St. Valentine’s Day and our 100th Day of School are quickly approaching!

St. Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, will be celebrated on Tuesday 2/14.  Students are invited to bring a Valentine for their classmates.  They like to write the names of their classmates so here is the class list.

Gabriella   Noah Beydoun   Claire   Madleen    Sophia    Chloe    Laila   Noor

Dena   Houda   Isabella   Rami    Mahdi   Milena   Maya   Hadi   Marcel   Brooke

Mila    Mousa   Evelyn   Jenna   Sarah   Noah Zahr    Nevaeh                25 students

For the 100th Day of Kindergarten, we just thought it would be fun to dress up as a 100 year-old person.  Please don’t g our and buy anything.  Just use or borrow what you have around the house.  It’s just for fun.  I’ll take lots of pictures.

FYI…I sent home 3 students today due to a stomach bug.  Wash hands, door knobs, remote controls, keep clean towels and separate drinking glasses, etc.

Mrs. Smith

I’m back!!!!  What an interesting experience.  I took my responsibility as a Juror very seriously and am proud of our Judicial system.   Now back to my little loves!  I really missed them.  Sometimes I found my mind wandering as to” what are my kids doing right now??”

READING-Unit 6 Week 2 of Our Neighborhood.  This week’s theme is People and Places in our Neighborhood.

WRITING-Dialogue!!!  Speech Bubbles and Quotation Marks   You can look for them in your bedtime stories.

SPELLING WORDS-man  ran  fan  said  go  to yes  I have been putting a list of the words in their Book Boxes and they use the list for several in class Literacy activities.

LETTERS-E  e    Y  y

MATH- We will revisit the penny, nickel, and dime.  We’ll make trades with the coins.  Practice at home.

SCIENCE-Land Forms  We will begin with oceans and lakes.

Wednesday we will add Mountains and Plains.   Add “Where do sand, water, and soil lie?”

SPELLING TEST went very well today!  I wanted to start them with easy words, both familiar and patterns from word family “an.”  Thanks for helping them study on the home front.  They felt proud.  Beginning with next week’s list, I will be looking for ALL letters to be written correctly.  No capital letters in the middle of words, letters going in the correct direction, y, g, q, p, j dipping below the line, etc.  Practice writing them at home with a line.  Their name also needs to be written neatly and correctly…only 1 capital letter in their name and all letters on (or below if appropriate).

In case you were wondering, I work with their writing in a specific routine that I have developed through the years with young writers.

On Mondays I introduce a new idea, concept, or build on one from the previous week.  For example, last week I introduced dialogue.

On Tuesdays we create a writing together.  Last week it was writing dialogue between 2 charachers.

On Wednesdays they write a piece themselves, using the skill taught on Monday and Tuesday.  This is called Prewrite.

On Thursdays I conference with them about their writing.  This is called Revise and Edit.

On Fridays they publish their writing and share with the class.  This is called Publishing.

As you can see, this process is how you would have learned to write your papers in school.  It does take a lot of time and they each want to share their published work, which also takes time.  But is is worth the investment!!

Next Monday I will introduce quotation marks.

Have a glorious week!

Mrs. Smith

“No matter how cool,

talented,educated,

or rich you think you are,

how you treat people

tells all.

Integrity is everything.”

Well, such a week!!  Lucky me…I have been impaneled on a Jury for a trial downtown.  The Judge did not hold court today, Friday, but the trial will resume on Monday and is expected to last all of next week.  I have plans all set for next week and the kids know I’ll be gone.  I sure did miss being with them-wow!

Today my students took the reading part of  NWEA.  I didn’t catch all of their scores but from those that I did catch, they did well.  YEAH!  A big key is to “Take your time!”  I did talk to them about that trick.  Monday they will take the MATH part of the NWEA.  I hope all will be here for that test.  We had 4 friends out ill today.  (:  I hope they will feel better by Monday.

READING- We will start Unit 6  NEIGHBORHOODS.  We will begin the week with the theme of  “OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.”

