Sunday Post!

 

Hello families,

Sorry this post is coming to you so late.  I had a very busy weekend!  A couple things before I tell you about our lessons this week.  On Tuesday the students in our class are having a stuffed animal day.  They earned this special day by filling up their Warm Fuzzy Jar!  In their folder tomorrow there will be a note....

Dear Families,

       On Tuesday, September 10th, 2013 we will have a stuffed animal day!  Our class has worked very hard to fill our Warm Fuzzy Jar.  Our Warm Fuzzy Jar is our whole class behavior incentive.  When the whole class is making good choices, following directions and trying their best, they get to place a Warm Fuzzy in their jar.  The students are very excited and voted on having a stuffed animal day.  If you would like your student to participate, please send them to school with their favorite stuffed animal.

Yours in education, 

Ms. Grimes 

We will continue with the letter of the day.  The letter fairy is getting tricky and finding some difficult hiding places!

Tomorrow, students will go to the library for a book exchange.  The students will pick one book from the “everybody section”.  They will not have a lesson tomorrow.  Please send their books back to school the following Monday.  

This week we will read a few non-fiction books about apples.  We are making an apple web, learning about the life cycle of an apple and discussing different types of apples.  On Wednesday, we will have an apple tasting.  Students will try Golden Delicious, Gala, Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples.  If you have any questions or concerns about this...please call or email me.  

Math:

• writing numbers 0-10
• organizing math tools (manipulatives) on a tens frame
• matching numbers to their quantities
• subitizing numbers 1-10 

Ask your student about the partner games we played! 

 Writing: 

• letter formation/simple words using different textures (play-doh, shaving cream, sand, paint in a bag, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, etc.)
• drawing even hard to make ideas
• taking risks is important
• encourage students to say to themselves "I will do my best, and keep going"
• create letters using students bodies (I will take pictures and share these on the webpage)
• Thursday and Friday students will work in teams to discover what is in their mystery bag (they will chart items as a group and write about their mystery items independently)

Ask your students what was in their mystery bag?  

Ask your student what materials they used to make letters.

Reading: 

• Students will re-tell details from a nonfiction text
• We will read nonfiction books about apples 
• On Thursday and Friday, we will re-tell a fiction text by acting it out (dramatizing)  

Ask your student what story they acted out?  What part did they play?

Ask your student what they learned about apples?  Which apple was their favorite?

Skills Block (Phonics and Fluency):

• continue to work on identifying rhyming words (in poetry and songs) 
• add poems to poetry journal (Jack be Nimble, Little Miss Tucket, Apple Poem) 
• create a barnyard rhyming game (students will take this home) 
•  work with magnetic letters (letter play to create names and simple words)
• review and play the game alphabet soup

Ask your student to play Barnyard Rhyming.

During literacy center time, I will introduce poetry center. We will review buddy and independent reading and practice all three of these centers.  If we have time, I will introduce pocket chart center.   

I had a couple questions about homework and reading groups.  We are still planning on waiting until October to begin homework and reading groups.  We are also in the process of putting together an application center room.  This will be a room where all K students go to participate in centers like house keeping, dramatic play, blocks, etc.  We are hoping that each K class will be able to attend the center room daily.  This is a great opportunity for students to work on social skills and for me to take anecdotal notes that I will be able to share with you!  I will let you know when we begin to use the application center room.

If you have any question please contact me.  Have a super week!

Ms. Grimes 

 
 

Granola Bear

Hello Families!

Starting this Friday I am going to send Granola Bear home with one lucky student!  Everything featured in this picture (Bear/binder) will go inside the bag.  There is a letter inside the binder explaining why Granola is visiting with you and your family.  My students will have the opportunity to take Granola Bear on a weekend adventure.  Granola has been everywhere!  He has been to the movies, fishing, shopping, restaurants, etc.  I am just asking that you take the time to write about your adventure in the binder, so your student can share it on Monday morning.  You can draw a picture and write about your adventures.  Often families add real photographs to the journal.  Be creative and have fun!  Every student will get a chance to take Granola home.  If you have any question or concerns please contact me.  Thank you!  

Volunteers!!

If you are interested in volunteering in our classroom or in the school, the volunteer training for K parents is this Wednesday, from 6 - 7 pm.  Also, please let me know if you are interested in volunteering in the classroom.  Thanks! 

Pictures of the first 2 weeks...

Exploring math tools (pattern block puzzles)

Sharing Writing Folders 

Cooperative Groups (creating table rainbows)

Exploring Math Tools (sorting buttons)

Alphabet Soup

Monday Mailer : )

Happy Labor Day!

