A Peek At Our Week!

 I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and enjoying this beautiful start to spring! Please see below for a few highlights from our very busy classroom!

Announcements

Parent/Teacher Conferences

A friendly reminder that Parent/Teacher conferences will take place this week. If you did not make an appointment but would like to meet (virtually) please email me directly and we can schedule a time. Thank you!

Rest Time Towels

Rest time towels were sent home on Friday for washing. Please be sure to send in your child's clean towel on Monday for quiet time.

Curriculum Update

Last Week's Sight Word(s): as, has

This Week's Sight Word: was

Math

Last week in math we continued our exploration of decomposing numbers, with a specific focus on the number ten! The children had a great time learning about the "friends of ten" through songs, chants, and other hands on activities. The friends below are carefully coloring in a rainbow which shows the number pairs for ten using the fun crayons that the leprechaun left us!

Reader's Workshop

The class worked hard in Reader's Workshop last week as they continue their journey towards becoming avid readers. During our lessons the children reflected and set goals for which superpowers they need to use more often when reading. We also practiced identifying the feelings of the characters in our stories.

 

On Friday Mrs. Miles visited our classroom and taught us about avid reader playdates! We learned that readers can enjoy books with others by predicting what will happen next, looking for snap words they know, and discussing the events of the story they are reading. 

Writing

Last week in writing the children continued to work on their opinion pieces. During our lessons we reviewed the importance of making our opinions clear and easy to read, as well as the strategies that writer's use to spell unknown words. Great progress is being made in this unit and I couldn't be more pleased! 

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!

A Peek At Our Week!

 I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Please enjoy a few highlights from our week!

Announcements:

Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences

A friendly reminder that spring Parent/Teacher Conferences are right around the corner and will be held via Google Meet or by phone on March 23rd, 24th, and 25th. A Sign Up Genius link was sent out last week for you to schedule your appointment. It is important to note that the scheduler is only active through Tuesday, March 16th, so please be sure to select your time if you have not already done so. Thank you!

Curriculum:

Last Week's Sight Words: is, his

This Week's Sight Words: as, has

Reader's Workshop

Last week in Reader's Workshop we began Unit 4 which focuses on becoming avid readers! We learned that avid readers are people who find places everywhere to read, keep a stack of books waiting, and generally can't stop reading! To celebrate this new unit and our journey towards becoming avid readers, the students picked new spots in the classroom for read-to-self time. As the pictures show, the children really enjoyed reading in these new self-selected (while still socially distant) spots!

Math

In math last week we continued to learn about composing and decomposing numbers! We used fun Jack Hartmann videos as well as manipulatives such as cubes, counters, and even paper squares to explore the ways to make the numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9. This week we will practice finding the ways to make 10!

Writer's Workshop

It is an exciting time in Room 202 as your child is flexing their writing muscles in a brand new unit! Unit 4 in the Lucy Calkins program focuses on persuasive writing, and the class had a great time jumping right in and identifying real world problems they would like to solve! Through words and pictures the Kindergarten friends created posters and books to try and convince others to stop littering, be kind to others, and save water. This unit is off to a great start and I can't wait to see where the next few weeks take us!

Fundations

We continue to have a fun time with Fundations in our classroom! Last week we practiced tapping out the sounds in words and got the class up and moving by being live card holders! We also continued to practice reading nonsense words such as bix, hof, and min. Click here to learn more about the importance of nonsense word reading!

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!

A Peek At Our Week!

 I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and is looking forward to the warmer weather that is coming our way towards the end of the week! Please take a minute to enjoy a few pictures from our very busy classroom!

Curriculum Update:

Last Week's Sight Word(s):

are

Literacy

Last week was a VERY exciting time as we took a step back from our structured Reader's and Writer's Workshop programs to participate in various author studies as part of Read Across America week! Each day we explored a new children's author and some of their most famous texts. Authors included Mo Willems (Piggie and Elephant), James Dean (Pete the Cat), Laura Numeroff (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie), Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), and Mem Fox (The Magic Hat). Our week long author celebration ended with Book Character Dress Up Day on Friday. It was so much fun to show off our book character costumes! We even streamed our book character fashion show into Mrs. Fields' classroom so her students could enjoy our costumes as well! 

                                      So many great outfits on Book Character Dress Up Day!

The students above show off their writing that was inspired by Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes!

