Pictures to share!

Emma on the snow day!

Reading group fun!

Disney Day!  We were Mouseketeers! 

How I spent my snow day!  With my little nephew Jack...1 1/2 going on 5!

See the weekly update below....

The week ahead....

Hi Families,

I hope you are warm inside your home and watching the winter wonderland! Here is what we're getting into this week at Whittier: 

In Language Arts, we will:

- Review all of the sight words we have learned this year so far. Using your child's word ring see how many words they can read. We are shooting for at least 40 words before they enter first grade!

-Continue to identify the problem in literary texts and how the characters solve the problem.

- Compare fiction and nonfiction stories to discuss their similarities and differences. 

In Science, we will:

- Begin working on our class science fair project - due to the short week, we have not picked a topic. 

- We will formulate a hypothesis, begin going over the procedure and make observations. Each student will keep track of our class experiment in their own mini science journal. 

In Writing, we will:

- Review what writers can do if they don't know how to spell a word. Some possible ideas include: stretching out the word and writing down the sounds we hear, using the word wall, listening for little words in the word we are trying to spell, using the room as a resource and thinking about and making sure to include the vowel sound(s) they hear.

-Complete a "How to" book. 

-Share their "How to" stories with a friend from another class

In Math, we will:

-Practice counting forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1)

-Count to 100 by tens and by ones

-Participate in number games which strengthen our number sense. These games will include nearby teens, ordering numbers and a counting on game. 

***Literacy Night***

This Thursday, February 26th at 6:30 pm Whittier will hold its annual literacy night. Our theme this year is, "Lights, Camera, Action"! Families will be offered popcorn and cookies as they enjoy two stories of their choosing. The books being showcased this year were picked by the students in each class. Our class chose The Three Billy Goats Gruff. 

***Homework Journals***

As the month comes to an end please have your child return their homework journal this Friday. That will give me time to review them and provide the march calendar.  WOW, March!  I can't believe that spring will be here soon!

Important Dates to note:

Monday, February 23rd - Visit the center room 

Tuesday, February 24th - Library Lesson and Book Exchange 

Wednesday, February 25th - Visit the center room

Thursday, February 26th - Whittier Literacy Night

Friday, February 27th - Library Book exchange

Friday, February 27th - February Scholastic Book Orders Due

Friday, February 27th - 2 hr early dismissal

Friday, February 27th - Homework Journals Due

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Stay warm and have a great week!!

Pictures to share and maybe a SNOW DAY tomorrow!

Reading Group Fun!

100 Day Cup Stacking!

Valentine's Day Party

The week ahead....

Dear Families,

I hope you've all had a nice extended weekend with your little ones.   I want to thank you for your generous donations towards our Valentine's Day Party!  A big thank-you to the parents that donated their time and came to help with games, snacks and crafts!

We have a busy week coming up, so take a look at what we will be getting into: 

In Language Arts, we will: 

- Read a literary text and identify feelings of characters during different parts of the story.  

- Note how the author uses words/illustrations to express how a character is feeling.  Can we use these ideas in our own writing? 

- Identify the problem of literary texts and how the characters will solve the problem.  

- Make connections between the story and their own personal experiences. 

In Science, we will: 

- Watch videos to get excited about the science fair, and to gather ideas for our own projects.  

- Begin talking about our class science experiment for the Science Fair.  

- Choose a topic as a class and begin gathering research about it.  

***Please encourage your student to share ideas they may have!  I often hear about science experiments that they work on at home : ) ***

In Writing, we will: 

- Take what we have learned about expressing emotion and use these ideas in our own piece. 

- Identify resources within our classroom to help solve the problems we come up with when we're writing.  

In Math, we will: 

-Practice counting forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1)

-Become familiar with teen numbers.

-Count to 100 by tens and by ones

***Throughout the year we continue to foster independence in the classroom.  As first grade approaches we will put more of an emphasis on students being held accountable for their learning.  Our morning reading rotations consist of one 15 minute guided reading group and 3 literacy rotations, where students either work independently or with a buddy.  My friends work very well during this independent time!  We have added logs to buddy reading, listening and library stations (students log the their name, date and the book they read/listen to....sometimes I ask students to share the book or tell us what they learned).  Students put these logs in a folder that is kept inside their book bin.  I check these logs weekly.  I am very impressed with their responsibility in logging their work.  