Instead of my Sunday post, I am giving you a Monday update.  Please disregard the pages on the side of my blog.  I am in the process of updating the schedule and my personal information.  I forgot to mention last week that every morning the "Letter Fairy" is hiding a bedazzled letter somewhere in our classroom.  The students have to find the letter.  We practice writing the letter (uppercase and lowercase), making the letter sound, and generating a list of words that begin with that letter.  After this, we find a home for our sparkly letter on the word wall.  The students are having a lot of fun with this.  

Monday will be our library day.  Please send students to school with their library book every Monday morning.  Although we will have a book exchange every Monday, only every other Monday the students will have a library lesson.  This lesson will be with our librarian, Ms. Datolli.  The students already LOVE her!

If we miss school on Monday, Ms. Datolli will sometimes reschedule our library exchange.  I will notify you when this happens.  

Well, this week will be short yet exciting!

In math, we are focusing on writing and representing numbers 1-5.  Students will match numerals to quantities.  We will continue to explore the math tools with have in our classroom (how to gather materials, clean up, work in cooperative groups, etc.)

-Ask your student to sing you the numeral song (hint...they make the numeral in the air)

In writing, we are brainstorming how we figure out what to write. We will discuss picturing the story in our head before we begin to write.  Students will have the opportunity to share their writing sample with the class.  We will also discuss why writers make pictures and words. I will ask students…how do we know that what we wrote matches our illustration?  We will generate a list of ideas to solve this problem.

-Ask your student what they wrote about this week?  
-Ask your students if they enjoyed sharing their work?

In social studies, we will explore and identify U.S. state symbols.  We are making a whole class American flag using construction paper.  

-Ask your student what are the symbols of our country?

-Ask your student what the flag means?

In reading, we will set a purpose for reading and identify the type of text.  

-Ask your student why we read certain books?
-Ask your student what a fiction book is?

During skills block (phonics/fluency) students will learn to recognize rhyming words in spoken language.  We will learn the poem Did You Ever See?, Teddy Bears, and create a rhyming game to take home.  

-Ask your student to play the matching game over the weekend.

During literacy centers, students will practice independent reading.  We will also introduce the poetry center.

I hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend.

Thanks!
Ms. Grimes

Sunday Post

Hello families!!

I hope all of your students had a fabulous first week of school.  This coming week will be very exciting!

In math, we are focusing on the Standards of Mathematical Practice.  We will specifically focus on:

#1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
#5 Use appropriate tools strategically
#4 Model with mathematics
#6 Attend to precision 
#3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others 

Ask your student what math tools we have in our classroom.  Ask him/her why we use these math tools. 

In writing, we are focusing on generating writing ideas.  We will discuss adding details and labeling our story illustrations.  Later this week we will begin to write.

Ask you student what they wrote about!

In social studies we are focusing on team work and the similarities/differences among us.  We will work in teams to make a large rainbow using construction paper.  On Friday, we will learn about the Pledge of Allegiance. 

During whole group (read-aloud) we are identifying the role of the author and the illustrator.  We will read wordless books, fiction books and nonfiction books.  

Ask your student to sing the song about the job of the author and the illustrator.  

During word study we will....

-read poems in which we incorporate our names
-identify sounds 
-generate sentences, cut them apart and build the sentences
-identify beginning and ending letters in names
-add student names to the word wall 

 Ask your students about the game "Alphabet Soup" 

During literacy centers we will practice buddy and independent reading!

I am excited for a wonderful week!

I will try to give you a weekly update every Sunday.  If you have any questions or concerns please call or email.  

I hope you enjoyed the beautiful weekend weather. 

Welcome to Kindergarten 2013-2014

Hi, my name is Jaime Grimes.  This coming school year will be my third year teaching Kindergarten at Whittier Elementary School.  I was born and raised in Frederick, Maryland.  I went to Hood College and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education.  I am currently working on my Master's Degree, at Hood College.  I am studying Curriculum and Instruction. I spent a few weeks this summer writing curriculum for early childhood application centers.  I love traveling, running and playing with my little dog, Emma. I am one of six wonderful kindergarten teachers this year.  My teammates are fabulous and any one of us will be more than willing to answer questions and support your student and family in any way!  Whittier is a great community and we are so lucky to have your student  in Kindergarten this year.  Welcome to the 2013-2014 school year. I'm looking forward to another wonderful year at Whittier Elementary!  As the school year progresses, please check out our classroom blog for updates.  Thanks!