a good choice is and why we established rules. We established a class slogan “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. We will continue to discuss what it means to cooperate and to work as a team.

Reminders:

• Students come home each day with a book bag. They are given leveled readers based on their level each week. I work on specific strategy goals that require your child to read and return the books daily. Please keep Ziploc bag of books in their backpacks. I have been sending home paper versions the past few weeks. You will now be noticing I will be sending home colored small books. These books will be exchanged weekly so please do not leave at home.
• You will also be receiving a note this week from the homeroom moms.
• Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.

Also……

HOWARD SCHOOL HOSTING PARENT TALK

With Margaret King Ahmed

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Classes are Friday’s at 1:30-3:00pm in Media Center

                  November 13, 20.

                  December 4, 11, 18.

                  January 8, 15.

                  Graduation January 22, 2016

Classes are provided to you for free thanks to the Bilingual Department and the Dearborn Public Schools.

We started reading buddies with Ms. Martin’s 3rd grade. The students had a great time!

Below are some pics:

🙂

-Ms. Mohamed

We discussed how shapes are all around us. We created a list of real life objects and created a pumpkin with shapes. More to come, but in the mean time, take a look: 

🙂

Hope everyone had a restful and beautiful weekend! I took my family to the pumpkin patch and picked a few pumpkins to share with my kindergarten friends. Can’t wait to see their faces!

Review week:

Theme: Families change

Reading: We will be reading stories about how people grow and change. We will compare what it was like being a baby and how it is now in kindergarten. For example: Babies need bottles and kids drink from cups.

We will be reading Peter’s chair, Family Fun, Jennifer Bing why won’t you sing, and Rooster goes to Tio’s wedding.

Letters: Review letters Aa, Mm

Sight words: Review: I, can, we, the

Writing: We will also start something called a weekend write. This is an opportunity for your child to recall their weekend and draw/write (based on their ability) about it. We will also write an opinion piece about the stories we will be reading.

Math: We are reviewing numbers 0-10. We will write and count backwards. We will also explore shapes this week. We will identify objects in real life with the shapes. If you can send in some magazines that would be great.

Science: We continue to explore the 5 senses. We have discussed touch, taste and smell last week. We will focus on hearing and sight this week. We will continue to explore the fall season. Last week, we created a thinking map with different ideas. These ideas were: hibernation, migration, leaves change colors, cooler weather, animals store food for winter and the day gets shorter and the the nights get longer (we have not talked about this one yet). I also brought in pumpkins to encourage oral language development.

Social Studies: We continue to work on Classroom Routines and Working Well With Each Other. Its all about COOPERATION and TEAM WORK!

REMINDERS

Friday, October 16th is a half day. Dismissal is at 11:45. Therefore, there will be no lunch that day.

-Ms. Mohamed

Fall season is officially here! The leaves are changing and the weather is cooler. It feels great!

We continue our unit in week 2:

Theme: Families get together-

Essential questions: What can families do together?
What are some things that you do with your family?

Reading: We will read stories: The Picnic at the Apple Park (Fiction), Night Animals (Non-fiction), Squeaky old bed (Folktale), and The Rabbit and the Coyote (Non-fiction).

C.A.F.E. Strategies:

• Comprehension-predictions, setting
• Accuracy-Rhyming, identify first sound in a word
• Fluency- recognizing upper/lower case letters, recognizing sight words
• Expanding Vocabulary- Identifying the front/back cover, know to read/write from left to right.

Letter of the week: Aa

Sight words: The, the (I, can, we)

Writing: We will be forming the letters we have learned correctly. We will also continue practicing to write a sentence using the sight words and drawing pictures.

Math: We’ll be using 10 Frames- a rectangle with 5 boxes on the top row and 5 boxes underneath. For example,  we’ll put tokens in 4 boxes and decide how many more we would need to make 10.  4 + ? = 10.

Science: We’ll be exploring the 5 Senses.  Monday we’ll start with “Touch.”  

