FIRE SAFETY WEEK This week was fire safety week. I hope your child has shared some of the things we've learned about smoke detectors, matches/lighters, safety in the kitchen, what to do if he/she is in a fire, and what we learned from our local fire fighters. One thing we talked a lot about was making an escape plan and doing a practice fire drill at home. Today I'm sending home a paper your child can use to draw an escape plan for your family. This is just for your child's use at home. Do not return it to school. Please decide on a meeting spot outside the house and rehearse a fire drill at home. We will be talking about our safe meeting spots next week. Here we are learning about fire fighter gear, putting out fires, and how to prevent fires. HOMEWORK READING BAGS
Thank you all for reading with your children using the new homework reading bags of books this week. Please use some of the suggestions on the card in the bag for things to talk to your child about while reading together. I've heard great feedback from the kids about how they knew SO many/ALL of the words! Remember, these are books on their independent reading levels, so this is supposed to seem fairly "easy" right now. We are helping them build confidence as readers! Please make sure your child is pointing under the words as he/she reads (not memorizing the pattern of the book and saying the words without looking). Books can either be returned on the Friday of the week you get them or the Monday after. Please do not return books any day but Friday and Monday, and make sure they've all been read before sending them back to school. Thanks for your help! SIGHT WORDS Here is an updated list of sight words we have on our word wall. I sent home cards several weeks ago that had some of these on them. Please make additional cards for the remaining words and continue to practice sight words at home, especially focusing on the newer words. Thanks for your help teaching the children to read fluently!
Have a great weekend! Allison
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I think something is in the water. This week we were able to rise to a whole new level of complexity in the areas of reading, writing, and math. The students are amazing me with the connections they are making across subjects and their ability to comprehend new material and apply it in their work! Here's what we've been up to: READING We are lucky enough to have 3 certified teachers in our classroom (yes, Mrs. Ivey and Mrs. Curl are currently paraprofessionals, but they are both former teachers too, and they know how to teach guided reading!), which means many, many opportunities for each student to read on his/her developmental level with a teacher each week! We are seeing huge improvements this week in how students read in groups (pointing to each word as they read, listening respectfully to others read and pointing along at the same time, answering questions about stories after reading, etc.). (Please read at the bottom for details about homework reading bags that will come home Monday!) WRITING This week we started writing stories that have beginning, middle, and end. This was a big jump for us, but everyone is making a smooth transition to writing MORE than just a sentence or 2 to tell a story. In addition, we are making sure to follow everything on the checklist below each time we write. Now when students complete stories they are asked to get a checklist (with all the things from below) and check that they did everything. Believe it or not, they are able to use the checklists independently to see what they need to work on. It's pretty awesome. MATH We are learning that place value is important. In whole group, we've been creating quantities to match 2 digit numbers to show that the first digit tells how many tens and the second tells how many ones. Then we ask silly questions like "Would you rather have 81 cookies or 18?" "Would you rather have to clean 15 toilets or 51 toilets?" It matters! Show your child the picture below and ask him or her to explain the difference to you. :) Independently in math we scaled this concept back to just focus on place value in the teens for now. Students have been using a variety of materials to "prove" that teen numbers are all made with one set of ten and some extra ones. HOMEWORK READING BAGS
Next Monday every child will bring home a canvas bag with 4 books inside that he/she is to read for homework that week. These books should be one step down from the books that he/she is reading with me in guided reading (for example, children reading with me on a B will have A books to take home. However if a child is reading A with me, he/she is also bringing home A because that is the starting level). Please make sure that your child reads all of the books at least once during the week. This means if you commit to having him/her read one book a day Monday through Thursday, you are free for the weekend unless you found one to be difficult and ask him/her to try again with that book. Books need to be returned the following Monday so that I can send a new bag of books. Inside each bag is a list of suggested things to do to help your child before, during, and after reading. Please use some of these strategies (not all at the same time) so your child has consistency between how we are reading at school and how you read together at home. Let me know if you have questions. CLASSROOM VOLUNTEERS During conferences I tried to ask everyone I met with whether or not they'd be available to help on a regular basis in the classroom. The two time slots I'm looking to fill are: 8:30-9:15 (Reader's Workshop) and 1:00-1:45 (Writer's Workshop). If I forgot to ask you if you're interested, and you can commit to a time slot (for the remainder of the school year), please