Starting this week each student will have a laminated rubric for a reading group grade inside their book baggie.  Please leave this rubric inside their baggie.  We want to ensure that all students are getting as much learning as they can out of their 15 minute small group instruction.  Once/twice a week I will pick your student to grade their reading group performance.  This is something that we will talk through together.  I will use permanent marker so you can see the work they are doing in group.  They will not know the day they will be chosen.  This is something that we will discuss privately.  Here are the expectations: 

I came to the reading table quickly

I had my reading baggie

I put my reading baggie on the ground

I began reading right away

I participated in word work

I used my reading strategies to read unknown words

I tried my best!

____/7

Students can earn a possible 7 points!  Please talk this over with your student.  We want to make sure that they know exactly what is expected of them and how this can help their brain grow!!  Thank you!***

Reminders:

Monday, February 16 - No School (Presidents' Day)
Tuesday, February 17 - Visit the center room 
Wednesday, February 18 - I am out all day

Thursday, February 19 - Visit the center room - CiCi's Pizza Night

Pictures to come this weekend!

100 Days Smarter!!!

Happy 100th day of school!  We had so much fun today...Fruit Loop necklaces...100 cup stacking...sharing our sets of 100!  First grade, here we come (only 80 more days of Kindergarten)!!!

Hello Families,

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We have an exciting week planned! We have our 100th Day of School celebration, along with our Valentine's Day Party! Let's take a look...

In Language Arts, we will:
-Continue learning sight words, focusing on the words: your, him, of

-Continue to practice reading poems and identify rhyming words, sight words, beginning/middle/end sounds in words. 

-Read to understand the relationship between words and feelings.

In Science, we will: 

- Discuss how our senses can help tell us about the weather/seasons.
- Track the weather and look for patterns, similarities and differences in the weather.  

-Talk about the importance of rain.

In Writing, we will: 

-Express an opinion and respond to a prompt.

-Work on creating a persuasive Valentine's Day piece and share it with the class.

-Write about our favorite things to do in Kindergarten.

In Math, we will: 

-Identify geometric solids such as cones, cylinders, spheres and cubes.

-Discuss attributes of certain shapes.

-Begin our fact fluency pre-assessment for addition and subtraction.

Other important information: 

***Valentine's Day***

We will have our Valentines Day party on Thursday, February 12,  from 2:00-3:00 pm. We are still accepting monetary donations this week. Thank you for your contributions so far! I went to target this weekend and bought some delicious snack and goodies!  

***Book Swap***

We are having a school book swap and we need your gently used books!  If you have books that your children are no longer using, you can donate them to the book swap.  The goal of the book swap is for every child in the school to take home a book to keep.  If you have any questions about this, please let me know. 

***ABC/123 Team***

If you are a trained parent volunteer, and you would like to come in to school and help out on a regular basis, then the ABC/123 team is for you!  We have students that are working on learning their letters and numbers and we would like you to help them out.  It requires just a small amount of time (5-10 minutes) with each student, and you can work with as few or as many students from the list as you'd like.  If this is an opportunity you would like to be a part of, please email me and I will get you on the list of parents to be trained specifically for the ABC/123 Team.  If you have already talked to me about it, then someone will be contacting you soon!  

***Book Fair***

Our Technology Book Fair is in full swing! Thank you to the students, families, and staff who attended our Family Fun Night for our Technology Book Fair on Friday, Feb. 6th. Because of you, we brought in $3,148.32 in sales! Every dollar spent matters. Our goal is to have over $10,000 in sales to receive at least $2,500 toward new technology in our classrooms.Our Technology Book Fair will be open in the library from 9am-7pm Monday, Feb. 9th, Tuesday, Feb. 10th and Wednesday, Feb. 11th.Thank you in advance for supporting our school and our students! See you at the Book Fair!

 

Important Dates: 

Monday 02/09- The start of Bus Driver Appreciation Week
Tuesday 02/10- 100th Day of School

Thursday 02/12- Valentine's Day Party

Friday 02/13- No School (Curriculum Day for teachers)

Thank you for all you do to support your child's learning at home.  As always, please feel free to let me know of any questions or concerns you may have.  Have a great week!  

 Retelling a story using the 5 Finger retell (characters, setting, beginning, middle, end)

Decade Day!

Exploring with Tangrams!