On Friday we enjoyed reading books by author Mem Fox! One of our favorites, The Magic Hat, made for the perfect Fun Friday art project!

Math

Last week in math be began Topic 9 which focuses on composing and decomposing (making and breaking apart) numbers. During our lessons we practiced ways to make the numbers 3, 4, and 5, and discovered that 5 can be shown as 0 and 5, 1 and 4, 2 and 2, 5 and 0, and 4 and 1. This week we will explore ways to compose and decompose numbers 6-10!

We brought our author study into math as well last week as we learned about composing and decomposing numbers! The student above prepares to show one way to make 5 while completing an activity inspired by 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle.

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!

A Peek At Our Week!

 Last week was an exciting one in our classroom as we celebrated the 100th day of school! Please enjoy a few pictures of our celebration!

Important Dates:

March 5th:

Storybook Character Dress Up Day!

Curriculum:

Hip Hip Hooray for the 100th Day!

We had a blast as we popped our way through the 100th day! To mark the occasion the students completed math centers which encouraged their identification and counting of numbers to 100. Another highlight of our day was our t-shirt fashion show! A video of our show has been posted on Seesaw. Be sure to check it out!

We had SO much fun counting to 100 by 10s as we popped each balloon on our whiteboard! Inside each balloon was a set of ten exercises we had to do. When we finished popping all of the balloon we had done 100 exercises!

A Special Visit from Len Cabral!

Another highlight of our 100th day was getting a virtual visit from storyteller Len Cabral! Len is an award winning storyteller who has traveled all over the world. It was an honor and pleasure to have him "visit" Boyden School. Thank you Len!

A Little Fun on Day 101!

Not only did we have a fantastic time celebrating the 100th day of school last week, but we also set aside some time for a little fun on day 101! The class had a great time channeling their inner Dalmatian and even got a surprise visit from a very special guest! ;)

 Fundations

Last week in Fundations the class continued to practice tapping CVC words such as pot, hen, and lip. We also reviewed silly nonsense words like nim, buj, and fip. Your child's ability to read nonsense words demonstrates their understanding of short vowel sounds, and is a skill we will be working on extensively in class. Lastly, the children were also introduced to the sight/snap words it, in and on. It sure was a busy week!

Reader's Workshop

In Reader's Workshop we continue to use extra strength super powers as we learn to decode more challenging texts. Last week we used extra strength rereading power to bring our stories to life and avoid the dreaded "robot reading". The class also used everything they know about stories to make predictions about the books we read together. 

Writer's Workshop

Last week in Writer's Workshop we completed our unit on "How To" writing! The students worked hard to revise and perfect their pieces so they were ready to be published. On Friday we had a festive celebration and shared our finished work! This week we will be taking a break from Writer's Workshop as we participate in various author studies in honor of Read Across America week. I'm excited that the students will have to opportunity to produce different types of writing based on the work of famous children's authors!

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202! 

A Peek At Our Week!

 I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and staying warm during this wintry weather! It was another busy week in Room 202. Please enjoy some of the highlights below!

Important Dates:

February 9th:

Valentine's Due

February 12th:

Valentine Exchange

Report Cards Posted on Aspen/X2

February 15th-19th:

Vacation Week

No School

Announcements:

3 Star Work

Thank you SO much for all of your support with our new 3 Star "grading" system for student work. The increase in effort and attention to detail has been AMAZING and the children's classwork has never looked better! While consistently receiving two stars was the original goal, I am blown away at all of the three star work I have seen in the last week! Please continue to encourage your child to always put their best effort into their assignments, especially as the mid-year "slump" is upon us. Thank you so much again for all of your help!

Report Cards

A friendly reminder that your child's Term 1 report card will be available for you to view on their X2 account starting this Friday, February 12th. It is important to review your child’s progress report with them and to celebrate all that they have accomplished this term! It is also a great time to discuss areas of focus or improvement. When viewing your child’s report card please remember that the skills shown on the report are what we expect our students to master by the end of Kindergarten. Being that it is only the first term, it is completely appropriate for students that are doing well to earn scores of "N" or "P" as they are working towards mastering each standard by the end of the year. After reviewing your child’s progress report, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions that you may have! I am SO proud of each child for working very hard this term, and look forward to supporting their continued success in our second term together!

Curriculum:

Groundhog Day!

