As of today, we have completed the first semester of Kindergarten.  Didn’t that go quickly?

Here are a few things for next week…

JANUARY BOOK-IT CALENDARS are due on Monday, 2/1/16.  Remember that Book Titles need to be recorded on the back of the calendar, not just the date colored in on the front.

Second Semester will bring WEEKLY SPELLING TESTS.  I will post the words each week and the tests will be on Fridays.  Our first Spelling Test will be February 5, 2016.  Of course, we will begin with an easy start.  🙂  To give the students a chance to practice the words, you can go to SpellingCity.com and find my list.

Since we will be working with the “at” family, the words will be   mat    hat   flat   the  you  for

I will choose some words from a word family (this week is the “at” family), one word will have a blend at the beginning (“flat”), and the remaining words will be sight words (words that they should know by heart).

Today we worked with ten rods and ones’ cubes.  I told them to make different numbers with the rods and cubes. …

After working with the rods and cubes, I gave them this worksheet.  They seem to really understand the concept of place value when they used the manipulatives (rods and cubes), but had difficulty when it came to seeing things on paper.  Take a few minutes and explore this with your child.

We also worked with the penny today.  Monday will be the nickel.  (That’s why I’ve been working with them on counting by 5″s…for counting nickels and for counting by 5 minutes on a clock.)

I think that’s all for now.

Mrs. Smith

“If you have to choose between being kind or being right,

 choose being kind and you will always be right.”

We will move on to Week 2 of our NEIGHBORHOOD unit.  This week’s theme is People and Places.

We’ll read a story called Bus Stops.

COMPREHENSION:

STRATEGY-Summarize

SKILL-Identify Main Idea and Details

WORDS- For  for   You  you

LETTER- D  d

WRITING-Directions    First, Next Last   We’ll make a book about First  Next  Last.

MATH-We will continue to work on “tens and ones.”

For example, “16  is _?__tens and ___?__ones.   16 is  1  10  and 6 ones.”

“10 is 1 10 and 0 ones.”

SOCIAL STUDIES-Map making!  Yesterday we made a map of our classroom and it turned out great!  In fact, they did such a wonderful job on following my directions and using the Compass Rose, that I told them I wanted to keep them for a few days.  We even made desks for each student and labeled the desks with initials.  Lots of math with this map making.

SCIENCE-We will work with PHYSICAL SCIENCE.  We’ll start with Landforms (mountains and rivers).  They will be working in groups to create a map of a town and we will add things to the “neighborhood” each day.  Monday we will create the streets and add houses.  Tuesday we’ll add some Neighborhood Features (Police station, Firehouse, etc), Wednesday we’ll add on Landforms, and I’ll see what else they will want to add on Thursday/Friday.

Look who is 6 years old today…Khalil Mosallam!

Remember Half Day tomorrow, Friday, 1/29  11:45 Dismissal

Have a good weekend!

Mrs. Smith

“Don’t let anyone rent space in your head, unless they’re a good tenant.”

We will finish up our unit and project about Endangered Animals.  I have noticed how interested the students are with gathering information on the animals and then using that information to complete their project poster about one of the animals that we researched.  Because I was absent 2 days this week, we will finish the project next week.  I am very proud of their work and focus.

We will begin Unit 6 NEIGHBORHOOD.

READING-We will read about who is a neighbor, what jobs do some of our neighbors do, and what are some special places in our neighborhood.

COMPREHENSION STRATEGY-Summarizing

COMPREHENSION SKILL-Identifying Main idea and Details

WRITING-Opinion Writing    You can work with this at home…Ask your child what is their favorite pet, color, book, season, number, place to visit, thing to do on the weekend, vacation…  Then (here comes the important part) ask them “Why is that your favorite pet, color, book, season, number, place to visit…  

WORD-“Are  are”

LETTER-“H  h”

SOCIAL STUDIES-Maps  We will be using maps to explore locations near and far.  This will go along with our Reading Unit of NEIGHBORHOODS.  We’ll use a globe, a World map, a Michigan map, use Google Maps, and maybe we’ll make a treasure map!  I’ll show them a Compass Rose.  I’ll give them directions to find an object in the room or school.  ie “Facing North, take 8 steps North, 7 steps east, 15 steps north, etc.  Who knows where they’ll end up?? 🙂

MATH-We’ll use the ones units and ten rods to make numbers.  Then we’ll read them.  I’ll post some pictures when we get going next week.

A few reminders…

BOOTS ARE NEEDED EVERYDAY.  Shoes in backpacks while walking to school.  Some students have not worn their boots to school and they track in snow into the room and on the rug.  They then sit on the wet rug-yuk!  Today we had quite a bit of mud tracked into the room.

WEDNESDAYS are Library Days.

Friday, January 29      1/2 day AM     11:45 dismissal   End of first semester

Looking ahead…

Second semester Kindergarten begins weekly SPELLING TESTS.  Practice those sight words.  I will always post the SPELLING WORDS for the week.

Little Caesar Pizza Kits are available to order.  Order forms went home today.  PTA is sponsoring this activity.

Dearborn Public Schools is participating in a Water Bottle Drive to help our neighbors in Flint.  If you would like to participate, you may drop off the water in my room.  While individual bottles are welcome, it is easier to manage and transport cases of bottles.  Thank you in advance for your willingness to help.

Get outside and enjoy this winter weather!  Also, check out the 5 planets that will be in the sky for the next few weeks.  Beautiful.

“My goal is not to be better than anyone else, 

 but to be better than I used to be.”  -Dr. Wayne Dwyer

Mrs. Smith

Remember to:

-Bring in a baby picture

-Bring in your Homework sheet with the climate for your animal

I’m not sure if I posted the November and December Students of the Month or not, but here they are just in case I didn’t post.

November- Joelle Saad and Lily Saad                                        December-Zachary Zahr and Jonah Eberwein

Congratulatons on your good choices with behavior and words!

We have 2 more for our 6 year old timeline.

January 14 Ameer turned 6 but is absent for a picture.

Today, January 15 is Sarah’s birthday.

Dear Parents,

Before Christmas break I received a gift from one of my students but there was no card with it.  It was a Snowman notepad with a candy cane pen on top.  Can someone help with identifying the giver?

Thanks,

Mrs. Smith

MONDAY-NO SCHOOL  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

READING-Week 3 of Unit 5 is Animal Homes.

STRATEGY- Recognizing Story Structure

SKILL-Identify Plot and Character

LETTERS-Review “O  o   F  f”

WORDS-Review “is  play”

WRITING-We’ll be writing sentences about different animals’ habitats.

MATH-Standard and Non-Standard Measurement, using a “foot.”

-We’ll be filling in a Number Grid to see how many numbers we can write up to 100.

SCIENCE AND SOCIAL STUDIES-Students will be using our completed Endangered Animals Chart to complete a project of their own.  I am looking forward to seeing this all come together!

This week the students will be taking the Social Studies Unit Test, the Writing Prompt, and the Math part of NWEA.

***Students have 2 Homework Assignments due Tues., 1/19.***

1) Bring in a baby picture. (Picture will be returned.  Please label with student’s name on the back.)

2) To go along with our Endangered Animals Project, your child needs to complete the worksheet titled “Question: In what climate does your animal live?”  Climate refers to temperature and weather conditions, not habitat nor continent.  Student needs to finish the sentence “My animal lives in __________” on the worksheet and draw their picture of the animal in the climate.

Homework due Tues., Jan. 19.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Mrs. Smith

The chart looked blurry to me.  Hopefully this print is clearer.