Social Studies: We will continue to work on Classroom Routines and Working Well With Each Other.

REMINDERS- 

WEDNESDAY IS LATE START.  Students will come to school 1 hour later (9:35 am).  Dismissal is regular time (3:35).  Teachers will be in a Professional Development Meeting.

Have a wonderful week!

-Ms. Mohamed

Week of September 28th:

New literacy unit: My Family and Me

Reading: We will be reading stories such as: Whose Baby am I? The bundle of sticks and  The lioness and the Ostrich. We will also learning about poems and practicing rhyme.

Strategy:

Comprehension: Prediction

Fluency: Identifying sight words

Expanding vocabulary: Return sweep when reading/writing a sentence

Letter of the week: Mm- we will be identifying words that begin with this letter. We will practice writing, making lists and singing songs

Sight word: We, we (we will also review I, can)

Writing: We will be writing sentences using the sight word I, can, we. We will practicing the correct formation of letters left to right and top to bottom.

Math: Practice counting 0-20 orally. We will practice writing numbers 0-10. We will count forward and backward. We will also count objects and write the correct number to match. We will explore coins, height, create a graph using our birthdays and favorite apple.

Science: We will explore the season fall/autumn. We will look at different apples and explore using our 5 senses.

Social Studies: We will review procedures, rules and expectations during practice drills in case there is an emergency.

Happy Learning!

-Ms. Mohamed

September 21st was International Day of Peace!

We have started our Daily 5 structure in our classroom! Each child received a book box and it contained several books to read independently. If you would like to send in some books for your child to read at this time, you may do so. It is recommended to have books that your child is interested in. The goal for this time is to help your child be a better reader and to make reading a fun and important  part of their daily lives.

We have discussed 3 ways to read a book:

1. read the pictures
2. read the words
3. retell the story

We have also developed an I-chart that discusses their roles as a reader as well as the teacher.

Here are a few our students in action:

Happy reading 🙂

-Ms. Mohamed

We are starting our first day of full-day Kindergarten!!

This week in Kindergarten, we are in our second week of our literacy unit: Start Smart.

In…..

Reading: We will read stories called Hands Can, I can measure my self, My family, The Gingerbread Boy and Kindergarten Kids. We will discuss what we could do with our hands and other body parts. For example: I can clap with my hands, I can run/jump with my feet. etc

Sight words: Can, can- Also we will review the word I

Writing: We will write/draw using our new words I, can

Math: We will go over the calendar procedure, practice counting and one to one correspondence with numbers 1-9. We will write numbers and draw pictures to match the number. We will also create a birthday graph and sort objects based on their attributes.

Science: We will discuss what it means to be a scientist. We will discuss germs and ways to keep them away. We will practice bathroom procedures including hand washing, flushing etc.

Social Studies: We have created a set of “I can do it” rules to establish expectations in the classroom.  We will review these rules to continue the structure.

EVENTS THIS WEEK AND NEXT WEEK

• Tuesday, September 15th- Howard PTA picnic 4:30-7:00
• Thursday, September 17th- Open House 5:00-6:30
• Monday, September 21st- Picture Day
• No school-Eid Holiday- Wednesday-Friday, September 23-25
• Return to school Monday, September  28th

-Ms. Mohamed

The kindergarten children in room 2 were awesome this week! We read multiple kindergarten stories. We established “I can do it” rules. We even learned our first sight word (not letter) I. We practiced walking in line and we were able to go to our 1st special-Gym. A note came home  from our Gym teacher Mr. Haliburda. I also sent the emergency cards home. Please review and fill out any missing parts. It is both sided. Please return as soon as possible.

We will be starting a full day of kindergarten on Monday. That means lunch will be served. A lunch menu has been sent home earlier this week. PLEASE discuss with your child whether they will be eating 1st choice, 2nd choice or home lunch. I will practice this procedure in the classroom.

Also, we will be having our first Open House on Thursday, September 17, 2015 from 5:00-6:30.

Below are some pictures from our first week!

-Ms. Mohamed