Our class had a great time celebrating Groundhog Day last week! We had fun making predictions about whether the groundhog would see his shadow, and discovered that more friends thought that we would (and they were right!). We also learned that another name for a groundhog is a whistle pig because they make a whistling sound when they sense danger.

Math

Last week in math we practiced counting and identifying numbers to 100! In addition to our whole group lessons the children enjoyed completing interactive center activities that helped them practice this skill. Center time is also a great time for us to sneak in some ST Math! A friendly reminder that ST Math is also a great way for your child to sharpen their skills during our remote Wednesdays. It is hoped that each child will spend approximately 60 minutes on ST Math each week. While we do as much as we can in the classroom, a small portion of time on the site at home would be incredibly helpful!

Reader's Workshop

In Reader's Workshop we continue to strengthen our early literacy skills by applying problem solving strategies to unknown words. Last week the readers practiced using all of the letters in a word (not just the first one or two) when decoding. We also previewed each new page in the books that we read and located known sight words before reading. In addition to these two skills the class also practiced reading words with beginning blends such as sled, crab, and tree.

Fundations

Last week in Fundations we continued to practice reading CVC words such as cat, pig, and rug. The children were also provided with extra exposure to the sight/snap words it, at, and up. To extend this practice we discussed how it and at can be found in bigger words such as fit, sit, bit, and cat, hat, and mat. We learned that these types of words are called word families!

The students above are working hard during literacy center time! Last week's centers included listening center (on chrome books), write the room with beginning blends, and word work which challenged the students to make works in the "at" word family.

Writing

Our "How To" unit continued last week as the class worked hard to teach others to complete various tasks step by step. As a result of last week's lessons the children learned how to include elaboration and comparisons in their work, as well as picture and act out each step of their "How To" in order to insure their directions were clear and concise.

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!

A Peek At Our Week!

 I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and staying warm in this chilly weather! Unfortunately last week got away from me and I didn't take as many pictures as usual. If your child is not featured in this week's blog post I will be sure to include them next week. My apologies!

Important Dates:

February 9th:

Valentine's Due

February 12th:

Valentine Exchange

Report Cards Posted on Aspen/X2

February 15th-19th:

Vacation Week

No School

Announcements:

3 Star Work!

Over the past several weeks we have been discussing the importance of putting our best effort into our class work and completing what I call "Good Quality Kindergarten Work". One way this has been reinforced is through the use of our classroom Proud Wall which features student work that is especially neat and colorful. Starting this week I am also hoping to motivate the students by starting a numbered star system when checking the activities they have completed in class. The following system will be used for "grading" your child's work:

*1 Star: Work is incomplete, messy, and/or includes only one color

**2 Stars: Work is complete, neat (to the best of your child's abilities), and uses three colors

***3 Stars: Work is complete, neat, uses more than three colors, demonstrates that a significant amount of time and effort has been put into the activity.

It is important to note that, particularly in the first few weeks, 3 stars will only been given on rare occasions for exemplary work. It is my hope that this new system will be motivating to the students while also providing families with ongoing feedback. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns!

Curriculum Update:

Fundations

Last week in Fundations we completed Unit 2! In this unit we began "tapping" the sounds in CVC words such as hat, pig, and pot, and practiced writing our uppercase letters as well. The students were also introduced to three new sight words last week in, at, and up. We will continue to practice these words during the upcoming week, while also learning how the words at and it can have their own word families!

Reader's Workshop

Wonderful reading continues to happen in Room 202 and I couldn't be more impressed! Last week we practiced using letter-sound knowledge to help us read unknown words. One way we applied this skill was by reading alphabet books! We used our letter-sound knowledge to determine that "pants" would not belong in a book about the letter J, and rather the word/picture must be "jeans"! On Friday, Mrs. Miles introduced us to the concept of consonant clusters/blends and we practiced reading words such as sled, crab, and tree.

Math

In math we worked on teen number writing last week! We spent a great deal of time talking about the formation of each number, and carefully practicing our teen numbers through a variety of interactive activities such as Spin and Trace and Roll and Write. We also used these fun rhymes for a little extra motivation. Click here to read them!

Writer's Workshop

Our practice with "How To" writing continued in Writer's Workshop! While we had previously been doing mostly shared writing, last week the children started writing their own "How Tos" independently. It was SO much fun to read each child's work which included topics such as How to Surf, How to do a Flip, and How to Get Ready for Bed, just to name a few! 

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202! :)