We are already in our last week of January. With attached to your child's homework this week will be the Valentine Class List and the 100's Day Snack Mix List. I encourage you to let your child write his or her name on the Valentine's and also let them write the names of their classmates on the Valentine's. It is a great way for them to practice their handwriting. For the 100's Day Snack Mix, I will pour all of the items into separate bowls and each child will have a hundreds chart to fill up with the items. They fill up #'s 1-10 with one type of item and continue counting by 10's and filling up their chart. This is a really fun and yummy activity.
I have already had 5 students read their 5 books and turn in their Dr. Seuss page. These children were very excited to get to take their pencils home to show off. Although this project is due towards the end of February, it is a huge help to me if we get them turned in early. Parkside's goal every year is to have 100% participation.
Our class is participating in a Valentine Exchange with over 40 kindergarten classes across the United States and even one from Mexico. We got our first Valentine in the mail yesterday from a class in Georgia. I am very excited about this exchange. It is a great way for us to share about our state and town as well as learn about other states. I have a map of the United States that we will be coloring as we get Valentines from different states. We made our Valentine's out of hearts to look like fish. I will be mailing them to the various classes by this weekend.
Half the class has brought in their snacks. If you haven't yet, please get them in next week.
Have a great rest of the week!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Book Exchange Friday
The annual Parkside Book Exchange is this Friday. Your child may bring up to 10 gently used books to exchange for up to 10 gently used books. I have not had any books come in yet. If your child is going to participate by bringing in books from home, please make sure the books get to the classroom by Thursday.
Our snack supply is starting to run very low. Please make sure you send in enough snacks to feed 22 students for 2 days (at least 44 snacks). Don't forget we have the snack bags, so if you are a bargain shopper and want to buy bulk or boxes of snacks, we can bag them up here for the kids. Favorites have been Goldfish, cheese and crackers, string cheese, graham crackers, fruit snacks, cereal.
In Science/Health we are learning about staying healthy with our Doctor/Dentist theme. Today we discussed how to keep our teeth healthy including brushing them, using floss, using mouthwash, eating healthy foods, and visiting the dentist regularly.
I have really been working with the kids the past couple of weeks about talking out when it isn't their turn. It has been challenging lately to get through directions because of the many side conversations. I have been in enforcement overload. If your child appears to be owing more recess lately, that is why. This is very normal after Winter Vacation for children to need extra reminders of the rules.
Don't forget to save and send in those empty cereal boxes for our Valentine holders:)
Our snack supply is starting to run very low. Please make sure you send in enough snacks to feed 22 students for 2 days (at least 44 snacks). Don't forget we have the snack bags, so if you are a bargain shopper and want to buy bulk or boxes of snacks, we can bag them up here for the kids. Favorites have been Goldfish, cheese and crackers, string cheese, graham crackers, fruit snacks, cereal.
In Science/Health we are learning about staying healthy with our Doctor/Dentist theme. Today we discussed how to keep our teeth healthy including brushing them, using floss, using mouthwash, eating healthy foods, and visiting the dentist regularly.
I have really been working with the kids the past couple of weeks about talking out when it isn't their turn. It has been challenging lately to get through directions because of the many side conversations. I have been in enforcement overload. If your child appears to be owing more recess lately, that is why. This is very normal after Winter Vacation for children to need extra reminders of the rules.
Don't forget to save and send in those empty cereal boxes for our Valentine holders:)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Happy 2010
Happy New Year! It was great to see so many smiling faces welcoming me back after break.
For the next 2 weeks we will be learning about winter during science. We are also working on measurement in math. We are not using a ruler to measure, we are using non-standard forms of measurement such as how many paperclips long is an object, how many unifix cubes go around an object, etc. We have already learned terms such as longest, shortest, tallest, and the same. We also estimated objects around the room that were one unifix cube, five unifix cubes, and ten unifix cubes long.
We are starting to move away from Zoo Phonics, since the kids really are picking up capital and lowercase letter names. I even had the children try to write a sentence on their own this week and between their really good pictures they drew and the way they are already able to piece sounds together, I could read most of the sentences written!
We are starting to focus more and more on handwriting and letter formation. I found a great DVD and CD that teaches songs for each letter. Each song has motions that explain how to write both the capital and lowercase letters. I am using this as a fun way to teach letter formation and then after each lesson, the children practice writing the letter that was introduced that day. Right now I am planning on teaching one song daily Tuesdays through Thursdays, we will be finished focusing on all of the letters by the end of February at the latest. The DVD and CD also has most of our sight words put into songs with motions. We may be learning some of these songs as well.
We are now having reading groups during center time. This gives me the opportunity to pull kids back and work with them in small groups at their level. This will help children that need a little boost as well as children that need a challenge.
Thank you to the parents that are sending in Campbells Soup labels, Box Tops for Education, and empty ink cartridges. The money earned on each one really adds up by the end of the year.
Our Valentine Party will be on February 11th, since there will be no school on February 12th or 15th. I will be sending out a list of all of the students in the classroom by the end of January or early February so children can start filling out their Valentine cards. Please keep sending in empty cereal boxes. We need at least 20 and have 2 right now.
100's Day I believe will be on Febrary 10th, but that is always subject to change. More details to come soon.
The end of the semester is towards the end of January. Report cards will come home soon after. It will be exciting to see the progress made.
For the next 2 weeks we will be learning about winter during science. We are also working on measurement in math. We are not using a ruler to measure, we are using non-standard forms of measurement such as how many paperclips long is an object, how many unifix cubes go around an object, etc. We have already learned terms such as longest, shortest, tallest, and the same. We also estimated objects around the room that were one unifix cube, five unifix cubes, and ten unifix cubes long.
We are starting to move away from Zoo Phonics, since the kids really are picking up capital and lowercase letter names. I even had the children try to write a sentence on their own this week and between their really good pictures they drew and the way they are already able to piece sounds together, I could read most of the sentences written!
We are starting to focus more and more on handwriting and letter formation. I found a great DVD and CD that teaches songs for each letter. Each song has motions that explain how to write both the capital and lowercase letters. I am using this as a fun way to teach letter formation and then after each lesson, the children practice writing the letter that was introduced that day. Right now I am planning on teaching one song daily Tuesdays through Thursdays, we will be finished focusing on all of the letters by the end of February at the latest. The DVD and CD also has most of our sight words put into songs with motions. We may be learning some of these songs as well.
We are now having reading groups during center time. This gives me the opportunity to pull kids back and work with them in small groups at their level. This will help children that need a little boost as well as children that need a challenge.
Thank you to the parents that are sending in Campbells Soup labels, Box Tops for Education, and empty ink cartridges. The money earned on each one really adds up by the end of the year.
Our Valentine Party will be on February 11th, since there will be no school on February 12th or 15th. I will be sending out a list of all of the students in the classroom by the end of January or early February so children can start filling out their Valentine cards. Please keep sending in empty cereal boxes. We need at least 20 and have 2 right now.
100's Day I believe will be on Febrary 10th, but that is always subject to change. More details to come soon.
The end of the semester is towards the end of January. Report cards will come home soon after. It will be exciting to see the progress made.
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