email me with which time and day is good for you. I am still working on putting together the schedule, and if you wrote your name down, details will be coming soon. However, if I told you I would start having you come in next week, I was getting ahead of myself. I won't be ready to start this for one more week. Conferences have consumed my planning time and I need time to prepare your activities. Thanks for understanding, and sorry for any inconvenience. Have a great weekend! Allison This month's design principle at Westchester is "success and failure", and we have had some deep, deep moments down here in room 101. All week we've read poems and books about making mistakes, things not going the right way, and having to try hard to get better at tasks. Of course, to go along with all of that we had lots of discussions about our own failings (students and teachers shared multiple times), and how when things don't go our way, we try, try again. "It's okay to fail. It's not okay to give up." That's been the motto of the week, and we felt it in action in this cup-stacking contest. As you'd imagine, it was noisy, messy, fun, hilarious, and full of strong emotions. We paused mid-contest to huddle and share how we were feeling. The students had many emotions: frustrated, excited, sad, disappointed, happy, proud, angry, etc. We reminded ourselves of our motto and got up and tried again. "It's okay to fail. It's not okay to give up." It was fabulous. FALL EXPEDITION We are about to embark on our fall expedition about how one person can make a big difference in his/her community (whether that community is in your family, your school, or your town...these are our 3 "case studies"). As a kickoff, this week we started an ant farm. The students don't know it yet, but this will be our way of introducing them to the idea that working together, individuals can play a big part in the community. Our worker ants are already hard at work after one day building their tunnels, and we are loving watching them! PARENT HELP WITH TRADITIONS
Within our expedition, the first case study will be "My Family". During that case study we will learn how families are similar and different, and also about family traditions. I would love to have some parents come in to share interesting family traditions! If you are willing to come in and share a special tradition with the class (something you do on a holiday, for birthdays, etc.), please email me. If you'd prefer to just send in pictures, that works too. I'd also like to have parents come share traditions around the actual holidays that occur throughout the school year that you celebrate in your family. Feel free to go ahead and tell me if you'd like to come in and share when it's close to a certain holiday that is special in your family. SPECIAL PROJECT FOR HOMEWORK Thanks to everyone who talked to their child about their address and is helping them learn it in full by memory! We are now learning the names of our continent, country, state, city, and county too. To add to the fun (and learning), we would like to make a play town using homes that resemble our own! I would like to ask that over the next 2 weeks you work with your child on making a shoe box (or cereal box or any kind of box about that size) house that somewhat resembles your own. There are only 3 criteria: 1- Make it the color of your real house. If you live in an apartment, make it the color of your apartment. 2- Write the first line of your address somewhere on the box that is easy to see (such as "123 Westchester Drive", not the rest of the address). Black marker would be ideal. 3- Have fun! Get as creative as you want in making it look like your real home! (but don't stress over it either) PICTURE DAY If you haven't heard yet, picture day is Tuesday. These are individual student pictures. Have a great weekend! Allison WRITING WHAT? We are writing like you wouldn't believe in here! Some of the things we are getting better and better at writing are:
HELPING AT HOME: Pretty soon we will start sending home bags of leveled books for students to practice reading at home. If you have not done so already, please establish a daily routine of reading with your child (books of your choice right now) at a designated time after school. This will help ease the transition to asking your child to read to you at a designated time each day. Today we are sending home a sheet of sight word cards to cut apart and use to play Sight Word Memory (lay cards out in a grid face down, flip 2 over, READ THEM OUT LOUD--this is the whole point of the game...reading the words...don't skip that--keep if they match, or flip back over and next person takes a turn if they don't). Please play this at least once in the next few days to find out whether or not your child knows these 8 words "quick as a snap". If he/she reads them immediately, use them to make sentences or start a word wall at home with familiar words. If he/she needs more practice to know them by sight, please make it a routine to play at least once a day until these 8 words are mastered. In social studies we are learning the address, city, state, and country where we live. We are also learning that lots of friends in the class live on the same streets! If your child does not already know your (Decatur) address, please take some time to help him/her memorize it. Here are some ways that might help:
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES Next week you will get an email with directions for how to sign up for parent teacher conferences. The sooner you sign up, the more likely you'll get the date and time that's best for you, so be on the lookout for the email! YOU'RE INVITED TO OUR FIRST COMMUNITY CIRCLE!!! Community Circle is held every Friday morning at 8:00. The whole school gathers in the auditorium to sing songs, celebrate what we're learning, and enjoy being together. Starting next Friday, September 11, you are invited to join us...every time! Here we are having "community circle practice" today. SPECIAL GUESTS
