Weekly Update

Hello families!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend.  We finally have a five day school week ahead of us!   Reading groups will begin this week.  Each morning, I will meet with students in their leveled groups.  We will work on foundational skills in reading, skills in writing, and begin reading books.  I will not begin sending little books home with students until next Monday.  Optional homework will also begin next week.

This week’s skills….

In Language Arts we will:

-visualize a fiction story (using our imagination and prior knowledge to picture what happens in the story/what the characters may look like).  Today we read Little Green Monster (without looking at the illustrations) as I read, students used the author’s descriptions to draw the monster.  They are bringing their Little Green Monster home today.  After we read the story, we read it again with the illustrations – lots of giggles!

-read: Creepy Carrots and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs – we will stop at various points in the story to record our visualizations!

-reading poems for fluency (This is the way we wash our face & The Bumblebee – identify rhyming words).

-continue practicing literacy center rotations

In Writing we will;

-use checklists to monitor our own writing (Did I include a picture?  Did I try to write the sounds that I heard?  Did I use my resources?)

-continue working on narrative stories

-team up with a third grade class to celebrate our writing growth thus far!

In Science we will:

-continue exploring different kinds of magnets

-discover which magnet is the strongest

-learn about magnetic poles

-ask questions

-seek answers to our questions

We have quite a few little scientists in our class!

In Math we will:

-continue writing numerals accurately

-practice ordering numbers

-practice subitizing different quantities (looking at a side of a die and knowing immediately how many it is or finding groups of numbers within a quantity and counting on)

-match a numeral to a quantity

-engage in math center rotations

-practice independent and accountable math “talk”

Important Info:

***Book Fair***

The Scholastic Monster Book Fair is coming to Whittier!  The Book Fair is held in the Media Center.  Scholastic offers quality books and classroom favorites at a great price!  Come check out what awesome books, games, and contests the Book Fair has to offer.  The book fair will be held October 2^nd – October 7^th.   

***Library***

We have a library book exchange tomorrow – 9/29.  Please send your student to school with their library book.  It goes in the pink bin by the door. 

***HERO SLIPS***

We are counting our Hero Slips this Friday.  Students earn Hero Slips for going above and beyond expectations, being kind, polite, and ready to learn!  Talk with your student about what they would like to purchase….

10 = Prize Box

12 = Show and Tell

20 = Slippers in the classroom

25 = Pick your own seat for the day

30 = Special chair for the day (teacher chair)

35 = Lunch with the teacher

40 = Hat day

Most students will pick prize box, but if they have their eye on another prize, encourage them to save!

Have great week!

Ms. Grimes

PJ Day!

We had a wonderful PJ day!  How will we celebrate next time we fill our Warm Fuzzy Jar?!?

Weekly Update!

Hello Families,

I hope you have all had a fun-filled weekend.  The weather has been perfect and I hope you got to spend some time outside enjoying it!  Here's what we're getting into this week in Kindergarten...

In Language Arts, we will: 

-listen for important details in a story and retell the story using those details.  

(The Napping House, Patrick’s Dinosaur’s, and Corduroy – some of these books and retell pieces will be part of our Re-tell Center)

-continue to learn about new centers and practice rotations for reading groups.

(New stations – Re-tell, Listening Ipad)

-learn a new poem and put our names in the poem to practice fluency. 

(BINGO)

-learn strategies to read unknown words.

In Writing, we will:

-use the sounds we know to write words and labels.

-use resources to help us write words (sounds cards, alphabet strips).

-add details to our words and pictures to make it easier for our friends to read. 

-write a book that tells a detailed story about a personal narrative.

In Science, we will: 

-begin a new unit on magnets. 

-make predictions on what is magnetic and what is not.

-sort objects that are magnetic and non-magnetic. 

-test various magnetic objects and compare them. 

In Math, we will: 

-practice counting with one-to-one correspondence.  

-continue to practice writing numerals. 

-correctly match a numeral to a set. 

-learn new math games to play with our friends. 

-complete math rotations so we can practice a variety of skills. 

Important Information:

***Take – Home Folders***

Please be sure to check your child's folder.  Papers will come home from me or the school, and there will be projects and lessons from the day's instruction.  You can keep those papers.  Thanks!

***Lunch***

If your child is buying lunch, you can manage their lunch account on www.myschoolbucks.com  

This site is also really great for putting requirements or restrictions on your child's account.  For example, if you don't want your child to purchase more than one snack per day, you can make those requests on the website.  Take a look and let me know if you need help with anything. Also, I talked with the class about making sure they eat all of their lunch.  I know that lunch can be a social time, but the most important thing is to have a full belly so their brain can work hard and grow!  Please talk with your child about this!  Thank you in advance.

***Find Out First***

Sign up for find out first to get school updates, weather closings/delays and other important information!  You can have this information sent to you via text or through email.  Let me know if you have any questions.

http://fcps.ezcommunicator.net/edu/frederick/login_form.aspx?app=0

***Library***

Tomorrow we will have a library lesson and book exchange.  Please send your child’s library book back to school – it goes inside the pink bin by our classroom door!

***Warm Fuzzy Jar***

We did it!  We filled our Warm Fuzzy Jar by working together, trying our best, following school and classroom rules, being kind, responsible, polite…the list could go on…and on…and on….

We didn’t have time to vote on a reward today.  We will vote first thing tomorrow morning.  I asked the class to think about what they would like to do as a whole class reward. 

Questions to ask….

What is a detail? In writing? Reading?

Why do we re-tell stories?

What objects in our classroom are magnetic?

What does it mean to be a careful counter?

What do we do in our poetry journal?

                                                   

Dates to Remember

Tuesday 09/22 - Volunteer Training 6:00-7:00

Wednesday 09/23 - No School- Yom Kippur/Fair Day

Thursday 09/24 - Library Book Exchange

Friday 09/25 - 2hr early dismissal (school closes at 1:25) 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Have a great week!  :)

PS - Enjoy the pictures below! 

Pictures to share!

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekly pictures.  I will probably have my weekly update out to you tomorrow afternoon.  Our class is practicing literacy stations in preparation for reading groups.  We are working on responsibility and accountability during independent work time.  I am truly impressed with their knowledge and independence.  I am starting a check list this week where I will note tasks from literacy stations...I may ask students to share/model some of the learning I see! Enjoy the pictures below!  I try to share a picture from my weekend every once in a while....this is my dog Emma (black and white) and her cousin Annabelle taking a walk.  Too cute! 

Friday afternoon before we packed up to go home, we played a team building game.  We gathered in a circle holding hands.  Each student had to get through the Hula Hoop without letting go of their friend's hand.  We had so many giggles!