Phonemic Isolation, Blending, and Segmentation will be focused as we do every week withL ALL of our reading

COMPREHENSION STRATEGY-Summarize

COMPREHENSION SKILL-Identify Main Idea and Details

LETTERS-W w  X x:  SPELLING-***NEW THIS SEMESTER***  We will begin weekly SPELLING TESTS. We will begin slowly.  This week’s word list is: mat    cat    pat   I  you  the  live

WRITING-We are back to Narrative Writing.    (Telling a story)  Practice this at home.  Make up a story before turning out the bedroom lights, waiting for big brother at Basketball, Daddy to get ready (  🙂 ) , baby sister to wake up, Grandma to come over….  Lots of dialogue and rich vocabulary.  Add a setting.  (Where does your story take place?)  Add characters.   What’s the plot?  How does the plot (problem) get solved (solution)  You now have the 4 elements of any story…characters, setting, plot, solution

MATH-Geometry   2-D  and 3-D shapes

SOCIAL STUDIES-We will be studying MAPS.  We will make a map with some friends.  We will also make a book showing different places in which we ALL live.  It will be very cute!

That’s all for now.  Best wishes to Claire as she undergoes some surgery.  Mend quickly Claire!!!  We’ll see you in a week.  Eat lots of ice cream and Jell-O.  Yumm.

Have a good week.  I will be checking my emails at night.  I can’t have my phone with me while at the court. but I’ll be in touch.

Mrs. Smith

                   “Life Is Too Short

to wake up in the morning with regrets.

So, love the people who treat you right,

forgive the ones who don’t,

and believe that everything happens for a reason.

If you get a chance, take it.

If it changes your life,

let it.”

Another busy, happy week in Kindergarten , with some learning along the way!

We talked for a little bit about today’s “special event.”  Only one student knew that we were getting a new President today.  WE talked about Presidential terms, reminded them about last November’s election, etc.  You might get some questions at home tonight.

We are very involved with researching and learning about some ENDANGERED ANIMALS.  We have made an informational book each day this week about an ENDANGERED ANIMAL.  Monday we learned a lot of interesting facts about a Koala.  Tuesday’s animal was a rhino.  Wednesday was the Sea Turtle and yesterday was the Siberian Tiger.  Today we put some of the information on a chart and we will use the chart next week to write about one of the animals.  Research, write, retrieve information, retell…lots going on in here.

Here’s what’s coming up this week…

READING-Endangered Animals

WRITING-Writing 3 complete sentences about an animal.

LETTERS-D d   K k

WORDS-help  by  was  now

MATH-measuring with standard (rulers, tape measures, yard sticks) and non-standard tools (Cubes, hands)

-We will talk about the penny and the nickel.

SCIENCE-Magnets!!

Next Friday, 1/27 my class will be taking the Reading Part of  NWEA test.  Please make sure your child is well fed that morning and in attendance. 🙂  Math NWEA will be Monday, 1/30/2017.

Also, Friday is AM ONLY for students.  Teachers will be posting grades in the PM.

Looking ahead…

Since we have been counting every day since our first day together in September, I like to celebrate the 100th day of school with my kids.  Let’s dress up as a 100 year old person!  I thought I’s give you some lead time to “borrow” Grandma’s glasses, a cane, etc.  Have fun with it-please don’t go and buy anything.  It’s just meant to be a fun way to celebrate the 100th day of Kindergarten.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Smith

“If words come out of the heart, they will enter the heart.”- Rumi

Reminder that tomorrow is LATE START

Reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on Monday, January 16.  Martin Luther King Day

Wow, the Social Studies Timelines look fantastic!!  We took quite a bit of time sharing each student’s timeline.  They were very intrigued with the early photos.  Some of them (Claire Brice) haven’t changed all that much, while others have changed a lot.  I showed the baby-1 year old photos and they tried to guess the student.  So much fun.  I want to keep them for a while because they are so interested in them.  Mrs. Chami and Mrs. Fawaz, they had A LOT of questions for you as to how you could tell “Which baby is which??” So cute! They also enjoyed reading the words that they wrote under each picture.  I love this interest.