Today we had the privilege of meeting the author and illustrator of the children's book "I Will CHOMP You!" The kids enjoyed hearing the book read by the characters themselves, and then learning what it's like to be a real author and illustrator! MAP Test Woohoo! MAP testing is over (except for makeups on Monday for students who were absent), and our class did an outstanding job! Everyone seemed to take to using the computers very easily, and we even got a compliment that our class stood out by how well the students followed directions in the whole process! Kudos to the kiddos! What are we working on? MATH In math over the past two weeks we have worked on writing numbers 1-10 and attaching quantities to those numbers. We've counted forward and backward, written numerals in lots of different ways, made two number books independently, and even started learning what the number words look like for 1-10. Next week we will start to tackle writing the teens, and counting aloud to 100 (not writing). Soon all children will be expected to identify and write 1-20 without reversals, and count to 100 by ones and by tens. Here we are getting a firm grasp of 1-10. READING AND WRITING We are working on reading and writing eight sight words. We look for them in books, locate them in classroom charts and messages, and spell them correctly in our stories. Please make index cards with the following words and ask your child to read and write these words at home too! is like my to I (this font does not have the line at the top and bottom, but please ask your child to write it that way) the here went Some fun ideas for writing them: sidewalk chalk, dry erase marker on the mirror/window, letter magnets on the fridge, spread shaving cream on a table or the wall of the bath and write words by fingertip, write in sand/dirt Some fun ideas for reading them: when reading together, pause when you get to these words and have your child read them; look in magazines, on food boxes, brochures, anywhere to "hunt" for sight words (with "is" and "the" on the list, it should be easy to find success anywhere!) We will be adding more sight words very soon. Students who practice these at home will find ease in adding new words to their repertoire. Thanks for your help!!! PHONICS So far we have learned the sounds for and proper way to write the following lowercase letters: t, b, f, n, m, i, u. We are also putting these letters together to make simple words. Try asking your child to spell (or "stretch out like a rubber band") these words: tub, fun, fin, or any other words that combine the letters above. SCIENCE We spent all week in science observing our betta fish "Bubbles", generating questions about it, and researching our questions using different sources. Some of the questions the children came up with were: -Is it a boy or girl? -Why is it blowing bubbles? -How does it breathe? -How does it swim? -Does it fight other fish? We found answers to all of these using the following sources: -Video -Computer -Expert -Experiment (using a mirror...ask your child) -Book Ask your child to tell you the answers!!! We did not, however, find the answers to these very cute questions: -Does it like us? -Why does it make that fish face? What are you proud of? Every afternoon we have a closing circle where I give the children a topic or question, we pass around a microphone, and everyone gets a chance to share. One of my favorite questions is "What made you proud today?" The children are getting used to this one, and now they are using the word "proud" to talk about their accomplishments throughout the day, and also to encourage friends by saying they are proud of each other. As it turns out, the playground is a place to really be proud of oneself. Many children have accomplished new feats in just four weeks such as climbing to the top of the jungle gym for the first time, swinging independently for the first time (or "higher than ever"), and learning to hula hoop. There is a whole club of kids who have been working diligently at improving their hooping skills over the last month. Here's a cute video of them working hard. Sorry I can't imbed it....I have the free website :)
Have a great weekend!
Allison Mansfield SHARING Thanks to everyone who sent in items for your children to share this week. We are really enjoying getting to know each other more, and this is a helpful way to learn things that are important to the children at home. Thanks also to everyone who came out last night and allowed me to share a glimpse of what we are doing in kindergarten with you! WRITERS' WORKSHOP We are all real writers! Every afternoon we have a secret club of writers that meets to write real true stories. (Don't ask our club name! It's top secret!!!) The learning targets we are focusing on right now are: 1. I will improve my writing. (We like to say "when you are done, you've just begun"...i.e. you can always write more!) 2. I will help friends write. (We are not only responsible for our own writing, but making sure to help friends with sounding out words, spelling sight words, and figuring out how to write different letters or draw certain things.) Here we are meeting with writing partners to share our work and ask for suggestions. The most important thing to remember (which we are working very hard on) when a partner is sharing is to listen respectfully! :)
WHAT IN THE WORLD DO WE DO ALL DAY?!?
Do you find it hard to get your child to tell you about his/her day? Click the file above to see our weekly schedule. Here are some ideas for conversations starters.
