The very short week ahead : )

Hello Families!

I hope you had a relaxing weekend! We may have a short week ahead, but it will be filled with learning!  

In Language Arts we will: 

- Read The Polar Express and describe the importance of illustrations in a story.

-incorporate poetry to practice fluency and expression.

In Social Studies we will: 

- Compare and contrast winter holidays from around the world.

- Compare American families to other family cultures.

In Writing we will:  

- Use effective details, words, and figurative language in our writing.

-Produce writing that is legible.

In Math we will: 

-Write numbers from 0-20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20.

-use a variety of counting strategies. Which strategy/tool is more helpful to you?  

Math was very interesting last week.  We introduced rekenreks as a tool used for counting, composing and decomposing numbers.  I was so cool to see how our friends saw numbers differently.  Exploration with counting has been a major focus this quarter.  

***Recess***

Please make sure your child has a heavy coat for recess. It’s starting to get cold outside and we want everyone to be able to go out.

 ***Attendance***

Thank you so much for making sure your students are here at school and on time every day!  We are able to get started right away because everyone is here and ready to learn!  THANK YOU for making that happen! 

***Winter Break***

Although our week is short, we will have 2 full instructional days. We are all very excited for our winter break!  The kiddos have worked so hard and they deserve it.  Please send homework journals to school this Tuesday, so I can look over them during break.  I am very impressed with all the student work that comes back to school!  Please take time to read books...have your student read, or simply read to them.  We have class that LOVES books this year.

 ***Homework Idea***

Over break, write about something exciting that you did with family or friends.  Illustrate your story using labels and speech bubbles.  Don't forget to add lots of details and try very hard to recreate those "hard to make ideas!"  Write about what you did.  Remember to check for.....

-punctuation

-uppercase/lowercase letters

-spaces

-Does it make sense?

-Can you read what you wrote? 

Please bring your writing to school on January 5th!  I can't wait to read about all the fun things you did over break!!!

Dates to Remember: 

12/22- Library Lesson with Ms. Dattoli (no book exchange) 

12/22 - Visit the center room 

12/23-

12/24-1/4 Winter Break

1/5- Students return to school

Enjoy the holiday season!

Jaime 

Retelling The Three Billy Goats Gruff 

Our Gingerbread door!!

Sharing with Ms. S's class.  We learned about Italy...they learned about China!

Exploring numbers with the  Rekenrek 

The Week Ahead....

Hello Families!

 

Sorry this is reaching you on Monday morning!  I had a busy holiday weekend.  This will be a learning packed week ….

 

In Language Arts we will: 

-focus on the following sight words: can, all & will

-continue answering before, during and after questions about a variety of fairy tales

-read the following fairy tales: Three Billy Goats Gruff, Goldilocks and the Three Bears,  and Three Little Pigs

-identify what happens in the beginning, middle and end of a story

- Recite poems and fingerplays from a wide variety of genres with expression

(Snow and The Chubby Little Snowman)

 

 

In Social Studies we will: 

-begin learning about different celebrations/holidays around the world.

-focus on Hannukah, Kwanzaa and Christmas this week.

 

In Writing we will:  

- continue checking our work to ensure it has: details, spacing, punctuation, appropriate capitalization, labels, speech bubbles, etc.

-we are spending the first 15 min of our writing block on hand writing. We will call this our daily warm-up. The warm-ups will focus on: making slanted lines, and practicing how to write the alphabet using proper techniques.

 

In Math we will: 

- Count to 100 by ones and by tens.

-answer “How many” questions

-learn about a new math counting tool: Rekenrek

-explore place value as we learn about tens and ones through looking at numbers (11-19)

-answer story problem questions

 

 In other news... 

 

*The students worked hard on our door. Check out our class blog for pictures of our door and activities from last week J

 

* Next week we only have school on Monday and Tuesday*  

 

Dates to Remember: 

12/15: The last book exchange before Winter Break

12/15: Visit the center room 

12/16: Lock Down Drill....we will practice this on Tuesday

12/17: Visit the center room

12/22: Library lesson with Ms. Datolli (no exchange) 

12/23: Whittier give back

12/24-1/4: Winter Break

 

 I hope you all have a great week!  As always, please feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns.  

The Week Ahead....

Hello Families!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.  It was nice to see so many familiar faces at the Holiday Bazaar on Friday.  Thank you for coming out to support Whittier and small, local businesses! 

This will be a fun-filled 5 day week….

In Language Arts we will: 

-answer before, during and after questions about a variety of non-fiction books

-make connections to the characters in the story

-re-tell the story The Mitten

-discuss tricky vocabulary and add to a WOW word wall

-identify what happens in the beginning, middle and end of a story

- Recite poems and fingerplays from a wide variety of genres with expression

(Snow Angels and Five Little Snowmen)

In Social Studies we will: 

- Continue learning about families and how they are the same and different. 

- Describe how one’s family members express themselves through their culture.

-Learn about different countries around the world.

-compare our countries flags, homes, schools and food. 

We are learning about Italy!

In Writing we will:  

-ask: What does our writing need?  Details, spacing, punctuation, appropriate capitalization, labels, speech bubbles, etc.

-complete a series of writing warm-ups, making vertical lines, horizontal lines and circles

-we are spending the first 15 min of our writing block on hand writing

-write letters to parents telling what we have learned about Italy

-decorate a gingerbread man for the door decorating competition and write about the gingerbread man using descriptive words

In Math we will: 

- Count to 100 by ones and by tens.

-count objects in a rectangular array,  random configuration, circular, and a straight line (numbers 11 – 19)

-create sets in many of these ways.

-count sets from a baggie and place the counted objects in a line, pile or row.

-use bingo dotters to re-create a scattered configuration or ten frame card and write the matching numeral.

-compose numbers by combining 2 groups (ex: 3 and 2 makes 5)

-use a bunk bed game board to represent 2 groups

 In other news... 

*The school wide Door Decorating Contest began this Friday!

*We're thinking the kindergarten hallway will be Gingerbread Books.  I think our door will be the Gingerbread Girl.  The front of our hallway will be a bakery and we are going to have every student decorate their own gingerbread man.  Now...the questions is...will they let us use REAL CANDY to decorate our doors haha!  Hopefully! 

***Scholastic***

If you wish to order Holiday gifts, please order before this Friday.  Thanks!

***Library***

We go to the library every Tuesday (unless there is a schedule change in the calendar).  At this point in the year, students are responsible for getting their library books out of their backbags and putting them into the library bin.  I will not be going through their backpacks, but will give them several reminders to get their books out.  Thanks for your support and understanding in helping our Kindergarteners become independent in any way they can be!  

***Attendance***

Thank you so much for making sure your students are here at school and on time every day!  We are able to get started right away because everyone is here and ready to learn!  THANK YOU for making that happen! 

***Reading Groups***

Reading groups are going great!  I am so impressed with the students' sight word base, concepts about print, and their ability to apply reading strategies...and we are all working on the independent piece.  I can tell everyone is practicing at home.  Keep up the good work!!  Please remember to read each evening and return the book baggie each day.  Thank you in advance!!

Dates to Remember: 

12/8 Center Room

12/9 Library Lesson

12/10 Center Room

12/11

12/12

 I hope you all have a great week!  As always, please feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns.  

Stay warm…and if you can’t get warm..watch Frozen!