To go with their growth, I am sending home a picture that they made last September.  Some tried to hand it back to me saying that it wasn’t their picture, that they don’t write or draw like that.  I told them to look at how much they’ve grown from September to now.  Just 5 months!

READING-I am sticking with the general theme of ANIMALS, but I’m going way off the grid for the next 2 weeks!  I’ll be doing ENDANGERED ANIMALS.  We’ve already started talking about some of the animals and I showed them how I used technology to find information.  They are very intrigued and excited about this unit.  I have chosen 4 animals and we will study, research, and chart information about each animal.  Look and listen for new vocabulary to come home regarding the animals.

WRITING-The animals

LETTERS-Q q  Z z

WORDS-lives  habitat

MATH-We will continue to create numbers with the math manipulatives.  You can do this at home…use pencils to represent the 10’s and buttons, pennies, Cheerios, to represent the 1’s.  Ask your child to “Make the number 36.”  That would be 3 pencils and 6 buttons.  Place the pencils on the left side and buttons on the right side, just like we read (left to right).

It will look something like this.

Today we went up to 138.  Keep going as long as they get the process.  Practice counting by 10’s and adding on 1’s.

SCIENCE-Weather

Another suggestion…many of them keep asking me how to spell words, which is VERY typical and expected.  I’m sure they do the same at home.  That’s a good thing-that tells me they are interested in writing.  So, give them things to write that they will need to sound out the words.  Not just copying your words!  Copying doesn’t make them”power through” the word, stretching it out, listening to the sounds that their mouth is making.  Have them write Thank you notes to Grandma/ Grandpa/Aunt/Uncle/Cousins/Neighbor.  Have them write the grocery list, the things you need to do this Saturday, etc.

Make my bed

Put away my shoes

Go to the bank

Grocery shop (have them make the list)  milk,

bread,

eggs

chicken

They can do so much.  Set your expectations and hold them to those expectations.

Have a great week.

Mrs. Smith

Well it sounds like every one of my students had a great vacation!  Some lost a tooth, Noah learned how to tie his shoe, Houda went to great Bear Lodge, Nevaeh went to a carnival with her dad, Mila spent her first Christmas in her new house, Claire didn’t have strep throat, Laila and Noor’s sister, Aya, fixed them breakfast, Hadi and Rami spent time at each other’s house, Gabriella spent the night at a friend’s house, Marcel had the plate removed from his arm, and , and, and… They were so excited to tell me their news.  I love this age of innocence and wonder and joy.  So precious!  I hope you enjoyed your days together.

Thanks for so many of the Social Studies Timelines that came in this morning.  Another thing they were excited to share with me.

READING-We begin Unit 5 ANIMALS, with this week’s focus on “ANIMALS WE KNOW.”  

LETTERS- L l   O o

WORDS-Has  has   Is  is  Animal  animal

WRITING-We will be writing about animals, our favorite ones, why they are our favorite, etc.

Today I read them a story titled, “Mama Cat and Her 3 Kittens.” We then made a list of the things that kittens do (recall from the book).  Using that list, they wrote 3 sentences about things Kittens Can Do.  For example,

“Kittens can nap.”  “Kittens can wash their paws.”  “Kittens can chase leaves.”

I was very impressed at their writing!!!  Super job Kindergarteners.

MATH-Subtraction Number Stories, creating 2-digit numbers with the base 10 blocks, order of events (Yesterday, Today, tomorrow-passage of time is math), and Patterns with Pattern Blocks.

WRITING-We also will discuss and write about our “goals” for this New Year.  What would we like to get better at doing?  What can we do to be a better friend?

I’m sure there will be early bed times this week.  They were tired by 10:30 this morning and hungry at 1:30!

Have a great week.

Mrs. Smith

Happy New Year and Welcome back!  I am sooooo ready to see the kids and hear all about their adventures during the past 2 weeks.  Reminder that their Social Studies timeline is due tomorrow.

Time to get ready for my sweeties!

Have a good week.

Mrs. Smith

Here we are at the All-School Sing-a-Long!  We sure do look adorable!!