MAP TESTING Next Tuesday through Friday we will take the MAP test each day for 45 minutes (though most students will finish in less time and be dismissed from their computers). MAP stands for Measures of Academic Progress. (It has nothing to do with maps.) For 2 days students will test in reading and for 2 days they will test in math. The test questions and answer choices are read to them by the computer. There is a button they can click to have it reread the question and answer choices at any time. As students answer questions correctly, the test gets more difficult. One thing we will talk over and over about is that the students will NOT know the answers to everything, and that is OK. We just try our best and answer what seems like the best choice. If your child expresses any concern about not knowing the answers next week, please let me know and I will talk to him/her individually. Being able to use the computer is very helpful when taking a computerized test! For the past week we have had groups of children practicing using mice/track pads on laptops to navigate a basic website. Every child has had at least 2 sessions of this, and some have had more if we felt they could use the extra practice. This weekend, it would be great if you could let your child get on the computer for a little while to get more comfortable with the mouse/track pad. Students will test on laptops with mice attached, so they will be able to use EITHER the mouse/track pad, and they can even switch back and forth and it will work fine. The website we've been using, that I recommend you use too at home is www.starfall.com. Let your child go to the ABCs page, and he/she should know what to do from there! We have learned a lot about each other already! Each day we hold a Morning Meeting which involves 4 parts: greeting, sharing, a group activity, and a written message telling about our day. This is a time when each child has several chances to speak in front of the group, and we practice skills like making eye contact, listening quietly, encouraging others, waiting for a turn, and speaking clearly. We are learning a lot about each student's interests and preferences this week, and all of the children are finding they have many interests in common with others! SHARE DAYS Starting next Monday we will use our morning share time to highlight 2 students per day and allow them to share something special from home. Please see below for your child's share day. Possible things to bring in: photos that tell a story (about a pet, a trip, a hobby...JUST A FEW PHOTOS ABOUT ONE TOPIC, NOT A WHOLE PHOTO ALBUM), a collection (baseball cards, rocks, whatever...ONE TYPE OF ITEM ONLY PLEASE), items that tell about a hobby your child has or sport he/she plays (uniform, ballet clothes, materials for making a special type of art/craft, etc.). These are just suggestions. The whole point is to help us know your child better, so whatever is brought in should tell us information about him/her. Let me know if you have questions. Monday, August 17th: Alana, Charlie Tuesday, August 18th: Jason, Kala Wednesday, August 19th: Cora, Hazel Thursday, August 20th: Margaret, Jamie Friday, August 21st: Ryan Clemens, Quinn Monday, August 24th: Maddy, Max Tuesday, August 25th: Malia, Hanna Wednesday, August 26th: Isabella, Colin Thursday, August 27th: Saleem, Anna Friday, August 28th: Kate, Nathan Monday, August 31st: Marlowe, Gavin Tuesday, September 1st: Ryan Wingfield, Caroline, Dorothy CLASS AGREEMENT This week the children came up with rules that they think would be good for us to follow in order to have a successful year together. We combined and simplified a very long list of ideas and came up with the following 3 rules for our "agreement" to work together as a crew. Each child drew a picture example of what it looks like to follow one of the rules. IMPORTANT DATES TO KNOW
August 20th: Curriculum Night at Westchester, 6:00-7:00 pm August 25-28: MAP testing for kindergarten and 1st grade (Make sure your child gets plenty of rest during testing week! Our students will test in the morning for 4 days: 2 days of reading and 2 days of math.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have not yet sent in a family photo for your child to share, please do so on Monday. Have a wonderful weekend! Here are some pictures from this week for you to enjoy... We've had a wonderful first week of school, playing lots of get-to-know-you games, singing songs, learning the routines of the school day, and exploring classroom materials together. It's hard to believe we've only known each other a few days because this group is already working so well together as a team!
SUPPLIES AND ROUTINES Thanks so much for all of the school supplies, and to everyone who donated extra items off of the classroom wish list! We greatly appreciate your generosity! If you took something off the wish list but haven't sent it in yet, please send me an email at [email protected] to tell me the item is on the way. At this point in the year the only homework the children have is to read at least one book per night. Right now this might just mean they are listening to you read, which is perfectly fine. Before long we will begin reading simple books in the classroom and bags of books will come home for nightly reading that are on your child's just-right level. I'll let you know more when that time comes. For now, please establish a routine of reading nightly together. Blue folders are a very important way for us to communicate with one another. There will be many days when nothing is in the folder, but please check it daily anyway in case we've sent you a note or anything else that is timely. Return folders daily to help your child get into the routine of turning this in each morning. If your child is a walker, you probably learned yesterday that when it rains walkers meet at the exit doors at the back of the school. This will continue all year whenever there is inclement weather. Thanks for your patience yesterday! HOPES AND DREAMS This week we discussed what we hope might happen over the course of this school year. Today the children drew and wrote their "hopes and dreams" for the upcoming year. Here are some of the things they said (without student names attached...can you guess which your child may have said?): "I hope to learn about outer space and how to draw it." "I want to learn to read." "I hope to learn about pigs and their bodies." "I hope to learn about kites and how they fly." "I want to learn about the calendar." "I hope I can learn how to make some more kinds of potions. I have a potion kit and if it explodes we put on the goggles!" "I hope I can learn to read about plants." "I hope I will learn a new kind of art." "I hope I will learn how to be a scientist because I want to learn about worms and caterpillars and all kinds of bugs...even pollinators." "I want to learn how to play piano." "I want to learn to write and read spy books." "I hope to learn about space and do experiments about space." "I want to learn how to make outfits." "I hope to learn about safety stuff and firetrucks." "I want to do science." "I want to learn about art and animals." "I want to learn about snakes and animal scientists." "I want to learn about animals this year." "I want to learn how to read." "I hope that I learn about animals. I want to learn how they grow and how snakes shed their skin." Thanks for your support already! Have a restful weekend! |
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